Immersion Versus Transcendence: How Pictures and Words Impact Evaluative Associations Assessed by the Implicit Association Test

Research indicates that words activate high-level construal (processing that highlights central, goal-relevant features of events) whereas pictures activate low-level construal (processing that highlights idiosyncratic, peripheral features). We examine how these differences between words and pictures impact evaluative associations. Research has demonstrated that high-level relative to low-level construal promotes evaluative associations that enhance self-control, promoting associations that link smaller proximal rewards (temptations) with negativity and larger-distal rewards (goals) with positivity. Examining dieting as a self-control conflict, we find that words promote sensitivity to goal-relevant dimension of stimuli (i.e., health) while pictures promote sensitivity to temptation-relevant dimension of stimuli (i.e., taste) among those concerned with dieting in a single-category implicit association test (SC-IAT). An additional study finds that changing the presentation format of the IAT from pictures to words increases the tendency to associate temptations (i.e., desserts) with negativity among those concerned with dieting. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of these findings are discussed.