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The effect of embedded words in a brief visual display
British Journal of Psychology (London, England : 1953)
|November 1, 1976
Summary
Subliminal exposure to emotive words, not neutral words, influenced story content, as judges could differentiate stories written after brief word exposure. This effect was absent with longer exposure durations.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- The study replicates and extends research by Eagle, Wolitzky & Klein (1966) on word exposure.
- Investigates the impact of subliminal and supraliminal word exposure on subsequent narrative generation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if exposure to emotive versus neutral words influences story content.
- To examine the effect of exposure duration (subliminal vs. supraliminal) on this influence.
Main Methods:
- Participants wrote stories after viewing letter matrices with embedded neutral or emotive words.
- Exposure durations were 1 second (subliminal condition) or 10 seconds (supraliminal condition).
- Judges and content analysis assessed differences in story content.
Main Results:
- Judges significantly distinguished stories based on emotive vs. neutral word exposure under the subliminal condition.
- No significant distinction was found under the supraliminal condition.
- Content analysis revealed more unpleasant words in stories from the subliminal emotive word group.
Conclusions:
- Subliminal emotive word exposure can subtly influence narrative content.
- The effect of emotive words on storytelling is dependent on exposure duration.
- Findings support the impact of unconscious processing on creative output.
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