To explain this a little better the word subliminal can be used to describe anything which is transmitted beyond the threshold of our perception. There are various types of subliminal messages – from text, to images, to subliminal audio.

Text: Text based messages are basically written information which is displayed faster than the eye can see – these can be used in tv / cinema – i.e. flashing a text based message for 1 tenth of a second, similarly they could be used in screen savers, or subliminal computer programs.

Images: Similarly to text messages images can be displayed for a short period of time, again embedded in videos. The Disney subliminal messages are famous and often use either fast text or flashed images.

Audio: Not to be confused with hypnosis, these consist of any audio message that has been manipulated so that we would not be directly aware of it – either at a higher frequency or lower frequency than the range of physical human hearing, or hidden behind music so they are not clear, as well as other methods such as playing the message in reverse.

If I can’t perceive them, how can they help me?

Well, in everyday life we receive thousands of subliminal messages every day. We don’t realize we are exposed to such messages, but there is simply too much information in our busy lives to consciously process everything.

However we do take in much more information than we realize here are a couple of examples:

• You walk out of a shop and start humming the song which was playing quietly in the store, yet at the time you paid little attention to it.
• You hear your name mentioned across a busy room and suddenly you are aware of their conversation, you then tune into it and block out all the other information.

These two examples show that our minds are always active, always processing the information around us, and this information gets stored in our minds often without us realizing it.

Just because you can’t consciously hear something doesn’t mean that your unconscious mind isn’t aware of it. That is the real beauty of subliminal messaging – you don’t have to physically concentrate on it, or study / learn anything, the messages naturally enter your mind.

Follow on in our educational series with our article about the dangers of subliminal messaging.

Because of this we have put together this page, which goes over a number of different scientific studies into how subliminal audio and visual messages impact upon the brain as well as social scientific studies into their practicality and applications in everyday life.

Smoking Cessation Study

Thirty-four people took part in a group-oriented therapy package aimed at getting them to stop smoking. The subjects of the group were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. The experimental group was exposed to subliminal messages while the control group was not.

Once the therapy was completed the researchers found that 4 weeks later that 67% of the experimental group (the group exposed to subliminal messages) hadn’t gone back to smoking while the control group (the non-subliminal message group) had only 12% of its subjects who had not started smoking again.

Study: Palmatier, J.R., and Bornstein, P.H. “Effects of Subliminal Stimulation of Symbiotic Merging Fantasies on Behavioral Treatment of Smokers.” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (1980)

Journal Entry: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7452209

Math Study

Seventy-two Israeli 10th graders were put into four groups and each group was shown four times a week for six weeks a different subliminal message. The subliminal messages shown were “Mommy and I are one (two versions of this was used)”, “My teacher and I are one” and “People are walking in the street.”

At the end of the six-week period a maths test was done and the groups who were exposed to the “Mommy and I are one” message achieved significantly higher scores than the other groups.

Psychologists have said that the reason they believe the group exposed to the “Mommy and I are one” message got higher scores is because the message would have had boosted their self esteem, which in turn had a positive effect on helping them to learn.

Study: Ariam, S. and Siller, J. “Effects of Subliminal Oneness Stimuli in Hebrew on Academic Performance of Israeli High School Students.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology (1982)

Journal Entry: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/abn/91/5/343/

Darts Accuracy Study

A study was conducted on the dart-throwing accuracy of males. The subjects were each exposed to five different subliminal messages and after exposure to each individual message their dart throwing accuracy was measured. The five different subliminal messages were “Beating Dad is ok”, “Beating Dad is wrong”, “Beating him is ok”, “Beating him is wrong” and “People are walking”.

It was shown that when exposed to the message “Beating Dad is ok” dart-throwing accuracy was at its highest.

This study shows that subliminal messages can have an impact on athletic performance even when such a simple positive messaged is played.

Study: Plumbo, R. and Gillman, I. “Effects of Subliminal Activation of Oedipal Fantasies on Competitive Performance.” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (1984)

Journal Entry: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6502153

Weight Loss Study

Two experiments were conducted, one on a group of 26 women and the other on a group of 30 women. All women in the group were at least 15% overweight. In each experiment the women were put in either a subliminal group or a control group. Both the subliminal group and control group were taught basic weight loss and healthy eating methods, such as calorie counting, meal timing and how to properly reward themselves for their healthy eating.

