The rise and fall of the Pacquiao effect: Contrastive priming and national identification

• Main Authors: Galang, Adrianne John R., Quiñones, Diwa Malaya A., Adriano, Jeremiah S., Portillo, Paolo Martin G., Carvajal, Michael Erick D.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: National characteristics, Philippine; Psychology; South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/3496
• Institution: De La Salle University

We demonstrate in a series of field and controlled experiments that assimilative and contrastive priming effects can be observed in the pattern of self-concept change in response to a major cultural event. Study 1 used the brief implicit association test (BIAT) to measure national identification of Filipinos online across a period of time that encompassed a national sporting event. The pattern of scores support the hypothesis that while people who were ambivalent about identifying with Filipino concepts exhibited an assimilation effect (i.e. a slight rise in identification after the fight), people who already highly identified with being Filipino experienced a contrast effect (i.e. a slight drop in identification). Study 2 replicated this result five months later with a new sample and ruled out several possible alternative hypotheses. A subsequent controlled experiment and a qualitative investigation consistently supported the hypothesis that the pattern observed in the previous studies is more consistent with assimilative and contrastive priming effects rather than disidentification. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd, Asian Association of Social Psychology and Beijing Normal University.