Evaluative Priming

Evaluative priming, introduced by Fazio and colleagues in 1986, is the foundational reaction-time paradigm for measuring automatic attitudes. On each trial an attitude object (the prime) is briefly presented and is quickly followed by a clearly positive or negative target word that the participant categorizes as 'good' or 'bad' as fast as possible. When the prime and target share the same valence -- a liked object followed by a positive word -- responses are faster; when they mismatch, responses slow. This congruency effect reveals that merely seeing an attitude object automatically activates its associated evaluation, which then facilitates or interferes with judging the target. Because the attitude is inferred from response speed rather than self-report, evaluative priming gives a window onto spontaneous evaluations and became, in its 'bona fide pipeline' form, an early standard for measuring implicit attitudes including racial prejudice.