Skeptical Inquirer Sept/Oct 1999

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Fri, 3 Sep 1999 11:20:04 EDT 

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 "You Must Report on this Press Release."

  Skeptical Inquirer
 The Magazine for Science and Reason

 Examines the Efficacy of
 Subliminal Persuasion

 AMHERST, N.Y.-"You must report on this press release."  If that message
flashed covertly on morning television news programs, was hidden within the
photos of national newspapers, and mixed with the audio of drive-time radio,
would hundreds of journalists across America be compelled to report on the
September/October issue of Skeptical Inquirer, The Magazine for Science and
Reason?  Probably not.

 The subject of subliminal persuasion, messages presented to individuals
beneath their level of conscious awareness intended to influence behavior, is
commonly misunderstood.  Over the past fifty years, myths abound about
self-help audiotapes that magically urge listeners to "lose weight" or "be
assertive," "backmasked" messages hidden in music albums, and movie trailers
that covertly urge the audience to buy popcorn or soda.  Despite being
interesting fodder for dinner party conversation and suspenseful plot devices
in film and television, research has shown that none of these methods are
effective.

 But in an article in the September/October issue of Skeptical Inquirer,
Nicholas Epley, a doctoral student in social psychology at Cornell
University, and Kenneth Savitsky and Robert Kachelski, both assistant
professors of social psychology at Williams College, point out that it is not
impossible for other types of subliminal messages to influence behavior, and
that nothing in past research on subliminal persuasion rules out the
possibility of applications in advertising.

 "Although we hesitate to offer any conclusions" write Epley, Savitsky, and
Kachelski, "we note that several of the critical requirements for subliminal
advertising have been met through scientific research.  In
particular…subliminally presented stimuli can influence high-level cognitive
processes, and, in some cases, can influence behavior…Moreover, despite a
lack of evidence for the applicability of subliminal messages to advertising,
we suggest there is no a priori reason why such applications are not
possible."

 In reviewing the literature supporting some forms of subliminal persuasion,
Epley, Savitisky, and Kochelski relate a 1991 study that asked psychology
graduate students to write down three of their ideas for possible research
projects.  The students were then either exposed to a photograph of a
familiar postdoctoral student from their laboratory or to the scowling face
of their faculty advisor.  Unaware that they had seen anything but flashes of
light, the students were then asked to rate the quality of the research ideas
they had listed.  As predicted, those who had been exposed to the scowling
face of their advisor rated their own ideas less favorably than did those who
had been exposed to the smiling postdoc.

                             --30-

 Skeptical Inquirer is a bi-monthly science magazine that takes a critical
look at claims of the paranormal and the pseudoscientific.  To read past
issues of Skeptical Inquirer, go to http://www.csicop.org/si.