Associations run faster than the will Late 20th and early 21st century

Associations run faster than the will Late 20th and early 21st century

The priming effect refers to the phenomenon in which a person is unconsciously influenced by words, images, sounds, or memories that he or she has seen or heard immediately before, resulting in subsequent changes in judgment, emotion, and behavior. Daniel Kahneman, who bridged the gap between behavioral economics and psychology, positioned this effect as an automatic function of the mind that accounts for the majority of human thought. People tend to think that they are deliberating and making choices on their own, but in reality, they are often already oriented in the preliminary stages of judgment.

This association requires no effort or intention. Reactions, such as a harsh or conversely positive evaluation immediately after reading a particular word, occur instantaneously and cannot be stopped midstream. This is due to what Kahneman called System 1, a fast, automatic, bodily-sensory mode of thinking. The example of the immediate rise of aversion and physical reaction to seeing a banana and an offensive word at the same time is a clear example of the uncontrollability of associations.

This priming effect is also closely related to the idea of embodied cognition emphasized in recent cognitive science. Human cognition is not completed by brain processing alone, but is linked to physical states such as posture, facial expression, muscle tension, and breathing. Experimental psychology has reported that smiling increases mood ratings and frowning decreases comprehension, confirming a reverse effect from the body to the mind.

Taken together, these findings suggest that human judgment is not driven by free and independent consciousness, but rather by associations and physical reactions, with consciousness following up on the results. This composition overlaps with the view of the 18th century philosopher David Hume, who argued that the ego is nothing more than a bundle of successive perceptions. The priming effect is not only an experimental achievement of modern psychology, but also a concept with ideological implications that quietly undermines the very image of human free will.