Effects of messages reported to be out of awareness upon the body boundary

A series of studies demonstrated that out-of-awareness taped messages produce boundary decrement, as measured by the Barrier score, in men. The messages variously included hostility, depression, body, vulnerability, and reassurance themes. All themes, when properly primed, resulted in boundary decline in men. Nonprimed and control conditions did not affect the boundary. Contrastingly, no significant boundary changes were produced by the primed out-of-awareness themes in women. It was proposed that men are more disturbed than women by feeling that material has gained entrance to them in a fashion which they cannot control.