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Priming, also known as the priming effect, is a cognitive bias. It occurs when a person’s exposure to one stimulus influences their response to a subsequent stimulus, without them being aware of the connection. These stimuli are often linked to words or images that people see in their everyday lives. The human brain remembers associations from the past and applies them to present decisions.
Most of us work and live in environments that are not optimised for good decision-making. To illustrate priming in its simplest form, we can look at word association tasks. If you are first shown the word “doctor” and, a moment later, you are given a list of unrelated words, you will recognise “nurse” much faster than “cat”. Your brain subconsciously links the two healthcare workers because they are closely related. In our context, doctors also have a certain authority and status that comes with their profession, and that is how we approach them. Insurance agents, for example, have the opposite experience.
Another example. If you expose someone to the word “yellow”, it will trigger a faster response to the word “banana” than to unrelated words such as “television”. Because the words yellow and banana are more closely linked in memory, people react faster when the second word is presented.
Banana is the very first word most people think of when they hear the word yellow, even though bananas can be other colours too. The banana example is a case of what is known as semantic priming.
Explanation: Semantic priming involves words that are connected in a logical or linguistic way.
One more example: the viral Yanny/Laurel phenomenon from 2018 is one example of how priming can influence the way we perceive information. An internet user uploaded an ambiguous audio clip with a poll asking what people heard. Some people clearly heard “Yanny”, while others clearly heard “Laurel”.
Some people even reported that they could switch between the words they heard. Given the ambiguity of the audio, psychologists assume that people rely on the priming effect to help them decide what they are more likely to hear. In other words, it depends on the context and on what happened before listening.
“In psychology, priming is a technique in which the introduction of one stimulus influences how people respond to a subsequent stimulus. Priming works by activating an association or representation in memory just before another stimulus or task is introduced. Priming suggests that certain schemas tend to be activated in unison. When some units of information are activated, related or connected units are activated as well.”
The priming effect also commonly occurs when you try to remember song lyrics. If the lyrics are unclear and you try to make them out, your brain fills in the missing information as best it can, usually by drawing on information you have memorised through priming. Thanks to the priming effect, you may hear different lyrics from the ones actually being sung.
Priming can have a huge influence on our decisions and behaviour. Studies of this effect have shown that we can behave in all sorts of ways depending on what we have read, watched and heard.
“Priming helps explain why you recall some things faster when you see or hear a closely related concept. This can sometimes help with memory, but it can also sometimes impair your ability to think analytically about unrelated ideas.”
Impact on the mind
In one study, researchers implicitly primed participants with words commonly associated with stereotypes about older people (forgetfulness, slowness, poor health). After leaving the testing booth, the people exposed to words associated with older people walked more slowly than participants who were not in this group.
A study published in the journal Aging and Mental Health found that priming participants with negative stereotypes about ageing led to more negative effects on behaviour and self-evaluation. Priming participants with these negative stereotypes about ageing led to increased feelings of loneliness and a higher frequency of seeking help.
The same can happen with various illnesses. We hear about symptoms linked to a certain illness, and as soon as we have those symptoms, we immediately associate them with that illness, even though 100 other illnesses can have the same symptoms.
Priming and the media
Priming can also work at a systemic level. The media decide which stories we are exposed to and what gets swept under the carpet. They shape our own picture of the world, which often reflects the outlet’s stance or the owner’s interests. We can be influenced by all sorts of opinions that may be not only inaccurate but also harmful. For example, the media play an important role in sustaining or challenging prejudice. Some outlets deliberately suppress news with a possible racial subtext (a group of repeat offenders of Roma origin robbed a petrol station in Most), while others, on the contrary, only pick stories when that subtext is present.
In a study by John Sonett and his colleagues, the researchers examined news coverage of Hurricane Katrina and racially biased reporting during that period. Looking specifically at the combination of visual and verbal cues, the researchers found that major news platforms primed racial stereotypes in their coverage.
Priming in marketing
Priming usually plays an integral role in the marketing campaigns of companies with recognisable brands. The priming effect can be used to shape how people think in order to increase sales. Association and priming are fundamental to corporate branding. Companies can activate or evoke certain associations in consumers’ memory so that they are more receptive to the situation or product the company wants to sell. This process is called the “behavioural pump” and it can significantly influence consumer decisions. It does not matter whether it is digital marketing or marketing in the physical world. Our brain works on the same principles in both environments.
Without realising how the priming effect influences their buying habits, consumers can fall victim to marketing techniques, especially those used by large companies.
In everyday practice, we can find many examples of brand priming. A simple example is a bakery that leaves its front door open so that passers-by can smell the delicious pastries and follow the scent inside.
Colours can also serve as primes, because we form various implicit associations with them. Red is often associated with strong emotions and passion, while blue is associated with a sense of calm. For this reason, activewear brands may choose to use red in their marketing to energise their audience and motivate them to go to the gym. A brand can also be associated with a particular occasion, as Coca-Cola did with Christmas, for example.
