Nudge Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Did I Get It Wrong? | Revisiting Priming
Host: Phill Agnew
Guest: Phil Graves (Consumer Psychologist, Author of Consumerology)
Release Date: August 18, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Phill Agnew revisits the concept of priming—one of behavioral science's most cited yet contentious effects. Previously, Phill had attempted to debunk several famous priming studies (as seen in Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow) by running his own replications, many of which failed to show the effect. Today, consumer psychologist Phil Graves joins to challenge Phill’s conclusions. The two explore when and why priming works, digging into studies from wine tasting to product packaging, to argue that contextual relevance is key to whether priming has a real, measurable impact.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Phill’s Failed Replications of Classic Priming Studies

• Phill recounts attempts to replicate five famous priming studies.
  • Apple Logo and Creativity (00:23): Showing participants the Apple logo did not make them more creative, contradicting the original study.

    “Those primed with the IBM logo in my study actually came up with more uses for a brick than those who saw the Apple logo.” — Phill (00:53)

  • Florida Effect (00:53): Reading words related to old age made no difference in speed, again failing to replicate the effect.

    “There was no priming effect here either.” — Phill (02:01)

• Phill references the replication crisis: Most studies in the priming chapter of Kahneman’s book are considered unreliable or debunked.

2. Priming in More Reliable Contexts: Phil Graves’ Perspective

• Phil’s Expertise (04:22): Phil has replicated and observed priming effects, especially in areas with clear context and relevance.

• Wine Studies:

  • fMRI studies show people’s pleasure centers activate more when tasting wine they believe is expensive, even though it’s the same wine (04:47).

    “What it showed was that the reward centres of the brain lit up more when the wine was positioned as being more expensive.” — Phil (04:47)

  • Changes to wine labels (premium vs. cheap) affect both wine and meal ratings (06:44).

    “…when the wine was perceived purely from the label as being better quality, people rated both the wine and the food as tasting better and they ate more of the meal as well.” — Phill (06:44)

  • Cork-top bottles increased perceived wine quality vs. screw tops (07:47).

    “The association with cork tops and high quality literally increased enjoyment.” — Phill (07:47)

• Heuristics and Unconscious Processes:

  • Phil argues that much of consumer behavior is driven by heuristics and unconscious processing, not logical analysis.

    “What we end up deciding and acting and the decisions we make are influenced by lots and lots of things that are peripheral. But how we account for what we found ourselves doing is driven by our own need to post rationalise a narrative that makes us feel like conscious agents, even though it largely points to the fact that we're not.” — Phil (07:47)

  • Example: Not reading terms and conditions because nothing bad has happened previously—a learned heuristic (08:29).

3. What Counts as ‘Priming’—and Does Context Matter?

• Phill wonders whether some so-called priming studies are better explained by other effects (e.g., halo effect, anchoring).

  “Part of me would argue that the price of the wine is more to do with the Verbeila effect, that the labeling is maybe down to the halo effect, or that opening a cork is input bias.” — Phill (09:12)

• Phil: Many of these effects (anchoring, misattribution, implicit associations) blend, but context and how people’s “mental journey” is started is essential (09:32).

4. Robust Priming Effects: Anchoring and Order Effects

• Anchoring Task: Multiplication problems starting with higher or lower numbers prime different guesses (10:11).

• Africa Countries Task: Initial (even random) numbers influence subsequent estimates (10:45).

• Order Effects in Descriptions: The order of adjectives influences preference (John vs. Mark story, 11:28).

• Marketing Example: Vodka described as “award winning, vinegary and weak” is preferred over the same adjectives in reverse order.

  “Most people unconsciously attach more weight to the words they hear first. And thus they say they prefer John over Mark.” — Phill (11:28)

5. Marketing Application: Contextually Relevant Priming

• Smoothie Packaging: Innocent Drinks found that listing fruit ingredients first on new juice packaging led to better sales than leading with vegetable ingredients, even when the content was identical (13:23).

