Words are pre-loaded with meaning. They can influence us.
This is sometimes called the ‘stereotype activation’ or priming. We all agree that to stay young, we have to think young or be young in our head, right? A study on ‘Automaticity of Social Behaviour’ and published by John A. Bargh, Mark Chen and Lara Burros on line at Yale University site, shows that if you give a test to students where they read many words linked to old age, they will walk slower when leaving the testing room than the other students. These words can be as simple as old, grey, lonely, bingo or wrinkle. Just by reading words associated with age, students begun to walk slower, just as elderly people would.
This is priming.
So keep an eye on what you hear or read… and don’t get primed!
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