Automaticity of Social Behavior

8/12/2019 Automaticity of Social Behavior

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Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 1996 by the American Psychological Association. Inc.1996, Vol. 71, No. 2, 230-244 0022-3514/96/ 3.00

A u t o m a t i c i t y o f S o c i a l B e h a v io r D i r e c t E f f ec t s o f T r a it C o n s t r u c ta n d S t e r e o t y p e A c t i v a t i o n o n A c t i o n

John A. Bargh Mark Chen and Lara BurrowsNew York Universi tyPrevious research has shown that trait concepts and stereotypes become active automatically in thepresence of relevant behavior or stereotyped-group features. Through the use of the same primingprocedures as in previous impression formation research, Experiment l showed that participantswhose concept of rudeness was primed interrupted the experimenter more quickly and frequentlythan did participants primed with polite-related stimuli. In Experiment 2, participants for whom anelderly stereotype was primed walked more slowly down the hallway when leaving the experimentthan did control participants, consistent with the content of that stereotype. In Experiment 3, par-ticipants for whom the African American stereotype was primed subliminally reacted with morehostility to a vexatious request of the experimenter. Implications of this automatic behavior primingeffect for self-fulfilling rophecies are discussed, as is whether social behavior is necessarilymediatedby conscious choice processes.

For many years, social psychologists have studied the effectsof prim ing on the individual's subsequent impressions of oth-ers. riming refers to the incidental activation of knowledgestructures, such as trait concepts and stereotypes, by the curre ntsituational context. Many studies have shown that the recentuse of a trait constr uct or stereotype, even in an earlier or unre-lated situation, carries over for a time to exert an unintended,passive influence on the interp retati on of behavior (see Bargh,1994; Higgins, 1989; Wyer Srull , 1989, for reviews).

We argue here that such passive, autom atic effects of pri min gneed not be limited to social perception. Recent research hasshown that attitudes and other affective reac tions can be trig-gered automatically by the mere presence of relevant objectsand events, so that evaluation and em otion join perception inthe realm of direct, un medi ated psychological effects of the en-viro nme nt (see Bargh, 1994, i n press, for reviews). But assum-ing that behavioral responses to si tuations are also representedmentally, as are stereotypes and attitudes, they should also becapable of becomi ng automati cally activated, by the same prin -ciples that govern the development of automaticity of otherrepresentations.

John A. Bargh, Mark Chen, and Lara Burrows, Department of Psy-chology, New York University.This research was supported in part by Grant SBR-9409448 from theNational Science Foundation to John A. Bargh and by a Max PlanckSociety (Germany) Research Prize to John A. Bargh and Peter Goll-witzer. The contributions of Elliott Rosenthal, Gayatri Taneja, andJayme Yocum to this research in their capacity as experimenters isgratefully acknowledged. We also thank Peter Gollwitzer, John Skow-ronski, Dan Wegner,and especiallyLeonard Berkowitz and Dan Gilbertfor their comments and suggestionsconcerning an earlier version of thisarticle.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to JohnA. Bargh, Department of Psychology, New York University,6 Washing-ton Place, Seventh Floor, New York, New York 10003. Electronic mailmay be sent via the Internet to [email protected].

Automatici ty in Attitudes and Social Cogniti onThe extent to which one's own thought and behavior are or

are not under one's own intentional control is a fundam entalexistential question (see Posner Snyder, 1975; Ulem anBargh, 1989). Indeed, over the past two decades, researchers inthe area of attitudes and social cognition have documen ted thatmany of the phen omena they study are uninte ntional or auto-matic in nature (for reviews, see Bargh, 1994; Smith, 1994, inpress; Wegner Bargh, in press). Atti tudes are discovered tobecome activated automatically on the mere presence of the at-titude object, without conscious intention or awareness (i.e.,preconsciously; see Bargh, 1989), to the n exert their infl uenceon thought and behavior (Bargh, Chaiken, Govender, Pratto,1992; Bargh, Chaiken, Raym ond, Hymes, 1996; Fazio, San-bonmat su, Powell, Kardes, 1986). The self-concept (Bargh,1982; Bargh Tota, 1988; Higgins, 1987; Str aum an Higgins,1987 ) is shown to become active automatic ally on the presenceof self-relevant stimuli to affect self-perception and emoti ons.Stereotypes become active automaticall y on the mere presenceof physical features associated with the stereotyped group(Brewer, 1988; Devine , 1989; Perdue Gurt ma n, 1990; Pratt o

Bargh, 1991 ), a nd categorizing behavior in terms of person-ality trait s (e.g., Carls ton Skowronski, 1994; Win ter Ule-man, 1984) and then making dispositional attributions aboutthe actor's personality (e.g., Gilbert, 1989; Gilbert, Pelham,Krull, 1988) have both been shown to occur automati cally tosome extent.

This growing evidence ofaut omat icit y in social psychologicalphenomena notwithstanding, it remains widely assumed thatbehavioral responses to the social envi ronm ent are unde r con-scious cont rol (see review in Bargh, 1989). These responsesmight well be consciously chosen on the basis of automat icallyproduced perceptions and feelings (especially when the individ-ual was not aware of the potential for any such nonconsciousinfluence; see Herr, 1986, and Neuberg, 1988), but the ultima tebehavioral decisions themselves are believed to be m ade con-

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U T O M T I C S O C I L B E H V I O R 2 3 1s c i ousl y . De v i ne ( 198 9 ) , f o r e xa m pl e , a r gue d f o r a t wo- s t a gem o d e l o f p re j u d i c e i n w h i c h t h e p e r c e p t u a l p h a s e i s a u t o m a t i c( i .e . , a c t i va t i on o f s t e r e o t ype s by t he t a r ge t pe r s o n ' s f e a t u r e s ) ,w h e r e a s t h e s e c o n d p h a s e o f p r e j u d ic e d b e h a v i o r i s a m a t t e r o fc o n s c i o u s c h o i c e , d r iv e n b y o n e ' s r e l e v a n t v a lu e s . F i sk e ( 1 9 8 9 )a r g u e d t h a t a p e r s o n c o u l d m a k e t h e h a r d c h o i c e a n d o v er -c ome s t e r e o t yp i c i n f l ue nc e s on be ha v i o r i f s u f f i c i e n t l y mo t i -va t e d t o do s o .I nde e d , t he t r a d i t i ona l r a t i ona l e f o r t he s t udy o f a t t i t ude s a nds oc i a l c ogn i t i on i s t he be l i e f ( e ve n f a i t h ) t ha t c ho i c e s o f s oc i a lb e h a v i o r a r e b a s e d o n t h e o u t c o m e o f th e s e p r o c e s s e s - - t h u s , i ti s s oc i a l be ha v i o r t ha t i s t he l ong - t e r m f o c us o f t h is r e s e a r c h( i .e . , t h i nk i ng i s f o r do i ng ; F i s ke , 1992 ) . The h i s t o r i c pu r po s eo f a t t i t ude r e s e a r c h ha s be e n t h a t a t t i t ude s p r e d i c t e d be ha v i o r ,a nd e v i de nc e t o t he c on t r a r y ( e . g ., La P i e r e , 1934 ; Wi c ke r , 1969 )w a s c a u s e f o r a l a r m , s i m i l a r t o t h e p u r p o s e o f p e rs o n a l it y r e -s e a r c h ( e . g ., Mi s c he l , 1968 ) .

T h e i m p e t u s b e h i n d a u t o m a t i c i t y r e s e a r c h i s n o d i f f e r e n t .R e s e a r c h i n t o t h e a u t o m a t i c i t y o f a t ti t u d e s w a s f ir s t c o n d u c t e db e c a u s e i t w a s h y p o t h e s i z e d t h a t a t t i tu d e s t h a t b e c a m e a c t iv ea u t o m a t i c a l l y ( p r e c o n s c i o u s l y ) i n t h e p r e s e n c e o f th e a t t i t u d eo b j e c t w o u l d b e m o r e l ik e l y t o i n f l u e n c e b e h a v i o r t o w a r d t h eo b j e c t t h a n t h o s e t h a t d e p e n d e d o n i n t e n t i o n a l c o n s c i o u s r e -t r ie va l o f t he a t t i t ude ( Fa z i o e t al ,, 1986 ) . Th e p r e s u mp t i on b e -h i nd s t ud i e s o f a u t o ma t i c i n f l ue nc e s i n soc i a l pe r c e p t i on , s uc ha s v i a p r i me d o r c h r on i c a l l y a c c e s s i b l e t r a i t c ons t r uc t s ( e . g . ,B a r g h & P i e t r o m o n a c o , 1 9 8 2 ; B a r g h & T h e i n , 1 9 8 5 ) , w a s t h a ts u c h p r e c o n s c i o u s i n f l u en c e s w o u l d p l a y a s t r o n g er t h a n u s u a lr o l e i n s ubs e que n t be ha v i o r t owa r d t he t a r ge t pe r s on , a s t he pe r -c e i ve r wo u l d n o t be a wa r e o f t he i n t e r p r e t i ve b i a s a nd s o c ou l dno t c o r r e c t f o r i t ( Ba r gh , 1989 ) . I n a s i mi l a r f a sh i on , r e s e a r c hi n t o t h e a u t o m a t i c i t y o f s t e re o t y p i n g h a s b e e n m o t i v a te d b y al a r ge r c onc e r n w i t h t he c on t r o l l a b i l i ty o f p r e j ud i c i a l be ha v i o r( De v i ne , 1989 ; F i s ke , 1989 ) .Foc us i n g t he r e s e a r c h s po t l i gh t on a t t i tude s a nd p e r c e p t i onsa s me d i a t o r s o f be ha v i o r , i n t he p r e s e n t v ie w , ha s obs c u r e d t hepos s i b i l i t y t ha t be ha v i o r ne e d no t a l wa ys be s o me d i a t e d . A l -t h o u g h i t is q u i te r e a s o n a b l e t o a s s u m e t h a t a t t i tu d e s a n d s o c ia lpe r c e p t u a l p r oc e s s e s e x i s t i n t he s e r v i c e o f gu i d i ng be ha v i o r , t h i sd o e s n o t r e q u i r e t h e a s s u m p t i o n t h a t b e h a v i o r a l r es p o n s e s a l-wa ys r e qu i r e s uc h s e r v ic e s .

T h e C a s e f o r A u t o m a t i c S o c ia l B e h a v i o rWe p r opos e t ha t s oc i a l be ha v i o r i s o f t e n t r i gge r e d a u t oma t i -

c a l l y on t he m e r e p r e s e n c e o f r e l e va n t s i t ua t i ona l f e a t u r e s ; t h i sb e h a v i o r i s u n m e d i a t e d b y c o n s c i o u s p e r c e p tu a l o r j u d g m e n t a lp r oc e s s e s . We t u r n ne x t t o a d i s c us s i on o f s e ve ra l l i ne s o f s up -po r t , bo t h t he o r e t i c a l a n d e m p i r i c a l ,, f o r t h is hypo t he s i s .

Behaviora l Responses Can Be Assoc ia ted Wi thS i tua t iona l Fea turesS o c i a l - b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e s a r e r e p r e s e n t e d m e n t a l l y j u s t a s

a r e t r a i t c onc e p t s a nd a t t i t ude s . Thus , t he y s hou l d be c a pa b l eo f b e c o m i n g a c t i v a te d a u t o m a t i c a l l y o n t h e m e r e p r e s e n c e o fr e l e v an t f e a t u r e s i n t h e e n v i r o n m e n t b y t h e s a m e p r i n c i p l e s t h a tp r o d u c e a u t o m a t i c t r a i t c a te g o r i z a t io n a n d a u t o m a t i c a t t it u d eact iva t ion .

