How activating cognitive content shapes trust: A subliminal priming study

Ann-Christin Posten, Axel Ockenfels and Thomas Mussweiler

Journal of Economic Psychology, 2014, vol. 41, issue C, 12-19

Abstract: The activation of cognitive contents plays a prominent role in social psychological research. Yet, so far this has received little attention in economics. In our research we connect a standard social psychological manipulation to activate cognitive content (a trust vs. distrust priming manipulation) to a classic paradigm from economics (a trust game). Our findings demonstrate that subliminally activating the concept of trust (vs. distrust) leads participants to judge a series of strangers as more (vs. less) trustworthy. Moreover, our research shows for the first time that such a subliminal priming manipulation shapes the subsequent sending behavior in a fictitious version of a standard economic trust game. This suggests that psychological priming techniques allow new insights into what determines beliefs in economic games.

Keywords: Trust; Distrust; Priming; Belief formation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:41:y:2014:i:c:p:12-19

DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2013.04.002

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