title: The Syntax of Defection and Cooperation: The Effects of the Implicit SentencesNice ActVersusAct Niceon Behavior Change.
abstract: The syntactic organization of incidentally presented word pairs may affect behavior by providing actors with implicit propositions about how to behave. In Experiment 1, participants who had already played turns of a mixed-motive game were less cooperative after an explicit propositional suggestion that theyhad been nicein prior turns but were more cooperative after the suggestion that theyshould be nicein upcoming turns. In three subsequent experiments, implicit priming with the phrasenice actproduced greater levels of defection, implying that actors responded to the implicit suggestion that theyhad been sufficiently nicealready. In contrast,act niceproduced greater levels of cooperation, implying that actors responded to the implicit suggestion thatthey should try to be nicerin upcoming turns. These effects occurred outside of awareness and disappeared when the interval between the words was long and when behavior was measured after a delay.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, USA.
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Albarracín
authors.affiliation: University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, USA.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Noguchi
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
authors.forename: Ira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fischler
keywords: goals; language; negotiations; social cognition; social interaction