Spontaneous Trait Associations and the Case of the Superstitious Banana

We explored whether spontaneous trait transference (STT) occurs in cases where inanimate objects, rather than human bystanders, are presented in the context of trait-implicative behavior. The results provide a vivid demonstration of the associability of primed trait constructs by demonstrating STT to inanimate objects to which one does not normally attribute traits (e.g., superstitious being associated with a banana). This finding is consistent with the notion that the trait associations involved in STT are formed independent of person perception processes. The implications of this finding for the types of associative processes exposed by the popular savings in relearning methodology are discussed.