“Here’s your latte. Want to sit there to decide which of those people to put on the team? Here let me move my computer bag over so you have room.”

Imagine you were the person who took the latte in that scene. Subconsciously you’re being primed. You’re getting sensory cues that influenced how you felt about that person and how you acted. Powerful people can be primed, for example, to feel more entitled to get whatever they want. While some assertions of so-called subliminal influence are bogus, others are not.

You can be swayed (or can nudge others), using priming cues as these three surprising experiments demonstrate:

1.   Walking down the hall to participate in an experiment some students encountered a lab assistant who was holding textbooks, a clipboard, papers  – and either a cup of hot or iced coffee. The assistant asked teach student for a hand – to hold the cup for a moment.  Those who held the cold coffee later rated a hypothetical person they read about as being less social or friendly and more selfish than did their fellow students, who held a hot cup. See links to post here http://www.movingfrommetowe.com/2010/03/30/want-to-know-why-you-did-that/

2.   You are more likely to tidy up an area, if you get a slight whiff of a cleaning liquid when you are in it – or not if you don’t.

3. Study participants took part in a one-on-one investment game with another, unseen player. Half of them played while sitting at a large table, at the other end of which was a briefcase.

These students were far stingier with their money than the others, who played in an identical room, but with a backpack on the table instead.

The mere presence of the briefcase seems to have made them more competitive. The students had no sense of whether they had acted selfishly or generously.

Takeaways

Be aware of your emotional response to even subtle sensory cues in a situation (from hard vs. cushy chairs to a dark vs. sunny space)  – especially when meeting someone new or making a decision.

When you want to reach agreement or get closer to someone, chose the setting, your actions and the “props” that support that goal.

If villagers living in the midst of poverty and war can be nudged to work better together with just three simple rules (honed via a parental competition study) and a reward (money, in this case) then maybe your group (team, board, committee, etc.) could too:

1. The village leaders (or your project leader) are elected by secret ballot.

2. The village (or your group) holds communal meetings – meaning open to all participants and no secret side confabs.

3. The results of all meetings are covered completely and accurately and that coverage is made available, quickly, to all participants. Here are two other posts you may find helpful:

How We Help Each Other Do the Right Thing…Sometimes

Disagree? How to Keep Talking Instead of Arguing

See links at http://www.movingfrommetowe.com/2010/01/19/how-groups-can-make-better-choices/