In relation to psychology to pair by association is the action of associating a stimulus with an arbitrary idea or object, to elicit a response, usually emotional. This is done by repeatedly pairing the stimulus with the arbitrary object.
For example, repeatedly pairing images of beautiful women in bathing suits, elicits a sexual response in most men. Advertising agencies, for example, repeatedly pair products with attractive women in television commercials. This is with the intention of eliciting an emotional or sexually aroused response in the consumer.
This causes the consumer to be more likely to buy the product than when presented with a similar but competing product without such an association.
Read more about Pair By Association: Verbal Behavior, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words pair by, pair and/or association:
“Auld Noah was at hame wi’ them a’,
The lion and the lamb,
Pair by pair they entered the Ark
And he took them as they cam’.”
—Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978)
“So people and things don’t pair anymore
With what they used to pair with before.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“They that have grown old in a single state are generally found to be morose, fretful and captious; tenacious of their own practices and maxims; soon offended by contradiction or negligence; and impatient of any association but with those that will watch their nod, and submit themselves to unlimited authority.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)