Objective: Even though the dual process of aggression is acknowledged as a mediator of violent behavior, few studies have explored the implicit aspect of violence-supportive cognition. The current study advances understanding of the implicit attitude toward violence and suggests evaluative conditioning (EC) as a strategy to change the implicit violence-supportive attitude of juvenile offenders. Method: A total of 100 juvenile offenders and nonoffenders were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition, and EC or control intervention was followed depending on the condition. The explicit and implicit attitudes toward violence of the juvenile offender and nonoffender groups were assessed pre- and postintervention by a self-report and implicit association test. Results: Preintervention results indicated that the offender group revealed a less negative implicit attitude toward violence than the nonoffender group did, whereas there was no significant group difference in the explicit attitude toward violence. Postintervention results showed a significant improvement in the violence implicit association test score after the EC intervention in the treatment condition of the offender group. Conclusions: These findings indicate that implicit and explicit attitudes could be expressed independently and that juvenile offenders have more implicit violence-supportive cognition than do nonoffenders. EC intervention was found to be an effective method to correct the implicit attitude toward violence of the juvenile offender group, which suggests that specific interventions for violence-supportive implicit attitudes should be considered.

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This study investigated the effects of psychobiological characteristics of non-obese women with a high level of weight suppression (H-WS) on explicit-implicit and approach-avoidance response toward food cues, depending on hunger-satiety states. The 634 participants were divided into two groups according to their weight history. If the difference between their highest weight over the last year and their current weight (a difference sustained at least for 1 year) was more than 5%, they were assigned to the “H-WS” group (N = 25). If the difference in weight was less than 5%, they were assigned to the “low level of weight suppression” (L-WS) group (N = 29). Explicit approach and avoidance toward food were measured by self-report questionnaires. Implicit approach and avoidance toward food cues were measured using an eye-tracker. Fasting blood samples were obtained to measure fasting serum leptin levels. After this, participants consumed a standard breakfast to control the satiety level. After breakfast, explicit-implicit approach-avoidance responses were repeatedly measured at the satiety states. Self-reported body shape concerns, drive for thinness, ambivalent food craving, and bulimic behavior were also assessed. The results showed that the H-WS group had lower leptin levels, and higher body shape concerns, drive for thinness, ambivalent food craving, and bulimic behaviors compared to the L-WS group. At the explicit level, the H-WS group reported lower approach and higher avoidance to food compared to the L-WS group, regardless of hunger-satiety state. Whereas, at the implicit level, the H-WS group showed higher approach during satiety rather than during hunger states. Regardless of the hunger-satiety state, there were no significant group differences with regard to implicit avoidance between the two groups. Thus, we confirmed that a high level of avoidance toward foods was observed in the H-WS group at the explicit level but not at the implicit level. Moreover, in contrast with a high level of explicit avoidance toward palatable foods, inhibition for implicit approach toward high-calorie foods seemed to be blunted after food consumption in the H-WS group. These inconsistencies may be associated with ambivalent food craving and vulnerability to bulimic behavior among H-WS individuals.

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