Subliminal perception

[C1ay]

Is there really anything to subliminal perception or influence? Many books have been written to warn us of subliminal advertising and influence. Many exhort grand claims that it is used to influence what we buy, drink, eat and more. Can there be any truth to it? Does the average person have subliminal perception. If so, could there be positive uses for it like education? I'm quite skeptical of it myself. What do you think?

[Thomas]

Many retail stores that play music, (such as Walmart) have subliminal messages hidden in the background of the songs. Repeated phrases over and over like "don't steal""don't steal""don't steal" have caused shoplifting rates to decrease a certain percentage. Humans do have subliminal perception, and it works to some extent.

[pgrmdave]

Walk into a fast food restaurant. The colors are mostly oranges, and reds. The floor is most likely a dark red. The walls have two colors a dark color on bottom, and a lighter color on top. Sit down in a chair, and you will notice that the darker color goes up the wall until a little higher than your elbow while sitting. You will also notice that the chair isn't very comfortable. Not uncomfortable, but you wouldn't want to sit in it all day. The air is probably a bit uncomfortably cold.

Reds and oranges have been shown to make people hungrier. Light colors tell people that a place is cleaner, but elbow markings show up on light colors, hence the darker color. The chairs are comfortable enough for you to eat there, but not to lounge there beyond necessary - ditto with the air temperature.

[nemo]

Those all seem pretty, well, obvious... I'm curious about the validity of the 14 year old who listens to harsh music, plays Grand Theft Auto, listens to <insert angry band here>, and rages against the machine by levelling his homeroom class with an assault rifle. Is there any science to his claim that subliminal messages made him do it? Personally, I tend to support the idea of personal responsibility, but that would imply free will, which is already another thread over in Philosophy. If this person is simply acting out the effect of his environment (whatever outside stimuli - not just the items in this post), why don't others in the same environment do the same thing?

[Fishteacher73]

I think we have a couple of different ideas floating about here all under the guise of subliminal messages. Subliminal is defined:

1. Below the threshold of conscious perception. Used of stimuli.
2. Inadequate to produce conscious awareness but able to evoke a response: subliminal propaganda.

So by definition subliminal mssages are not perceptable. There are certain colors, sounds, etc. that can evoke feelings in many people and these are often used in concert with the goals of the store. This falls in line with the second defintion.

As for music/videogames/media etc., I do not think it really promotes these actions but has made the observer more desensitised to them. Oh, well just another school shooting, etc. We seem so over whelmed with negative images that we seem to be less atune to what is actually going on around us, until it reaches the level of noteworthy. I.E. the level that works under our perception is growing. We no longer tend to notice the loner walking down the street. 50 years ago, many small towns would call the cops on vagrants. We tend to ignore these things now. The individual has become more isolationist with its direct surroundings.

Ther have been no studies that indicated visual or auditory subliminal message really work as far as I know. They actually tried to use subliminal message to get the BTK killer to confess in the 80's. There have been a few cases against rock bands accused of having subliminal messages(Judas Priest) but they were found to be merritless. Much of what others read as subliminal is just a random bit of image that they interpret in such a way. In The Clam-Plate Orgy and Other Subliminals the Media use to Manipulate Your Behavior by Dr. Wilson Bryan Key, he thought that the dots on a Ritz cracker spelled sex. (http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/adcla.../clamplate.htm).

[nemo]

fishteacher73 - i enjoyed your post, but i got a 404 error when i tried to follow the link...

he thought the dots on a Ritz cracker spelled sex.

my take on that theory was that grunion running occassionally spell words... she didn't buy my line either .

[Fishteacher73]

Fixed the link...collected the last ( )'s as part of the url. Now it works.

[nemo]

while carefully examining a Howard Johnson’s menu, he saw that a plate of clams pictured on the menu was actually the portrayal of a sexual orgy, which included various people and a donkey . Key suggested that this is only the tip of the iceberg of a subliminal conspiracy of major proportions.

I find it truly amazing what one seriously motivated donkey can accomplish .

[bumab]

Check out the ice on the front of soda machines sometimes (those big, close up ice cubes). I'm pretty sure there's at least one curvy woman hidden in each machine picture...

[nemo]

i've seen her... there was a point in time when i wanted to be a coke can...