Priming

Misconception vs. Truth

Misconception:
You know when you are being influenced and how it is affecting your behavior.

Truth:
You are unaware of the constant nudging you receive from ideas formed in your unconscious mind.

Highway Hypnosis

  • The phenomenon of "highway hypnosis" describes dissociation during repetitive tasks, like driving, where the conscious and unconscious minds work in parallel.
  • Consciousness can drift, allowing the body to perform tasks automatically while the mind wanders.

Science on Unconscious Influence

  • Wash Away Guilt Experiment: Chen-Bo Zhong and Katie Liljenquist showed that washing hands can reduce feelings of guilt and influence behavior unconsciously.
  • Cultural Associations: Cleanliness and purity versus filth and grime trigger subconscious associations that impact behavior.

Concept of Priming

  • Definition: Priming is when a past stimulus affects behavior and perceptions of later stimuli.
  • Neural Network Activation: Every perception sets off a chain of related ideas in your brain.

Studies and Examples of Priming

  1. Ultimatum Game Experiment:

    • Conducted by Aaron Kay, Christian Wheeler, John Bargh, and Lee Ross.
    • People exposed to business-related images acted more competitively and greedily in a money-split task, compared to those exposed to neutral images.
    • Exposure to objects like briefcases and fountain pens further influenced competitive behavior.

  2. Smell Priming Study:

    • Hank Aarts found that the smell of cleaning products increased the likelihood of participants cleaning up after themselves.

  3. Sports Drink Visual Priming:

    • Ron Friedman observed that seeing sports drink bottles (without drinking them) increased physical endurance in tasks.

Mechanism and Impact of Priming

  • Unconscious Processing: Priming operates through the adaptive unconscious, which handles automatic processing and influences behavior without conscious awareness.
  • Two Minds: The rational mind handles conscious, complex tasks, while the emotional brain processes complex, familiar operations efficiently.

The Complexity of Decision-Making

  • Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Influence: Conscious decisions (top-down) influence emotions, but unconscious priming (bottom-up) can subtly guide behavior.
  • Awareness and Rationalization: People often rationalize their behavior without realizing the subconscious primes at play.

Practical Implications

  • Unconscious Influence in Everyday Life: Objects, smells, and symbols around you can subtly affect your decisions and actions.
  • Priming in Advertising and Environment:
    • Businesses use priming in advertising to nudge consumer behavior.
    • Environmental priming can create conducive or adverse mental states.

Strategies for Reducing Unconscious Influence

  • Being aware of the power of priming can help you create environments that positively influence your behavior.
  • Examples:
    • Use a grocery list to avoid impulse buys.
    • Maintain a clean, organized personal space to encourage positive habits.