TITLE:
Subliminal Priming of Motivation Magnitude
AUTHORS:
Fabian Steinberg, Otmar Bock, Sebastian Dern
KEYWORDS:
Semantic Priming; Subliminal Priming; Motivation; Conceptual Priming
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.11,
November
22,
2013
ABSTRACT: Word primes have been successfully used in
the past to facilitate the processing of other words (semantic priming), but
also to modify mental states such as emotion, cognition and motivation
(conceptual priming). This work documented that the direction of motivational drive can be successfully changed, but
left open whether its magnitude can
be influenced as well. To find out, we asked subjects to point at subliminally
presented (30 ms) words that denoted low motivation (13 subjects) or high
motivation (13 subjects). Afterwards, subjects completed a questionnaire of
learning-specific motivation. No effect of priming was found for pointing
parameters such as reaction time, but an effect emerged for self-assessed motivation
level. The subject group primed with high-motivation words rated their
motivation higher than the group primed with low-motivation words. The results
indicate that not only the direction, but also the level of motivation can be
manipulated subliminally, and supports the view that motivation can influence
behavior without actor’s explicit knowledge.