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The effects of nonconsciously priming emotion concepts on behavior.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Zemack-Rugar, Y; Bettman, JR; Fitzsimons, GJ
Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology
December 2007

Current empirical evidence regarding nonconsciously priming emotion concepts is limited to positively versus negatively valenced affect. This article demonstrates that specific, equally valenced emotion concepts can be nonconsciously activated, remain inaccessible to conscious awareness, and still affect behavior in an emotion-specific fashion. In Experiment 1A, participants subliminally primed with guilty emotion adjectives showed lower indulgence than did participants subliminally primed with sad emotion adjectives; even after the addition of a 5-min time delay, these results were replicated in Experiment 1B. Participants in the different priming conditions showed no differences in their subjective emotion ratings and were unaware of the emotion prime or concept activation. Experiments 2A and 2B replicated these findings using a helping measure, demonstrating that individuals primed with guilt adjectives show more helping than do individuals primed with sadness adjectives. In all studies, effects were moderated by individuals' specific emotion-response habits and characteristics.

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Published In

Journal of personality and social psychology

DOI

EISSN

1939-1315

ISSN

0022-3514

Publication Date

December 2007

Volume

93

Issue

6

Start / End Page

927 / 939

Related Subject Headings

  • Unconscious, Psychology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Social Psychology
  • Social Behavior
  • Humans
  • Affect
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
 

Citation

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Zemack-Rugar, Y., Bettman, J. R., & Fitzsimons, G. J. (2007). The effects of nonconsciously priming emotion concepts on behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(6), 927–939. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.6.927
Zemack-Rugar, Yael, James R. Bettman, and Gavan J. Fitzsimons. “The effects of nonconsciously priming emotion concepts on behavior.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 93, no. 6 (December 2007): 927–39. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.6.927.
Zemack-Rugar Y, Bettman JR, Fitzsimons GJ. The effects of nonconsciously priming emotion concepts on behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2007 Dec;93(6):927–39.
Zemack-Rugar, Yael, et al. “The effects of nonconsciously priming emotion concepts on behavior.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 93, no. 6, Dec. 2007, pp. 927–39. Epmc, doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.6.927.
Zemack-Rugar Y, Bettman JR, Fitzsimons GJ. The effects of nonconsciously priming emotion concepts on behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2007 Dec;93(6):927–939.

Published In

Journal of personality and social psychology

DOI

EISSN

1939-1315

ISSN

0022-3514

Publication Date

December 2007

Volume

93

Issue

6

Start / End Page

927 / 939

Related Subject Headings

  • Unconscious, Psychology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Social Psychology
  • Social Behavior
  • Humans
  • Affect
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology