Priming is the idea that subtle cues and reminders can powerfully influence behavior. You hear about it in studies where women reminded of their gender perform less well on math problems. You may be skeptical of the power of priming on your own behavior. And certainly on the behavior of the hardened criminal. Alas, you may as well get used to it because even the behavior of those in maximum security prisons is influenced by priming.

Researchers asked 182 inmates from a maximum-security prison in Switzerland to flip coins (privately) and report the results. Prior to the coin flips, the researchers asked the inmates a question:

Half of the inmates were asked: “What were you convicted for?”

The other half were asked: “How many hours per week do you watch television on average?”

The intent was to prime half of the inmates with their criminal identity and to not prime the others. The inmates were to flip ten coins and record the results on paper. They were allowed to keep every coin they reported as coming up “heads”. This was an incentive to cheat and since they were unobserved, they could avoid punishment or censure. However, since the researchers know the normal distribution of coin flips, they would be able to identify dishonest reporting.

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