Se ve r a l t he o r i s t s ha ve a r gue d t ha t be ha v i o r a l r e s pons e s a r ea c t iv a t e d i m m e d i a t e l y b y t h e s i t u a t io n a l c o n t e x t. L e w i n ' s( 1 9 4 3 ) n o t i o n o f t h e psychological situation c ons i de r e d i t t oc o n s i s t o f th e t o t a l i t y o f t h e i n d i v i d u a l ' s i m m e d i a t e r e a c t i o n s t ot he ob j e c t ive , e x t e r na l s i t ua ti on . M i s c he l ( 197 3 ) f u r t he r de ve l -o p e d t h i s c o n c e p t a s p a r t o f h i s s o c i a l- c o g n i t i v e m o d e l o f p e r-s ona l it y . He no t e d t ha t a n i nd i v i dua l c a n ha ve a l l s o r t s o f i m-me d i a t e r e a c t i ons t o a pe r s on o r e ve n t , no t l i m i t e d t o c ogn i t i veo r p e r c e p t u a l o n e s b u t i n c l u d i n g ( a ) e x p e c t a n c i e s f o r w h a t w a sgo i ng t o ha ppe n ne x t i n t he s i t ua t ion ; ( b ) s ub j e c t ive e va l ua t i onso f w h a t w a s h a p p e n i n g ; ( c ) e m o t i o n a l r e a c t i o n s o n e h a s h a d i nt h a t s i t u a t io n i n t h e p a s t; a n d , m o s t i m p o r t a n t t o t h e p r e s e n tt he s i s , ( d ) t he be ha v i o r a l r e s pons e pa t t e r n s one ha s a va i l a b l ewi t h i n t he s i t ua t i on ba s e d on one ' s pa s t e xpe r i e nc e ( s e e a l s oHi gg i n s , 1987 ) .

The r e i s no t he o r e t i c a l o r c onc e p t ua l r e a s on why t he e f f e c t so f p r e c o n s c i o u s , a u t o m a t i c a c t i v a t io n s h o u l d b e l i m i t e d t o p e r -c e p t i o n a n d e v a l u at i o n . P r e c o n s c i o u s a c t i v a ti o n o f m e n t a l r e p -r e s e n t a t i ons de ve l ops f r om t he i r f r e que n t a n d c ons i s t e n t a c t i va -t i on i n t he p r e s e n c e o f a g i ven s t i mu l us e ve n t i n t he e nv i r on -me n t ( Ba r gh , 1989 ; Sh i f f r in & Sc hne i de r , 1977 ) . Th i s i s t hem e c h a n i s m b e h i n d t h e a u t o m a t i c i t y o f t r a it c o n s t r u c t a c t i v a-t i on g i ve n t he me r e o bs e r va t i on o f t r a i t -r e l e va n t be ha v i o r , o f a t -t i t ude s i n t he m e r e p r e s e nc e o f t he a t t i t ude ob j e c t , a nd o f s t e -r e o t y p e s o n t h e m e r e p r e s e n c e o f a s t e r eo t y p e d g r o u p m e m b e r .T o t h e e x t e n t t h a t a n i n d i v id u a l r e p e a t e d l y h a s t h e s a m e r e a c -t i on t o a s oc i a l s t i mu l us e ve n t , t he r e p r e s e n t a t i on o f t ha t r e -s p o n s e s h o u l d c o m e e v e n t u a ll y t o b e a c t i v a t ed a u t o m a t i c a l l y o nt h e m e r e o c c u r r e n c e o f t h a t e v e n t. T h u s , i f a n i n d i v id u a l c o n -s i s te n t l y be ha ve s t he s a me w a y in r e s po ns e t o a s i t ua t i on , t h a tb e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e s h o u l d b e c o m e a u t o m a t i c a l l y a s s o c i a t e dwi t h t hos e s i t ua t i ona l f e a t u r e s . I n ha r mony wi t h t h i s hypo t he -s is , Mi s c he l a nd S hod a ( 1995; Shoda , Mi s c he l , & Wr i gh t , 1994 )h a v e p r o v i d e d s e v er a l d e m o n s t r a t i o n s o f a h i g h d e g r e e o f c o n -s i s t e nc y ove r t i me i n a n i nd i v i dua l ' s be ha v i o r a l r e s pons e s t o t hes a m e s i tua t i ons , w he n s i t ua t i ons a r e de f i ne d i n t e r m s o f s pe ci f ic ,c onc r e t e s e t s o f f e a t u r e s .

The Pr inc ip le o f ldeomotor Act ionW i l l ia m J a m e s h e l d t h a t th e m e r e a c t o f t h i n k i n g a b o u t a

b e h a v i o r i n c re a s e d t h e t e n d e n c y t o e n g a g e i n t h a t b e h a v i o r ; h ecal led th is the principle ofideomotor action W e m a y l a y i td o w n f o r c e r t a in t h a t e v e r y r e p r e s e n t a ti o n o f a m o v e m e n t a w a k -e n s i n s o m e d e g r e e t h e a c t u a l m o v e m e n t w h i c h i s i ts o b j e c t( 1890 , p . 526 ) . J a me s ' s no t i on o f a wa k e n i ng he r e i s s i mi l a r t om ode r n n o t i ons o f a c ce s si bi li ty , i n t ha t t he i n t e r na l ( t h r oug hi de a t i on ) a c t i va t i on o f a r e p r e s e n t a t i on ( i . e ., t h r oug h i ma g i n i ngt he b e ha v i o r ) i nc r e a s e s i t s a c c e s s ib i l i ty o f li ke l i hood o f a c ti va -t io n . M o d e r n r e s e a r c h o n c o n s t r u c t a c c e ss i b il it y h a s s h o w n t h a tm e n t a l r e p r e s e n t a t io n s c a n b e c o m e ac t i v at e d f r o m m a n ys ou r c e s , i nc l ud i ng one ' s goa ls , e x t e r na l e nv i r onm e n t a l e ve n t s ,l ong - t e r m us e , a nd r e c e n t t houg h t . M or e ove r , a l l o f the s e pos s i -b l e s ou r c e s i nc r e a s e t he a c c e s s i b i l it y o r e a s e o f u s e o f t ha t r e p -r e s e n t a t i on i n a n i n t e r c ha nge a b l e , a dd i t i ve f a s h i on ( Ba r gh ,Bond , Lo mb a r d i , & T o t a , 1986 ; H i gg i n s & Ki ng , 1981 ) . Fo rJ a m e s , i m a g i n i n g o r t h i n k i n g a b o u t a b e h a v i o r a l r e sp o n s e h a dt h e s a m e k i n d o f p r i m i n g e f fe c t o n t h e l i k e l ih o o d o f e ng a g i n g i nt ha t r e s pons e .


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23 2 BARGH, CHEN, AND BURROWSH o w e v e r , L a s h l e y ( 1 9 5 1 ) , i n a f a m o u s d i s c o u r s e o n t h e s e -

q u e n t i a l o r g a n i z a t i o n o f b e h a v i o r , w a s th e f i r s t t o u s e t h e t e r mpriming t o d e s c r i b e t h e p r e p a r a t o r y f u n c t i o n o f t h o u g h t .T h i n k i n g h a s t h e f u n c t i o n o f p r e p a r i n g t h e b o d y f o r ac t i o n, a n dL a s h l e y ' s g i v en e x a m p l e o f t h i s w a s th e p r o d u c t i o n o f f l u e n ts p e e c h . T o b e a b l e t o s p e a k w o r d s i n a n u n d e r s t a n d a b l e , s e r i a lf a s h i o n , j u s t a s t o a c t in a s e q u e n t i a l m a n n e r , r e q u i r e s a p r i o ro r g a n i z a t i o n o f t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s t h a t a r e t o b e u s e d , i n t h ei n t e n d e d s e q u e n c e . T h e f u n c t i o n o f t h i s p r e p a r a t i o n a l l o w s fo rt h e f l u i d it y o f s p o k e n t h o u g h t s a n d i d e a s a n d t h e e n a c t m e n t o fo r g a n i z e d m o v e m e n t s i n t h e p r o p e r o r d e r. T h u s , l i k e J a m e s ,L a s h l e y a r g u e d f o r t h e n e c e s s i t y o f a d i r e c t c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e nt h o u g h t a n d b e h a v i o r a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s ( N . B . , n o t l i m i t e d t ot h o s e u s e d i n s p e e c h ) .

T h e a u t o m a t i c i t y o f t h e i d e o m o t o r - a c t i o n e f f e c t - - t h a t m e r e l yt h i n k i n g a b o u t a b e h a v i o r m a k e s i t m o r e l i k e l y t o o c c u r , ev e n i fi t is u n i n t e n d e d - - h a s b e e n d e m o n s t r a t e d r e c e n t ly i n a s er i e s o fs t u d i e s b y W e g n e r a n d h i s c o l l e a g u e s ( s e e W e g n e r , 1 9 9 4 , f o r ar e v i e w ) . W e g n e r ' s ironic process m o d e l c o n t e n d s t h a t a c t s o fi n t e n t i o n a l c o n t r o l o v e r o u r t h o u g h t a n d b e h a v i o r i n v o lv e a na u t o m a t i c m o n i t o r i n g o f t h e p r e s e n ce o f t h e u n w a n t e d s t a te .W h e n t h i s a u t o m a t i c v i g i la n c e n o ti c e s th e t o - b e - c o n t r o l l e dt h o u g h t o r r e s p o n s e t e n d e n cy , c o n s c i o u s p r o c e s s i n g c a n i n h i b i ti t f r o m o c c u r r i n g . I n t h i s w ay , e x p e r i m e n t a l p a r t i c i p a n t s c a nd i s t r a c t t h e m s e l v e s f r o m t h i n k i n g a b o u t w h i t e b e a r s (f o re x a m p l e ) b y c o n s c i o u s l y th i n k i n g a b o u t s o m e t h i n g e ls e . B u tt h i s c o n t ro l o v e r u n w a n t e d t h o u g h t s c a n o c c u r o n l y w h e n t h e r ei s s u f f i c ie n t a t t e n t i o n a l c a p a c i t y a v a i l a b l e f o r th e a c t o f c o n t r o l .I f t h e p e r s o n i s d i s t r a c t e d , o r i s u n d e r a t t e n t i o n a l l o a d , a n i r o n i ce f f e ct is li k e l y t o o c c u r : T h e v e r y t h o u g h t o r b e h a v i o r o n e d i dn o t w a n t t o h a p p e n , d o e s h a p p e n .

T h e i r o n y o f th i s e f f e ct i s t h a t t h e l i k e l i h o o d o f t h i s o c c u r -r e n c e ( u n d e r a t t e n t i o n a l l o a d ) i s a c t u a l l y g r e a t e r th a n i f t h e p e r -s o n h a d n o t t r i e d t o s t o p t h a t r e s p o n s e . T h u s , i n o n e e x p e r i -m e n t , p a r t i c i p a n t s u n d e r a t t e n t i o n a l l o a d w h o a r e t r y i n g n o t t om a k e s e x is t c o m p l e t i o n s t o w o r d f r a g m e n t s a c t u a l ly m a k e m o r et h a n p a r t i c i p a n t s n o t i n s t r u c t e d t o t r y t o a v o i d s e x is m . A c c o r d -i n g t o t h e i r o n i c p r o c e s s m o d e l , t h i s o c c u r s b e c a u s e t h e r e p r e -s e n t a t io n o f th e u n w a n t e d r e s p o n s e i s m o r e a c c e s si b l e t h a nu s u a l b e c a u s e t h e p e r s o n i s w a t c h i n g o u t f o r it s o c c u r r e n c e a n dh a s t o k e e p i t i n m i n d t o d o s o . F o r p r e s e n t p u r p o s e s , t h e i m -p o r t a n c e o f th e s e f i n d in g s is t h a t t h e m e r e a c t o f t h i n k i n g a b o u ta r e s p o n s e , ev e n w h e n t h e t h o u g h t i n v o l v e d is m e a n t t o h e l pp r e v e n t t h a t r e s p o n s e , h a s t h e a u t o m a t i c e f lb c t o f i n c r e a s i n g t h el i k e l i h o o d o f t h a t r e s p o n s e . T h e p r i n c i p l e o f i d e o m o t o r a c t i o n ,t o p u t i t a n o t h e r w a y , o p e r a t e s i n t h e a b s e n c e o f t h e p e r s o n ' si n t e n t i o n t o e n g a g e in t h a t b e h a v i o r a n d e v e n w h e n t h e p e r s o ni s t r y i n g t o a v o i d t h a t b e h a v i o r .A n s f i e l d a n d W e g n e r ( 1 9 9 6 ) a p p l i e d t h e i r o n i c p ro c e s s m o d e lt o u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e c l a s s ic l it e r a t u r e o n a u t o m a t i s m s , o r b e -h a v i o r s t h a t d o n o t a p p e a r t o b e c o n s c i o u s l y p r o d u c e d , l i k e th es p i n n i n g t a b l e i n s e a nc e s , a d i v i n i n g r o d , o r t h e m o v e m e n t o ft h e p e n d u l u m i n C h e v r e u i i ' s il l u si o n . I n t h e l a t t e r ca s e, t h e p e n -d u l u m h e l d d a n g li n g a b o v e a ta b l e m o v e s - - a p p a r e n t l y o f i tso w n a c c o r d - - w h e n t h e p e r s o n i s t o l d t o h o l d i t c o m p l e t e l y s ti ll .I n f a c t, t h e p e n d u l u m t e n d s t o m o v e a l o n g th e v e r y a x i s al o n gw h i c h t h e p e r s o n i s t r y i n g t o p r e v e n t i t f r o m m o v i n g . A n s f i e l da n d W e g n e r s h o w e d i n s e v e r a l e x p e r i m e n t s t h a t t h i s e f f e c t i sp r o d u c e d b y t h e v e r y a t t e m p t t o p r e v e n t t h e s e a n c e ta b l e o r t h e

p e n d u l u m f r o m m o v i n g ; p a r t i c i p a n t s a r e o f c o u r s e n o t a w a r e o ft h e a u t o m a t i c e f fe c t t h a t t h e t h o u g h t s a b o u t t h e t o - b e - a v o i d e dm o v e m e n t h a v e o n t h e i r b e h a v i o r a n d s o c a n n o t c o n t r o l i t .

