When primes create contrast effects: People can assimilate the concept intelligence and perform better when primed with the category professors rather than the category supermodels. Yet if primed with the specific person Albert Einstein, instead of the specific supermodel Claudia Schiffer, they tend to show a contrast effect and perform worse intellectually.
[Left: Getty Images/Photo Researchers RM; right: William Stevens/Gamm
a-Rapho via Getty Images]