The Power of Priming

Priming exposes someone to a cue that shapes the next response. Words like "collaboration" or "partnership" before a negotiation can make cooperation feel more natural.

In one study, people who unscrambled sentences containing polite words waited noticeably longer before interrupting a busy experimenter. The words shaped their behavior without their awareness. Effects like this can be fragile and hard to reproduce, but cues around us still nudge behavior before deliberate choice.