If you use social media you may have been exposed to cognitive priming without realising it. Can you explain how? An issue to consider A1 Cognitive approach Learners must be able to understand and apply knowledge of key concepts to explain aspects of human behaviour, including: ● Cognitive priming, including the role of cognitive scripts and dierent types of priming (repetition, semantic and associative). Specification content A psychologist asked Shazia, Keira and Lennie to read a brief passage and then complete a word task. The passage described the layout of a doctor’s surgery. The task was to complete words with missing letters, e.g. N_ _S_ (NURSE). Other students also completed the word task but did not read the passage rst. 1. Describe the nding you would expect the psychologist to get. (2 marks) 2. Using your knowledge of cognitive priming, explain why you would expect to get this nding. (3 marks) 3. (a) State what is meant by ‘semantic priming’. (1 mark) (b) Give one example of any type of priming from everyday life. (1 mark) 4. Bruno watches a lot of TV cookery shows such as Masterchef. He enjoys seeing the chefs’ skills at work, and also looking at the delicious food. Whenever Bruno watches a show, he cooks himself a big dinner with lots of cream and butter. Explain, using a key concept from cognitive psychology, why Bruno cooks himself a big dinner. (3 marks) 5. Briey evaluate the key concept you used in your previous answer as a way of explaining Bruno’s behaviour. (3 marks) Exam-style questions Key concept 4: Cognitive priming Content area A1: Cognitive approach Evaluation Practical applications One strength is that priming can help us to understand and prevent cognitive causes of obesity. The study by Harris et al. (see facing page) showed that advertising can affect how many snacks people eat because of cognitive priming. Once we understand the effects of priming we may be able to prevent this inuence (or direct the inuence towards healthy eating instead). This means that education and legislation (although politically difficult) could help to prevent obesity. Research support Another strength is that research shows how priming may explain a possible link between video gaming and aggression. In a study by Ingrid Möller and Barbara Krahé (2009), students read a scenario in which someone is accidentally pushed so they spill their drink. Students who frequently played violent video games were much more likely than other students to interpret the push as deliberate. They were also more likely to choose physical aggression as a suitable response. This shows that playing violent video games may prime some people to think and behave aggressively, supporting the concept of associative priming. Lack of replication One weakness of cognitive priming is that it is very difficult to study. This makes it difficult to replicate research ndings. Replication is an important feature of science. If a study is repeated using exactly the same procedure and produces the same nding, then we know that the outcome is not a uke and it is more likely to represent something real. But when researchers replicate priming studies, they oen get different ndings. This suggests that the concept of priming is not scienti c which means we cannot be con dent that the theories are correct. Specification terms Associative priming We process a stimulus more quickly (or recall it more easily) because we earlier encountered a stimulus that is oen paired with it. Cognitive priming We process a stimulus (word, image, object, etc.) more quickly when we see or hear the stimulus (or a related one) rst (the ‘prime’). Cognitive scripts See page 20. Repetition priming We process a stimulus more quickly (or recall it more easily) because we encountered it earlier. Semantic priming We process a stimulus more quickly (or recall it more easily) because we earlier encountered a stimulus related to it in meaning (semantics = meaning). What is cognitive priming? Two examples of cognitive priming are cognitive scripts (see next spread) and different types of priming. When you see or hear one stimulus (the ‘prime’), this affects your response to a later stimulus (you usually process the later stimulus faster). The prime triggers a network of related concepts in memory, so that when the second stimulus occurs, activation is quicker (examples are given below). Cognitive priming occurs below your level of awareness so you do not know your response has been inuenced. Types of cognitive priming Repetition priming When you encounter the prime, you process it more quickly when you see or hear it again later than you otherwise would have done. Example Imagine you overhear the word avocado in someone’s conversation. This word is the prime. If you hear it later that same day (or see the word, or see an actual avocado), you notice (process) it more quickly than you would have done if you had not been primed earlier. Semantic priming ‘Semantic’ refers to two stimuli meaning the same thing or having similar features. You process a stimulus faster because you earlier encountered a prime that was similar in meaning. Example If you see or hear the word computer, it is easier to recognise or recall the word laptop later – you process laptop faster because its meaning is similar to the prime. Associative priming The prime and the later stimulus are associated but not semantically. They may be usually paired together in everyday experience. Example What do you think of when I say sh? There’s a good chance you would think of chips. The two are so oen paired in our culture that they are closely associated in memory (no doubt the image primed you anyway!). If you are exposed to one you are more likely to later recognise or recall the other. An example of how cognitive priming works You can think of cognitive priming as ‘mentally setting you up in advance to behave in a certain way’. Some psychologists believe this could