  “If you see this juice and you see that it’s a kale, cucumber and apple juice … you’re starting your mental journey at kale…If you’re starting with the apple and then you’re getting to the kale, it kind of feels alright.” — Phil (13:23)

• Loss Aversion: Consumers are more worried about buying and not enjoying a “challenging” flavor.

6. Phill’s Revised View: The Power of Context

• Phill acknowledges that contextual relevance, not mere subtleness or size of the stimulus, is what drives whether priming works.

  “Both of these studies are exploring priming. After all, the stimulus…is only briefly paid attention to…However, I think there is another big difference…that is context. …The prime is contextually important.” — Phill (15:55)

• Examples Where Context Matters:

  • Fresh bread smell in a supermarket increases bread sales (18:03).

  • Art beside cutlery makes it feel more luxurious (20:06).

  • Shoes in a room with a floral scent are preferred over unscented (21:34).

    “Smelling fresh bread when I’m walking around the supermarket will make me buy a loaf of sourdough. Both, you could argue, are priming, but one is far more contextually relevant.” — Phill (15:55)

7. Product Evaluation and Competitive Framing

• Simonson and Yoon Study:
  • The perceived quality and price people are willing to pay for a product (like a pen) is higher when it's compared against clearly inferior alternatives, illustrating the influence of contextual framing (23:09).

    “…what they found was that it's not objective, it's driven by what's around in the context.” — Phil (23:09)

8. Takeaways for Marketers

• Subtle, contextually relevant cues can reliably nudge consumer choices and perception.

• Out-of-context primes (like arbitrary colors or irrelevant words) are unlikely to influence behavior.

• Marketers should consider contextual congruence between the stimulus and the decision at hand.

  “So now I don’t think it’s down to the size of the stimulus that nudges people, but rather the contextual relevance. …But irrelevant stimulus I don’t think will prime you in a strong way.” — Phill (25:25)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On failed replications:

  “It did not work. In fact, those primed with the IBM logo in my study actually came up with more uses for a brick than those who saw the Apple logo.” — Phill (00:53)

• On wine and context:

  “We believe it to the point that actually what we experience is better as a result of just knowing that we've spent more.” — Phil (05:32)

• On heuristics and unconscious behavior:

  “No right thinking human would actually read the terms and conditions…” — Phil (08:29)

• On the mistake of ignoring context:

  “I always assumed that priming didn't work because of the inputs, the stimulus. …But I think I got that wrong. I now believe that subtle inputs, subtle stimulus can nudge, just like how smelling fresh bread or seeing the price of a wine will influence my decision.” — Phill (25:25)

• On consumer self-report:

  “What people think they think isn’t necessarily really what they think and they don’t think how they think, so they’re not great people to ask.” — Phil (20:06)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:23: Recap of Phill’s priming study replications and failures
• 04:22: Introduction of Phil Graves and discussion of wine studies
• 09:32: Phil explains blending of priming, anchoring, and misattribution
• 11:28: Describing anchoring and order effects (John/Mark example)
• 13:23: Innocent smoothie test—how ingredient order on packaging primes consumer behavior
• 15:55: Phill’s realization: context matters for priming
• 20:06: Artwork next to cutlery increases perceived luxury
• 21:34: Floral scent influences choice of Nike shoes
• 23:09: Product comparison framing; context shapes willingness to pay
• 25:25: Phill’s final thoughts: contextual relevance as the key to successful priming

Conclusion

Phill Agnew revises his previous skepticism about priming, aligning with Phil Graves’ evidence: subtle psychological nudges do affect behavior when they are contextually relevant. Irrelevant primes—no matter their cleverness or subtlety—typically fail. For marketers, the “nudge” must fit not just the audience, but the situation and product for a real behavioral impact.

Recommended for:
Marketers, behavioral scientists, and anyone interested in how psychology shapes decision-making—especially those who want to move beyond surface-level “hacks” to understand what truly influences consumers.