1. Subliminal Perception
Lecture 7 (last 1 for Test 1)
2/11/04

2. Could 1/30th of a second really influence impressions of Al Gore?
…You Decide
Could 1/30th of a second really influence impressions of Al Gore?

3. SUB-liminal Perception?
Minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular stimulus
Normal senses can
smell one drop of perfume in a 3-room apartment
See a candle 30 miles away
Hear a watch ticking 30 feet away
What about stimuli below the absolute threshold?
Can they influence us?

4. Sensation without perception?
Subliminal = stimuli that sensory system responds to, but due to short duration or subtle form, don’t reach threshold of cognition
Can’t report the info was perceived
“Awareness” of info about environment depends on variety of cortical areas
Many studies demonstrate perception without awareness… Many call them hoaxes…

5. Quick Survey
Do you think you are influenced by subliminal messages in advertising?
Do you think you are influenced by everyday advertisements that you perceive consciously (e.g. laundry detergent, beverages)?

6. 3. Suppose you had a choice to listen to one of two speeches that argued against a position you believe in, such as whether marijuana should be legalized. In speech A, the person presents arguments against your position; in speech B, all arguments are presented subliminally.
Which speech would you rather listen to?

7. Why are people afraid? Should you be?
80% college students preferred not to receive a subliminal message b/c they thought it might influence them in an undesirable way.
28% preferred not to receive a regular ad b/c it might influence them undesirably.
69% chose speech A; 31% chose B (subliminal)
Why are people afraid? Should you be?

8. EAT POPCORN

9. Subliminal Persuasion
New Jersey, 1957:
Over 6 weeks, 45,699 ppl
“Eat Popcorn” – 57.5%
“Drink Coke” – 18.1%
“Minds have been broken and entered”

10. More recently…
2 teenage boys committed suicide after listening to Judas Priest…
Lyrics promoted Satanism and suicide
Rock music w/ satanic messages when played backwards
Beatles, The White Album: “John is dead now, miss him, miss him, miss him.”
Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven
“Human brains are capable of receiving, scanning, deciphering, storing and later reacting to subliminal or subconscious messages”

11. Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven
"I sing because I live with Satan. The Lord turns me off. There's no escaping it. Here's to my sweet Satan. Whose power is Satan. He will give you 666. I live for Satan."
Examples: Madonna, Backstreet, Metallica

12. Not the last of it… Sexual imagery in ads
Wilson Bryan Key: “sex” in ice cubes, nude figures in images from butter to icing in cake mix ads.
Even if images aren’t consciously perceived, they put us in good mood and pay more attention to ad

13. Vokey & Read, 1985 Recorded sentences Backmasked
What did you perceive?
Gender (m – f)
Type (? - statement)
Meaning similarity, meaning vs. nonsense…
Behavioral influence?
Homonym task (“Climbing a mountain…”)

14. Perceptual set
Perhaps listeners can “hear” a “message” that actually isn’t there
Jabberwocky and Psalm 23
“I saw a girl with a weasel in her mouth”
When instructed to listen
90% hear
Yes, messages are there, but are not effective

15. EXPECTATIONS…

16. Can subliminal messages influence you in a desirable way?
Subliminal self-help tapes - $50 million
Relax, you are good, you are capable, calm
Utah’s South Pt. Prison
Texas Rangers’ Pitching Staff
Department Store Music

17. Contents vs. Expectation
Greenwald, et al. 1991
Fill out self esteem scales; memory tests
Self-help tapes: Improve memory or boost self-esteem
Every day for 5 wks.
Hear classical musical…
The Catch

18. Where would you predict an increase?
MEMORY TAPE
SELF ESTEEM TAPE
M label
SE label
ACTUAL ?
PERCEIVED
ACTUAL
Expectation

19. *memory improved *SE improved * memory improved ~ The Results M label
MEMORY TAPE
SELF ESTEEM TAPE
M label
SE label
ACTUAL ~
PERCEIVED
*memory improved
*SE improved
* memory improved
ACTUAL
Expectation

20. Evidence For… In lab Flashed Pictures of people
Kitten & romantic couples VS.
Werewolf & dead body
Pictures of people
Perceived a flash of light, BUT
Rated people associated with kittens & couples more positively

21. More FOR How much do you like these Chinese ideographs? 1 Not at all 23 4 5 6 7
A lot

28. Buzzer stops P’s at 3 minutes Hidden cameras detect who keeps working
Word search puzzle
Hidden primes: Neutral vs. achievement words
Buzzer stops P’s at 3 minutes
Hidden cameras detect who keeps working
57% achievement condition

29. Conclusions so far Subliminal cues in a controlled lab setting
Simple judgments & actions
Short term effects
Conscious perception
influences long term purchases
Health
Although we can perceive subliminal cues, won’t persuade us to take action unless already motivated or expecting…

30. What about perception with NO physical stimulus?
*clip

31. Extrasensory Perception
An ability to perceive in absence of ordinary sensory info
57% Americans believe in ESP
3 types:
Telepathy-
Clairvoyance-
Precognition-

32. The Case For Rhine, 1934 Special ESP deck Guess symbol on each card
Telepathy- sender looked, P read mind
Clairvoyance- cards placed face down
Precognition- predicted before deck shuffled
100,000 responses
Using 25 cards, P’s averaged 7.1 correct!

33. High followed by low Methodological problems Hoaxes
Live stage psychics have associates circulating through crowd, spying on conversations…
Uri Geller- bend metal without touching it
James Randi- same stunts through trickery
“Mind sees what it expects to see.”
PERCEPTUAL SETS

34. James Randi Educational Foundation offers $1 million “to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event.”

35. Ganzfeld Procedure Bem & Honorton, 1994
All sensory information reduced
“receiver” in reclining chair in sound proof chamber with ping-pong balls, red light, earphones, white noise
In Separate room, “sender” concentrates on visual stimuli
32% hit rate > chance!

36. WHY? Illusions of Connection Illusions of Control Illusions of memory
PPl mistakenly attribute coincidences to Psi as false alarms
Perceptual system creates patterns and connections that do NOT exist
Illusions of Control
PPl mistakenly feel in control of what are really chance events
Illusions of memory
Selective memory makes coincidences appear to occur more frequently than they actually do

37. TEST: Monday Lectures 1-7 & Chapters 1-5 Focus on ideas, not facts
Understand, don’t memorize
Apply studies discussed to overall themes
What’s the point?
Focus on important diagrams & terms, not minor details
Study together