Under the Surface: Priming the Subconscious Brain

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective is to determine if a person's behavior will change after reading hidden keywords in a scrambled-sentence test. Methods/Materials Using a stopwatch, I secretly timed people's walking speed before and after they took one of two scrambled-sentence tests that I created. My purpose in doing this was to see if the hidden keywords within the test would cause an alteration of the person's behavior, specifically the person's walking speed. Results I found that the subjects' walking speed was affected by the hidden keywords in the text sixty-two percent of the time. Conclusions/Discussion My hypothesis was supported by the results of the test. I think the reason the individuals' behavior changed after reading the hidden words is because of a subconscious desire to fit in with the situation at hand. The subconscious brain of the person reading the text causes him to change his behavior, specifically his walking speed, without his awareness. This is a pyschological technique called priming--a person's behavior and mood can be altered by simply reading or hearing something pertaining to a particular state of mind.

Awards (1)

• Fourth Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2008 Cognitive Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0624

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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