"Can Subliminal Messages Persuade People?" Psychology Myths (Part 4 of 5)
Myth #4 Subliminal Messages Can Persuade People to Purchase Products
Before starting, I want to make a distinction between influence and persuasion. To influence is to have an effect and to persuade is to cause someone to believe or to do something. Therefore, if I show you an advertisement that tells you to purchase a Coca-Cola and you buy a Pepsi instead, whereas you would not have bought a Pepsi before, then the ad had an influence on you, but it did not persuade you.
(If you would like to learn more about this and other myths check out 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology by clicking this link)
Similarly to other myths, this one is incredibly popular too. It's not surprising when laymen become entrapped to these types of misconceptions, but it becomes alarming when people starting their career think they are a valid phenomenon. In the case of subliminal messages persuading people, one study found that 59% of a sample of psychology undergraduates believed in it (Brown, 1983) and a different researcher showed the amount of gullible students to be the 83% of a sample (Taylor & Kowalski).
How did it start?
Once upon a time, there was a writer named Vance Packard and in 1957 he wrote a book titled The Hidden Persuader. It was a hit with the public, who subsequently helped spread the idea like wildfire. In it, Packard described an experiment by market researcher James Vicary who conducted it in a movie theater at Fort Lee, New Jersey in order to investigate subliminal messages. Moviegoers were exposed to flashing messages about buying popcorn and Coca-Cola so fast that the audience couldn't perceive the text consciously. Vicary asserted that the rate of sales increased from 18.1% to 57.8% (Love, "The Shocking Drink And Incredible Coke History Of Subliminal Advertising"). The public became obsessed with his findings and the idea that the they could be persuaded to alter their behavior without being aware about it. Afterwards, Vicary received heavy criticism because he didn't submit his results to a journal, which means that he skipped one of the most important steps in science: peer review. As a consequence of being pressured, he confessed that he made up the results (Moore, 1992; Pratkanis, 1992). Nevertheless, his admission didn't change the public's belief.
Once upon a time, there was a writer named Vance Packard and in 1957 he wrote a book titled The Hidden Persuader. It was a hit with the public, who subsequently helped spread the idea like wildfire. In it, Packard described an experiment by market researcher James Vicary who conducted it in a movie theater at Fort Lee, New Jersey in order to investigate subliminal messages. Moviegoers were exposed to flashing messages about buying popcorn and Coca-Cola so fast that the audience couldn't perceive the text consciously. Vicary asserted that the rate of sales increased from 18.1% to 57.8% (Love, "The Shocking Drink And Incredible Coke History Of Subliminal Advertising"). The public became obsessed with his findings and the idea that the they could be persuaded to alter their behavior without being aware about it. Afterwards, Vicary received heavy criticism because he didn't submit his results to a journal, which means that he skipped one of the most important steps in science: peer review. As a consequence of being pressured, he confessed that he made up the results (Moore, 1992; Pratkanis, 1992). Nevertheless, his admission didn't change the public's belief.
Why is it so prevalent?
There are a great variety of materials out there that try to take advantage of the gullible. Advertisements for products that promote the use of subliminal messages tell potential costumers, ironically not through subliminal messages, that they should buy their material. An example of this are books such as Subliminal Seduction written by a former psychology professor that state that there are blurred sexual images in ads that make you buy their products, or material that tells you that subliminal messages can bring you money, or give you a beach body, attract other people, etc.
There are a great variety of materials out there that try to take advantage of the gullible. Advertisements for products that promote the use of subliminal messages tell potential costumers, ironically not through subliminal messages, that they should buy their material. An example of this are books such as Subliminal Seduction written by a former psychology professor that state that there are blurred sexual images in ads that make you buy their products, or material that tells you that subliminal messages can bring you money, or give you a beach body, attract other people, etc.
What doesn't work?
The idea of subliminal messages persuading buyers is a myth. When researchers tried to replicate this concept, they obtained results that differed from those claimed by Vicary (Eich & Hyman, 1991; Logie & Della Sala, 1999; Moore, 1992; Pratkanis, 1992). There were other interesting versions of this experiment. One of them was conducted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on a TV program. Newscasters told viewers they were going to conduct a test in regards to subliminal messages on a Sunday night. And even though the hidden message that said phone now appeared 352 times throughout the program, it didn't increase the rates of phone calls (Lilienfeld, 2010). Nevertheless, there were callers that reported that after watching the news they felt hungrier and thirstier. Maybe the audience was acquainted with Vicary's fabricated data.
