THE messages subliminals They are pieces of information – written, images, sounds or other – that are sent in such a way that the recipient is not consciously aware of it, but still perceptible by the brain and assimilable only at an unconscious level. These signals, although apparently insignificant, can actually influence our behavior and our decisions. But how can something so imperceptible influence us so deeply? It can do so by acting on the unconscious processes of our mindlike those emotional which, while forcefully changing our behaviorwe can hardly reconstruct the causes.
What are subliminal messages and what are they
Subliminal messages are stimuli visuals or auditory introduce yourself like this quickly or to a volume so low that they cannot be caught by our awareness. For example, an image might appear for a fraction Of second in a movie or an advertisement, or a word could be pronounced just below the level of human hearing.
These messages are designed to stay in the subconscious without reaching the conscious mind. There is no real threshold that is the same for everyone and in every situation. Take subliminal messages for example visuals: we generally know that a stimulus, to be “made aware”, must overcome the 30-50 milliseconds of exposurethat is, an image must remain before our eyes for longer than this period of time for us to become aware of it.
But the variables there are many: the threshold for conscious perception varies from person to person, it varies depending on the context, the level of attention or alertness and the nature of the stimulus. You can therefore understand that it is difficult determine a real one theshold definitive.
Imagine the brain as a vast archive where only some information reaches the “central offices” of awareness. These “central offices”, very similar to what we are used to in our daily lives, are able to work only on a fraction of the messages that arrive, which tend to be the most important ones, or those that occur most frequently. Everything else does not cross the line of “taking charge”.
Subliminal messages are like little notes passed secretly, which can still influence decisions made by “offices”, even if their contents are never openly discussed.
How Subliminal Messages Work: The Neurological Mechanisms That Make Them Effective
The brain human is capable of processing an immense amount of information at every moment. However, much of this information is processed below the level of awareness, without us realizing it. This happens thanks to structures such as theamygdalawhich must evaluate the emotional relevance of a stimulus in relation to its dangerousness in order to activate the fight/flight mechanism as quickly as possible, or the bark prefrontalwhich plays a key role in decision making.
When a subliminal message is presented, it can activate the amygdala without us realizing it, that is, without our awareness being activated, generating a response. emotional or predisposing us towards a certain type of decision. For example, in a study conducted by Karremans and colleagues in 2006 it was shown that people exposed to subliminal messages containing names Of brands specific were more likely to prefer products of those brands, even if they did not remember seeing or hearing those names. This suggests that subliminal messages can influence the mind through a sort of “persuasion invisible“.
The Effects of Subliminal Messages: The Impact on Our Psyche
The reason why subliminal messages can have a impact Like this powerful lies in the very nature of the subconscious. The subconscious can be seen as a sort of “engine room” of the mind, where accumulated memories, emotions And impulses that influence our behavior without us being aware of it.
Subliminal messages, “bypassing” awareness, can speak directly to this engine room, triggering reactions emotional or cognitive which might not emerge with the same intensity if they were consciously perceived. Emotional responses are the ones that are most easily manipulated in order to make subliminal messages effective.
If we think about it, the mechanisms emotional they need to be fast and snappy, to provoke equally fast behavior, which could save our lives in our dangerous arboreal environment where we evolved. This is what Kahnemann called “fast thinking,” as opposed to slow thinking, the rational and conscious evaluation of the costs and benefits of our actions. For example, if during a dramatic scene in a movie a subliminal message is inserted that evokes an emotion of fear or desire, our subconscious could amplify the emotional response to that scene, making us more likely to remember the movie or desire a product shown.
The use of subliminal messages has raised many ethical and legal questions. In the United States and Europe, the use of such techniques in advertising is heavily regulated or even banned, due to their potential to manipulate consumers without their conscious consent.
