The present studies tested the idea that consistently pairing an attitude object with positive or negative words would colour subsequent thoughts and judgements about the object. The results of the first experiment revealed that countries were judged to possess more favourable economic conditions after pairing country names with positive as opposed to negative words. The second experiment replicated the findings of the first, and revealed a tendency to produce thoughts about the attitude obje***ct that were congruent with the valence of previously paired associates. These studies demonstrate that repeated association can have implications for subsequent, seemingly unrelated, assessments of an attitude object.