2. Introduction
Implicit memory effect in which exposure to a
stimulus influences responses to a later stimulus
Psychological mechanism that can train a person’s
memory in both positive and negative ways
Can affect behavior and cognition using stimulus
exposure of all kinds
7. BEHAVIORAL PRIMING
Exposure to images
or phrases
associated to a
certain stereotype
can unconsciously
illicit the given
behavior
8. MORAL PRIMING
Studies show that
people tend to give
more money to an
“honesty box” when
they appear to be
watched by a picture of
eyes as opposed to a
picture of flowers
9. NEGATIVE PRIMING
Think of the color of the word, not what the
word says.
List B negatively primes the mind. The
word listed matches the color of the next
word. This primes the mind to not say the
next word in the list and slows reaction
time.
Ex:
Blue (Say green, don’t say blue)
Red (Say blue, don’t say red)
Yellow (Say red, don’t say yellow)
Editor's Notes
Priming is the implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus. It is a technique in psychology used to prime the mind both in positive and negative ways.
Priming can affect behavior and cognition in many different ways by using the principles of stimulus exposure.
Fill in the blanks to form the first word that comes to mind
In most cases, pictures related to a bathroom prime the mind to think of the word soap
In an identical test, participants exposed to pictures related to a kitchen most often thought of a different word
The pictures present prior to or during a test such as this can influence a person’s mind to think of a word closely related to the images
A study was done that primed participants with images and words related to the elderly, such as gray and wrinkle. They were secretly timed exiting the room where they walked down a 32 ft. Hallway. Although somewhat controversial, it was revealed that those primed with thoughts of the elderly walked slower than those who were not primed. This shows how priming can influence physical behavior as well as cognition.
In an office setting, an “honesty box” was placed near the coffee table where workers could pay for the coffee they consumed. A suggested price list was listed with a new image posted above the price list every week for 10 weeks. The images alternated between flowers and human eyes. A consistent trend was produced that shows that when being “watched” by the eyes, staff paid almost three times as much for the coffee as when they saw the images of flowers.
There are methods of negatively priming the mind to produce slower reaction times as opposed to faster reactions or responses. List A provides a task unrelated to priming, while list B uses the same task that includes a negative stimulus. The goal is to say the color of the text of each word instead of reading what the word actually says. List B primes the mind not to say the next word in the list and slows reaction time by having each color that is not supposed to be said precede the following word in the list.
For example, blue is the first word in the list but it is not supposed to be said because the text color is green. However, the correct answer to the next word is blue. The mind attempts to block you from saying the color but immediately changes and attempts to say the color that was blocked.
