Priming Theory Paper

 

Examining Priming Theory of Communications and Its Effect on Public Relations

Gina Carriero

Pennsylvania State University

Abstract

Priming theory examines the enhanced effects of mass media content by telling the audience what to think based off the saliency of information in their memory.  The theory was derived from the cognitive psychological concept of priming and has evolved since it started gaining attention in the 1980’s.  It is based on memory-based models of information processing correlating the ease in which instances or associations could be brought to mind (Scheufele and Tewkbury, 2007)

Introduction

Priming is a very relevant concept with today’s explosion of media content seen everyday.  The theory refers to enhancing the effects of media by influencing how easily accessible the information is in the audiences’ memory.  This gives the audience a prior context of what is good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable and becomes the base of their thoughts and opinions when interpreting future information. Effects of priming are easily measureable and attributed to how we evaluate mass media content.  This can affect major topics in society, especially related to politics such as elections for public office or new governmental policies.  Stemming from agenda-setting which sets the importance of a topic, priming tells us what evaluations to make on those topics. This paper will discuss the history, orientation and effects of the priming theory of communications.

Description of Theory

The theory of priming, which stemmed from agenda setting, gained much attention in the 1980’s and early 1990’s in the context of effects on political elections.  It was based off the idea that mass media had a strong influence on attitude and how the audience processed messages, but also depended on predispositions, schemas and other characteristics (Scheufele and Tewkbury, 2007).  The effects of priming can be traced back to the 1970’s when the Watergate Scandal occurred and President Nixon’s administration tried covering up their involvement.  At the time, the term “priming” was not used to describe the process, but the media chose which information to disseminate for the audience to evaluate the political actors of the scandal from (Weaver 2007).

The original concept of priming in 1975 was based off the thought that people develop memory traces or “activation tags” when they receive information.  Scheufele (2000) explained the “tags” concept as once a topic is primed, activation tags are spread in the audience mind, and when another topic is presented it makes contact with a tag left earlier in the audience memory.  It was still revolved around the idea that a topic’s prior context effects one’s interpretation of information received later on.  The “tags” concept was later replaced with the construct of accessibility and saliency of information in the audience’s memory (Scheufele, 2000).  Salience refers to the ease with which information can be retrieved from memory.  What the media chooses to present is what becomes salient and easily accessibly when forming opinions and making judgments.  Today’s priming hypothesis states that mass media makes some issues more salient than others which influences how people judge the mass media content (Sheufele 2000).

Priming is closely related to the agenda setting theory and can be described as agenda setting’s outcome. Agenda setting is the creation of public awareness of issues by the news media and outlines what should be perceived as important.  It’s ability to tell us what issues are important leads to effects of priming, which are the evaluations based off those issues.  Scheufele (2000) refers to priming as a “natural extension” of agenda setting.  The relationship of the two theories can be described the independent and dependent variables in an experiment. Agenda setting would be the IV and the priming effects would be the DV.  Priming comes from agenda setting, but operates on a different level of analysis, according to Scheufele (2000).  Agenda setting operates on a macroscopic level, examining the importance the media assigns to certain topics.  As the extension, priming operates on a microscopic level, looking at the accessibility of certain topics in a person’s memory (Scheufele 2000).  Priming refers to a more specific affect media content has on the audience. While agenda setting shows how media tells us “what to think about”, priming tells us “what to think” (Weaver 2007).

Priming is based on the memory-based model of information processing, which says the formation of judgments is directly correlated with how easy associations could be brought to mind (Scheufele, 2000).  The effects can be measured directly through attitude accessibility.  For example, the longer it takes a respondent to answer a question on a certain topic, the less accessible that topic is in their memory.  Carpentier (2014) explains a study done in 2007 that showed triggering one concept effects later judgments.  Participants were exposed to a target issue (health, environment or civil rights) via blogs, news stories or crossword puzzles then asked to fill out word completion.  The word completion outcomes reflected the target issues the participant was exposed to regardless of the content type.  For example, “_urse” was most likely filled in as “nurse” opposed to “purse” or “curse” for people who viewed the health target issue (Carpentier 2014).  This study shows how prior context of an issue makes it easily accessible in one’s memory and effects later judgments made.

Application to Public Relations

The theory of priming has an incredible impact on public relations because it helps professionals understand the impact that exposure has on a topic and how its affects can continue into a longterm role.  Priming suggests that any amount of content can start shaping opinions, even if the audience is not actively participating or paying attention, and still have long term results (Sheufele, 2000).  This is saying a subtle, repetitive approach may affect an audience by making the message easily accessible in their minds. According to Scheufele and Tewksbury (2007), agenda setting and priming requires mere exposure to content to be sufficient.  It is important for public relations professionals to understand this because it can help them plan appropriate tactics to use in their campaign in order to effectively reach their target audience.

The memory based model of information processing points out that one engagement in a message will most likely make the audience recall the information later on (Scheufele and Tewksbury, 2007).  This is incredibly important because the public relations industry focuses very much on maintaining the image of clients.  If an audience is primed with a positive first impression of a brand or company, they will most likely remember the positive attitudes towards them in the long run.  This can help protect and maintain a clients reputation if they ever face a crisis in the future.  It would make it easier for public relations professionals to deal with a client’s crisis if their audience was primed with positive attributes to begin with.  It would also help the audience to forgive a mistake of a company if they had prior context of the company’s positive past experience.  Therefore it is crucial for public relation professional to understand the power of priming and how important it is for setting the stage for a client’s reputation.

A campaign where priming seemed to be used was Chipotle’s “Food with Integrity” campaign.  It focused how the food chain only uses fresh food without any artificial flavors or fillers in order to transform the fast food industry.  The campaign included starting their Chipotle Cultivate Foundation which contributed $3 million to sustainable agriculture, food education, family farming, and hosting the Cultivate Festival which was a free event bringing fresh food to multiple cities.  This campaign primed their audience to associate Chipotle food products with freshness, health, and sustainbility.  This campaign most likely helped the company during their E. coli outbreak crisis because the information easily accessible in their audience’s mind is that they are an eco-friendly company that only uses fresh ingredients.  Having the prior context of being a healthy fast food restaurant that gives back to the community may have helped their audience forgive their E. coli mishap and trust their previously made opinions about the company.

Conclusion

Overall, priming as an enhancement of media effects has been proven to effect an audience’s evaluations and judgments.  The theory has evolved since it was first recognized over 30 years ago as an “activation tag” concept and now is associated with outcomes of important topics in society. Priming has branched from agenda setting and been tested and supported by memory-based information processing, offering significance to the public relations industry and success of campaigns.

References

Carpentier, F. D. (2014). Agenda Setting and Priming Effects Based on Information         Presentation: Revisiting Accessibility as a Mechanism Explaining Agenda Setting and     Priming. Mass communication & Society, 17, 531-552.   DOI:10.1080/15205436.2013.816744

Scheufele, D. A., & Tewkbury, D. (2007) . Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming: The     Evolution of Three Media Effects Models. Journal of Communication, 57, 9-20.           DOI:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00326.x

Scheufele, D.A. (2000). Agenda-Setting, Priming, and Framing Revisited: Another Look at         Cognitive Effects of Political Communication. Mass Communication & Society, 3, 297-         316.

Weaver, D. H. (2007) . Thoughts on Agenda Setting, Framing and Priming. Journal of      Communication, 57, 142-147. DOI:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00333.x