In each of these educational sessions all of them were asked to picture a scenario where they would be tempted to over eat. During this visualization practise they were exposed to a subliminal message for four milliseconds. The subliminal group was exposed to a weight loss based subliminal while the control group was exposed to a neutral subliminal message.

The results found that in both of the experiments the subliminal group lost far more weight than the control group. It was concluded then that the use of subliminal messages has the ability to help people treat there over eating habits and thus aid in weight loss.

Study: Silverman, L.H., Martin, A., Ungaro, R., and Mendelsohn, E. “Effect of Subliminal Stimulation of Symbiotic Fantasies on Behavior Modification Treatment of Obesity.” Clinical Psychology (1978)

Journal Entry: http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1979-13876-001

It’s appropriate to mention another study conducted by Dr. Becker and his colleagues that also helps to show the massive impact that subliminal messages have on weight loss.

In this study Dr. Becker’s patients at his weight loss clinic in Metairie, Louisiana were made to listen to both audio based subliminal messages and videotapes that contained subliminal messages.

One of his patients managed to lose 100 pounds in just one year and when he conducted a follow-up he found that 50% of his patients managed to keep their weight loss for up to two years after being treated, a figure much higher than those who he treated without the use of subliminal messages.

Alcoholism Study

A group of seventy-two alcoholics undertaking an alcoholism treatment program were divided into an experimental group and a control group. Both groups were given the same regular treatment program and both groups were exposed to a subliminal message four times in each of the six sessions over two-weeks.

The study found that the experimental group, which is the group that received the subliminal message, were more involved in the treatment, had enhanced self-concept, lowered anxiety and depression and their consumption of alcohol was reduced after a 3-month follow-up.

Study: Schurtman, R., Palmatier, J.R. and Martin, E.S. “The Activation of Symbiotic Gratification Fantasies as an Aid in the Treatment of Alcoholics.” The International Journal of the Addictions

Journal Entry: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7174161

Academic Performance Study

Sixty college students enrolled in a six-week undergraduate summer law course were exposed to subliminal messages before three out of the five lectures each week and before and after a ten minute counseling session with the person conducting the experiment. The sixty students were split into three groups of 20; the first two groups both received a positive subliminal message while the third group received a neutral message.

After the six-week course it was found that those who received the positive subliminal message achieved higher results than the group who received the neutral message, showing once again that subliminal messages can help improve study skills and academic performance.

Study: Parker, K.A. “Effects of Subliminal Symbiotic Stimulation on Academic Performance: Further Evidence on the Adaptation-Enhancing Effects of Oneness Fantasies.” Journal of Counseling Psychology (1982)

Journal Entry: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/cou/29/1/19/

Agoraphobia Study

Thirty-two people suffering from Agoraphobia were split into four groups. Three of those groups were shown scenes of outdoor situations designed to trigger their phobia, the fourth group, the control group was shown a scene of a potter working on his wheel. With the three test groups, one group was shown the scenes at a level below the visual threshold, one was shown it under normal conditions and the final group was exposed to it subliminally and normally.

Out of the three groups it was shown that the group that was shown it both subliminally and normally showed the biggest improvement and this improvement was maintained even after a 12 week follow up.

The study shows then that using both subliminal and normal exposure to a message can help to reduce agoraphobia but the best results come when you combine the two.

Study: Lee, I., Tyrer, P. and Horn, S., “A comparison of Subliminal, Supraliminal and Faded Phobic Cine-Films in the Treatment of Agoraphobia.” British Journal of Psychiatry (1983)

Journal Entry: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6626854

The Mind Does Actually Hear Subliminal Messages Embedded In Audio

In this study one group listened to audio subliminal messages there were mixed in with a regular music recording. The other group listened to the same music but without the subliminal messages embedded. Both of the groups were instructed to produce a drawing before the music was played and also immediately after the music was played.

The researchers examined these drawings and they found that the drawings of the group that was exposed to the subliminal messages contained images related to the embedded messages they were being exposed to. It was concluded then that the subconscious part of the human mind is able to pick up on a recorded message that cannot be heard by the conscious mind, thus, we do have a subliminal perception.

Study: Kaser, V.A. “The Effects of an Auditory Subliminal Perception Message Upon the Production of Images and Dreams”. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (1986).

