Suppose That You Show Your Uncle an Abstract Painting That

Multiple Choice

Suppose that you show your uncle an abstract painting that you have made and ask for his immediate, unedited reaction. Your uncle says he has no opinion about it. "I am not familiar with abstract art," he tells you, "therefore I don't know how to evaluate it; and I have no intuitive feeling about it." Could this be possible?

A) No. Research suggests that he will have made an automatic evaluation of your painting even though he is unfamiliar with abstract art. (He may be out of touch with this automatic evaluation, however.)
B) Yes. Research suggests that people only make automatic evaluations when they are highly familiar with the stimulus category; your uncle will probably need more time to make a conscious opinion.
C) Yes. Research suggests that people only make automatic evaluations of other people-not of stimuli such as paintings. Your uncle will probably need more time to form a conscious opinion of your painting.
D) It is impossible to say; some people form automatic evaluations about everything (and if your uncle is one of these people, then he is lying when he says he has no opinion) , but other people form automatic evaluations only sometimes.