Great article. The NY Times published an article, around 2018 I think, in which it reported research that the headline of an article not only frames how people read the article, but even what they remember from reading it.
Thanks! I can totally see that. Drudge is a perfect example because they can flip an entire article, even the 'real' headline because you start with theirs. Priming is incredible.
The Drudge Report is a great example. The whole thing is worrying. I did a load of research into it a few years ago for a presentation and a book chapter. People quite often read the headline, and even if they read beyond that they often skim. Plus, in a book called The Front Page, by Hecht & MacArthur, they wrote “Who the hell ever reads the second paragraph?”
The other kind of priming I’ve seen is carefully-selected and mangled pull quotes. I got a load of flack once from an author’s acolytes when I wrote in a review of his book that it was a shame this book hadn’t been around 18 months ago. The pull quote that wasn’t an actual quote read, “Advice on how schools should plan their edtech spending may strike some as being a little late”. Yes, well it may do, but that wasn’t what I said!
I found it rather worrying that teachers, whom one would assume are able to read, quite clearly didn’t read the review but only the pull quotes — because I actually recommended the book!
That’s all pretty minor, but it’s easy to see how fake news about much more important issues can be spread.
Great point. One thing I've learned over the years is that there is literally zero people who can claim special exemption based on background, expereince, or education for common biases.
Would AI make priming more sophisticated and more challenging to detect? I think the answer is yes.
We cannot easily overcome biases, and reading widely (both in favor and against before we form any opinions about a topic will be a necessary skill) and applying critical thinking will be the key to overcoming priming in the future.
I think AI could make priming more sophisticated especially if the information operation is coming from non-native english speakers. Sophisticated priming has to have a mastery of the language.
But then again, right now Clickbait is the least sophisticated and it works brilliantly.
I'll often overlook potentially good material out of fear it's just rubbish click bait. That's why I'm careful with my own titles. Though I do worry this essay's title went over the edge.
The problem with a lot of these titles is that they really don't tell you what the article is about or how it will be useful. I don't mind titles that make me want to click ... as long as I know what I'm being promised in the headline.
Clickbait is something that doesn't deliver on the promis.
I agree in general on the pure side, but there is a gray area, like drudge, where it baits and primes you to read a certain way. It doesn't deliver to the original authors intent but it delivers in the redirect.
Great article. The NY Times published an article, around 2018 I think, in which it reported research that the headline of an article not only frames how people read the article, but even what they remember from reading it.
Thanks! I can totally see that. Drudge is a perfect example because they can flip an entire article, even the 'real' headline because you start with theirs. Priming is incredible.
The Drudge Report is a great example. The whole thing is worrying. I did a load of research into it a few years ago for a presentation and a book chapter. People quite often read the headline, and even if they read beyond that they often skim. Plus, in a book called The Front Page, by Hecht & MacArthur, they wrote “Who the hell ever reads the second paragraph?”
The other kind of priming I’ve seen is carefully-selected and mangled pull quotes. I got a load of flack once from an author’s acolytes when I wrote in a review of his book that it was a shame this book hadn’t been around 18 months ago. The pull quote that wasn’t an actual quote read, “Advice on how schools should plan their edtech spending may strike some as being a little late”. Yes, well it may do, but that wasn’t what I said!
I found it rather worrying that teachers, whom one would assume are able to read, quite clearly didn’t read the review but only the pull quotes — because I actually recommended the book!
That’s all pretty minor, but it’s easy to see how fake news about much more important issues can be spread.
Great point. One thing I've learned over the years is that there is literally zero people who can claim special exemption based on background, expereince, or education for common biases.
Would AI make priming more sophisticated and more challenging to detect? I think the answer is yes.
We cannot easily overcome biases, and reading widely (both in favor and against before we form any opinions about a topic will be a necessary skill) and applying critical thinking will be the key to overcoming priming in the future.
I think AI could make priming more sophisticated especially if the information operation is coming from non-native english speakers. Sophisticated priming has to have a mastery of the language.
But then again, right now Clickbait is the least sophisticated and it works brilliantly.
I don't know, dude. That post with the cape still looks pretty judgy to me.
In fairness, so does Superman.
Haha. Right?
Our minds are in similar places this week. I just finished a post about AI and SEO.
SEO is going to change greatly with the ability to jam enough keywords into it. It was already a ‘hack’ but now it can be done faster and cheaper.
I am with it enough to know about SEO and have ideas about how it can be implemented though.
SEO is going to get weird with AI craming everything in. It would be nice is it weren't so 'hackable'
I wasn’t as aware of visual priming but I recognize it. I am completely ignorant when it comes to monetization of social and other media!
The click farming on social media is something that's really fishy and weird.
These notes on priming are spot on. Also, I loved the post and was one of your respondents.
Yeah I remember it. Glad to have you here!
Nice. I try to resist clickbait but it is perfectly designed to be hard to resist so I fail regularlyevenwhenthe post is pure clickbait
I'll often overlook potentially good material out of fear it's just rubbish click bait. That's why I'm careful with my own titles. Though I do worry this essay's title went over the edge.
The problem with a lot of these titles is that they really don't tell you what the article is about or how it will be useful. I don't mind titles that make me want to click ... as long as I know what I'm being promised in the headline.
Clickbait is something that doesn't deliver on the promis.
I agree in general on the pure side, but there is a gray area, like drudge, where it baits and primes you to read a certain way. It doesn't deliver to the original authors intent but it delivers in the redirect.
Well done and thank you! Im going to go down a priming wormhole to explore how to teach to our students 😊
That's a great audience to teach this!
There’s also the (over)use of CAPS to generate interest. Here’s a classic example on YouTube:
“Trump makes CATASTROPHIC MOVE in SUNDAY PANIC ATTACK”
Very true. The YELLING.