A. Dijksterhuis et A. Vanknippenberg, THE RELATION BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND BEHAVIOR, OR HOW TO WIN A GAME OFTRIVIAL PURSUIT, Journal of personality and social psychology, 74(4), 1998, pp. 865-877
The authors tested and confirmed the hypothesis that priming a stereot
ype or trait leads to complex overt behavior in line with this activat
ed stereotype or trait. Specifically, 4 experiments established that p
riming the stereotype of professors or the trait intelligent enhanced
participants' performance on a scale measuring general knowledge. Also
, priming the stereotype of soccer hooligans or the trait stupid reduc
ed participants' performance on a general knowledge scale. Results of
the experiments revealed (a) that prolonged priming leads to more pron
ounced behavioral effects and (b) that there is no sign of decay of th
e effects for at least 15 min. The authors explain their results by cl
aiming that perception has a direct and pervasive impact on Evert beha
vior (cf. J. A. Bargh, M. Chen, & L. Burrows, 1996). Implications for
human social behavior are discussed.