Moreover, there is another version of the myth. This refers to the subliminal messages being played backwards. For example, there are people that assert that there are satanic messages present in heavy metal music and they can be heard when the songs are played backwards. Opponents against this type of music assert that the messages tell people to change their behavior towards a more negative one. To test this claim Vokey and Read (1985) conducted an experiment. The researchers played a couple of messages backwards and asked the participants what they heard. After the experiment ended, participants reported hearing pornographic material. The funny thing is that the messages were not playing heavy metal backwards, but rather they were readings of Biblical passages.
In the why is it prevalent section I wrote about audio books that contain subliminal messages that supposedly can alter different aspects in people's life. Nevertheless, these audio books do not persuade people, but rather influence them. This notion is best illustrated by the experiment done by Greenwald, Spangenberg, Pratkanis, & Eskenazi (1991), which shows that the illusory placebo effect is what is happening instead. Greenwald and colleagues conducted a double-blind test of these types audios with tapes involving memory and self-esteem boosts. Half of the sample was told they were getting the memory boosts tapes and the other half was told they were getting the self-esteem ones. However, half of the sample that was promised the memory boosts actually received them, while the other half received the self-help. The same thing happened with the other group. The group that was promised the memory boost reported that they felt that they, in fact, received an improvement in their memory. Even the half of the group that unknowingly received the self-esteem tape. In addition, the same results occurred with the other group of participants in the study. Participants claimed improvement on what they though the tape they received promised, not on what they actually did hear.
Moreover, there is another version of the myth. This refers to the subliminal messages being played backwards. For example, there are people that assert that there are satanic messages present in heavy metal music and they can be heard when the songs are played backwards. Opponents against this type of music assert that the messages tell people to change their behavior towards a more negative one. To test this claim Vokey and Read (1985) conducted an experiment. The researchers played a couple of messages backwards and asked the participants what they heard. After the experiment ended, participants reported hearing pornographic material. The funny thing is that the messages were not playing heavy metal backwards, but rather they were readings of Biblical passages.
In the why is it prevalent section I wrote about audio books that contain subliminal messages that supposedly can alter different aspects in people's life. Nevertheless, these audio books do not persuade people, but rather influence them. This notion is best illustrated by the experiment done by Greenwald, Spangenberg, Pratkanis, & Eskenazi (1991), which shows that the illusory placebo effect is what is happening instead. Greenwald and colleagues conducted a double-blind test of these types audios with tapes involving memory and self-esteem boosts. Half of the sample was told they were getting the memory boosts tapes and the other half was told they were getting the self-esteem ones. However, half of the sample that was promised the memory boosts actually received them, while the other half received the self-help. The same thing happened with the other group. The group that was promised the memory boost reported that they felt that they, in fact, received an improvement in their memory. Even the half of the group that unknowingly received the self-esteem tape. In addition, the same results occurred with the other group of participants in the study. Participants claimed improvement on what they though the tape they received promised, not on what they actually did hear.
What works?
Unperceivable messages do not persuade us, but they do have an influence on us. For example, Epley, Savitsky, & Kachelski (1999) conducted an experiment in which they asked participants to generate ideas for a research project. The participants were exposed to either the smiling face of a co-worker or an angry picture of their supervisor. The group that saw their colleague rated their own ideas higher than those participants who saw their boss' face.
Another example of unconscious influence is by priming, which is a technique used by psychologists to try to redirect an individual's decision. The following example shows how subliminal messages can influence verbal behaviors. Merikle (1992) showed participants half of a word such as "gui-". He then asked them to guess the whole word. He found that the probability of choosing the word guide increases if participants are primed with the words related to it, such as direct, lead, escort. However, the probability of choosing guile increases if instead the sample is exposed to words, such as deceit, treachery, and duplicity.
