title: When less is more: the consequences of affective primacy for subliminal priming effects.
abstract: This research investigates the consequences of the notion that one can distinguish early-evaluative (when exposure is short) and late-descriptive reactions (when exposure is long) to subliminally primed trait concepts. In three studies, it was found that the evaluative effects instigated by short exposure to primed concepts were bigger than the evaluative + descriptive effects instigated by long exposure: Less is more. Only when exposure was short, target interpretations were accompanied by evaluative inferences (Studies 1 and 3). Similarly, only when exposure was short, descriptively inapplicable trait primes affected the interpretation of an ambiguous target (Studies 2 and 3).
authors.affiliation: Social Psychology, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. d.a.stapel@ppsw.rug.nl
authors.forename: Diederik A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Stapel
authors.forename: Willem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Koomen
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003210:Concept Formation; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D011593:Psychology, Social; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D013997:Time Factors