Priming

PrimingGroup 73: Andrew Vizzerra, Dakota Drummond, Gregory Coles, Shane Padilla

IntroductionImplicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences responses to a later stimulusPsychological mechanism that can train a persons memory in both positive and negative waysCan affect behavior and cognition using stimulus exposure of all kinds

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.

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Verbal Priming

S _ _ P

Fill in the blanks to form the first word that comes to mind3

VERBAL PRIMING

SOAP

In most cases, pictures related to a bathroom prime the mind to think of the word soap4

VERBAL PRIMING

S _ _ P

In an identical test, participants exposed to pictures related to a kitchen most often thought of a different word5

VERBAL PRIMING

SOUP

The pictures present prior to or during a test such as this can influence a persons mind to think of a word closely related to the images6

BEHAVIORAL PRIMING

Exposure to images or phrases associated to a certain stereotypecan unconsciously illicit the given behavior

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.7

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

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. 8

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, dont say blue)Red (Say blue, dont say red)Yellow (Say red, dont say yellow)

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.9