How Words Can Shape Our Actions

The science behind the priming effect and how we can use it to our advantage.

Have you ever noticed how certain words can immediately change your mood?
Or how reading something can subtly influence your behavior?

You might consciously try to control your actions, but beneath the surface, your brain is responding to cues you're not even aware of.

When I first read about this experiment on Daniel Kanheman’s “Thinking Fast and Slow” I was simply amazed.

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🥼 The Experiment

Researchers at NYU conducted a fascinating study on what psychologists call the "priming effect".

They divided students into two groups, giving each a set of five words to form sentences:

To form the sentences, one group had to choose from a set of words that contained words usually associated with elderly people 👴, such as:

• "forgetful"

• "bald"

• "grey"

• "wrinkle"

• “bingo”

The other group had age-neutral words.

After completing this simple task, participants were told to walk down the hall to another office for the next experiment.

That short walk from one experiment to another was the real experiment.

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🔬 Key Findings

The group that had created sentences using elderly-related words 👴 walked down the hallway significantly more slowly than the others.

Yes, you read that right.

Just being exposed to words related to old age actually made young, healthy college students move more slowly.

And the participants had no idea they were being influenced. When asked, none of them noticed anything unusual about their walking pace.

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🧠 How priming works

This is called the priming effect.

Priming happens when something you see or experience affects how you react to something else later, without you even realizing it.

This can be triggered by words or images you encounter in your everyday life, and it works through your unconscious mind.

Here's the simple two-step process:

1. The elderly-related words prime (i.e. activate) thoughts of old age

2. These thoughts then prime a behavior (walking slowly) associated with old age

This mental mechanism is completely automatic and happens without our awareness or permission.

Priming demonstrates how easily external stimuli can shape our actions, often without leaving any trace in conscious memory.

Great example of how priming effect works.

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🔦 The influence of priming in our daily life

Think about what this means for our everyday experiences:

• Reading news about economic uncertainty might make us more hesitant to make purchases.

• Being exposed to words related to success before a meeting could boost our performance.

• Seeing images of unhealthy food could trigger cravings and break our diet plans.

• The language in our social media feed might be influencing our mood and energy levels.

All of this happens automatically, with no conscious awareness on your part.

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💪 Use priming to our advantage

However, once we understand how priming works, we can actually use it to our benefit. This can be done by:

1. Creating a positive environment

   Surround yourself with words, images, and messages aligned with your goals. For example, if you want to be more productive, keep productivity-related words visible in your workspace.

2. Being mindful of your media diet

   The content you consume is constantly priming your thoughts and behaviors. Choose carefully.

3. Priming yourself before important events

   Before interviews or presentations, spend a few minutes reading content related to confidence, intelligence, and success.

4. Using positive self-talk

   The words you say to yourself matter as much as external stimuli. For example, replace "I'm so stressed" with "I'm feeling challenged but capable". Science says it works pretty well¹.

5. Always being experimenting

   We are all different, so it’s good to try your own priming experiments and observe how different words affect your mood and behavior.

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If you enjoyed this, you might love this one:

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See you all next Sunday 🗓️
Thanks,
Giacomo

1. For example, a 2020 Iranian study suggested that self-talk affected how people coped with anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, a 2019 study found that when students recited a self-affirming statement before delivering a speech or presentation, they experienced less performance anxiety than students who did not.