explain how adverts affect our behaviour. Imagine watching TV adverts that promote snacking as fun. The adverts prime you (i.e. in advance, before you actually do anything) to associate snacks with something positive (fun). You then get to eat various snacks – healthy and unhealthy ones – and you eat quite a lot of them. Does this mean the cognitive priming affected your behaviour? Not in itself. We would have to compare you with people who did not see the adverts (or who saw non-foodrelated adverts). Jennifer Harris et al. (2009) investigated this and found that students who were primed by adverts ate more snacks than students who were not primed by adverts. Imagine this Your teacher asks you to carry out a very simple task. All you have to do is unscramble some mixed-up sentences. You get them all right. You leave the classroom thinking, ‘That was too easy. What was it all about?’ You don’t know it, but your teacher isn’t interested in how you did on the task at all. Instead, she’s timing you to see how long it takes you to leave the room. She’s done this with all the students in your class. It turns out you walked a lot slower to leave the room than some of your classmates did. Why? There could be many reasons, but here’s an interesting fact. All of the students did the same task, but there were two versions. In one version, some of the words in the sentences related to being old (bingo, retired, wrinkled, etc.). In the other version the words were neutral (thirsty, clean, private, etc.). Guess what? You got the ‘old’ version. Like you, all your classmates who got the old version were also slower to leave the room. Sounds hard to believe? John Bargh and his colleagues (1996) did this experiment and got this exact finding. Sabiha and Imy Sabiha’s friends all watch the popular series Game of Thrones, so she decided to read about it and watch an episode. By the end of the day, she had seen or heard the word ‘throne’ in lots of different places – in overheard conversations, on Instagram, even in her college textbooks. 1. What type of cognitive priming is this? 2. Describe another type of priming that Sabiha might have experienced. Imy went to the surgery to see her doctor for a check-up. Afterwards, on the bus journey home, she realised the two people in front of her were nurses. Imy also remembered she needed to buy some paracetamol. 3. Identify this type of cognitive priming and explain how it works in Imy’s case. ACTIVE GET Cognitive priming could help us to understand how viewing screenbased adverts, vlogs and programmes affect our behaviour. Does watching violent programmes prime us to be more aggressive? Does a ‘diet’ of food adverts prime us to eat more? Making links to the key assumptions Assumption: The brain can be compared to a computer Priming is a good example of how the computer analogy works. For example, in repetition priming: the prime is the input; triggering of related concepts is the processing; recognising the same stimulus quicker next time is the output. Assumption: Behaviour is a product of information processing Explain how cognitive priming relates to this assumption (see page 10). 18 19 Unit 1: Psychological approaches and applications Special note Each evaluation point is divided into three PET paragraphs because this is a great way to ensure you explain your point well: 1. Point State the Point simply. 2. Elaboration The point is now Explained, using Evidence and/or Examples. 3. This/Therefore … Finish with a conclusion o¡en beginning ‘This suggests’ or ‘This shows’ or ‘Therefore …’. That’s your PET-friendly evaluation. What are assessment objectives? At the end of your studies you hope to have gained a quali cation – this means someone has to assess your work. To assist this process there are three assessment objectives (AOs): AO1, AO2 and AO3. The course is designed so you can include all these AOs in what you learn. Each involves different skills: • AO1 involves reporting the knowledge coherently and including key terminology (details). • AO2 involves application skills (see right). • AO3 involves using PET skills (see top of page). Application Assessment objective 2 (AO2) is concerned with being able to apply your psychological knowledge and understanding. Many of the topics you study are applied and therefore involve AO2. On each spread there is a ‘Get active’ which gives you a chance to practise this AO2 skill of application. ‘Making links to the key assumptions’ helps you to understand how the key concepts relate to the assumptions for each approach. Description Assessment objective 1 (AO1) is concerned with your ability to report detailed descriptions of psychological knowledge and demonstrate your understanding of this knowledge. We have generally presented the AO1 material just on the le -hand side of each spread, though sometimes it is on both sides. Evaluation Assessment objective 3 (AO3) is concerned with your ability to evaluate (assess, analyse, etc.) the assumptions and concepts you have learned about. On most spreads in this book we have presented some AO3 material on the right-hand side. Some topics don’t require evaluation so there isn’t any on the spread. Exam-style questions Questions similar to those in the exam provide some exam practice. In Unit 2 these boxes are called Assessment practice, and aim to help you practise skills for writing your internally-assessed reports. Speci cation terms We have de ned the terms in the speci cation box for this spread. Other terms are de ned in the index/glossary starting on page 146. Speci cation content Tells you what you are required to study on this topic. An issue to consider An opportunity to re ect on the issues discussed on the spread. A beginning Each spread begins with something we hope will grab your interest – it represents the nub of the topic to be studied on the spread. 5 Copyright: Sample material
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