Subliminal Messages: Definition and Perception

Abstract

Imagine some one telling you that there is no such fad as an internal desire and all you wish for, is not what you actually wish for, but is due to some thing known as hidden communication that has fashioned desires in your brain, not known to conscious mind? Although difficult to believe but such veiled communication mechanism does exist, under the name of Subliminal Stimulation, and has a greater sway in our life, not known to common people. Debate on subliminal stimulation initiated way back in 19th century when people started talking about subconscious learning but James Vicary, the illustrious market researchers, was the first one to come up with experiments on this subject matter with high constructive results (Packard, 1957). Such communication scheme has been beleaguered for its non ethical character and prohibited in numerous countries but still there are several instances where one can find the utilization of subliminal messages. Many psychologists and market researchers shore up the conviction that such subliminal stimulation can have an immense consequence on human brain (Dixon 1971, Heath 2002, Beatty & Hawkin 1989, etc) and support their argument by putting down various models on subconscious observation and by conducting experimental research. But correspondingly there exists a faction of people, mainly scientists, who claim such communication model as ineffective (Byrne 1959, Vokey & Read 1985). The current research work revealed a common ground where both school of thoughts showed some concurrence, comprehended the fundamental notion of such form of communication process and its association with new-fangled concepts like memetics. The qualitative research methodology (In-depth semi structured interviews) was adopted in order to obtain connoisseur comprehension on such concealed communication technique and to find the expediency of such approach. In future with progression in technology there is an anticipation of obtaining much unyielding results and information vis-a-vis brain dispensation of subliminal messages.