Money Priming Research Articles

The effects of money priming for face recognition

The effects of money priming for face recognition

Does money change political views? – An investigation of money priming and the preference for right-wing politics

In a multistudy approach across seven studies we explored whether, as suggested by previous research, money primes affect people’s political orientation. Across the studies we used different dependent variables and samples, and we combined the results in a small-scale meta-analysis to test two competing hypotheses. Independent of the measures and experimental setting, our findings did not indicate that money primes lead to stronger right-wing orientations (main-effect hypothesis). However, we obtained a marginally significant interaction effect suggesting that the money priming effect is moderated by subjective socioeconomic status (moderation hypothesis). These findings suggest that, contrary to previous research, the money priming effect on political orientation is at best small and dependent on one’s subjective socioeconomic status. Implications for money priming research and political psychology are discussed.

Show Me the Money: A Systematic Exploration of Manipulations, Moderators, and Mechanisms of Priming Effects

A major challenge for accumulating knowledge in psychology is the variation in methods and participant populations across studies in a single domain. We offer a systematic approach to addressing this challenge and implement it in the domain of money priming. In three preregistered experiments (N = 4,649), participants were exposed to one of a number of money manipulations before completing self-report measures of money activation (Study 1); engaging in a behavioral-persistence task (Study 3); completing self-report measures of subjective wealth, self-sufficiency, and communion-agency (Studies 1–3); and completing demographic questions (Studies 1–3). Four of the five manipulations we tested activated the concept of money, but, contrary to what we expected based on the preponderance of the published literature, no manipulation consistently affected any dependent measure. Moderation by sociodemographic characteristics was sparse and inconsistent across studies. We discuss implications for theories of money priming and explain how our approach can complement recent efforts to build a reproducible, cumulative psychological science.

Money Priming and Social Behavior of Natural Groups in Simple Bargaining and Dilemma Experiments

We examine the effects of money priming and solidarity on individual behavior in three simple experiments: dictator game, ultimatum game, and prisoner’s dilemma. Our study comprises two money treatments and two neutral (control) treatments. Additionally, we control for the strength of social ties between experimental participants. Although our priming procedure is sufficient to remind people of the concept of money, it is not sufficient to induce systematically different behavior of the treatment groups compared to the control groups. We find significant differences between groups with strong and weak social ties, even without activating the idea of group affiliation. We discuss various explanations why our money priming results contradict previous research.

How money priming affects consumers in an advertising context: the role of product conspicuousness and consumers’ signalling needs

ABSTRACTEffects of money priming on basic psychological processes are well established in the literature. However, research that investigates money priming in an advertising context is scarce. This article presents two empirical studies examining consumer reactions after being primed with money and exposed to advertisements presenting either conspicuous or non-conspicuous products. Consumer reactions were investigated with respect to their attitude towards the ad, product evaluation and signalling needs. The findings indicate that the evaluation of a conspicuous product, and the respective ad promoting it, benefit from money priming while the evaluation of a non-conspicuous product is not affected. Moreover, money priming elicits signalling needs in situations where consumers are confronted with conspicuous products. Our moderated mediation models show that these signalling needs mediate the positive effects of money priming in conspicuous situations.

Diverging Influences of Money Priming on Choice: The Moderating Effect of Consumption Situation.

Prior research on money priming has suggested two seemingly contradicting findings. On the one hand, money has been shown to highlight the importance of cost saving, leading to the choice of a low-quality/low-price option. On the other hand, individuals primed with money as a symbol of social status, and capabilities may focus on social value of money, e.g., higher spending symbolizes higher status and prefer an option with high quality/high price. Current research proposes and demonstrates that whether money priming will lead different choices depends on the nature of the consumption context. Specifically, when the product is to be consumed privately, money priming will highlight the importance of cost, thus increasing the preference for lower price at a lower quality. However, when the product is to be consumed publicly, reversed pattern of consumer preference will be found.

