How do explicit and implicit evaluations shift? A preregistered meta-analysis of the effects of co-occurrence and relational information

Based on 660 effect sizes obtained from 23,255 adult participants across 51 reports of experimental studies, this meta-analysis investigates whether and when explicit (self-reported) and implicit (indirectly revealed) evaluations reflect relational information (how stimuli are related to each other) over and above co-occurrence information (the fact that stimuli have been paired with each other). Using a mixed-effects meta-regression, relational information was found to dominate over contradictory co-occurrence information in shifting both explicit (mean Hedges’ g = 0.97, 95-percent CI: [0.89; 1.05], 95-percent PI: [0.24; 1.70]) and implicit evaluations (g = 0.27, 95-percent CI: [0.19; 0.35], 95-percent PI: [ 0.46; 1.00]). However, considerable heterogeneity in relational effects on implicit evaluation made moderator analyses necessary. Implicit evaluations were particularly sensitive to relational information (a) in between-participant (rather than within-participant) designs; when (b) co-occurrence information was held constant (rather than manipulated); (c) targets were novel (rather than known); implicit evaluations were measured (d) first (rather than last) and (e) using an AMP (rather than an IAT or EPT); and (f) relational and co-occurrence information were presented in temporal proximity (rather than far apart in time). Overall, the present findings suggest that both implicit and explicit evaluations emerge from a combination of co-occurrence information and relational information, with relational information usually playing the dominant role. Critically, variability in these effects highlights a need to refocus attention from existence proof demonstrations toward theoretical and empirical work on the determinants and boundary conditions of the influences of co-occurrence and relational information on explicit and implicit evaluation.