Abstract: The current studies apply reverse correlation image classification (RCIC) techniques to estimate the mental representation of a spider among participants who vary in their fear of spiders. This is the first attempt that we know of to use RCIC techniques to both estimate individuals’ mental representations of a complex, non-facial object and to test whether those representations vary in a meaningful way. We find evidence in a pilot study that the RCIC technique is adaptable to non-facial, but complex, stimuli (spiders). In Study 1, we find that the mental representation of a typical spider among participants higher in fear of spiders is rated by objective judges as looking scarier and more threatening than the mental representation among participants lower in fear of spiders. In Study 2, we find evidence of this effect for a specific spider image to which participants were exposed earlier in the study. Methodologically, our findings suggest that RCIC techniques can be used to understand individual differences in the representations of complex, non-facial stimuli. At a more theoretical level, the findings illustrate how perceptions can be influenced by the emotions and evaluations that individuals associate with an object.

Abstract: Perception, according to Bruner (1957), necessarily involves categorization. In deciding what something is, we have to attribute to it a given category that distinguishes it from anything outside of that category. Categorization, further, affects our evaluation of that object. A piece of cake categorized as a birthday gift will be evaluated more positively than a piece of cake categorized as a fatty food. The question here becomes how one can make one potential category more likely to dominate the categorization process. Previous research has demonstrated that attitude accessibility increases the likelihood of attending to a visual object (Roskos-Ewoldsen & Fazio, 1992) or a potential categorization (Smith, Fazio, & Cejka, 1996). The current research focuses on the use of attitude rehearsal to influence the use of one category (or one dimension, as in Experiment 2) over another in evaluating a related category member, and finds that categories (dimensions) towards which participants have accessible attitudes have more bearing on the evaluation of related target objects than categories (dimensions) which are less attitude-evoking.