Journal: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3723126

Another interesting study related to the ability of the mind being able to hear subliminal messages is one conducted by Dr. Becker. In this study both the experimental and control group were asked to guess a three-digit number. The experimental group was exposed to the number subliminally through a pink noise audiotape.

This study was repeated three different times and it was found that on average 77% of the people exposed to the number through subliminal audio were able to correctly guess it, the control group however only had 10% able to guess it.

The More Subliminal the Message the Greater the Reaction

Bornstein et al conducted an experiment where subjects were exposed to verbal statements embedded in white noise with the volume levels being increased at different levels. With each increase, frontal EMG, heart rate and skin conductance were measured.

The study showed that the physiological reactions of the subjects were highest when the messages were least audible, in other words more subliminal.

Study: Borgeat, F., M.D., Elie, R., M.D., Chaloult, L., M.D., and Chabot, R. B. Ped. “Psychophysiological Responses to Masked Auditory Stimuli.” Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Journal Entry: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3971278

The Power of Subliminal Messages to Enter the Subconscious Mind

A study was done where people were either exposed to a message while being consciously aware or exposed to it in a subliminal fashion.

The results of the study showed that the response rate of those that were exposed to the message in a subliminal message was higher than those exposed to it in a conscious manner.

This study goes to show that despite people not being aware of the stimuli, our subconscious mind still has the ability to pick up on it and the awareness of it is much higher than it is consciously.

Study: Shevrin, H. “Does the Averaged Evoked Response Encode Subliminal Perception? Yes.” (1975)

Journal Entry: http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1975-28968-001

Learning Capacity Study

A class of university students were split into groups and before each lecture were exposed to either a subliminal message or control message for a total period of 12 sessions with each message being 4 milliseconds.

At the end of the study a final test was conducted and it was found that the groups who received the subliminal messages ended up achieving much higher test scores than their peers who were exposed to the control message.

Study: Cook, H., Ph.D. “Effects of Subliminal Symbiotic Gratification and the Magic of Believing on Achievement.” Psychoanalytic Psychology (1985)

Journal Entry: http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ppsy.002.0365a

Shoplifting Study

There has been a number of reports of stores using subliminal messages in order to reduce shoplifting, such reports include:

In 1979 TIME Magazine wrote about a chain of department stores in the U.S. and Canada using subliminal messages played through their music systems to successfully reduce shoplifting by customers and also theft by employees.

Wall Street Journal reported in 1980 that a supermarket in New Orleans had used subliminal messages to reduce shoplifting to an all time low in just six months. This resulted in the cost of shoplifting going from $50,000 every six months to $13,000.

An East Coast chain saved in total of $600,000 in just nine-months.

Source: http://www-cshs.stjohns.k12.fl.us/teachers/vogelj2/Downloads/AP%20Psych%20-Time%20Magazine%20-%20Secret%20Voices.pdf

The Subliminal Exposure to Extreme Words Decreases Their Extremity

Four experiments were conducted: In the first one the participants were exposed in a subliminal manger to extremely positive and extremely negative words. After this they were asked to rate the extremity of certain words and the participants ended up rating the words they were exposed to as less extreme than extreme words they had not been exposed to.

A second experiment was conducted using a different evaluation measure and in that experiment and also with experiment three and four, the same findings were reached as in the first experiment.

Study: Dijksterhuis A, Smith PK. “Affective habituation: subliminal exposure to extreme stimuli decreases their extremity.” Social Psychology Program, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2002)

Journal Entry: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12899354

Verbal Subliminal Messages Can Affect Associated Conscious Thoughts

The subjects were shown the word “Happy” on a screen very quickly and it was followed by a drawing of an expressionless face, the same thing was also done with the word “Angry”.

The study showed that subjects found the face more pleasant when shown it after “Happy” and less so when shown it after “Angry”, showing then that the meanings of words that people are exposed to subliminally can influence associated conscious thoughts.

Study: Smith, Gudmund J. W.; Spence, Donald P.; Klein, George S. “Subliminal effects of verbal stimuli.” The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (1959)

Journal Entry: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/abn/59/2/167/

Subliminal Exposure to Images Increases a Persons Attitude Towards It

A study was conducted where undergraduate subjects were shown abstract geometric images at a subliminal level and also at a non-subliminal level. The subjects attitudes towards the images presented subliminally become more and more positive with each exposure, even when the subjects were not aware that they had been exposed to it.

