![]() ![]() Subliminal perception is controversial mainly because of the notion of subliminal persuasion: The strategy that may be used by marketers or politicians to deliberately influence customers or voters subliminally. This is shown in research on the subliminal perception of short positive (e.g., sun) and negative (e.g., death) words. Perceivers can to some extent infer the valence (is something good or bad?) from subliminal stimuli. Effects of mere exposure have even been obtained for stimuli that were perceived for only one millisecond. However, a few findings are reasonably well established, the most prominent being subliminal mere exposure Repeated subliminal exposure to a stimulus (for example a picture) leads perceivers to like this picture a little more. The threshold is merely subjective.Įffects of subliminal perception are generally small and not easy to establish in controlled laboratory research. Whether a briefly presented stimulus reaches conscious awareness depends on many different factors, including individual differences. No objective threshold exists for conscious perception. The idea of an objective “threshold’ is misleading. No reliable scientific evidence exists, however, for psychological effects of auditory subliminal perception. In addition, some research has been done on auditory subliminal perception. However, such visual stimuli are processed unconsciously, and they can have brief and subtle effects on our feeling and thinking. In other words, they are not consciously aware of the presented words or pictures. For instance, one can flash words or pictures so quickly on a computer screen (generally faster than 10-15 milliseconds) that perceivers have the feeling they do not see anything at all. Most of the research on subliminal perception is done on visual subliminal perception. The term subliminal is derived from the terms sub (below) and limen (threshold), and it refers to perception so subtle it cannot reach conscious awareness. In his Vidi project, Aarts is trying to find out how people can be unconsciously motivated.Home » Social Psychology » Social Cognition » Subliminal Perception Martijn Veltkamp's research was financed by a Vidi grant which his supervisor Henk Aarts received from NWO in 2003. In one of Veltkamp's experiments, glasses of water were estimated to be bigger, if the participants had not had a drink for some time. Veltkamp's research demonstrates that it is not so much the actual worth of the objects which is important but the motivational worth if an object is relevant for attaining your goals then you will perceive it to be bigger than it actually is. Earlier research had shown that people perceive objects of worth to be larger than objects that are worthless. Veltkamp's research shows that, without being aware of it, besides being motivated by influences from our surroundings, the way in which we perceive the world around us can change. ![]() ![]() As expected, those participants that had only been deprived of fluid were less motivated to drink later on, but the motivation stayed high in those people whose motivation to drink was partly due to positive association. He let the participants eat cucumber to alleviate fluid deprivation. However, if both states issue a signal simultaneously then this does not lead to higher motivation.Īnother of Veltkamp's experiments demonstrated the strong influence of positive association. These two motivational states both independently indicate that carrying out a certain action is worth striving for. The results of the experiments showed that motivation for carrying out certain actions (such as drinking) occurs when the action matches an existing deprivation or has a positive association. Veltkamp combined the three factors in different ways and then registered how willing the participants were to have a drink. In another group the word 'drinking' was combined with positive words which led to a positive association. In one group of participants this was combined with deprivation - they were thirsty. This priming is what researchers call ‘making the representation of the behaviour accessible'. He flashed the words 'drinking' and 'thirsty' onto a computer screen very quickly so that they could not be consciously perceived. Veltkamp studied this interaction in a series of experiments. These three factors have previously been investigated independently but Veltkamp has now shown for the first time how the three factors work together to trigger unconsciously motivated behaviour. Once the idea has been planted in your mind (so-called ‘priming') then either a lack of something (deprivation) or a positive association with a certain action can ensure that you are actually motivated to carry out that action. To get people to behave in a certain way, the idea for such behaviour must first be planted in their minds. ![]()
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