Abstract: Money priming research is a new approach to exploring the psychology of money. The article introduced three theories of money priming: self-sufficiency theory, social resource theory, and mind-set theory. The methods of money priming were categorized into four types of tasks: scrambled-words task, money/image-presenting task, money-questioning task, and the task of recalling or reading the stories or experiences about money. The author stated the contribution of the money priming research and commented on the three theories above. In the end, the author proposed the potential mechanisms of money priming, and prospected future directions of exploring the boundaries of money priming theories, and taking individual’s autonomy and initiative into consideration.

Key words: priming, self-sufficiency theory, social resource theory, mind-set theory