The Perception Behavior LinkJ u s t a s t h e a c c e s s i b i l i t y o r l i k e l i h o o d o f u s e o f a c o n c e p t i n -c r e a s e s n o m a t t e r w h a t t h e p a r t i c u l a r t h e s o u r c e o f t h a t a c c e ss i -

b i li t y, th e l i k e l i h o o d o f a b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e m a y i n c r e a s e f r o mt h i n k i n g a b o u t t h a t b e h a v i o r , r e g ar d l e s s o f t h e s o u r c e o f t h a tt h o u g h t . S p e c i f ic a l l y , c o g n i t i o n s a b o u t a t y p e o f b e h a v i o r c a nc o m e n o t o n l y f r o m i n t e r n a l s o u r c e s, a s i n t h e a b o v e e x a m p l e s ,b u t a l s o f r o m e x t e r n a l s o u r c e s , s u c h a s p e r c e i v i n g t h a t t y p e o fb e h a v i o r e n a c t e d b y o t h e r s .

T h e r e i s a s t r o n g h i s t o r i c a l p r e c e d e n t f o r p o s t u l a t i n g a n a u t o -m a t i c l i n k b e t w e e n t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s u s e d t o p e r c ei v e b e h a v -i o r a n d t h o s e u s e d t o e n g a g e in t h a t b e h a v i o r o n e s e l f . I m i t a t i o n ,f o r e x a m p l e , c o n s i st s o f p e r f o r m i n g a n a c t i o n t h a t c o r r e s p o n d si n i t s s t r u c t u r e t o t h e p e r c e iv e d a c t i o n o f a n o t h e r p e r s o n. T h ec a p a c i t y t o i m i t a t e i s p r e s e n t i n e a r l y c h i l d h o o d ( P i a g e t, 1 9 4 6 )a n d e v e n i n n e w b o r n s ( M e l t z o f f & M o o r e , 1 97 7 , 1 9 8 3 ) . S u c hs c h o l a rs o f i m i t a t i v e b e h a v i o r a s K o f f k a ( 1 9 3 5 ) , P i a g e t ( 1 9 4 6 ) ,a n d B a n d u r a ( 1 9 7 7 ) a l l h a v e p r o p o s e d t h a t i m i t a t i o n i s m a d ep o s s i b l e b y a c o m m o n o r s h a r e d r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a l s y s te m f o rp e r c e p t u a l a n d a c t i o n c o d e s ( s e e P r i n z , 1 9 90 , f o r a r e v i e w ) .S c h a n k a n d A b e l s o n ' s ( 1 9 7 7 ) s c r i p t th e o r y a r g u e s th a t t h e s a m em e n t a l s t r u c t u r e s u s e d t o u n d e r s t a n d a n d a n t i c i p a t e th e s e -q u e n c e o f b e h a v i o r i n s o c i a l s i t u a t i o n s a l s o i s u s e d t o g e n e r a t ea p p r o p r i a t e r e s p o n s es to t h e m . T h e o r i e s o f s p e e c h p r o d u c t i o nh a v e i n c r e a s in g l y e m p h a s i z e d t h e m e d i a t i o n a l r o l e p l a y e d b yt h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s i n v o l v e d i n s p e e c h p e r c e p t i o n ( s e e D e l l ,1 98 6 ; M e y e r & G o r d o n , 1 98 4 ; P r i n z , 1 9 9 0 ) . A l s o , Z a j o n c , P i e -t r o m o n a c o , a n d B a r g h ( 1 9 8 2 ) s h o w e d t h a t p e o p l e i m p l i c i t l ym i m i c t h e f a c i a l e x p r e s s i o n s o f o t h e r s , s u c h t h a t w h e n t h i s s u b -t l e i m i t a t i o n i s p r e v e n t e d ( i . e. , b y h a v i n g t h e m c h e w g u m w h i l et h e f a c es a r e p r e s e n t e d ) , m e m o r y f o r th e f a c e s i s im p a i r e d .

I n 1 9 84 , B e r k o w i t z r e f o r m u l a t e d h i s t h e o r y o f h o w v i o l e n c ep o r t r a y e d i n t h e m a s s m e d i a i n c r e a s e d t h e p r o b a b i l i t y o f a g -g r e s si o n i n t h e v i e w er b y i n v o k i n g J a m e s ' s p r i n c i p l e o f i d e o m o -t o r a c t i o n . A c t iv a t i o n w a s s a id t o s p r e a d i n m e m o r y f r o m r e p -r e s e n t a t i o n s o f t h e v i o l e n t a c t s p e r c e i v e d i n t h e m e d i a t o o t h e ra g g r e s si v e id e a s o f t h e v i ew e r , a n d t h i s s p r e a d i n g a c t i v a t i o n o c -c u r r e d a u t o m a t i c a l l y a n d w i t h o u t m u c h t h i n k i n g ( p . 4 1 0 ) .S i m i l a r t o M i s c h e l 's ( 1 9 7 3 ) a n a l y si s , B e r k o w i t z ( 1 9 8 4 ) a r g u e dt h a t b e h a v i o r a l r e s p o n s e s a s w e l l a s t h o u g h t s a n d e m o t i o n sc o u l d a l l b e a c t i v a t e d a u t o m a t i c a l l y b y a gg r e s s iv e s t i m u l i : T h ep r e s e n t c o n c e p t i o n d o e s n o t s t o p w i t h t h e i n d i v i d u a l ' s t h o u g h t sa n d m e m o r i e s . . . I t h o l ds th a t e x t er n a ll y p r e s e nt e d i d ea s c a na c t i v a t e p a r t i c u l a r f e e l in g s a n d e v e n s p e c i f i c a c t i o n t e n d e n c i e sa s w e l l ( p . 4 1 0 ) .

A n e x p e r i m e n t b y C a r v er , G a n e l l e n , F r o m i n g , a n d C h a m b e r s( 1 9 8 3 ) p r o v i d e d e v i d en c e i n l in e w i t h B e r k o w i t z ' s ( 1 9 8 4 ) i d e o -m o t o r a c t i o n m o d e l o f t h e e ff e c t o f a g g r e ss i v e c u e s o n a g g r e s -s i o n . I n a f ir s t e x p e r i m e n t , s o m e p a r t i c i p a n t s ' c o n c e p t o f h o s t i l -i t y w a s p r i m e d s u b l i m i n a ll y , fo l lo w i n g t h e p r o c e d u r e o f B a r g ha n d P i e t r o m o n a c o ( 1 9 8 2 ) . T h e n , i n w h a t t h e y b e li e v e d t o b e a nu n r e l a t e d s e c o n d e x p e r i m e n t , p a r t i c i p a n t s w e r e i n s t r u c t e d t og i ve s h o c k s t o a n o t h e r l e a r n e r p a r t i c i p a n t ( a c t u a l l y ac o n f e d e r a t e ) w h e n e v e r h e o r s h e g a v e a n i n c o r r e c t a n sw e r . C o m -


4/15

AUTOMATIC SOCIAL BEHAVIOR 23 3p a r e d t o p a r t i c i p a n t s w h o w e r e e x p o s e d to n e u t r a l p r i m i n gs t i m u l i , t h o se p r e s e n t e d s u b l i m i n a l l y w i t h h o s t i l i ty - r e l a t e dp r i m e s g a v e lo n g e r s h o c k s. C a r v e r e t a l. ( 1 9 8 3 ) a c c o u n t e d f o rt h e i r r e s u l t s i n t e r m s o f a b e h a v i o r a l s c h e m a f o r h o s t i l i t y a n d i t sc l o s e s e m a n t i c a s s o c ia t i v e t i e s t o t h e i n t e r p r e t i v e s c h e m a u s e dt o p e r c e i v e h o s t i l it y . B e c a u s e o f t h e d e g r e e o f s e m a n t i c f e a t u r eo v e r l a p b e t w e e n t h e t w o r e p r e s e n t a t io n s , t h e a u t h o r s a r g u e d ,a c t i v a t io n w i l l s p r e a d a u t o m a t i c a l l y f r o m t h e i n t e r p re t i v e to t h eb e h a v i o r a l s c h e m a , s o t h a t p e r c e i v i n g a n o t h e r p e r s o n ' s h o s t il t yi n c r e a s e s th e l i k e l i h o o d t h a t o n e w i l l b e h a v e i n a h o s t i le m a n n e ronese l f .

T h e b e h a v i o r a l s c h e m a n o t i o n , w h i c h i s a v a r i a n t o f t h e i d e o -m o t o r a c t i o n h y p o t h e s i s, h a s t h e d e s i r a b l e a b i l i t y t o a c c o u n tf o r h o w t h e s a m e p r i m i n g m a n i p u l a t i o n c a n p r o d u c e e f f ec t s o ni m p r e s s i o n f o r m a t i o n i n o n e s t u d y ( B a r g h & P i e t r o m o n a c o ,1 9 8 2 ) a n d b e h a v i o r i n a n o t h e r ( C a r v e r e t a l ., 1 9 8 3 , E x p e r i m e n t2 ) . B e c a u s e t h e o n l y d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n t h e t w o s t u d i e s w a s th ep a r t i c u l a r d e p e n d e n t m e a s u r e c o l l e c t e d fo l lo w i n g t h e p r i m i n gm a n i p u l a t i o n , t h e i n e s c a p a b l e c o n c l u s io n i s t h a t t h e a c t i v a t i o no f t h e c o n c e p t o f h o s t i l i ty h a d t h e s i m u l t a n e o u s e f f e ct s o f m a k -i n g t h e p a r t i c i p a n t b o t h m o r e l i k e ly t o p e r c e iv e h o s t i li t y i n a n -o t h e r p e r s o n a n d t o b e h a v e i n a h o s t i le m a n n e r h i m - o r h e rs e lf .

