Priming psychology: How does it actually work?
Priming is very interesting because it makes you look at the world with a certain frame of mind. This can cause you to already be a bit guided in thinking of a solution to a problem and then you already look for a solution in a certain direction
What does priming mean?
Priming is influencing behavior with unconscious subtle cues. For example, the word sister is recognized faster after the word doctor than the word bread.
It makes you think in a certain direction. This priming can be done with visual cues or with signals in the language of someone who wants to prim the other person.
Priming can be reinforced by repeating cues. It’s no coincidence that “the power of repetition” is a term popular among teachers and marketers.
A great example of priming
A great example of priming is a study where people were divided into two groups and read a text about a fictional city. This fictional city suffered from crime. In one text, that crime was described as a virus and in the other text as an animal.
The two groups were then asked to come up with a solution to the problem. The group that had been given the text with about the virus thought mainly in preventive measures, as you would with a disease. In contrast, the group that had been given the text about the beast thought more about punishment and the like.
Even six months later, that was still how they thought about the problems.
So priming can have a quick effect and this effect can last for a long time.
It’s really important to be aware of this, because later in life you may be affected by stereotype activation through priming. For example, there is a stereotype that older people are slower than younger people. If older people receive subtle cues from their environment about these kinds of expectations, they are often able to resist them. However, if people are heavily primed on old age and its consequences, older people will still perform worse than younger people[1]. When you’re aware of this, you’re better able to resist it.
This is interesting to think about.
How do you get primed?
Many factors exist for this; we are all constantly primed. If you think you can't be influenced, you are often actually a plaything, because you don't even want to recognize your blind spot. So then you are not always aware of it.
But we are thus constantly being influenced.
You might get angry or emotional when you read a story about a family tragedy. You might not experience those emotions, but you’ll still be influenced. For example, you might become more afraid of society or start to distrust people more, because you’ve been primed to believe that such a tragedy could happen.
That consistency is there, so watch out which makes you primed.
The effect of priming has also been studied with test-taking. When those tests are administered in a room with pictures of famous smart people, such as Einstein, students perform on average 15 to 20 percent better on the test than when there are just some pictures hanging in the room.
Even with medication, if you get one, it works. Because there are active ingredients in it, but then you have to have read what makes the medicine. If someone says "this is a painkiller" you believe it more and the pill works better. Does someone with a white doctor's coat say something like this, then it works even better. This is all priming (as well as the placebo effect).
Things you read and hear prim you for your next thought and decision. This is why it is so important to do the right things in the morning.
Consciously priming yourself in the morning
You can primp yourself in the morning by reading something inspiring. This will have an immediate effect on the rest of your day. So be sure to primp yourself properly.
When you start your day with a news roundup, it is often negative priming. In fact, most news consists of misery, which can make for miserable decisions during the rest of your day.
So make sure you always start your morning with something positive such as:
You can still do your news roundup afterwards, because you'll be primed differently by that intentional action beforehand anyway than if you just did your standard news roundup.
Try starting your day with one of these four things for two weeks and see how much effect it has on the rest of your day.
I even recommend watching the news as little as possible, because doing so can increase your fears and cause you to become more distrustful.
My own theory is that many people may be depressed because of all this negative news. This wouldn’t surprise me at all, but it’s just my own theory.
Be sure to listen to this podcast as well:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/195236/1212218-ik-hou-van-je-ik-haat-je
Breaking social priming
Social priming is the priming you unconsciously receive from your environment. As a child, your parents are constantly priming you. Do you have smoking parents? Then this makes it more likely that you too will smoke.
Social priming means that you are primed to display certain characteristics or character traits, for example. For example, you conform to stereotypes, such as being smart if you have glasses on or stupid if you have blond hair. You may even begin to pursue certain goals - such as becoming rich - through social priming.
In addition, priming can also cause you to look at people in a certain way. Blond women are more likely to be considered unintelligent, and people wearing glasses are more likely to be more intelligent (than they may be).
An American study found that people who had seen images of dark-skinned men had a stronger sense of the stereotypical black man (unfortunately, that is criminal and dangerous) and therefore behaved more defensively or aggressively toward them.
Primen could also influence whether you felt you belonged or not, that you therefore belong to a certain group, and whether you experience a lot or less power, and even your mindset whether you go for growth or maintaining a certain level of security, for example.
Scientists even wonder if priming can provide anchoring beyond people's consciousness.
Priming therefore influences your self-image and how you judge it.
By being aware of how some cues prime you to react in a certain way, you can already do all sorts of things to break the priming[2].
You can also consciously primp yourself, for example, with hypnosis. For example, you can consciously anchor certain feelings with certain movements, ensuring that you feel good at times when you need to.
You'll learn exactly how this works in the training.
For example, if you are aware that you often do something you would rather not do, hypnosis can help you change this unconscious and unwanted behavior.
Through regression, you can determine when you were first conditioned to handle situations in a certain way. Think, for example, of staying silent instead of standing up for yourself or making a joke when you’re actually very angry.
During regression, you go back to that moment, to the trigger of a particular priming that created a belief. Then, using your current knowledge, you revisit this moment. Was it something you saw or something someone said? What explanations can you find for that moment now that allow you to interpret the moment completely differently?
This different interpretation causes your beliefs to change because you are actually re-priming yourself, thus breaking the old priming.
How to do this you will learn during the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands training program.
In addition, you can still primp yourself in the morning, as I recommended earlier in this blog.
For example, you can also start your morning with affirmations such as:
"The world is beautiful."
"People want the best."
"I'm good."
These are just examples; depending on what you want to achieve or change, a hypnotherapist can offer you other suggestions to start your day.
Want to know if you can hypnotize others or yourself? Then join the free online masterclass.
Would you like to learn more about hypnosis, gain more experience, and see hypnotherapy in action? Then come to a seminar on hypnosis.
Would you like to get started right away to help yourself or others with hypnotic priming? Then sign up for one of our training programs.
Also pin this handy infographic as a reminder:
Sources:
[1] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-18155-013
[2] https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1521/soco.2014.32.supp.1