Who's Minding the Mind?

What do you guys think about subliminal messages? I don't really buy into the whole thing, and I wasn't going to blog about it, but I read this NYT article called "Who's Minding the Mind" by Benedict Carey, so... I'm blogging. Click here to read the article.

The first part of the article cites a study done by psychologists at Yale. Apparently if a student ran into somebody and helped them carry their cold cup of iced coffee, they would rate a hypothetical person they late read about as being much colder and more selfish than did other students who had momentarily held a cup of hot java. What do you guys think about that experiment? Frankly, it reminded me of that article we read during Mussar about cleanliness. Ehh. Apparently people

"...tidy up more thoroughly when there's a faint tang of cleaning liquid in the air; they become more competitive if there's a briefcase in sight, or more cooperative if they look at words like "dependable" and "support"."

I will give these Yale researchers this: the subconscious is definitely an interesting thing. Do you guys think that most of our decisions are made through conscious or unconscious decision making? The article then goes into discussing a little bit about the history of subliminal advertising. We talked about this during class. We know that those cheesy advertising techniques don't actually work. 

The next experiment cited in the article was done at Stanford University and University of Waterloo. Students were to take part in a one-on-one investment game with another, unseen player.  The results are pretty cool. Half the students played while sitting at a larger table with a briefcase and a black leather portfolio at the end; these guys were stingier with their money compared to the others who were in an identical room that had a backpack on the table instead.
Apparently the "mere presence of the briefcase, noticed but not consciously registered, generated business related associations and expectations". This made the students more competitive. What do you think of these experiments? Can we learn anything about the unconscious from this or is it just chance? 

The article talks about the evolutionary advantage of unconscious goals: automatic survival systems. Several studies have revealed that once covertly activated, "an unconscious goal persists with the same determination that is evident in our conscious pursuits." Pretty cool, huh? Buying it? Not buying it?  Also, think about when something subconsciously makes you mad, and you don't really register, but then people note that you were being kind of moody. 

“Sometimes nonconscious effects can be bigger in sheer magnitude than conscious ones,” Dr. Schaller said, “because we can’t moderate stuff we don’t have conscious access to, and the goal stays active.”

Searching for (appropriate) subliminal messages... 

The flash of "rat". Subliminal message?

Pirates of the Caribbean having appeal because of Disney ears? Subliminal/not subliminal?  

I saw this online and I thought it was pretty funny. The actual caption said, "This pro-bear agenda is the reason I have $5 deducted out of my paychecks to pay a bear tax." HAH. 



The caption says there are 12 subliminal messages. Did you catch them? 

One thing is for sure, as quoted by Dr. Bargh: "We know that as soon as people feel they're being manipulated, they do the opposite; it backfires." Good to know.