T o u s , C a r v e r e t a l . ' s ( 1 9 8 3 ) r e s u l t s a r e a n i n t r i g u i n g c l u e t h a tt h e i n f l u e n c e o f p e r c e p t i o n o n b e h a v i o r a l t e n d e n c i es i s a u t o -m a t i c , i n t h a t i t i s p a s s i v e , u n i n t e n t i o n a l , a n d n o n c o n s c i o u s .T h e r e f o r e , r e c e n t e v i d e n c e o f a u t o m a t i c i n f lu e n c e s in s o c i alp e r c e p t i o n , s u c h a s t h e a u t o m a t i c a c t i v a t i o n o f s te r e o t y p e s a n dp r i m i n g e f f e c ts o n i m p r e s s i o n f o r m a t i o n ( s e e B a r g h , 1 9 9 4, f o ra r e v i e w ) , w h e n r e l a t e d t o t h e f o r e g o i n g d is c u s s i o n , i m p l i e s t h a tt h e r e m a y b e b e h a v i o r a l c o n s e q u e n c e s o f a u t o m a t i c s o c i a l p e r -c e p t i o n f o r t h e p e r ce i v e r . F o r i t i s p r e c i s e l y w h e n t h e i n d i v i d u a li s n o t a w a r e o f a p e r c e p t u a l p r o c e s s t h a t c o n s c i o u s c o n t r o l o v e ri t i s n o t p o s s i b l e ( B a r g h , 1 9 8 9 ; S t r a c k & H a n n o v e r , 1 9 96 ) , m a x -i m i z i n g t h e p o s s i b i l it y o f t h e p a s s iv e p e r c e p t i o n - b e h a v i o r e f f ec t.

T h e P r e s e n t E x p e r i m e n t sF r o m t h e v a r i o u s s t r e a m s o f e v id e n c e r e v i e w e d a bo v e , s e v e ra l

p r i n c i p l e s c a n b e d e r i v e d c o n c e r n i n g t h e c o n d i t i o n s u n d e rw h i c h a u t o m a t i c s o c i a l b e h a v i o r w i ll b e p r o d u c e d . F i r s t , b e h a v -i o r a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s e x is t a n d c a n b e c o m e a c t i v at e d . T h e y c a nb e c o m e a c t i v e a n d a c c e s s i b l e w h e n o n e t h i n k s a b o u t t h a t k i n do f b e h a v i o r , e i t h e r a c t i v e l y o r p a s s i v el y . T h e t e n d e n c y t o b e h a v ei n l i n e w i t h t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n i s i n c r e a s e d w h e n i t i s a c t i v a t e d ,w h e t h e r t h e r e a s o n f o r th a t a c t i v a t i o n i s ( a ) a n i n t e n t i o n t o p r e -p a r e t o e n g a g e in t h a t b e h a v i o r ( e. g . , L a s h l e y ) , ( b ) a n i n t e n t i o nn o t t o e n g a g e in t h a t b e h a v i o r ( e. g . , W e g n e r ) , ( c ) m e r e l y t h i n k -i n g a b o u t t h a t b e h a v i o r w i t h o u t a n i n t e n t i o n t o e n g a g e in i t o rn o t ( e . g ., J a m e s ) , o r ( d ) m e r e l y p e r c e i v i n g t h a t k i n d o f b e h a v i o ri n a n o t h e r p e r s o n ( e . g . , B e r k o w i t z ) .

T h e p r e s e n t h y p o t h e s i s i s t h a t s o c i a l b e h a v i o r s h o u ld b e c a -p a b l e o f a u t o m a t i c a c t i v a t io n b y t h e m e r e p r e s e n c e o f f e at u r e so f t h e c u r r e n t e n v i r o n m e n t j u s t a s a r e s o c i a l p e r c e p t i o n s a n da t t i tu d e s . B y t h e m e r e p r e s e n c e o f e n v i r o n m e n t a l f e a t u r e s , w em e a n t h a t t h e a c t i v a t i o n o f t h e b e h a v i o r a l t e n d e n c y a n d r e -s p o n s e m u s t b e s h o w n t o b e p r e c o n s c i o u s ; th a t i s , n o t d e p e n d e n to n t h e p e r s o n ' s c u r r e n t c o n s c i o u s i n t e n t i o n s ( s e e B a r g h , 1 9 8 9,i n p r e s s ) . B y t h e s e c r it e r i a , n o n e o f t h e r e s e a r c h r e v i e w e d a b o v eh a s d e m o n s t r a t e d d i r e c t , a u t o m a t i c b e h a v i o r a l e f f e c t s . T h e

i r o n i c p ro c e s s r e s e a r c h h a s i n d e e d s h o w n a u t o m a t i c b e h a v i o r i nt h a t i t i s u n i n t e n d e d b y t h e i n d i v i d u a l a n d e v e n u n c o n t r o l l a b l ew h e n a t t e n t i o n i s i n s h o r t s u p p l y . T h e s e e f f e c t s a r e g o a l d e p e n -d e n t i n t h a t t h e y a r e p r o d u c e d b y a n a c t o f c o n sc i o u s i n t e n t i o n( s e e W e g n e r , 1 9 9 4, f o r a s i m i l a r b u t m o r e e l a b o r a t e a n a l y s i s )a n d w o u l d n o t o c c u r w i t h o u t t h a t i n t e n t i o n i n p l a c e .

M o r e o v e r , i n a l l o f t h e s t u d i e s r e v i e w e d b y B e r k o w i t z ( 1 9 8 4 )t h a t w e r e i n f a v o r o f t h e p e r c e p t i o n - b e h a v i o r li n k , i n c l u d i n gC a r v e r e t a l . ' s ( 19 8 3 ) e x p e r i m e n t s , p a r t i c i p a n t s w e r e g i v e n t h ee x p l i c i t , c o n s c i o u s g o a l t o e n g a g e in t h e b e h a v i o r t h a t w a ss h o w n t o b e a f f e c te d b y t h e p r i m i n g m a n i p u l a t i o n . I n B e r k o w i t za n d L e P a g e ' s ( 1 9 6 7 ) a n d C a r v e r e t a l .' s ( 1 9 8 3 ) s t u d i e s , f o r e x -a m p l e , p a r t i c i p a n t s w e r e i n s t r u c t e d t o t a k e t h e r o l e o f t e a c h e ra n d g i v e s h o c k s t o a l e a r n e r. T h e s e s t u d i e s s h o w e d t h a t t h e i n -t e n t i o n a l b e h a v i o r c o u l d b e a f f ec t e d in i n t e n s i t y o r d u r a t i o n b yt h e a g g r es s io n p r i m i n g m a n i p u l a t i o n ( t h e p r e s e n c e o f g u n s o rp r i o r e x p o s u r e t o s y n o n y m s o f a g g re s s i o n ) , b u t t h e y d i d n o ts h o w t h e b e h a v i o r to b e p r o d u c e d a u t o m a t i c a ll y , in t h e a b s e n c eo f t h a t e x p l i c i t l y g i v e n i n t e n t i o n .

T h u s , a l t h o u g h a l l o f t h e s e l i n e s o f e v i d e n c e a r e s u g g e s t iv ea n d s u p p o r t i v e o f t h e h y p o t h e s i s o f a u t o m a t i c s o c i al b e h a v io r ,t h e y h a v e n o t d e m o n s t r a t e d i t. T h e t h r e e e x p e r i m e n t s w e r e p o r ti n t h i s a r t i c l e w e r e d e s i g n e d t o p r o v i d e a d e f i n i t i v e t e s t o f t h i sh y p o t h e si s . I n E x p e r i m e n t 1 , p a r t i c i p a n t s w e r e p r i m e d o n t h et r a i ts o f e i t b e r r u d e n e s s o r p o l i t en e s s ( o r n e i t h e r ) w i t h S r u l l a n dW y e r ' s ( 1 9 7 9 ) s c r a m b l e d - s e n t e n c e t e st . I n E x p e r i m e n t 2 , w ea g a i n u s e d t h e s c r a m b l e d - s e n t e n c e p r i m i n g m a n i p u l a t i o n b u tu s e d i t t o a c t i v a t e t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s ' s t e r e o t y p e o f e l d e r l y p e o p l e .I n n e i t h e r e x p e r i m e n t w e r e p a r t i c i p a n t s g i v e n a n y e x p l i c i t c o n -s c i o u s in s t r u c t i o n s t o a c t i n l i n e w i t h a n y o f t h e t r a i t d i m e n s i o n sb e i n g p r i m e d o r m e a s u r e d . I n f a ct , i n b o t h e x p e r i m e n t s t h e k e yd e p e n d e n t b e h a v i o r a l m e a s u r e s w e r e t a k e n a t t i m e s w h e n p a r -t i c i p a n t s b e li e v e d t h e y w e r e n o t c u r r e n t l y e n g a g e d i n a n e x p e r i -m e n t a l t a s k a t a l l ( i . e ., i n t h e h a l l w a y b e t w e e n p a r t s o f t h e e x -p e r i m e n t , o r a f t e r th e y t h o u g h t t h e e x p e r i m e n t w a s o v e r ) . I nE x p e r i m e n t 3 , a d i ff e re n t p ri m i n g m a n i p u l a t i o n - - p h o t o g r a p h so f m a l e A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n f a c e s - - w a s u s e d , a n d i t w a s p r e -s e n t e d s u b l i m i n a l ly . T h i s c h a n g e w a s i n t e n d e d t o e x t e n d t h eg e n e r a l it y o f t h e p r e s e n t f i n d in g s t o m o r e r e a l is t i c e n v i r o n m e n -t a l s t i m u l i a n d t o e f f e c t iv e l y r u l e o u t a n y p o s s i b l e d e m a n d i n t e r -p r e t a t i o n s o f t h e f i r s t t w o e x p e r i m e n t s .

Experiment 1: Behavioral Consequences of TraitConstruct Priming

MethodParticipants. A total o f 34 students a t New Y ork University whowere enrolled in the In troduc tory Psychology course part icipated in theexp erim ent in par tial fulfillment of a course research requirement. Ontheir arr ival at the labo ratory wait ing roo m they were random ly as-signed to one o f the three prim ing conditions.Materials. The p r iming manipu la t ion took the fo rm of a Sc ram-bled Sentence Test (Srull & W yer, 1979 ) , presented to part icipa nts asa test of language ability. For each of 30 items, participants are to usethe f ive words l is ted to construct a gramm atical ly correct four-word sen-tence as quickly as possible. The five words presented in a given est itemare in scram bled order, such as he it hides finds instantly.Thr ee versions of the scrambled-sentence test were constructed: O newas intended to prim e the construct rude another the constructpolite


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2 3 4 B A R G H , C H E N , A N D B U R R O W Sa n d a t h i r d w a s i n t en d e d t o p r i m e n e i t h e r t r a it ( t h e n e u t r a l p r i m i n gc o n d i t i o n ) . F o r b o t h t h e ru d e a n d t h e p o l i t e p r i m i n g v e rs i o n s, 1 5 o f t h e3 0 i t e ms c o n t a i n e d a n a d j e c t i v e o r v e rb se ma n t i c a l l y re l a te d t o t h e t r a i ti n q u e s t i o n . Fo r t h e ru d e p r i m i n g v e rs i o n , t h e c r i t i c a l p r i m i n g s t i mu l iwe re aggressively, bold, rude. bother, disturb, intrude, a nnoyingly, in-terrupt, audaciously, brazen, impolitely, infringe, obnoxious, aggravat-ing, a n d blunt ly (e.g ., t h e y h e r b o t h e r s e e u su a l l y ) . Fo r t h e p o l i t ep r i m i n g v e rs i o n , t h e 1 5 c r i t i c a l s t imu l i we re respect, honor, considerate,appreciate, patiently, cordially, yield, polite, cautiously, courteous, gra-ciously, sensitively; discreetly, beh aved, a n d unobtrusively e.g., t h e y h e rre sp e c t s e e u su a l l y ) , i n t h e n e u t ra l p r i m i n g v e rs i o n , t h e se t 5 wo rd swe re re p l a c e d b y exercising, flawlessly; occasiona lly rapidly, gleefully,practiced, optimistically, successfully, normally, send, watches, encour-ages. gives, clears, a n d p rep a res (e .g ., ' t h e y h e r s e n d se e u su a l l y ) .