Money priming affects consumers' need for uniqueness

We conducted 3 studies to investigate the effect of money priming on consumers' need for uniqueness. In Study 1, we found that when choosing products, consumers who were primed with money had a stronger need for counterconformity, compared to those who were not. In Study 2, we found that the meaning of money linked to the amount of money moderated the effect of money concept on consumers' choice of innovative products, and that the likelihood that individuals primed with a large amount of money would choose unique products was significantly higher than that of both those primed with a small amount of money and the nonmoney-primed control group. In Study 3, we found that social distance mediated the influence of money concept on the consumers' need for uniqueness. Overall, the results showed that consumers who are primed with money perceive greater social distance and have a stronger need for uniqueness.

Dual Effect of Money Priming

Prior research on money priming has suggested two seemingly contradicting findings. On one hand, money has shown to highlight the importance of saving, leading to the choice of low quality-low price option. On the other hand, the individuals primed with money tended to focus on the personal goal and end outcome. In purchase decision, such tendency may raised subjective importance of the product quality. Current research proposes and demonstrates that whether money will enhances the weights of cost and quality depends on the nature of consumption context.

Selection bias, vote counting, and money-priming effects: A comment on Rohrer, Pashler, and Harris (2015) and Vohs (2015).

When a series of studies fails to replicate a well-documented effect, researchers might be tempted to use a “vote counting” approach to decide whether the effect is reliable—that is, simply comparing the number of successful and unsuccessful replications. Vohs’s (2015) response to the absence of money priming effects reported by Rohrer, Pashler, and Harris (2015) provides an example of this approach. Unfortunately, vote counting is a poor strategy to assess the reliability of psychological findings because it neglects the impact of selection bias and questionable research practices. In the present comment, we show that a range of meta-analytic tools indicate irregularities in the money priming literature discussed by Rohrer et al. and Vohs, which all point to the conclusion that these effects are distorted by selection bias, reporting biases, or p-hacking. This could help to explain why money-priming effects have proven unreliable in a number of direct replication attempts in which biases have been minimized through preregistration or transparent reporting. Our major conclusion is that the simple proportion of significant findings is a poor guide to the reliability of research and that preregistered replications are an essential means to assess the reliability of money-priming effects.

The Effects of Activating the Money Concept on Perseverance and the Preference for Delayed Gratification in Children.

The psychological model of thinking about money assumes that implicit reminders of money lead to self-sufficient motivation. Previous research has demonstrated that children react to money in similar ways to adults. The priming of young children with money related concepts or images has negatively affected their social behavior and social preferences, leading them to make more individualist and less pro-social choices and be less willing to help others. The aim of this research was to investigate the positive influence of money activation on children’s behavior. The participants were 6–8 year old children who do not yet fully understand the instrumental function of money due to their young age. Two experimental studies were performed, the first of which analyzed the effect of perseverance and performance on a challenging task and the second investigated preferences with respect to delaying gratification. Sixty-one children aged 6 took part in the first study and forty-six scout camp participants 6–8 years of age were involved in the second experiment. The results support the hypotheses concerning the effects of money activation stating that (1) money activation influences children’s perseverance and effectiveness in difficult individual tasks, and that (2) it increases children’s preferences for delayed gratification. These results suggest that money has a symbolic power which may exert both positive and negative effects on children’s behavior. Since children between the ages of 6 and 8 do not understand the instrumental function of money fully, certain symbolic meanings of money may have been responsible for the money priming effects. The findings suggest that the symbolic function of money is more primal than its instrumental function and that it probably develops at an earlier stage in life.

A Fresh Look on Money Priming

Two studies demonstrated that subjective socioeconomic status moderates the effects of reminders of money on the endorsement of the socioeconomic system. Whether reminders of money increased or decreased system justification (Study 1) and the belief in a just world (Study 2) depended on participants’ subjectively experienced standing in the social hierarchy. These findings were backed up by a small-scale meta-analysis across our entire data (N = 365). Hence, we also included a third study into the meta-analysis, in which the manipulation check indicated that the mental activation of money was comparably weak. This research offers new insights into the psychological mechanisms of money primes and reveals that interindividual differences, such as whether one feels privileged or not, can moderate the effects of money primes.