Another example of unconscious influence is by priming, which is a technique used by psychologists to try to redirect an individual's decision. The following example shows how subliminal messages can influence verbal behaviors. Merikle (1992) showed participants half of a word such as "gui-". He then asked them to guess the whole word. He found that the probability of choosing the word guide increases if participants are primed with the words related to it, such as direct, lead, escort. However, the probability of choosing guile increases if instead the sample is exposed to words, such as deceit, treachery, and duplicity.
Conclusion
For the first time in the series, we have encountered a myth that was started and propagated on purpose. And even though its creator later recanted his story, explaining that subliminal messages cannot persuade buyers, individuals continue to accept this psychological misconception. However, it is important to note that, regardless of subliminal messages lacking the ability to alter our buying choices, they still posses the ability influence us to a certain degree.
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References
Brown, L. T. (1983). Some more misconceptions about psychology among introductory psychology students. Teaching of Psychology, 10, 207–210.
Eich, E., & Hyman, R. (1991). Subliminal self-help. In D. Druckman & R. Bjork (Eds.), In the mind’s eye: Enhancing human performance (pp. 107–119). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Epley, N., Savitsky, K., & Kachelski, R. (1999). What every skeptic should know about subliminal persuasion. The Skeptical Inquirer, 23(5), 40–46.
Greene, J. (2005). Education myths. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Greenwald, A. G., Spangenberg, E. R., Pratkanis, A. R., & Eskenazi, J. (1991). Doubleblind tests of subliminal self-help audiotapes. Psychological Science, 2, 119–122.
Influence. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/influence
Lilienfeld, S. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Logie, R. H., & Della Sala, S. (1999). Repetita (non) luvant. In S. Della Sala (Ed.), Mind myths: Exploring popular assumptions about the mind and brain (pp. 125–137). Chichester: Wiley.
Love, D. (2011, May 26). The Shocking Drink And Incredible Coke History Of Subliminal Advertising. Retrieved November 27, 2015, from http://www.businessinsider.com/subliminal-ads-2011-5
Merikle, P. M. (1992). Perception without awareness: Critical issues. American Psychologist, 47, 792–795.
Moore, T. E. (1992, Spring). Subliminal perception: Facts and fallacies. Skeptical Inquirer, 16, 273–281.
Persuade. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/persuade
Pratkanis, A. R. (1992). The cargo-cult science of subliminal persuasion. The Skeptical Inquirer, Spring, 260–272.
Kowalski, P., & Taylor, A. K. (in press). The effect of refuting misconceptions in the introductory psychology class. Teaching of Psychology
Vokey, J. R., & Read, J. D. (1985). Subliminal messages: Between the devil and the media. American Psychologist, 40, 1231–1239.
For the first time in the series, we have encountered a myth that was started and propagated on purpose. And even though its creator later recanted his story, explaining that subliminal messages cannot persuade buyers, individuals continue to accept this psychological misconception. However, it is important to note that, regardless of subliminal messages lacking the ability to alter our buying choices, they still posses the ability influence us to a certain degree.
References
Eich, E., & Hyman, R. (1991). Subliminal self-help. In D. Druckman & R. Bjork (Eds.), In the mind’s eye: Enhancing human performance (pp. 107–119). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Greene, J. (2005). Education myths. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Greenwald, A. G., Spangenberg, E. R., Pratkanis, A. R., & Eskenazi, J. (1991). Doubleblind tests of subliminal self-help audiotapes. Psychological Science, 2, 119–122.
Influence. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/influence
Lilienfeld, S. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Logie, R. H., & Della Sala, S. (1999). Repetita (non) luvant. In S. Della Sala (Ed.), Mind myths: Exploring popular assumptions about the mind and brain (pp. 125–137). Chichester: Wiley.
Love, D. (2011, May 26). The Shocking Drink And Incredible Coke History Of Subliminal Advertising. Retrieved November 27, 2015, from http://www.businessinsider.com/subliminal-ads-2011-5
Pratkanis, A. R. (1992). The cargo-cult science of subliminal persuasion. The Skeptical Inquirer, Spring, 260–272.
Vokey, J. R., & Read, J. D. (1985). Subliminal messages: Between the devil and the media. American Psychologist, 40, 1231–1239.
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