Procedure. Pa r t i c i p a n t s t o o k p a r t i n t h e e x p e r i me n t o n e a t a t i me .W h e n t h e y a r r i v e d a t t h e c e n t ra l wa i t i n g a re a , t h e y we re g re e t e d b y t h ee x p e r i me n t e r , wh o sh o we d t h e m i n t o t h e f ir s t e x p e r i m e n t a l ro o m. T h e yw e r e t o ld t h a t t h e e x p e r i m e n t w a s a c t u a l ly c o m p o s e d o f t w o s h o r t s t u d -i e s h a v i n g t o d o g e n e ra l ly w i t h l a n g u a g e a b il it y. Af t e r o b t a i n i n g t h e i rc o n se n t t o p a r t i c i p a t e , t h e f i r s t s t u d y, o s t e n s i b l y t o d o w i t h c o n s t ru c t i o no f g ra mm a t i c a l En g l i sh se n t e n c e s , wa s e x p l a i n e d t o t h e m. Th e e x p e r i -m e n t e r h a n d e d t h e p a r t i c i p a n t a n e n v e lo p e t h a t c o n t a i n e d o n e o f t h et h r e e f o r m s o f t h e s c r a m b l e d - s e n t e n c e t e s t. W h i c h o f t h e t h r e e v e r s i o n s( r u d e , p o l i te , o r n e u t r a l p r i m i n g ) t h e p a r t i c i p a n t r e c e iv e d h a d b e e n r a n -d o m l y d e t e r m i n e d b y a n o t h e r e x p e r i m e n t e r w h o d i d n o t h a v e a n y c o n -t a c t w i t h t h e p a r t i c ip a n t , w i t h t h e c o n s t r a i n t t h a t a p p r o x i m a t e l y e q u a ln u m b e r s o f p a r t i c i p a n t s r e c e iv e d e a c h o f t h e f o r m s . N e i t h er t h e e x p e r i -m e n t e r n o r t h e c o n f e d e r a t e ( s e e b e l ow ) k n e w t h e p r i m i n g c o n d i t i o n t owh i c h a p a r t i c u l a r p a r t i c i p a n t h a d b e e n a s s i g n e d u n t i l a f t e r t h e e x p e r i -me nta l session was over.

Th e p a r t i c i p a n t wa s g iv e n t h e g e n e ra l i n s t ru c t i o n s fo r t h e sc ra mb l e d -se n t e n c e t e s t . Th e e x p e r i me n t e r t o l d t h e p a r t i c i p a n t t h a t wh e n t h e t e s th a d b e e n c o m p l e t e d ( m o s t p a r t i c i p a n t s t o o k a b o u t 5 r a i n t o c o m p l e t et h e 3 0 - i t e m t e s t ) , h e o r sh e sh o u l d c o m e o u t i n t o t h e h a l l wa y t o f i n d th ee x p e r i m e n te r , w h o w o u l d b e a t a d i f fe r e n t r o o m a r o u n d t h e c o r n er . T h ee x p e r i m e n t e r s a i d t h a t a t t h a t t i m e h e w o u l d g iv e t h e p a r t i c i p a n t th en e x t s h o r t e x p e r i m e n t a l t a s k t o c o m p l e t e.T h e e x p e r i m e n t e r t h e n w a i t e d f o r t h e p a r t i c i p a n t i n t h e d o o rw a y o fa n o t h e r l a b o r a t o r y r o o m , l o c a te d o n t h e s a m e h a l l w a y b u t a r o u n d ac o r n e r f r o m t h e f i r s t r o o m . A c o n f e d e r a t e o f t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r w a sse a t e d i n t h i s s e c o n d ro o m , i n s i g h t o f t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r b u t n o t o f a n y -o n e c o m i n g f ro m t h e d i re c t i o n o f t h e f i rs t ro o m , a s sh e wa s se a t e d b e -h i n d a h a l f -o p e n e d d o or . Th e c o n fe d e ra t e p o se d a s a n o t h e r p a r t i c i p a n twh o w a s a p p a re n t l y h a v i n g d i f f ic u l t y u n d e rs t a n d i n g h o w t o c o m p l e t e at a sk . Th e e x p e r i me n t e r a n d c o n fe d e ra t e e n g a g e d i n a c o n v e rsa t i o n , wi t ht h e e x p e r i m e n t e r s t a n d i n g s o t h a t h i s b o d y w a s o p e n t o t h e d i r e c t i o nf r o m w h i c h t h e p a r t i c i p a n t w o u l d b e c o m i n g d o w n t h e h a l l, a t a b o u t a4 5 a n g le , wh i l e s t i l l f a c i n g t h e c o n fe d e ra t e i n t h e ro o m .

W h e n t h e p a r t i c i p a n t t u r n e d t h e h a l lw a y c o r n e r a n d b e c a m e v i s i bl et o t h e e x p e r i me n t e r , wi t h o u t l o o k i n g a t t h e p a r t i c i p a n t o r a c k n o wl e d g -i n g h i s o r h e r p r e s e n c e t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r m a d e a s u b t l e p r e a r r a n g e d s ig nt o t h e c o n fe d e ra t e ( i . e ., t o u c h i n g h i s r i g h t p a n t l e g ) . A t t h i s t h e c o n fe d -e r a t e s t a r te d a s t o p w a t ch . T h e e x p e r i m e n t e r a n d c o n f e d e r at e c o n t i n u e dt h e i r c o n v e rs a t io n a s t h e p a r t i c i p a n t a p p r o a c h e d a n d w h i l e h e o r s h es t o o d n e a r t h e e x p e r i me n t e r , wa i t i n g fo r t h e e x p e r i me n t e r t o a c k n o wl -e d g e h i s o r h e r p re se n c e a n d g i v e h i m o r h e r t h e n e x t e x p e r i me n t a l t a skt o c o mp l e t e .

O u r d e p e n d e n t m e a s u r e w a s t h e a m o u n t o f t i m e t h e p a r t i c i p a n tw o u l d w a i t u n t i l i n t e r r u p t i n g t h e c o n v e r s a t i o n b e tw e e n e x p e r i m e n t e ra n d c o n f e d e r at e a n d a s k t o b e g i v e n th e n e x t e x p e r i m e n t a l t a sk . U n t i lh e o r sh e d i d so , t h e c o n v e rs a t i o n c o n t i n u e d , w i t h t h e c o n fe d e ra t e a sk i n gq u e s t i o n s a n d re q u e s t i n g c l a r i f i c a t i o n a n d j u s t n o t g e t t i n g i t , a n d t h ee x p e r i m e n t e r r e p e a t in g t h e i n s t r u c t i o n s a n d c l a r if y i n g i f p o ss i b le a n da l s o n o t t u r n i n g t o l o o k a t t h e p a r t i c i p a n t o r m a k e e y e c o n t a c t w i t h h i m

o r h e r. Ou r h y p o t h e s i s wa s t h a t p a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h e ru d e p r i me c o n d i t i o nw o u l d i n t e r r u p t m o r e q u i c k l y t h a n n e u t r a l p r i m e c o n d i t i o n p a r t i c i -p a n t s , a n d t h o se i n t h e p o l i t e p r i me c o n d i t i o n wo u l d w a i t l on g e r t o i n -t e r ru p t t h a n wo u l d n e u t ra l c o n d i t i o n p a r t i c i p a n t s .

W h e n t h e p a r t i c i p a n t b e g a n t o sa y a n y t h i n g t o th e e x p e r i me n t e r , su c ha s E x c u s e m e , o r S o r r y , b u t . . . ' t h e c o n f e d e ra t e s t o p p ed t h e s to p -wa t c h a n d re c o r d e d t h e e l a p se d t i me . We p l a c e d a 1 0 -m i n l i mi t o n h o wl o n g t h e p a r t i c i p a n t wo u l d h a v e t o wa i t i f h e o r sh e d i d n o t i n t e r ru p t a ta l l, r e a s o n i n g t h a t b y t h a t t i m e h e o r s h e w a s n o t g o i n g t o. W h e n t h ep a r t i c i p a n t in t e r r u p t e d , o r a t t h e e n d o f th e 1 0 - m i n m a x i m u m w a i t in gt i m e , t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r sh o w e d h i m o r h e r i n t o a r o o m a d j a c e n t to t h eo n e i n w h i c h t h e c o n fe d e ra t e wa s se a t e d a n d g a v e t h e p a r t i c i p a n t a b r i e fa n a g r a m p u z z l e t a s k th a t t o o k n o m o r e t h a n 2 m i n t o c o m p l e t e . A f t ert h e p a r t i c i p a n t h a d c o mp l e t e d t h i s t a sk , h e o r sh e wa s p a r t i a l l y d e b r i e fe da n d q u e s t i o n e d c o n c e rn i n g h o w t h e y t h o u g h t t h e f i r s t , s c ra mb l e d -se n -t e n c e t e s t mi g h t h a v e i n f l u e n c e d t h e m i n t h e re s t o f th e e x p e r i m e n t .No p a r t i c i p a n t sh o we d a n y a wa re n e ss o r su sp i c i o n a s t o t h e sc ra mb l e d -se n t e n c e t e s t ' s p o ss i b l e i n f lu e n c e o n t h e i r i n t e r r u p t i o n b e h a v i o r ; n e a r l ya l l p a r t i c i p a n t s r e p o r t e d e i t h e r n o e f fe c t o f th e f i r s t t a sk o r t h a t b o t h i ta n d t h e a n a g r a m t a sk we re re l a t e d t o l a n g u a g e a bi li ty , w h i c h wa s t h ecov er story.

A t t h i s p o i n t t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r t h a n k e d t h e p a r t i c i p a n t f o r h e l p in gwi t h t h e s t u d y , a n d t h e p a r t i c i p a n t h e a d e d t o w a rd t h e e l e v a t o r t o l ea v et h e b u i l d i n g . Wa i t i n g t h e re wa s a se c o n d c o n fe d e ra t e , wh o p o se d a s ad e p a r t m e n t r e p r e s e n ta t i v e i n q u i r in g a s t o t h e p a r t i c i p a n t ' s e x p e r i e n c ei n p sy c h o l og y e x p e r i me n t s . Th e c o n fe d e ra t e a sk e d i f t h e p a r t i c i p a n tw o u l d m i n d c o m p l e t i n g a ' S u rv e y o f E x p e r i m e n t a l P a rt i c ip a n t s , a n da l l h u t 3 p a r t i c i p a n t s a g re e d t o d o so . On t h e su rv e y we re s i x q u e s t i o n sc o n c e rn i n g wh e t h e r t h e e x p e r i m e n t wa s i n t e re s t i n g a n d w h e t h e r i t wa sc o n s i d e re d a v a l i d e d u c a t i o n a l e x p e r i e n c e . Th e l a s t t h re e i t e ms c o n -c e rn e d t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r , wh e t h e r h e o r sh e wa s o n t ime , wh e t h e r h e o rsh e e x p l a i n e d t h e s t u d y a n d a n swe re d q u e s t i o n s , a n d t h e c r i t i c a l it e m:

W a s t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r c o u r t e o u s a n d p o l it e to y o u ? T h i s t h e p a r ti c i -p a n t r e s p o n d e d t o o n a - 3 t o + 3 s c a le t h a t ra n g e d f ro m - 3 n o t a t a l l )t o + 3 v e r y m u c h s o ) . Th i s i t e m se rv e d a s o u r c h e c k fo r a p o t e n t i a la l t e rn a t i v e i n t e rp re t a t i o n o f o u r re su l t s , t o b e d i sc u sse d b e l ow.

Wh e n t h e p a r t i c i p a n t h a d c o mp l e t e d t h e su rv e y , h e o r sh e wa s fu l l yd e b r i e f ed a s t o t h e p u r p o s e a n d h y p o t he s i s o f t h e e x p e r i m e n t a n d w a st h a n k e d a g a i n b y t h e se c o n d c o n fe d e ra t e .R e s u l t s

O u r p r i m a r y d e p e n d e n t v a r i a b le w a s t h e n u m b e r o f s ec o n d st h e p a r t i c i p a n t s w a i t e d b e f o r e i n t e r r u p t i n g t h e e x p e r im e n t e r .A o n e - w a y a n a l y s i s o f v a r i a n c e ( A N O V A ) o f th e s e d a t a , w i t hp r i m i n g c o n d i t i o n a s t h e s i n g l e f a c t o r , r e v e a l e d a s i g n i f i c a n tm a i n e f f e c t, F ( 2 , 3 3 ) = 5 . 7 6 , p = . 0 0 8 . P a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h e r u d ep r i m i n g c o n d i t i o n i n t e r r u p t e d s i g n i fi c a n tl y f a s t e r ( M = 3 2 6 s )t h a n d i d p a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h e n e u t r a l ( M = 5 t 9 s ) o r p o l i t e ( M =5 5 8 s ) p r i m i n g c o n d i t i o n s . W i t h i n t h e s i g n i f i c a n t m a i n e f f e c t ,s i m p l e t te s t s re v e a l e d t h a t t h e r u d e p r i m e c o n d i t i o n m e a n w a ss i g n if i c a n tl y s h o r t e r t h a n e a c h o f t h e o t h e r t w o m e a n s ( b o t h p s< . 0 4 ) , w h i c h w e r e n o t r e l ia b l y d i f f e r en t f r o m o n e a n o t h e r( t < 1 ) .

