There’s Nothing Social about Social Priming: Derailing the “Train Wreck”

Abstract

Failures to replicate high-profile priming effects have raised questions about the reliability of so-called “social priming” phenomena. However, not only are many of the relevant studies not particularly social in nature, but other robust priming effects that are clearly social in nature do not count as social priming. Most importantly, the focus on the supposedly social aspect of the work has obscured factors that help to account for the relative reliability of priming effects. Here, we examine the construct of social priming, describe some simple demonstrations on the role of experimental design in priming reproducibility, and discuss future avenues for building a better understanding of priming. We conclude that the term “social priming” should be laid to rest, and that it is time to move past arguments about the reliability of specific effects and shift our energy to building theories that help us better understand the mechanisms underlying priming effects.

Keywords:

• Priming
• social priming
• train wreck

Acknowledgement

Preparation of this manuscript was partially supported by an Anneliese Maier Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to JWS.

Notes

1 We use the term “social priming” in recognition of the popular usage of the term. We put quotation marks around the term to indicate our belief that the construct, as used, has no meaning. Wherever we include the term, readers should assume the quotation marks if they are not provided.

2 We use the term “almost exclusively” to acknowledge the fact that we are not familiar with every relevant published study. However, we are not aware of any studies consensually regarded as social priming that use a within-subjects design.

3 We recognize that not everyone considers the Stroop effect to be a priming effect. We believe that it meets the definition in that it captures the unintended influence of a stimulus on associated behavior (i.e., the word and its ink color). Some have argued that the Stroop Task is not a priming task because there is no gap between prime (word meaning) and target (color naming). That is, there is an SOA of 0. However, other priming effects are sometimes implemented with an SOA of 0 (e.g., Gawronski & Ye, 2014; Musch & Klauer, 1997). As well, researchers have implemented SOAs greater than zero (essentially turning Stroop into a sequential priming task) to examine Stroop effects (Glaser & Glaser, 1982; Logan, 1980). In any case, whether you agree that Stroop is priming or not, the methodological point is unchanged.

4 Kahneman eventually came to recognize the problem as one of statistical power (2017). However, he did not correct the public record with respect to the “social” component of “social priming.”