A Social Priming Data Set With Troubling Oddities

ABSTRACTA recent paper by Chatterjee, Rose, and Sinha (2013) reported impressively large “money priming” effects: incidental exposure to concepts relating to cash or credit cards made participants much less generous with their time and money (after cash primes) or much more generous (after credit card primes ). Primes also altered participants’ choices in a word-stem completion task. To explore these effects, we carried out re-analyses of the raw data. A number of strange oddities were brought to light, including a dramatic similarity of the filler word-stem completion responses produced by the 20 subjects who contributed most to the priming effects. We suggest that these oddities undermine the credibility of the paper and require further investigation.

Buffering effect of money priming on negative emotions—An ERP study

Recent studies have accumulated evidences that merely reminding people of money could lead to behavioral changes including alleviating both physical pain and social distress. However, the underlying neural mechanism regarding such pain-buffering effect of money is not clear. In this paper, we applied event-related potentials (ERP) to investigate the neural effect of money reminders on induced negative emotions. Subjects were first primed of money images and subsequently viewing unpleasant pictures, while EEG was recorded. Behavioral results suggested a reduced sensitivity to unpleasant pictures after participants being reminded of money. ERP data showed that money priming, compared to neutral priming, generated a larger N2 in frontal and posterior areas, reflecting an endogenous mental conflict and the recruitment of attention resources, and a smaller late positive potential (LPP) in parietal and occipital regions, indicating a regulating process of negative emotions. Additionally, how brain responded to money and neutral stimuli were also examined, indexed by “N170-P2” complex. This study provided additional neurophysiological evidences to support previous behavioral researches on money priming and discussed the two separated neural dynamic stages involved in emotion regulation.

Money priming can change people's thoughts, feelings, motivations, and behaviors: An update on 10 years of experiments.

Caruso, Vohs, Baxter, and Waytz (2013) posited that because money is used in free market exchanges, cues of money would lead people to justify and support the systems that allow those exchanges to take place. Hence, the authors predicted that money primes would boost system justification, social dominance, belief in a just world, and free market ideology, and found supportive evidence. Rohrer, Pashler, and Harris (2015) failed to replicate those effects. This article discusses the factors that predict priming effects, and particularly those pertinent to differences between Caruso et al. and Rohrer et al. Variations in a prime's meaning, the ease with which primed content comes to mind, the prime's motivational importance, and the ambiguity of the outcome situation influence the impact of the prime. Money priming experiments (totaling 165 to date, from 18 countries) point to at least 2 major effects. First, compared to neutral primes, people reminded of money are less interpersonally attuned. They are not prosocial, caring, or warm. They eschew interdependence. Second, people reminded of money shift into professional, business, and work mentality. They exert effort on challenging tasks, demonstrate good performance, and feel efficacious. Money priming is not the same as priming another popular means of exchange, credit cards, and can have bigger effects when there is an implied connection between the self and having money. The practical benefits of money have been studied by other disciplines for decades, and the time is now for psychologists to study the effects of merely being reminded of money.

Do subtle reminders of money change people's political views?

A number of researchers have reported studies showing that subtle reminders of money can alter behaviors and beliefs that are seemingly unrelated to money. In 1 set of studies published in this journal, Caruso, Vohs, Baxter, and Waytz (2013) found that incidental exposures to money led subjects to indicate greater support for inequality, socioeconomic differences, group-based discrimination, and free market economies. We conducted high-powered replication attempts of these 4 money priming effects and found no evidence of priming (weighted Cohen's d = 0.03). We later learned that Caruso et al. also found several null effects in their line of research that were not reported in the original article. In addition, the money priming effect observed in the first study of Caruso et al. was included in the Many Labs Replication Project (Klein et al., 2014), and only 1 of the 36 labs was able to find the effect.

