An Investigation of the effects of subliminal stimulation using the semantic differential

Abstract

In the last few years there has been much publicity given to the topic of Subliminal Stimulation. Radio programmes, newspapers and magazines have all contained articles about this technique. Unfortunately the material offered by them is confusing. Some writers maintain that subliminal stimulation is effective in directing an individual's behaviour, others say that it is not effective in this way, while still others hold that there is no conclusive evidence one way or the other. If this technique enables human behaviour to be manipulated without a chance of the subjects becoming aware of it directly, as is claimed, then its possibilities are fearful. For this reason alone, it is of some importance that people be aware of the facts about subliminal stimulation. Such a matter is of concern to educationists if for no other reason than it involves interferance with an individual's ability to freely direct his own behaviour. Factual material about this topic that ia comprehensible to the non-specialist in experimental psychology is not easily found. Inevitably the required details are dispersed through discussions of a highly technical nature concerned mainly with the implications of such facts for perceptual theories.