Impact of priming on social judgment: a study on optimistic cognitions

Abstract

Objectives: Two experiments were held to test whether activation of the optimistic construct would facilitate the use of that construct in a subsequent impression formation task.

Methods: The subjects were undergraduate students who participated in the study for course requirements. Participants were primed with a computer program (with time constraint) in the first experiment and with a worksheet (without time constraint) in the second experiment. Then, they completed the ambiguous test to assess the priming effect.

Results: Priming effect was found only in the second experiment. Optimistic constructs were more accessible if sufficient processing time was given and when the subjects were not aware of the relation between the priming task and the social judgment task.

Discussion: Consistent with previous research, this study has shown that conceptual priming affects not only behavioral judgments, but it also alters motivation, behavior, and emotion. Thus, optimistic behavior and motivation may be activated when the accessibility of the optimistic construct increases, and this has been shown to have beneficial effect on health.