Infosplitter Science – Priming

Have you heard about priming? Priming defines the often unconscious activation of memory schemata, which influences behaviour and experience. It sounds more complicated than it is…

John Bargh assigned students to write an essay about “Golden Aging” in California. Afterwards he measured how fast the students walked through the hallway and how many names of books they were able to memorise. You guessed it – they walked slower and managed to memorise less than their fellow students.

Edwin Locke, famous for his goal-setting-theory, didn’t believe in the priming studies and thus examined it empirically on his own. At this year’s APA in Toronto (2015) he talked about the amazement that it does work: Smileys on invoices increase customer satisfaction, pictures of competitive athletes increase the success of call centres or small pictures of a brain hidden in an presentation promote the belief in the expertise of the author … have a go ;-)