**Cross-Modal Priming** is a term I'm [[Coining Terms|coining]] to describe a [[Priming]] phenomenon I was introduced to in [[Thinking Fast and Slow]] wherein inputs from one particular set of circumstances effectively _prime_ your behavior in another set of circumstances. # Examples ## The Far-Side is Funnier with a Pencil in Your Teeth One study had students rate how funny they thought some of Gary Larson's "The Far Side" comics were in an interesting way - they used a pencil held in their mouth. The students were instructed to hold the pencil in two different manners: - Hold the pencil with your teeth, forcing a smile-like expression - Hold the pencil with your lips, forcing a frown-like expression **The students who were forced to smile consistently rated the comics as funnier than those forced to frown**. The takeaway here is that their body was _primed_ by their facial expression to more readily act in line with the feelings that would typically evoke that expression. ## Power Poses Make You Feel More in Charge There was a TED Talk I watched several years back that instructed you to make "power poses" before doing things like job interviews and before giving speeches. This seems like an obvious application of cross-modal priming. You stand as though you have all the confidence in the world, thereby influencing your subconscious to _think_ you actually do. **** # More ## Source - Self - for the term - [[Thinking Fast and Slow]] - Power Pose TED Talk - link not available right now ## Related