A second experiment was then conducted where the subjects were subliminally exposed to photographs of actual people and like with the first experiment, the more of an exposure the more positive subjects were to the photograph.

Lastly a third experiment was conducted where subliminal exposure to photographs of people showed that the attitude towards that individual in person was enhanced.

Study: Bornstein, Robert F.; Leone, Dean R.; Galley, Donna J. “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology” (1987)

Journal Entry: http://www.researchgate.net

Enhances the Effectiveness of Therapeutic Procedures

Thirty-six female college students were split into three groups of twelve. Each group contained 6 experimental subject and six control subjects and all subjects participated in three group-counseling sessions. Before each session took place the subjects in the experimental group were exposed to the subliminal message “Mommy and I are one” and the controls were exposed to the neutral subliminal message “People are walking”. The groups were all given different levels of counselor self-disclosures. The first group received 8, the second 4 and the third received none.

Once the study was completed it was shown that the subjects exposed to the positive subliminal message had more self-disclosures than those who received the neutral message, the study thus showing that the use of subliminal messages can enhance the effectiveness of therapeutic procedures.

Study: Linehan, Edward; O’Toole, James “Effect of subliminal stimulation of symbiotic fantasies on college student self-disclosure in group counseling.”Journal of Counseling Psychology (1982)

Journal Entry: http://www.eric.ed.gov

So there you have it, there is a lot of credible research into subliminal messaging and it’s influence upon the human mind  it isn’t only James Vicary’s questionable research.. We are committed to keeping this page up to date and will add new studies as they are released.

Citation

http://www.realsubliminal.com/subliminal-messages-scientific-research - Another great master source of research.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920625,00.html - Article source from Time Magazine about department stores reducing their shoplifting rates.

It was deemed unfair to use them in TV commercials due to the susceptibility of the human mind. So likewise if you were thinking of using them to manipulate or influence someone in any way then think again as this would get you into a lot of trouble.

There has been a lot of research studies showing that subliminal audio and video do have an impact upon the mind, so it should not be toyed with, used in malice, or on other people for negative purpose.

For Personal Use?

However you can use them for personal reasons. You can, as outlined above, use them to help you develop in areas of your choice – whether it be enhancing your memory, improving your sports performance, developing your confidence, changing your personality or pretty much anything else.

While they shouldn’t be used on other people without their knowledge, even still when used in this way they will not work as well as if you use them on yourself and use them to pursue goals you are working towards.

For example if you give someone a CD to help their law of attraction goals – yet they don’t understand, or even believe in the law of attraction then the album will likely only have a limited effect. However if you use it personally, and you are a follower of the law of attraction, and you are already working towards attracting things into your life then it will work much better.

Basically it works by aligning your subconscious mind to your attraction goals too – it can help you to reach your goals, but usually only has a minimal impact if you are either resisting against changes, or are not actively trying to pursue a specific goal.

Moral of the story: Create a goal, and actively pursue it, and use subliminal messages to gain a boost, push your willpower, strengthen your motivation and give you a helping hand towards realizing your goal.

If you are new to subliminal messaging then you can try it for free – take the free album you can download from Real Subliminal and give it a try for yourself – hopefully seeing the benefits, and that there is no danger involved when you use subliminal audio for self development

There are various reasons for including subliminal messages, sometimes the designers just put a message in to cause controversy or leave their mark, but advertisers definitely try and use them to a more manipulative end – to make you remember the advert, or to increase brand awareness and loyalty.

Here is the video, decide for yourself:

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more subliminal videos check out our main page with a larger collection and deeper analysis of the use of subliminal messages in video format. We look at adverts, images, movies songs and discuss if they are for real or not and what their purpose may be.

We also have a master store of subliminal advertising images and posters. See who is up to subliminal manipulation and why..

This album will help you to get a full night of sleep by sending hypnotic suggestions that will trigger certain reactions that promote sleep inside your brain. It can help you to relax physically and mentally in order to get you in the ideal condition for sleeping. It can help you to release unhealthy thought patterns that prevent you from dozing off; this will make it easier for you to relax at night and eventually fall asleep. Continuous use of the mp3 will lead to a more consistent sleep cycle that is free of irregularities.

