Subliminal Sensation and Subliminal Persuasion infographic description

The infographic is titled, Thinking Critically About: Subliminal Sensation and Subliminal Persuasion. The learning objective question 6-4 reads, how are we affected by subliminal stimuli? Text in the first panel reads, we can be affected by subliminal sensations – stimuli so weak that we don’t consciously notice them. Researchers use priming to activate unconscious associations. Participants view slides of people and offers either favorable or unfavorable ratings of each person. BUT, an instant before each slide appears, the trickster researcher subliminally flashes another image – either pleasant (for example kittens), or unpleasant (for example, a werewolf). An illustration shows a man viewing a desktop screen with kittens in the foreground and a man’s face in the background. Another illustration shows a man viewing a desktop screen with a werewolf in the foreground and a man’s face in the background. There are also separate illustrations of kittens and a werewolf. There is an illustration of a researcher noting down his observation.

Text reads, Participants consciously perceive these images only as flashes of light. A title reads, will participants’ ratings of the faces be affected? Yes! (Krosnick et al., 1992). A text from an arrow pointing to kittens reads, more favorable ratings of people. A text from an arrow pointing to the werewolf reads, more unfavorable ratings of people. Text at the bottom of the panel reads, our two-track mind: Priming happens even though the viewer’s brain does not have time to consciously perceive the flashed images. We may evaluate a stimulus even when we are not consciously aware of it (Ferguson and Zayas, 2009). Text in the second panel reads, so, we can be primed, but can we be persuaded by subliminal stimuli, for example to lose weight, stop smoking, or improve our memory? Three illustrations are shown. The first illustration shows a woman frowning because of the smoke coming from a cigarette; the second illustration shows a ribbon tied around a weighing machine; and the third illustration shows a quiz paper with a 100 percent mark on it.

Text reads, Audio and video messages subliminally (without recipients’ conscious awareness) announce: Open quotes I am thin, close quotes Open quotes Cigarette smoke tastes bad, close quotes and open quotes I do well on tests. I have total recall of information. Close quotes. An arrow from there points to a text that reads, Results from 16 experiments (Greenwald et al., 1991, 1992) showed no powerful, enduring influence on behavior. Not one of the recordings helped more than placebo, which works only because we believe it will.