Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS FEATURE

What’s next for psychology’s embattled field of social priming

A promising field of research on social behaviour struggled after investigators couldn’t repeat key findings. Now researchers are trying to establish what’s worth saving.
  1. Tom Chivers

    1. Tom Chivers is a science journalist based in London.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Illustration by Karol Banach

Three years ago, a team of psychologists challenged 180 students with a spatial puzzle. The students could ask for a hint if they got stuck. But before the test, the researchers introduced some subtle interventions to see whether these would have any effect.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 576, 200-202 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03755-2

References

  1. Rohrer, D., Pashler, H. & Harris, C. R. Basic Appl. Social Psychol. 41, 263–271 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Vohs, K. H., Meade N. L. & Goode, M. R. J. Science 314, 1154–1156 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Dijksterhuis, A. & van Knippenberg, A. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 74, 865–877 (1998).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Lee, S. W. S. & Schwarz, N. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 103, 737–749 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Bargh, J. A., Chen, M. & Burrows, L. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 71, 230–244 (1996).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Bem, D. J. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 100, 407–425 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Simmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D. & Simonsohn, U. Psychol. Sci. 22, 1359–1366 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Doyen, S., Klein, O., Pichon, C-L. & Cleeremans, A. PLoS ONE 7, e29081 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Caruso, E. M., Vohs, K. D., Baxter, B. & Waytz, A. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 142, 301–306 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Gilder, T. S. E. & Heerey, E. A. Psychol. Sci. 29, 403–417 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Lodder, P., Ong, H. H., Grasman, R. P. P. P. & Wicherts, J. M. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 148, 688–712 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Papies, E. K. Health Psychol. Rev. 10, 408–424 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Weingarten, E. et al. Psychol. Bull. 142, 472–497 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Wang, Y. & Hamilton, A. Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci. 10, 486–493 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Williams, L. E. & Bargh, J. A. Science 322, 606–607 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Chabris, C. F., Heck, P. R., Mandart, J., Benjamin, D. J. & Simons, D. J. Soc. Psychol. 50, 127–132 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Stajkovic, A. D., Latham, G. P., Sergent, K. & Peterson, S. J. J. Bus. Psychol. 34, 791–802 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links