The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway.

Abstract

The present research suggests that biased interpersonal perceptions can mediate prime-to-behavior effects and introduces a new moderator for when such mediation will occur. Across 5 experiments, the authors provide evidence that priming effects on behavior in interpersonal contexts are mediated by social perceptions, but only when participants are focused on the other person. These effects occur when other-focus is primed (Experiment 1), when other-focus is high owing to the decision-making situation (Experiment 2), and when other-focus is dispositionally high (Experiment 3). Experiments 4 and 5 bring additional support for a biased perception account by ruling out an alternative behavior-perception link and showing that other-focus can moderate not only the mediating mechanism of prime-to-behavior effects but also the behavioral effects themselves. The implications of these results for increasing understanding of behavioral priming effects in rich social contexts are discussed.

From Primed Construct to Motivated Behavior

“…That is, although our results are consistent with a goal priming effect (Loersch et al, 2008), they could also be caused by the direct influence of a prime on behavior (Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996;Loersch & Payne, 2012), or the indirect influence of primes on behavior through shifts in self-perceptions (DeMarree, Wheeler, & Petty, 2005), situational perceptions (Kay & Ross, 2003), or perceptions of participants' ostensible interaction partner (Smeesters, Wheeler, & Kay, 2009; for reviews, see Loersch & Payne, 2011;Smeesters, Wheeler, & Kay, 2010;Wheeler & DeMarree, 2009). …”

“…This is because these models posit that an activated construct can guide a range of different judgments and behaviors (see also Bargh, 2006), but that the precise effect of the prime is determined by a range of contextual features, such as which targets (e.g., oneself, another person) are most salient (e.g., DeMarree & Loersch, 2009;Kay et al, 2008;Smeesters et al, 2009). Based on these models, primed concepts act as information that can help a person to figure out an appropriate judgment or response in a given situation.…”

The effects of priming legal concepts on perceived trust and competitiveness, self-interested attitudes, and competitive behavior

“…Indeed, Smeesters, Wheeler, and Kay (2009) recently highlighted the important role perceptions of interpersonal others play in prime-to-behavior effects. In Study 5, we did not assess participants' perceptions of how trustworthy the other -participant‖ was.…”

Culture modifies the operation of prime-to-behavior effects

“…When a target requires interpretation, accessible constructs serve as inputs that can bias resulting perceptions. For example, being primed with competitiveness can lead one to perceive an ambiguous target as more competitive (Smeesters, Wheeler, and Kay, 2009). The effect of construct accessibility on person perceptions is observed primarily when the target is ambiguous, because it is these targets that require interpretation.…”

“…Recent research has highlighted the role that perceptions of others and of the situation can play in determining the outcome of prime-to-behavior effects. In one illustrative study (e.g., Smeesters, Wheeler, and Kay, 2009), people who were primed with unkindness before playing a reciprocal dictator game (1) perceived their partner to be more unkind, and (2) allocated less to that person (due to their perceptions of that person being unkind). Perceptions of situational norms can also mediate the effects of primes on choices in economic games (Kay and Ross, 2003).…”