Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Introduction: What Are Sensation and Perception?91SCIENCE VERSUS PSEUDOSCIENCESubliminal Perception1.2SubliminalConsciousWhat are subliminal messages? Can they influence people to quitsmoking, lose weight, or change their personalities? Subliminalperception refers to the detection of stimuli that are below thethreshold of conscious perception or awareness. Such stimulimight be rapidly flashed visual images, sounds, or odors that aretoo faint to be consciously detected. Although not consciouslyperceived, subliminal stimuli can evoke a brain response (Bahrami& others, 2007).The notion that people’s behavior could be manipulated by subliminalmessages first attracted public attention in 1957. JamesVicary, a marketing executive, claimed to have increased concessionsales at a New Jersey movie theater by subliminally flashingthe words “Eat popcorn” and “Drink Coke” during the movie.Controlled tests, however, failed to replicate Vicary’s claims,and Vicary later admitted that his boast was a hoax to drum upcustomers for his failing marketing business (Dijksterhuis & others,2005). Nevertheless, to this day, many people still believe—and some advertisements claim—that subliminal messages canexert an irresistible, lasting influence.Can your behavior be profoundly influenced by subliminal selfhelpCDs, audio tapes, or computer programs? Or by vagueimages or words embedded in advertisements? No. Numerousstudies have shown that subliminal self-help products do notproduce the changes they claim to produce (Strahan & others,2005). Likewise, numerous studies on subliminal messages in advertisinghave shown that they do not influence actual consumerdecisions (Simons & others, 2007).But do subliminal stimuli have any effect? Surprisingly, theanswer is a qualified yes. For example, consider the mereexposure effect, which refers to the well-documented findingthat repeated exposure to a particular stimulus leads to increasedliking for that stimulus (Zajonc, 2001). The mere exposureeffect also holds for subliminally presented stimuli. For example,when people are exposed to subliminal images of aparticular geometric shape and, minutes later, are asked to pickthe shape they prefer from a group of shapes, they are muchmore likely to choose the subliminally presented shape.Beyond preferences, attitudes and emotions can also be influencedby subliminal stimuli (Smith & others, 2008; Westen &others, 2007). In a classic study, subliminally flashing a pleasantimage (cute kittens) versus an unpleasant image (a skull) influencedhow participants judged the personality traits of astranger shown in a neutral situation (Krosnick & others, 1992).Can other sensory cues affect us without our awareness? Oneintriguing study investigated the effect of subliminal odors (Li &others, 2007). Participants rated pictures of faces for “likeability”after sniffing either a pleasant, lemony scent; an unpleasant scent(think high school locker room); a neutral scent; or no scent at all(air). The catch was that 75% of the time, the odors were so faintthat they could not be consciously detected. Did the subliminalodors affect the likeability ratings?Yes—but only when participants were unaware of which scentthey were sniffing. Faces paired with the subliminal pleasant odorreceived the highest ratings, while faces paired with the subliminalunpleasant odor received the lowest ratings (see graph). However,when participants were aware of an odor, the correlationbetween likeability and odor pleasantness disappeared.– Face likeability +0.80.40–0.4PleasantUnpleasantNeutralControl (air)Effects of Subliminal Odors After smelling pleasant, unpleasant,or neutral odors, participants rated photographs of faces on ascale ranging from “extremely unlikeable” to “extremely likeable.”Participants’ judgments were affected by subliminalodors—but not odors that they could consciously perceive.Why? According to lead researcher Wen Li (2007), “Peoplewho were conscious of the barely noticeable scents were able todiscount that sensory information and just evaluate the faces.”But participants who were not conscious of the odors attributedtheir response to the “pleasantness” or “unpleasantness” of theface they were rating, rather than to the smell that they couldnot consciously perceive.Studies on subliminal effects usually involve expressing preferencesabout contrived stimuli, such as geometric figures or photographsof strangers. But an Israeli study demonstrated thatsubliminal stimuli can also briefly influence real-world attitudes(Hassin & others, 2007). Participants with known political viewswere exposed to subliminal images of either the Israeli flag or, asa control, a scrambled flag image, before answering a series ofquestions about controversial political issues.Did subliminal exposure to the Israeli flag have any effect onpolitical attitudes? Yes. Participants who were exposed to theIsraeli flag expressed more moderate responses to the politicalquestions than would have been predicted from their previouspolitical positions. But the control group participants, who sawonly a scrambled image, did not change their views.Why did subliminal exposure to the national flag shift attitudestoward a more middle-of-the-road stance? Israeli psychologistRan Hassin and his colleagues (2007) speculated that subliminalimages of the Israeli flag evoked a sense of national unity, drawingpeople closer to the political center, at least temporarily.The bottom line? Subliminal stimuli can briefly influence attitudes,thoughts, preferences, and emotions (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren,2006). But the key word here is briefly. These transient influencesare a far cry from the pseudoscientific claims of some subliminal selfhelpproducts that promise easy and sweeping changes in behavior,personality, or motivation.Experimental StimulusControl StimulusSubliminal stimuli used in Hassin & others, 2007 study.