Subliminal Suggestion - Little Known Facts

Subliminal suggestion was a popular topic of controversy and conversation in the 70's and 80's as arguments rose regarding government regulation, public interest and media attention of the practice.

The government cited that subliminal suggestion gave advertisers too much of an "edge," ministers publicly attacked various rock and roll bands, accusing them of planting satanic and drug related subliminal suggestions in their recorded music and psychologists debated whether or not it even worked.

Many a teenager growing up in the late 1970's and 1980's (still in the age of vinyl) played their records backwards in an attempt to hear and understand the subliminal suggestions that were rumored to exist on various bands' albums.

What is Subliminal Suggestion?

The term "subliminal" is derived from the psychological term, "limen," meaning "sensory threshold." Subliminal suggestion is a message or signal that is embedded in music, recorded material or some other object.

Its purpose is to affect the subconscious mind while remaining undetected by the conscious mind, then affect actions or attitudes.

It has been used in propaganda and advertising and has often been the subject of much controversy. Critics and advocates have debated the effectiveness, the purpose and the ethics of this practice for decades.

It has long been the topic of controversy embedded messages in rock music and advertising.

History of Subliminal Suggestion

Subliminal suggestion is not a new practice. In 1898, the basic principles were described in "The New Psychology" by E.W. Scriptures. Two years later, in 1900, an American psychology professor, Knight Dunlap, flashed an "imperceptible shadow" while he showed subjects a Muller-Lyer illusion.

This illusion contains two lines that have pointed arrows at each end. This creates an illusion that the lines are different lengths.

Dunlap asserted that the presence of the shadow influenced the subjects unconsciously, or subliminally, in how they perceived or judged the lengths of the lines.

Another American psychologist, Harry Levi Hollingworth claimed that advertisers could use subliminal messages. He published these claims in an advertising textbook.

The tachistoscope is an instrument that projects pictures for a very brief time. It was used in World War II as a method of training soldiers. In 1957, James Vicary claimed to have used this instrument to project messages to movie goers during a showing of the movie "Picnic."

He made some very impressive claims about the outcome, but they were later found to be exaggerated. The claims were published in a book "The Hidden Persuaders" which led to conspiracy theories of cults and governments using subliminal suggestion as a method of promoting their own agenda.

In the early 1970s, Wilson Bryan Key wrote the book "Subliminal Seduction" where he alleged that subliminal messaging was used widely in advertising. There was so much public concern surrounding this claim that the FCC held hearings in 1974.

These hearings resulted in a policy statement by the FCC stating that subliminal advertising was "intended to be deceptive," and was "Contrary to the public interest."

Canada also banned subliminal advertising. Over the years, subliminal suggestion has been reportedly used in movies and rock music. One popular method of subliminal suggestion that is said to have been used in rock music is a technique called backmasking.

Scientific Findings

There is plenty of scientific evidence to suggest that subliminal suggestion is real and can be effective. A 2001 study conducted by a team of scientists headed up by Takeo Watanabe from Boston University in the United States assembled a group of volunteers to focus on a particular task of naming letters that appeared on a screen while they were surreptitiously trained for another task.

The volunteers were found to perform better than colleagues who had not been trained, even though they were not aware that they have undergone training.

These findings are substantiated by separate claims made by Dr. Bahador Bahrami of UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. He claims that the brain records things that the conscious mind may not even be aware of and could never become aware of them.

The brain is receptive to everything that is around it. Anytime that there is "spare capacity" as far as attention, then the brain allocates that to record subliminal activity.

There findings provide strong evidence that not only can subliminal suggestion work, it shows that it does work.

Public Opinion

While public opinion is more in favor of subliminal messaging now than 50 years ago, there are still those who feel it is unethical or even dangerous. Some people still believe that subliminal messaging is used in rock music and have even file lawsuits against the artists, citing that the subliminal suggestions prompted listeners to take certain action such as violent acts or even suicide.

Courts are proceeding with care in these situations, maintaining that the act would not have been committed based solely on the subliminal messaging, if it is present. Subliminal messaging simply influences ones decisions, but does not make the decision for them.

Furthermore, the messaging would only serve to support a tendency or desire that was already present. As far as the general public is concerned, some feel this is valid and while others do not. The controversy is likely to continue for many decades to come.

A Look to the Future

The future of subliminal suggestion, based on its present course, seem to be that it will gain more popularity and be used for even more purposes. We may one day see the types of uses similar to techniques described in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." Perhaps it will be used for personality disorders to for educational purposes in that fashion.

There are many ways that the power of the brain could be harnessed and used for making the world smarter and stronger.

With advancing technology, advertisers could very well perfect the subliminal messaging techniques to influence the public to purchase their product or service. Whether this gives certain companies an unfair advantage or not is debatable.

What is known for certain is that a technique as controversial subliminal suggestion will be debated and the ethical ramifications will be questioned for years to come.

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