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Related Experiment Videos

Persistent complex subliminal activation effects: first experimental observations.

Staffan Sohlberg1, Andreas Birgegard

  • 1Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Sweden. staffan.sohlberg@psyk.uu.se

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|August 15, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Subliminal stimulation using "mommy and I" images influenced self-mother similarity and other variables in university students. These unconscious processes suggest a need to re-evaluate conscious control in psychological research.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Recent research emphasizes unconscious processes.
  • Interest in experimental activation technologies like subliminal stimulation is growing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effects of subliminal stimulation on social information processing.
  • To compare the impact of "mommy and I" stimuli versus control stimuli on psychological variables.

Main Methods:

  • Five experiments were conducted with 365 university students (male and female).
  • Participants were exposed to 5-millisecond "mommy and I" stimuli or 5-millisecond control stimuli.
  • Measures of self-mother similarity and other variables were assessed 7-14 days post-exposure.

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Main Results:

  • Experimental participants showed stronger correlations in self-mother similarity and other measures compared to controls.
  • These effects persisted for 7-14 days after the subliminal exposure.

Conclusions:

  • Powerfully activating stimuli, even under unconscious conditions, can provoke schematic processing and behavioral confirmation.
  • The findings highlight the significant impact of unconscious stimuli on social cognition and behavior.
  • These results suggest a need to reconsider the role of conscious volition and control in psychological theories.