The hidden priming power of words and numbers

Our latest article to be published is the first in a new three part series on the behavioural science concept of priming, entitled 'The Power of Priming'.

Priming is when our brains make unconscious connections to our memory so that exposure to a prime increases the accessibility of information already existing in the memory.

In this three-part series, published by The Marketing Society, we will look at some of the latest understanding around the incredible power of priming: how tiny cues and stimuli around us can subconsciously affect our behaviour.

Yes, there has been some doubt about the robustness and replication of priming effects recently which clearly need further investigation, but nevertheless it is an effect we should pay attention to.

In Part I, we explore the latest understanding and thinking around the hidden priming power of words and numbers. Words and numbers were some of the first cues discovered by social scientists to prime our behaviour. More recently, researchers have also found evidence that even the sound associations of particular words can prime our response.

You can read our first article in the series here: 'The hidden priming power of words and numbers''.

In part II we will look at 'The hidden potential of sensory priming' and finally, in part III 'How simple physical actions can also prime what we do, think and feel'. Parts II and III will be published in next two months.

Each article highlights why it's essential to think about priming in a structured way in order to maximise the opportunities for both understanding behaviour and effecting behaviour change. As Philip Graves notes "Companies have much to gain from recognising the role and nature of the unconscious mind in consumer behaviour."