Impairment of executive ability following a social category prime

Previous research has found evidence for a behavioural assimilation effect (Bargh, Chen, &

Burrows, 1996) where the priming of a social category leads participants to behave in line with

the stereotypes or associated traits of that social category. The current study investigated the

effect of priming psychology students with the category "neuropsychological patient" on their

subsequent executive function abilities. Fifty-nine participants were randomly assigned to one of

three conditions; participants received a neuropsychological patient prime, a beach scene prime

or no prime. Following the prime, participants completed the Tower of Hanoi task, which is

frequently used to assess executive function among those with neuropsychological disorders. As

predicted, participants in the neuropsychological patient prime condition showed behavioural

assimilation, performing significantly worse on the Tower of Hanoi task than participants in

either control condition. We discuss the implications of observing behavioral assimilation effects

in this new domain.