Blog Entry 6 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

For just $29.95, a “subliminal tape” promises to tune up your sluggish motivation. It is true that many perceptual processes occur outside awareness, but does that mean that these tapes can change your behaviour or improve your life?

It is true that many perceptual processes occur outside awareness. We can be affected by subliminal sensations. This is when a stimulus so weak, that we don't consciously notice, still influences one's response. By using the technique of priming, doing just that of exposing a recipient to one stimulus influencing the response to a following stimulus, proves that many perceptual processes occur outside of awareness. For example say two people are shown pictures of vacant houses and are to rate it favorable or unfavorable. While one person looks at the pictures a subliminal flash of puppies are shown on the side of the screen but the stimuli is so weak the recipient wasn't consciously aware of the image. Now imagine the second recipient is subliminally flashed with a demon like figure without conscious awareness either. The person that was flashed with the puppies would more likely rate the houses favorable and the person that was flashed with a demon like figure would more likely rate them unfavorable due to their unconscious mind still being able to evaluate the stimuli. Proving that we evaluate stimuli without consciously being aware of them. 

Although many perceptual processes occur outside of awareness, this does not mean that a "subliminal tape" on tuning up sluggish motivation can change your behaviour or improve you life. There can be subliminal messages within the tape suggesting "procrastination is for losers" or saying "get up and just do it" without the person who bought the tape to be consciously aware of the messages being said. This would not influence the buyer to do just that. Through research studies behaviour and lifestyle cannot necessarily be persuaded by subliminal messages. What people take away in these cases are no more than a placebo effect of only working because they believe it will. To further elaborate, we can be influenced to perceive something in a certain way through subliminal sensations but subliminal sensations do not change behaviour. They are unable to control how someone acts or conducts themselves, simply alters their perception of the matter. All that this tape might do is allow you to think motivation is key and that it is great to have but it won't necessarily give you the motivation to get up and do something.