Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?

The perspective that behavior is often driven by unconscious determinants has become widespread in social psychology. Bargh, Chen, and Burrows' (1996) famous study, in which participants unwittingly exposed to the stereotype of age walked slower when exiting the laboratory, was instrumental in...

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Autores principales: Stéphane Doyen, Olivier Klein, Cora-Lise Pichon, Axel Cleeremans
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/70047cdc408c4ad690d1aaec0578c9f0
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:70047cdc408c4ad690d1aaec0578c9f02021-11-18T07:30:00ZBehavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0029081https://doaj.org/article/70047cdc408c4ad690d1aaec0578c9f02012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22279526/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The perspective that behavior is often driven by unconscious determinants has become widespread in social psychology. Bargh, Chen, and Burrows' (1996) famous study, in which participants unwittingly exposed to the stereotype of age walked slower when exiting the laboratory, was instrumental in defining this perspective. Here, we present two experiments aimed at replicating the original study. Despite the use of automated timing methods and a larger sample, our first experiment failed to show priming. Our second experiment was aimed at manipulating the beliefs of the experimenters: Half were led to think that participants would walk slower when primed congruently, and the other half was led to expect the opposite. Strikingly, we obtained a walking speed effect, but only when experimenters believed participants would indeed walk slower. This suggests that both priming and experimenters' expectations are instrumental in explaining the walking speed effect. Further, debriefing was suggestive of awareness of the primes. We conclude that unconscious behavioral priming is real, while real, involves mechanisms different from those typically assumed to cause the effect.Stéphane DoyenOlivier KleinCora-Lise PichonAxel CleeremansPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 1, p e29081 (2012)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Stéphane Doyen
Olivier Klein
Cora-Lise Pichon
Axel Cleeremans
Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?
description The perspective that behavior is often driven by unconscious determinants has become widespread in social psychology. Bargh, Chen, and Burrows' (1996) famous study, in which participants unwittingly exposed to the stereotype of age walked slower when exiting the laboratory, was instrumental in defining this perspective. Here, we present two experiments aimed at replicating the original study. Despite the use of automated timing methods and a larger sample, our first experiment failed to show priming. Our second experiment was aimed at manipulating the beliefs of the experimenters: Half were led to think that participants would walk slower when primed congruently, and the other half was led to expect the opposite. Strikingly, we obtained a walking speed effect, but only when experimenters believed participants would indeed walk slower. This suggests that both priming and experimenters' expectations are instrumental in explaining the walking speed effect. Further, debriefing was suggestive of awareness of the primes. We conclude that unconscious behavioral priming is real, while real, involves mechanisms different from those typically assumed to cause the effect.
format article
author Stéphane Doyen
Olivier Klein
Cora-Lise Pichon
Axel Cleeremans
author_facet Stéphane Doyen
Olivier Klein
Cora-Lise Pichon
Axel Cleeremans
author_sort Stéphane Doyen
title Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?
title_short Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?
title_full Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?
title_fullStr Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?
title_full_unstemmed Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?
title_sort behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate 2012
url https://doaj.org/article/70047cdc408c4ad690d1aaec0578c9f0
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