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Experiments in evaluative conditioning are discussed in relation to the acquisition of disgust responses. Affective ratings, physiological responses, and contingency verbalizations are examined.

Affective learning does not seem to occur without contingency awareness, according to results of an experiment using the differential conditioning paradigm. The study involved between-subject comparisons of verbalizers and nonverbalizers, as well as within-subject comparisons of verbalizers before and after verbalization.

In evaluative conditioning, effects of more presentations of the unconditioned stimulus before conditioning (US preexposure) or after conditioning (US postexposure) were studied using between-subjects and within-subjects controls. Different nationalities of the subjects differentiated two experiments. US-alone presentations, in both experiments, cut down on the evaluative response. The unexpected effect of US postexposure brings up speculation on the learning process that underlies evaluative conditioning.

Evaluative conditioning experiments may be marred by a biased process of stimulus selection, resulting in apparent conditioning effects that are actually artifacts of the way the experimental stimuli are chosen. A study of conceptual conditioning elicited differential responses suggesting evaluative conditioning, but the same effects were produced in control and no treatment conditions as in the experimental condition. The present study represents the first time these control conditions were used with the evaluative conditioning paradigm.