Affective Consequences of Intentional Action Control

Abstract

In the current chapter, we focus on evaluative consequences of successfully implementing an intended action. In the first part of the chapter, we review research showing the affective devaluation of objects that are in conflict with intended actions (i.e., the distractor devaluation effect); devaluation here refers to more negative (or less positive) evaluations of distracting stimuli after episodes of intentional selection (i.e., intentionally responding to certain stimuli in a way that requires ignoring distractors). In doing so, we focus on recent evidence supporting the assumption that this devaluation occurs in particular for interference-creating stimuli. In the second part of the chapter, we turn to the potential downstream consequences of distractor devaluation. First, we provide evidence that evaluative consequences of distractor devaluation and mere exposure can systematically influence intergroup bias. Second, we show how prior devaluation processes may bias subsequent selection processes in favor of executing intended actions. Thus, whereas most of the current research on action control focuses on how people best translate their intentions into action, the present chapter addresses the further question of how the execution of behavioral intentions leads to changes in affect that facilitate the maintenance of one's intentions in the long run.