Automatic evaluation isn't that crude! Moderation of masked affective priming by type of valence

In two experiments, the automatic processing of evaluative information was investigated using a masked affective priming paradigm, varying valence (positive vs. negative) and relevance (other-relevant traits vs. possessor-relevant traits; Peeters, 1983) of prime and target stimuli. It was found that under specified conditions, valence-congruency effects were only found if prime and target matched with regard to relevance type (i.e., were both either of the other-relevant or possessor-relevant type). These results suggest that automatic processing of affective information conveys not only the positive-negative differentiation, but also the relevance type of valence. Consequences for research on automatic attitudes, especially prejudice, are discussed. For current research on masked priming, it is important to highlight that the subliminal effect was found even for non-practised prime stimuli.