Exploring the Influence of Priming on Accessibility and Desirability: Implications for Option Generation in Decision-Making

Abstract

While previous research on priming has primarily focused on how individuals choose between pre-generated options, everyday decision-making often involves generating options before making a choice. External cues can influence the accessibility of certain pre-generated options, thereby increasing the likelihood of selecting them. Consequently, priming seems to not only enhance the accessibly of these options but also their desirability. However, when individuals need to generate options themselves because pre-generated ones are unavailable, it becomes important to examine whether priming still affects the accessibility and desirability of options. This study aimed to investigate the impact of priming through option generation in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of decision-making processes. It was hypothesized that priming would affect the accessibly of options but would not affect their desirability. To test this, an online experiment was conducted, involving a visual prime, to assess its effect on the accessibility and desirability of types of take-away food. Data were collected from 90 participants, who were randomly assigned to two conditions: India and Italy. A 2 (prime condition: India versus Italy) x 2 (food type: Indian versus Italian) x 2 (measure: accessibility versus desirability) repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a nearly significant, reversed three-way interaction, F(1, 88) = 3.695, p = 0.058. Reactance could potentially explain this reversed effect, as participants might have been aware of the prime stimulus and deliberately chosen not to indicate a food preference aligned with the country they were primed with.