A l t h o u g h t h i s r e s u l t s u p p o r t s o u r h y p o t h e s i s t h a t s o c ia l i n -t e r a c t i o n b e h a v i o r c a n b e p r i m e d , t h e t i m e - t o - i n t e r r u p t i o n d i s -t r i b u t i o n v a r i e d c o n s i d e r a b l y f r o m n o r m a l i t y . F u l ly 2 1 o f th e 3 4p a r t i c i p a n t s d i d n o t i n t e r r u p t a t a ll in t h e 1 0 r a i n a v a i l a b le t ot h e m , s o t h a t t h e t i m e v a r i a b l e s u f fe r e d f r o m a s e v e re c e i li n ge f fe c t. T h u s , w e r e a n a l y z e d t h e d a t a i n t e r m s o f t h e p e r c e n t a g eo f p a r t ic i p a n t s i n e a c h p r i m i n g c o n d i t i o n w h o i n t e r r u p t e d a t a l ld u r i n g t h e 1 0 - r a i n p e r i o d . T h e s e p e r c e n t a g e s a r e s h o w n i n F i g -u r e 1 .


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AUTOMATIC SOCIAL BEHAVIOR 23 5

Figure 1. Percentage of participants who interrupted the experi-menter within the 10-rain period, by trait priming condition(Experiment 1 .

Because we made a spec i f ic d i rec t iona l predic t ion regardingthe order ing of the three percentages, ra ther than an om nibuspredic t ion of any d i f fe rence among the three , we appl ied the testfor a l inear t rend in prop ort ions (S nedecor & Cochra n , 1980,pp . 206 -208 ) . The spec i f ic hypothesis tested was tha t the pro-p o r t i o n o f p a r t i c ip a n t s w h o in t e r ru p te d th e e x p e r ime n te rwould increase as a func t ion of the t ra i t concept pr im ed, f rompol i teness through no pr i ming to rudeness. In suppo rt of thehypothesis , the test revea led a re l iab le l inear t rend (Z = 2 .32 , p--- .02 , two-ta i led) . Par t ic ipants whose concept of rudeness hadbeen surrep t i t iously ac t iva ted in the sc ram bled-sentence testsubsequent ly were more l ike ly to in te rrupt the conversa t ion be-tween the exper imenter and confedera te than were the o therpar t ic ipants , and those whose concept o f pol i teness had beenac t iva ted were the least l ike ly to in te rrupt .

Where as our in te rpre ta t ion of th is resu l t is tha t the pr imi ngmanip ula t ion prod uced a d i rec t , p reconsc ious e ffec t on the par-t ic ipants ' subsequent behavior in a soc ia l in te rac t ion , an a l -te rna t ive explana t ion in t e rms of the soc ia l perceptua l e ffects ofpr im ing m ust be considered . This a l te rna t ive cente rs on how thepar t ic ipant may have in te rpre ted or perce ived the exper iment-e r 's behavior dur ing h is conversa t ion wi t h the confedera te . I ft h e e x p e r ime n te r ' s b e h av io r w as a mb ig u o u s e n o u g h to p e rmi td i f fe rent impress ions of h im, depending on the re la t ive accessi -b i l i ty of the par t ic ipant 's re levant t ra i t const ruc ts (e .g . , Higgins& King, 1981 ) , i t i s possib le tha t rude- pr im ed par t ic ip ants weremor e l ike ly to perce ive the exp er imen ter as rude because he wasignoring them and a t tending to the confedera te , whereas pol i te -pr im ed par t ic ipants were m ore l ike ly to perce ive the exper i -mente r as pol i te because he so pa t ien t ly dea l t wi th the confed-era te 's questions. The p ar t ic ip ants ' own behavior to the exper i -

menter ( i .e . , whether they in te rrupted h im) might have beenbased on these d i f fe rent ia l percept ions (as has been dem on-st ra ted in s tudies by Neuberg , 1988, and Herr , 1986) instead ofas a d i rec t e ffec t of the pr iming manipu la t ion .

I t i s important to note , however , tha t we d id not design orin tend the expe r imenter 's behavior to be am biguou s in th is way,because our in tent ion was to demo nstra te an e ffec t of pr imin gon behavior tha t was not media ted by d i f fe rent ia l in te r-pre ta t ions o f the exper im enter 's behavior . In previous ca tegoryaccessib i l ity research , some studies have sought to exa mine fea-tures o f accessib i l ity o ther th an i t s e ffec t on in te rpre ta t ion .Bargh and The in ( 1985 ) , for instance , s tudied the abi l i ty of ac -cessib le const ruc ts to p ick up re levant behaviora l inform at ionunder a t ten t iona l over load . In th is s tudy, the const ru c t -re levantbehaviors were unam biguou s a nd c lear ly d iagnost ic of the t ra i tin quest ion , and accessib i l i ty of the t ra i t concept d i d no t inf lu-ence impres sions of the ta rge t ( though i t d id a ffec t ab i l i ty toprocess the inform at ion) . The top-down effec ts of accessib i l i tyshould inf luence impressions only when the informat iona l in-put i s suff icien tly ambigu ous ( i .e , a re la t ive ly weak bo t tom -upeffect; see Higgins, 1989).To assess whether the pr imi ng m anipula t ions had resul ted indiffe rent ia l percept ions of the exper im enter 's pol i teness, we ex-a min e d th e r at i n g s p a r t i c ip a n t s ma d e o n th e Ex p e r ime n ta lPar t ic ipa t ion Survey. On the c r i t ica l i tem having to do wi ththe exper imenter 's pol iteness, which ranged from - 3 (not at allpol i te to +3 (very poli te , there was no re l iab le d i f fe rence inthe ra t ings made in the three pr im ing condi t ions, F( 2 , 28) < 1(pol i te pr ime condi t ion M: = 0 .6 , rude pr ime condi t ion: M =0.4 , neutra l pr ime condi t ion: M = 0 .8) . Apparent ly , the fac ttha t the expe r imenter essent ia l ly ignored par t ic ip ants ( focusinghis a t ten t ion on the confedera te and her quest ions) whi le theywai ted in the ha l l led a l l of them to perce ive h im as equiva lent lyn o n p o l i te (b u t n o t im p o l i t e e it h e r ) .The fac t tha t the behaviora l measure showed qui te s t rongeffec ts of the pr iming manipu la t ion , whereas the e ffect on thejudg men t mea sure was nonexisten t , a rgues aga inst the a l te rna-t ive in te rpre ta t ion of our f indings. I t was no t the case tha t thep r imin g ma n ip u la t i o n a f fe c t e d c o n sc io u s ly ma d e ju d g me n t sabout the exper imenter , which then de te rmined behaviora l re -sponses to h im. The resul ts instead poin t to a d i rec t e ffec t onbehavior tha t i s not media ted b y consc ious perceptua l or judg-menta l processes. In fac t , the present pr im ing e ffect on behavioris much more substant ia l than the typica l pr imin g e ffec t in im-pression formation research (cf. Bargh et al . , 1986; Srull &Wyer, 1979) . The powerfu l e ffec ts of pr iming on behaviora l re l -a t ive to percep tua l depend ent var iab les i s a topic to w hich were turn in the Genera l D iscussion .D i s c u s s i o n

In th is f i rs t exper im enta l test of whether t ra i t const ru c t pr i m-ing would pro duce d i f fe rences in behavior as i t has been shownto do for perceptua l in te rpre ta t ion , par t ic ipants pr imed wi thrudeness-re la ted s t imul i in an ostensib ly unre la ted f i rs t exper i -ment in te rr upted a conversa t ion re l iab ly faste r and , as a group,more f requent ly than d id o the r par t ic ipants . Those whose con-cept of pol i teness was surrept i t iously ac t iva ted in te rrupt ed theleast of ten . Behavior in soc ia l in te rac t ion , l ike soc ial percept ion


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2 3 6 B A R G H , C H E N , A N D B U R R O W Sa n d e v a l u a t i o n , a p p a r e n t l y c a n b e d r i v e n d i re c t l y b y e n v i r o n -m e n t a l s t i m u l i - - t h a t i s, p r ec o n s c i o u s ly a n d a u t o m a t ic a l ly .

T h e r e s u l t s o f E x p e r i m e n t 1 s h o w e d t h a t t h e p a s s i v e , a u t o -m a t i c a c t i v a t i o n o f a t r a i t c o n c e p t r e s u l t s i n t r a i tl i k e b e h a v i o rb y t h e i n d i v i d u a l , b u t t h e r e a r e t w o w a y s i n w h i c h t r a i t c o n c e p t sc a n b e a c t i v a t e d d i r e c t ly b y t h e e n v i r o n m e n t . O n e i s a d i r e c ta c t iv a t i o n b y t h e p r e s e n c e i n t h e e n v i r o n m e n t o f t ra i t -r e l e v an tb e h a v i o r ; s e v e r al l i n e s o f r e s e a r c h s h o w t h a t b e h a v i o r r e l e v a n tt o a t r a i t a u t o m a t i c a l l y a c t i v a t e s t h a t t r a i t c o n c e p t ( N e w m a nU l e m a n , 1 9 8 9 ; S r u l l W y e r , 1 9 7 9 ) . A n o t h e r w a y i n w h i c h ag i v e n t r a i t c o n c e p t c a n b e a c t i v a t e d a u t o m a t i c a l l y , h o w e v e r , isb y i t s m e m b e r s h i p i n a la r g e r s c h e m a , s u c h a s a s t e r e o t y p e . S t e -r e o t y p e s o f s o c ia l g r o u p s c o n s i s t , i n p a r t , o f c o n s t e l l a t i o n s o fi n t e r r e l a t e d t r a i t c o n c e p t s ( e . g . , B r e w e r , 1 9 8 8 ; D e v i n e , 1 9 8 9 ;F i s k e N e u b e r g , 1 9 9 0 ) t h a t b e c o m e a c t i v e i n a n a l l - o r - n o n ef a s h i o n ( s e e H a y e s - R o t h , 1 9 7 7 ) i n t h e p r e s e n c e o f t h e f e a t u r e so f a g r o u p m e m b e r .

