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Activating transference without consciousness: using significant-other representations to go beyond what is
1Department of Psychology, New York University, New York 10003, USA. noah@psych.nyu.edu
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|January 8, 2000
Summary
People unconsciously transfer traits of significant others onto new acquaintances. This study demonstrates nonconscious transference occurs when subliminal cues about a significant other influence social perception.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
- Nonconscious Processing
Background:
- Social perception involves forming impressions of others.
- Nonconscious processes significantly influence human behavior and cognition.
- Significant-other representations can be activated outside of conscious awareness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the phenomenon of nonconscious transference.
- To determine if subliminally triggered significant-other representations influence social perception.
- To examine the role of nonconscious social cognition in impression formation.
Main Methods:
- Two experimental studies utilized a nomothetic experimental paradigm with idiographic stimuli.
- Participants were exposed to subliminal descriptors of their own or a yoked participant's significant other.
- Impression-rating tasks assessed inferences about a "game partner" based on manipulated subliminal cues.
Main Results:
- Participants were more likely to attribute significant-other features to a new person when subliminal cues pertained to their own significant other.
- Control conditions ruled out self-generation effects.
- A subliminality check confirmed stimuli were nonconscious, supporting the nonconscious nature of the effect.
Conclusions:
- Subliminal activation of significant-other representations leads to nonconscious transference.
- Nonconscious social cognition plays a critical role in shaping interpersonal judgments.
- Findings support the existence and impact of nonconscious processes in social perception.