Why would mentioning a sensitive issue, such as divorce or infidelity, in a survey question influence how respondents answer later questions?
1 Answer
An effect called "priming" can be created in this kind of situation.
Explanation:
Psychology experiments have discovered that people's response to various situations can be influenced by earlier things or situations they were exposed to - called priming. Sort of tilts a person's responses in a certain direction, but doesn't actually determine the response. Priming has many dimensions and can be positive or negative. This effect could well apply in the framing of survey questions.
One example from Wiki.....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology)
*Subjects were implicitly primed with words related to the stereotype of elderly people (example: Florida, forgetful, wrinkle). While the words did not explicitly mention speed or slowness, those who were primed with these words walked more slowly upon exiting the testing booth than those who were primed with neutral stimuli.