D e v i n e ' s ( 1 9 8 9 ) E x p e r i m e n t 2 d e m o n s t r a t e d t h e a ll - o r- n o n ea c t i v a t i o n f e a t u r e q u i t e c l e a r l y . S h e p r i m e d t h e s t e r e o t y p e o fA f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s ( a s h e l d b y W h i t e A m e r i c a n s ) s u b l i m i n a l l yu s i n g a s e t o f s t e r e o t y p e - r e l a t e d s t i m u l i ( e . g ., m u s i c a l , a t h l e t i c )t h a t d i d n o t i n c l u d e a n y i t e m r e l a t e d t o h o s t i li t y , t h o u g h h o s t i l -i ty h a d b e e n s h o w n b y p r e t es t i n g ( a n d m u c h p r i o r r e s e a r c h ) top a r t i c i p a t e i n t h e s te r e o t y p e . H o w e v e r , D e v i n e ( 1 9 8 9 ) s h o w e dt h a t t h e c o n c e p t o f h o s t il i ty h a d i n d e e d b e c o m e a c t i v a te d b y t h ep r i m i n g m a n i p u l a t i o n , b e c a u s e p r i m e d p a r t i ci p a n t s s u b s e-q u e n t l y r a t e d a t a r g e t p e r s o n ' s a m b i g u o u s l y r e l e v a n t b e h a v i o ra s m o r e h o s t i l e t h a n d i d a c o n t r o l g r o u p ( j u s t a s h a d p a r t i c i -p a n t s i n B a r g h P i e t r o m o n a c o ' s [ 1 9 8 2 ] s t u d y w h o w e r ep r i m e d d i r e c t l y w i t h h o s t i l e - r e la t e d s t i m u l i ) . T h e o n l y w a y t h i sr e s u l t c o u l d h a v e b e e n o b t a i n e d w a s i f t h e c o n c e p t o f h o s t i li t yh a d b e c o m e a c ti v e ( a n d t h u s t e m p o r a r i l y m o r e a c ce s si b l e f o ru s e i n i n t e r p r e t i n g t h e t a r g e t ' s b e h a v i o r ) b y i t s p a r t i c i p a t i o n i nt h e a c t i v a t e d s t e r e o t y p e .T h u s , r e s e a r c h h a s s h o w n t h a t t h e p r i m i n g o r a u t o m a t i c a c -t i v a t i o n o f b o t h s i n g l e t r a i t c o n c e p t s ( e .g . , B a r g h P i e t r o m o -n a c o , 1 9 8 2; S r u l l W y e r , 1 9 7 9 ) a n d s t e r e o t y p e s ( D e v i n e ,1 9 8 9 ) i n f l u e n c e s s o c i a l p e r c e p t i o n w i t h o u t t h e i n d i v i d u a l b e i n ga w a r e o f o r i n t e n d i n g t h i s in f l u en c e . T h e p r e s e n t E x p e r i m e n t 1h a s s h o w n t h a t p r i m i n g a s i n g l e t r a i t c o n c e p t i n f l u e n c e s s u b s e -q u e n t s o c i a l b e h a v i o r a s w e l l. T h e d e d u c t i o n t h a t f o l l o w s n a t u -r a l ly f r o m t h e s e t w o s e t s o f f i n d i n g s is th a t t h e p r i m i n g o r a u t o -m a t i c a c t i v a t i o n o f s te r e o t y p e s s h o u l d m a k e t h e p e r c e i v e r h i m -o r h e r s e l f m o r e l i k e l y t o a c t i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e t r a i t c o n -c e p t s th a t p a r t i c i p a t e i n t h a t s t e r e o t y p e . W e d e s i g n e d E x p e r i -m e n t s 2 a n d 3 t o te s t th i s h y p o t h e s i s i n t h e c o n t e x t o f t w o d i s-t i n c t s t e r e o t y p e s : o n e f o r e l d e rl y p e o p l e a n d o n e f o r A f r i c a nA m e r i c a n s .E x p e r i m e n t s 2 a a n d 2 b : B e h a v i o r a l E f f e c ts o f A c t i va t i ng

t h e E l d e r l y S t e r e o t y p eM e t h o d

Overview. The m e thod a nd proc e dure for Expe r im e nts 2a a nd 2bare identica l and so are descr ibed together . E xpe rime nt 2b is a replica-t ion of 2a . T he p re se nt e xpe r im e nts we re de s igne d to s tudy the e f fe ct ofac t iva t ion of the e lder ly s tereotyp e on behavior. Par t ic ipants were in-s truc ted to work on a scram bled-senten ce task as par t of a languageprof ic ie nc y e xpe r im e nt . The sc ra m ble d- se ntenc e t a sk c onta ine d w ords

re levant to the e lder ly s tereotype in the e lder ly pr iming condit ion, buta l l references to s lowness , which is a quali ty s tereotypica l ly associa tedwith e lder ly people , were excluded. The neutra l pr iming condit ionscramb led-sentence task conta in ed age-non-specific words in the placeof e lderly s tereotyped words .

After complet in g the task, each p ar t ic ipan t was par t ia l ly debriefeda nd tha nke d for h is or he r pa r t ic ipa t ion . A se c ond e xpe r im e n te r the nsur re pt it ious ly r e c orde d the a m oun t o f tim e the pa r t i c ipa nt took towalk down th e corr ido r af ter exi t ing the labora tory room . Subsequently,pa r t i c ipa nt s we re de br ie fe d onc e a ga in w i th a c om p le te e xpla na t ion ofthe purpose of the e xpe r im e nt . The m a in hy pothe s is wa s tha t pa r t i c i -pa nt s who ha d be e n pr im e d wi th the e lde r ly s t e re o type would wa lkm ore s lowly c om pa re d to pa r t i c ipa nt s who ha d not be e n p r im e d w i ththe s tereotype-re lev ant s t imuli .

Participants. Thi r ty m a le a nd f e m a le Ne w York Unive rs i ty unde r -gra dua te s who we re e nro l l e d in In t rod uc tory Psychology p a r t i c ipa te din Exp e r im e nt 2a , a nd a d i f f e re nt s a m ple of 30 pa r t i c ipa te d in Ex pe r i -ment 2b, to par t ia l ly fulf i l l a course requirement. In both experiments ,par t ic ipants were randomly ass igned to e i ther an e lder ly pr ime condi-t ion or a ne ut r a l p r im e c ond i t ion . The e xpe r im e nte r ke pt h im se l f b l indto c on di t ion by p re pa c ka ging the va r ious s c ra m ble d- se nte nc e t a sks a ndpic king pa c ket s r a ndom ly w he n the p a r t i c ipa nt a r r ive d a t the l a bora torywait ing area .

Materials . As in Expe r im e nt 1 , the pr im ing m a nipula t ion too k theform of a s c ra m ble d- se nte nc e ta sk pre se nte d to pa r t i c ipa nts a s a t e s t o flanguage prof ic iency. W e constructed tw o vers ions of the scram bled-sentence task: one e lderly pr im e vers ion, which con ta ined w ords re la tedto the e lder ly s tereotype , and another , neutra l version. Fo r the e lder lyprime vers ion, the cr i t ica l s t imuli were worried Florida old lonelygrey self ishly careful sentimental wise stubborn courteous bingowithdraw forgetfuL retired w rinkle rigid traditional bitter obedien tconservative knits dependent ancient helpless gullible cautious a ndalone. The se pr im e words we re obta ine d f rom pre vious r e se a rc h tha te xa m in e d the c om pone nts of the e lde r ly s t e re o type (Brewe r, Dul l ,Lui , 1981; Har r is Associa tes , 1975; McTavish, 1971; Perdue Gu rt-man , 1990) . In the n eutra l vers ion, the e lder ly pr im e words were re-placed w ith the wo rds un re la ted to the e lder ly s tereo type (e .g. , thirs ty,c lean, pr iva te) .

Procedure. Pa r t i cipa nt s took pa r t in the e xpe r im e nt one a t a t im e .The p a r t i c ipa nt wa s inform e d tha t the purpose o f the s tudy wa s to in-vest iga te language prof ic iency and tha t he or she was to complete ascrambled -sentence task. T he task consis ted of 30 se ts of f ive word co m-bina t ions . The pa r t i c ipa nt wa s ins t ruc te d to wr i t e down a gra m m a t i -ca l ly correc t sentence usin g only fou r of the f ive words given. Par t ic i-pants w ere a lso inform ed tha t the task was se lf-paced. A fter giving theins t ruc t ions , the e xpe r im e nte r l e f t the room so tha t the pa r t i c ipa ntcould co mple te the task in pr ivacy.

Af te r the pa r t i c ipa nt c om ple te d the t a sk a nd not i f i e d the e xpe r i -m e nte r , the e xpe r im e nte r r e -e n te re d the l a b room a nd pa r t i a l ly de -br ie fed the pa r t i c ipa nt . He o r she was inform e d tha t the e xpe r im e ntwas concerne d with ho w individu als use words in var ious , f lexible ways.Wait ing unti l th e par t ic ip ant had gath ered a l l of his or her be longings ,the e xpe r im e nte r to ld the pa r t i c ipa nt tha t the e le va tor wa s down the ha l la nd tha nke d h im or he r for pa r ti c ipa t ing .

Using a hidden s topwatch, a confedera te of the experimenter , whowas s i tt ing in a chair apparen tly wait ing to ta lk to a pro fessor in a nearbyof fice , r e c orde d the a m oun t o f im e in s e c onds tha t the pa r t i c ipa nt spe ntwa lk ing a l e ngth of the c or r idor s t a r ting f rom the doorwa y o f the e xpe r -im e nta l room a nd e nd ing a t a broa d s t r ip of s ilve r c a rpe t t a pe on thefloor 9.75 m away.

Af te rwa rd , the e xpe r im e nte r c a ught up w i th the pa r t i c ipa nt ne a r theelevator and gave the complete debriefing, expla inin g the exper imen ta lhypotheses verbally as well as giving the par t ic ipant an acco mpa nyin gwrit ten vers ion. Par t ic ipants were a lso informally asked (pr ior to this


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AUTOMATIC SOCIAL BEHAVIOR 23 7

Figure 2 Mea n ime (in seconds) to walk down the hallway after theconclusion of the experiment, by stereotype priming condition, sepa-rately for participants in Experiment 2a and 2b.

final debriefing) whether they thought the scrambled-sentence taskmight have affected them in any way, and if they had known that thetask contained words relevant to the elderly stereotype. No participantexpressed any knowledgeof he relevanceof the words in the scrambled-sentence task to the elderly stereotype. Furthermore, no participant be-lieved that the words bad an impact on his or her behavior.

ResultsExperiment 2a A t test was compute d to ascertain the effect

of the pr iming m anipul ation on walking speed. Participants inthe elderly prim ing conditio n (M = 8.28 s) had a slower walkingspeed compared to participants in the neutral prim ing condi-tion ( M = 7.30 s), t(28 ) = 2.86, p < .0 l, as predicted.Experiment 2b In the replication, analyses revealed thatparticipants in the elderly primin g condition (M = 8.20 s) againhad a slower walking speed compared t o part icipan ts in the neu-tral prim ing conditio n (M = 7.23 s), t(28 ) = 2.16, p < .05.Thus, across both studies, passively activating the elderly stereo-type r esult ed in a slower walking speed (see Figure 2 ).

DiscussionThe results of the presen t experimen ts suggest t hat exposing

individu als o a series of words linked to a parti cular stereotypeinfluence s behavior nonconsciously. How the activated stereo-type influen ces behavior depends on the c onten t of the activatedstereotype itself, not the sti mulus words actually presented. Be-cause there were no allusions to time or speed in the stimulusmaterials, the results of the study suggest that the elderly prim-ing stimuli activated the elderly stereotype in memory, and par-ticipan ts subsequently acted i n ways consistent with that acti-vated stereotype.

Awareness Check StudyThe crucia l factor in concludi ng that these results show auto-

matic effects on behavior derives from t he perceiver 's lack ofawareness of the influence of the words. Previous research (seereview in Bargh, 1992) has indicated that it is not whether theprimes are presented supraliminally or subliminally, butwhether the indivi dual is aware of the potential i nfluence of theprime that is critical; diametrically opposite effects on judg-ments are o btaine d if the pa rtici pant is aware versus not awareof a possible influence by the priming stimuli (see Lombardi,Higgins, Bargh, 1987; Strack Hannover, 1996). We con-ducted a subsequent study to explicitly test whether the partici-pants were aware of the potential influence of the scrambled-sentence task. Our conclusions in terms o f automatic social be-havior depend on the participants' not being aware of thisinfluence.Method Nineteen male and female undergraduate students at NewYork Universityparticipated in the experiment to partially fulfillcoursecredit. On arrival at the laboratory waiting room, participants were ran-domly assigned to either the elderly stereotype priming condition or theneutral priming condition.Participants took part in the experiment one at a time. They wereinformed that the purpose of the study was to investigate anguage pro-ficiency and that they would complete a scrambled-sentence task. Par-ticipants were randomly administered either the version of the task con-taining words relevant to the elderly stereotype or the neutral versioncontaining no stereotype-relevantwords. Immediately after completionof the task, participants were asked to complete a version of the contin-gency awareness funnel debriefing, modeled after Page (1969). Thiscontingency awareness debriefing contained items concerning the pur-pose of the study, whether the participant had suspected that the pur-pose of;the experiment was different from what the experimenter hadexplained, whether the words had any relation to each other, what pos-sible ways the words could have influenced their behavior, whether theparticipants could predict the direction of an influence if the experi-menter had intended one, what the words in the scrambled-sentencetask could have related to (if anything), and if the participant had sus-pected or had noticed any relation between the scrambled-sentence askand the concept of age. Afterward, the experimenter explained thehypotheses to the participants and thanked them for their help.Results and discussion Inspection of the responses revealedthat only l of the 19 participants showed any awareness of arelationship between the st imulus words and the elderly stereo-type. However, even this partici pant could no t predi ct in whatform or direction their behavior might have been influencedhad such an i nfluence occurred. Thus, it appears safe to con-clude that the effect of the elderly priming manipulation onwalking speed occurre d nonconsciously.

