---
abstract: |-
In a recent article, Dijksterhuis and Aarts (2003) investigated the preferential
detection of negative stimuli. According to them, their data clearly indicate that it requires
less stimulus input or less stimulus exposure to detect a negative stimulus than to detect a positive stimulus. However, we believe their research suffers from a number of limitations and methodological flaws that cast doubt on their conclusions. Using signal detection analyses, we demonstrate that none of their three studies provides sufficiently informative data with respect to their hypotheses. Moreover, we show that their experimental designs seem to be inadequate to test their hypotheses.
altloc:
- http://www.ulg.ac.be/cogsci/clabiouse/psych_science_comment.pdf
chapter: ~
commentary: ~
commref: 'Dijksterhuis, A., & Aarts, H. (2003). On wildebeests and humans: The preferential detection of negative stimuli. Psychological Science, 14, 14 – 18.'
confdates: ~
conference: ~
confloc: ~
contact_email: ~
creators_id: []
creators_name:
- family: Labiouse
given: Christophe L.
honourific: ''
lineage: ''
date: 2004-05
date_type: published
datestamp: 2004-05-12
department: ~
dir: disk0/00/00/36/31
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eprint_status: archive
eprintid: 3631
fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/3631/1/psych_science_comment.pdf
full_text_status: public
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item_issues_comment: []
item_issues_count: 0
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keywords: 'signal detection theory, subliminal perception '
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:36
latitude: ~
longitude: ~
metadata_visibility: show
note: ~
number: 5
pagerange: 364-365
pubdom: FALSE
publication: Psychological Science
publisher: American Psychological Society
refereed: TRUE
referencetext: |-
Dijksterhuis, A., & Aarts, H. (2003). On wildebeests and humans: The preferential detection of negative stimuli. Psychological Science, 14, 14 – 18.
Holender, D. (1986). Semantic activation without conscious identification in dichotic listening, parafoveal vision, and visual masking: A survey and appraisal. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 1 – 66.
Macmillan, N. A., & Creelman, D. (1991). Detection theory: A user’s guide. New York: Cambridge University Press.
relation_type: []
relation_uri: []
reportno: ~
rev_number: 12
series: ~
source: ~
status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:52:26
subjects:
- psy-phys
- cog-psy
succeeds: ~
suggestions: ~
sword_depositor: ~
sword_slug: ~
thesistype: ~
title: 'Is there a real preferential detection of negative stimuli? A comment on Dijksterhuis and Aarts (2003)'
type: journalp
userid: 4887
volume: 15