Can priming influence also longer held beliefs? I would suppose that since people usually dislike to change their mind, it becomes extremely important where they learn first about particular facts. For example it would be probably beneficial if children were first informed about evolution during some school excursion in a hi-tech laboratory, as opposed to during church sermon (even if the information were the same).
I am not a psychologist, but every time I’ve come across priming it has been presented as a short-term phenomenon caused by temporary brain activation. I don’t think what you’re describing could be called priming.
But I have heard of some results along those lines. For example, if you learn something in for example a classroom, you are more likely to remember it on a test given in a classroom than in (for example) a church, and vice versa (link to study). And this even generalizes to people who learn something in a red room recalling it better in other red places (link to study) That makes effects like the one you describe sound possible, though I don’t know of any studies of it directly.
What I have been thinking about was, given that priming influences decisions made not much long after the stimulus, whether it can also influence beliefs. When you first encounter a proposition you usually sort it into the categories of believed or disbelieved statements, and it can be viewed as a special type of decision. I admit that whether beliefs formed under the influence of priming wouldn’t revert in the long term is a different question.
A related question is: Do people later regret their decisions more often if they made them under priming? I know that people are unaware of being primed, but could somehow realise that their decision was wrong. Is there some study about this aspect?
For example, if you learn something in for example a classroom, you are more likely to remember it on a test given in a classroom than in (for example) a church, and vice versa (link to study). And this even generalizes to people who learn something in a red room recalling it better in other red places (link to study)
Most mentions of that study I’ve heard in meatspace concluded with “Thus, I’m going to study while drunk, and to take the exam while drunk.”
Can priming influence also longer held beliefs? I would suppose that since people usually dislike to change their mind, it becomes extremely important where they learn first about particular facts. For example it would be probably beneficial if children were first informed about evolution during some school excursion in a hi-tech laboratory, as opposed to during church sermon (even if the information were the same).
I am not a psychologist, but every time I’ve come across priming it has been presented as a short-term phenomenon caused by temporary brain activation. I don’t think what you’re describing could be called priming.
But I have heard of some results along those lines. For example, if you learn something in for example a classroom, you are more likely to remember it on a test given in a classroom than in (for example) a church, and vice versa (link to study). And this even generalizes to people who learn something in a red room recalling it better in other red places (link to study) That makes effects like the one you describe sound possible, though I don’t know of any studies of it directly.
What I have been thinking about was, given that priming influences decisions made not much long after the stimulus, whether it can also influence beliefs. When you first encounter a proposition you usually sort it into the categories of believed or disbelieved statements, and it can be viewed as a special type of decision. I admit that whether beliefs formed under the influence of priming wouldn’t revert in the long term is a different question.
A related question is: Do people later regret their decisions more often if they made them under priming? I know that people are unaware of being primed, but could somehow realise that their decision was wrong. Is there some study about this aspect?
Most mentions of that study I’ve heard in meatspace concluded with “Thus, I’m going to study while drunk, and to take the exam while drunk.”