Seeing and Being Green? The Effect of Money Priming on Willingness to Perform Sustainable Actions, Social Connectedness, and Prosociality

ABSTRACTThis investigation attempted to conceptually replicate/extend research that suggests that reminders of money can inhibit prosociality, promote self-sufficiency, and influence political beliefs. Based on these results, we hypothesized that money primes would decrease willingness to engage in sustainable actions. We also predicted that people would distribute points less prosocially and feel less socially connected when money was primed. Individuals were recruited from an undergraduate participant pool and MTurk. Meta-analytic results across the two samples revealed that money priming did not have a significant impact on willingness to act sustainably, but it did cause participants to distribute points less prosocially and report lower social connectedness than individuals in the control condition. While effects were smaller than those reported in Vohs, Mead, and Goode (2006), this study still offers support for the detrimental impact of reminders of money on interpersonal relations.

Assessing implicit mate preferences among Chinese and Japanese women by providing love, sex, or money cues.

Love, sex, and money are the most direct cues involved in the fundamental forms of mate preferences. These fundamental forms are not mutually exclusive but are interrelated. As a result, humans base their mate choices on multiple cues. In this study, 62 undergraduate women (M age = 20.4 yr., SD = 1.4) from China and Japan served as the participants. They performed a variation of the semantic priming task, in which they were instructed to decide by means of a key-press whether the target was human or non-human. The primes were images that portrayed potent evolutionary factors for mate preference (i.e., love, sex, and money), and the manipulation was based on whether the prime and target matched regarding gender, independent of the target decision task (human vs non-human). Participants gave faster responses to male targets than to female targets under priming. The results generally supported the evolutionary premises that assume mate preference is determined by fundamental forms of providing emotional (love), material (money), and fertility support (sex). The money priming effect was stronger in the Chinese women than in the Japanese women, suggesting that social context may influence mate preferences.

A Comparative Study of Effects of Time Priming and Money Priming on Pro-Social Behavior

Money and time both play important roles in people’s daily life. Many studies have demonstrated that even subtle reminder of money or time will influence human behaviors. Empirical researches suggested that money cues had triggered a state of self-sufficient economic mind-set while time priming can activate a kind of emotional mind-set. As a result, participants whose money concepts were primed showed less pro-social behavior than those who were not been primed of time. This paper is mainly to summarize previous research, and further discuss two problems: 1) the different mechanisms of time on pro-social behavior compared to money; 2) broadening our scope of research samples about time priming and money priming.

Strategy compatibility: The time versus money effect on product evaluation strategies

We show that time priming leads consumers to adopt an alternative-based evaluation strategy, whereas money priming elicits the use of an attribute-based evaluation strategy. In Experiment 1, we used process tracing in Mouselab to test this proposition, and the results suggested that the effect of time versus money priming on the choice of product-evaluation strategy was mediated by a holistic versus piecemeal information-processing. The results of Experiments 2A and 2B showed that the use of time versus money priming to trigger the choice of an alternative-based versus attribute-based evaluation strategy may result in systematic preference reversals. Specifically, when time (versus money) was primed, the participants were found to be more likely to choose a product dominating on a verbally described (versus numerically described) attribute (Experiment 2A), and one dominating on a non-alignable (versus alignable) attribute (Experiment 2B).

The Effects of Money Priming on Pro-social Behavior and Its Decision Mechanism

Money plays an important role in people's daily life. Many studies have demonstrated that even subtle reminder of money will influence human behaviors. Empirical researches suggested that money cues had triggered a state of self-sufficiency, economic mind-set, free-market values and self-interested identity(social-cognitive model). As a result, participants whose money concepts were primed showed less altruistic pro-social behavior, less commonweal pro-social behavior, less relationship pro-social behavior and less trait pro-social behavior than those not been primed of money. There are many questions should be further explored:(1) The effects of money on pro-social behavior being extended to cover organizational management;(2) The moderate effect of socioeconomic status between money priming and pro-social behavior;(3) The different effect of time on pro-social behavior compared to money;(4) The neural mechanisms of money priming effects on pro-social behavior.