Does Mood Mediate the Effect o f Primingon Walking Speed?One alt ernative expl anat ion that can be offered for the effect

of the elderly-stereotype-related stimuli on walking speed isthat, in general, the words relating to the elderly stereotype aremore likely than control words to induce in pa rticip ants a sadmood, which might t hen be the re ason they walked more slowly.Method A total of 33 undergraduate men and women from NewYork Universityparticipated in the experiment in order to partially ful-fill course credit. On arrival at the experimental waiting area, partici-


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38 B A R G H , C H E N , A N D B U R R O W Sp a n t s we re ra n d o ml y a s s i g n e d t o e i t h e r th e e l d e rl y o r t h e n e u t ra l p r i m -i n g c o n d i t i o n s .E a c h p a r t i c i p a n t c o m p l e t e d t h e v e r si o n o f t h e s c r a m b l e d - s e n t e n c et a s k c o r r e s p o n d i n g t o t h e i r a s s i gn e d p r i m i n g c o n d i ti o n : e i t h e r t h e p r i m ev e rs i o n c o n t a i n i n g e l d e r l y - s t e re o t y p e - re l e v a n t wo rd s , o r a n e u t ra l v e r -s i o n wi t h o u t t h e e l d e r l y - s t e re o t y p e - re l e v a n t wo rd s . Im me d i a t e l y a f t e rt h e y c o mp l e t e d t h e t a sk , a mo d i f i e d v e rs io n o f th e Af fe c t -Aro u sa l Sc a l e( S a lo v e y & B i r n b a u m , 1 9 8 9 ) w a s a d m i n i s t e r e d to e a c h p a r t i c i p a n t .Th i s q u e s t i o n n a i re c o n t a i n e d e i g h t b i p o l a r i t e ms d i f fe re n t i a t i n g fe e l in g so f e m o t i o n a n d a r o u s a l o n s c al e s r a n g i n g f r o m - 8 t o + 8 . T h e e m o t i o nd i m e n s i o n s w e r e bad-good disappointed-satisfied sad-happy a n ddispleased-pleased.T h e a r o u s a l d i m e n s i o n s w e r e calm-excited tired-energetic down -elated a n d sedate-aroused. Pa r t i c i p a n t s r e sp o n d e d t oe a c h d i m e n s i o n i n t e r m s o f h o w t h e y f e l t a t t h a t m o m e n t . A f t e r c o m p le -t i o n o f t h e sc al es , p a r t i c i p a n t s we re d e b r i e fe d a n d t h a n k e d fo r t h e i rc o o p e ra t i o n .Results. W e c o n d u c t e d a m u l t i v a r i a t e a na l y s is o f v a r i a n c e( M A N O V A ) u s i n g p r i m i n g c o n d i t i o n a s th e i n d e p e n d e n t v a ri -a b l e a n d t h e a v e r a ge o f t h e f o u r e m o t i o n s c a le s a n d t h e a v e r a g eo f t h e f o u r a r o u s a l s c a l e s a s t h e d e p e n d e n t m e a s u r e s . A n a l y s e sr e v e a l e d t h a t t h e m a i n e f f ec t o f p r i m i n g c o n d i t i o n w a s n o t s ig -n i f i c a n t a c r o s s t h e t w o d e p e n d e n t m e a s u r e s , F ( 1 , 3 1 ) < 1 . F u r -t h e r m o r e , t h e r e w a s n o i n t e r a c t i o n b e tw e e n p r i m i n g c o n d i t io na n d t h e tw o d e p e n d e n t m e a s u r e s o f e m o t i o n a n d a r o u s a l , F ( 1,3 1 ) < 1 . I f a n y t h i n g , p a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h e e l d e r l y p r i m i n g c o n d i -t i o n w e r e in a m o r e p o s i t iv e m o o d ( M = 1 . 7) t h a n c o n t r o l p a r -t i c i p a n t s ( M = 0 . 3 ) a n d w e r e m o r e a r o u s e d o r e n e r g e ti c a s w e l l( M s = - 0 . 5 a n d - 1 . 2 , r e s p e c ti v el y ) . T h u s , p a r t i c i pa n t s w h ow e r e e x p o s e d t o t h e e l d er l y s t e re o t y p e s t i m u l i w e r e n o t m o r el ik e l y t o b e s a d o r le s s a r o u s e d c o m p a r e d t o p a r t i c i p a n t s w h ow e r e n o t e x p o s e d t o t h e s t e r e o t y p e - r e l a te d s t i m u l i . T h e a l t e r n a -t iv e e x p l a n a t i o n f o r o u r f i n d i n g s i n t e r m s o f a m e d i a t i n g e f f e cto f m o o d c a u s e d b y t h e e l de r ly s t e r e o t y p e p r i m e s a p p e a r su n t e n a b l e .

E x p e r i m e n t 3 : B e h a v i o r a l E f f e c t s o f t h e A f r i c a nA m e r i c a n S t e r e o t y p e

T h e r e s u l t s o f E x p e r i m e n t 2 s h o w e d t h a t t h e a u t o m a t i c a c t i -v a t i o n o f th e e l d e rl y s t e r e o ty p e h a s d i r e c t a n d n o n c o n s c i o u se f f ec t s o n b e h a v i o r i n l i n e w i t h t h e c o n t e n t o f t h e s t e r e o ty p e .E x p e r i m e n t 3 w a s i n t e n d e d t o a s s e ss t h e g e n e r a l it y o f t he s e r e -s u l t s t o a n e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t s t e r e o t y p e - - t h a t f o r A f r i c a nA m e r i c a n s . A s d i s c u s s e d a b o v e , D e v i n e ( 1 9 8 9 ) a l r e a d y s h o w e dt h a t t h i s s t e r e o t y p e b e c o m e s a c t i v e a u t o m a t i c a l l y t o i n f l u e n c ep e r c e p t i o n s o f a t a r g e t ' s h o st i li ty . T h e r e f o r e , a c c o r d i n g t o t h ep r e s e n t m o d e l , t h i s a u t o m a t i c a c t i v a t i o n s h o u l d a ls o p r o d u c e at e n d e n c y t o w a r d h o s t i le b e h a v i o r i n t h e p e r ce i ve r .

A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t c h a n g e in p r o c e d u r e f r o m E x p e r i m e n t 2w a s t h a t t h e p r i m i n g s t i m u l i w e r e p r e s e n t e d s u b l i m i n a ll y , c o m -p l e te l y r u l i n g o u t e x p e r i m e n t e r d e m a n d o r o t h e r e x p l a n a t i o n so f o u r r e s u l ts i n t e r m s o f c o n s c i o u s , s t r a te g i c p r o c e s se s .

M e t h o dOverview. Th e p re se n t e x p e r i me n t wa s d e s i g n e d t o s t u d y t h e e f fe c to f a c t i v a t io n o f a n Af r i c a n Am e r i c a n s t e re o t y p e o n so c i a l b e h a v i o r . Pa r -

t i c i p a n t s we re i n s t ru c t e d t o wo rk o n a c o mp u t e r i z e d v i su a l t a sk t h a tp re t e s t i n g h a d sh o wn wa s c o n s i d e re d t o b e v e ry b o r i n g a n d t e d i o u s .Imme d i a t e l y b e fo re e a c h t r i a l , t h e c o mp u t e r f l a sh e d a su b l i mi n a l p i c -t u r e o f a y o u n g A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n m a l e f a ce o r a p i c t u r e o f a y o u n g

C a u c a s i a n ma l e fa c e. On t h e 1 3 0 t h t r i a l , t h e c o m p u t e r a l e r t e d t h e p a r -t i c i p a n t o f a n o s t e n s i b l e d a t a - sa v i n g fa i l u re a n d a l so i n fo rm e d t h e p a r -t i c i p a n t t h a t h e o r sh e wo u l d h a v e t o d o t h e e n t i re c o m p u t e r t a sk a g a i n .A h i d d e n v i d e o c a me ra wa s p l a c e d i n t h e l a b ro o m t o c a p t u re p a r t i c i -p a n t s ' f a c i a l r e a c t i o n s t o t h e o s t e n s i b l e c o m p u t e r e r ro r a n d n e ws t h a tt h e t a sk wo u l d h a v e t o b e re d o n e . Al so , t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r r a t e d t h e h o s -t i l it y o f t h e p a r t i c i p a n t ' s r e a c t i o n . Th e h y p o t h e s i s wa s t h a t p a r t i c i p a n t sp re se n t e d su b l i m i n a l l y wi t h Af r i c a n A me r i c a n fa c e s wo u l d re a c t wi t hg r e a t er h o s t i li t y to t h e c o m p u t e r e r r o r, c o m p a r e d t o p a r t i c i p a n t s p r i m e dwi t h C a u c a s i a n fa ce s .Participants P a r t i c i p a n ts w e r e 4 1 n o n - A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n u n d e r -g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s f ro m Ne w Yo rk Un i v e rs i ty wh o p a r t i c i p a t e d i n t h eexperiment to part ia l ly fu l f i l l course cred i t .Apparatus. A G a t e w a y 4 8 6 c o m p u t e r w i t h a V G A c o l o r m o n i t o rwa s u se d t o a d mi n i s t e r t h e p r i mi n g ma n i p u l a t i o n . A Vi su a l B a s i c p ro -g r a m w a s c r e a t e d t h a t a l lo w e d t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r t o b e b l i n d t o p r i m i n gc o n d i t i o n s , g a v e p a r t i c i p a n t s d i re c t i o n s a b o u t a n o d d -e v e n t a sk , a n da d m i n i s t e r e d t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l t r ia l s. W h e n t h e e x p e r i m e n t e r e n t e r e dt h e p a r t i c i p a n t ' s I D n u m b e r i n t o t h e c o m p u t e r, t h e c o m p u t e r r a n d o m l ya ss i g n e d th e p a r t i c i p a n t t o a c o n d i t i o n , k e e p i n g t h e p a r t i c i p a n t ' s c o n d i -t i o n f ro m t h e e x p e r i me n t e r ' s k n o wl e d g e . Du r i n g t h e e x p e r i me n t a lp h a se , e a c h p a r t i c i p a n t wa s su b l i mi n a l l y e x p o se d t o b l a c k -a n d -wh i t ep h o t o g r a p h s o f Af r i c a n Am e r i c a n o r C a u c a s i a n fa c es . On a g i v en tr i a l ,t h e fa c e p h o t o g ra p h wa s fo l l o we d b y t wo d i f fe re n t p a t t e rn ma sk s i nra p i d su c c e ss i o n . Th e f i r s t p a t t e rn ma sk w a s c o mp o se d o f a b l a c k -a n d -wh i t e p a t t e rn o f d i a g o n a l c ro s s -h a tc h e s . Th e se c o n d ma sk , p re s e n t e di mm e d i a t e l y a f t e r t h e f i r st , wa s c o n c e p t u a l l y s i mi l a r b u t n o t i d e n t i c a l t ot h e t a rg e t p ic t u re , wh i c h w a s c o mp o se d o f f ro m 4 t o 2 0 c o l o re d c i rc l eso n a g ra y b a c k g ro u n d . P re t e s t i n g h a d sh o wn t h a t t h e ma sk i n g p ro c e -d u re wa s e f fe c ti ve i n t h a t i n d i v i d u a l s we re n o t a wa re o f t h e p re se n c e o ft h e fa c e p h o t o g ra p h s .

T h e p r e s e n t a t io n s p e e d o f e a c h s u b l i m i n a l p i c tu r e ( f a c e s a n d m a s k s )wa s b o u n d e d b y t h e c o mp u t e r h a rd wa re . Sp e c if ic a ll y, t h e 7 6 H z m o n i t o rs c r e e n r e fr e s h

Automaticity of Social Behavior

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