How To Prime 101

Now that we know that priming works from the massive amounts of past research done on it, the next step is finding a method to conduct tests with. To do that, a reliable, easily-accessible way to prime people must be chosen.

 Here are some things to consider:

• Should subjects be unconsciously or consciously primed? 
• What music should be used? 
• How long should subjects listen to it?
• What words should be used?
• How will subjects be exposed to the words?
• Should subjects be exposed to primes as a group or individually?

And here are my thoughts. 

Unconscious vs. Conscious Primes

This really only applies to priming visually with words. While many psychological studies involving words as primes have been conducted with "subliminal" visual stimuli (below the threshold of conscious perception), all the music studies I've read have used music that subjects were consciously aware of. At this point, you might be wondering about how subliminal visual stimuli work, or even what they are in the first place. Well, in the 1900s, researchers found that messages (most commonly consisting of words) can be flashed on a screen so fast that onlookers don't consciously perceive them, but not so fast that their brains don't process them. This unconscious processing of subliminal stimuli has been the basis for many, many priming studies in which these stimuli have had an effect on subjects.

Because of this, one of my first concerns for my own research was whether I would have to prime subjects unconsciously. However, upon doing a bit of digging, I found study that solved all of my problems in this area. In 1992, John Bargh published this study: Does Subliminality Matter to Social Psychology? Awareness of the Stimulus versus Awareness of its Influence.  According to Bargh, it doesn't matter if a prime is unconsciously or consciously introduced. As long as subjects don't know the intended effect of a prime, the prime should work. 

That made my job easier, conscious primes are much easier to implement. 

What Music Should be Used?

At first, scientists thought that the Mozart effect was limited to Mozart music. Unsurprisingly, this proved to be a false assumption, and researchers have generally agreed that any sort of happy, upbeat music similar to Mozart music had a similar effect to Mozart. However, in spirit of the first study (Rauscher et al. 1993), I'm considering this: 

Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major

Or another widely-used (and very famous!) piece in psychological studies involving music:

Vivaldi's Spring from The Four Seasons

Both pieces are common in studies similar to what I'll be doing. 

How Long Should Subjects Listen? 

This one's easier: nearly all studies testing the Mozart effect have exposed subjects to ten minutes of music. 

What Words Should be Used? 

Given my limited experience with psychology, the words I'm thinking of using will come from past studies of a similar nature. One thing to keep in mind is that the words and the music should prime for similar target effects. If you read my background page, you'll remember that the Mozart effect arises primarily because of intellectual arousal and positive emotion associated with music. Hence, the words I use should prime for similar intellectual arousal and positive emotion. Past studies have used words such as "interested,"  "desire," "willing," "succeed," "strive," "achieve," and "master."

How Will Subjects Be Exposed to the Words? 

Ideally, subjects should be exposed to the words for around ten minutes (similarly to the music) and interact in some way with them for most of that time. Historically, a relatively common way to do this has been through puzzles. For example, word matching tasks, crosswords, or word-searches are all options. For these tasks, however, there is a level of mental exertion required, which could undesirably affect results. Perhaps a reading passage with the prime words interspersed might be slightly preferable. Regardless of which method I use, past studies have shown that priming effects are still significant with each. 

Should Subjects be Exposed to Primes as Groups or as Individuals?

As of now, I'm thinking I'll do both and compare results. Several studies have suggested that the Mozart effect is weaker when groups of people listen to music and then are tested. The research on this is still sparse, so I'm still not sure what to expect. Perhaps the group environment is simply distracting. Or maybe people are motivated to do better when others are around. I'm hoping to find out.

Keeping in mind everything above, my next step is to decide on testing methods to obtain data and results, which I'll post for later this week.