Subliminal messaging helps you to make changes on a fundamental level. This means that once you free yourself from insomnia through hypnotherapy, you will be able to keep it off your system for a long time to come. Try it for yourself and experience its effectiveness in as little as a week! You can also start with these free hypnosis downloads  (http://www.naturalhypnosis.com/l/free-hypnosis) that can help you experience the efficacy of self hypnosis completely free of charge!

This album can help you gain a better awareness of your body and become more health conscious in the process. It uses the principles of the law of attraction to bring health closer to you. It helps you to avoid the pitfalls of negative thinking that causes psychosomatic conditions. It also helps to become more predisposed towards healthy routines that will minimize the chances of you getting sick. The main thing that it enables you to do though is to use the law of attraction to remain in good health for as much as possible.

Attracting health through the law of attraction is not as impossible a task as it seems, hypnosis can help you with the mental aspect of it so you can put it into action. This hypnosis mp3 download (http://www.naturalhypnosis.com/) can help you to improve your health in ways that you can only dream of today. Get the album right now and give yourself a chance at a better quality of life by becoming a healthier more robust individual that is ready for the demands of everyday living.

If you take your health seriously, and you believe in your ability to attract health, then you give yourself the best shot of achieving your health goals and living the life you truly deserve. In addition to hypnosis, you can use these free affirmations for attracting health which can really help to ensure that your mind is aligned with the law of attraction principles and that all of your mental and physical energy are concentrated on manifesting great health in your life. The method is simple, you use positive affirmations on a daily basis to rewire your core thoughts and change them from negative to positive, and especially to solidify your belief in yourself.

The use of self hypnosis albums to make yourself more focused on the important things is a very valid form of self improvement. It is an excellent way to gain more balance by refocusing your point of view towards the things that you can actually improve on instead of fixating on things that can go wrong. Using this hypnosis mp3 download (http://www.naturalhypnosis.com/) is safe and it cannot force you to change against your will. It can only help you if you actually want to improve and stop being pessimistic.

Admitting that you have a problem and having the will to resolve it will make hypnosis extremely effective for you. If you think that you are ready to move forward with your life then try self hypnosis for yourself and experience a liberating change. An improved mental health may just be a few clicks away, hypnosis can help you to be free of your irrational fixation and focus on more fruitful endeavors instead.

Hypnosis is one of the most efficient ways to get over irrational fears so you can move on with your life. It is very easy to use as well as affordable, you can use it on your own time at the place of your choice for as many times as you want and you will only have to pay for the album once. It uses your desire to improve as a foundation to further bolster this desire, creating a positive cycle of positive reinforcement that will soon lay your fears to rest.

Overcoming fear of failure can be made relatively less challenging with the aid of a hypnosis mp3 download (http://www.naturalhypnosis.com/). Get your mindset back to normal and healthy presets so you can be more outgoing and assertive when it comes to your goals. Get yourself a hypnosis album today and make your fear of failure disappear. It is a very easy and simple process that can bring you the change you need that will make you more willing to take risks for your personal growth.

Hypnosis is an excellent alternative to conventional remedies to insomnia. It can help you to scrutinize the most complex parts of your psychology and eliminate the parts that keep you from sleeping normally. It can also help you to fall asleep by guiding your mind and body towards relaxation until you eventually doze off. This is a very safe sleep aid and it cannot force you to do anything against your will.

You also cannot get stuck in any shape or form, hypnosis can only help you to enter a deep sleep but nothing out of the ordinary that you will not be able to wake up. All it does is to guide you into activating brain signals that promote sleepiness and relaxation so you can drift into unconsciousness and stay asleep for the rest of the night. Try listening to a hypnosis mp3  download (http://www.naturalhypnosis.com/) tonight and get on your way to sleeping regularly and waking up feeling fresh and ready the next day.

Hypnosis is a highly viable method of improving your work philosophy so you can prioritize the truly important parts of your life. It can help you to improve your thought habits so you can bring out your more productive side and push away bad habits that lead you to procrastinate. Over time, it can help you to develop an impeccable work ethic that allow you to apply yourself fully to your tasks so you can ensure that you are fulfilling them to the best of your abilities.

Try listening to a hypnosis album today and see your work rate improve over the next few weeks. It can help you to get ahead in your career by improving the quality of your output. It can also help you to feel more satisfied and fulfilled when you are able to give your best in everything that you do. You can also sample some of these free hypnosis downloads: www.naturalhypnosis.com/l/free-hypnosis, if you want to experience how it works at absolutely no cost to you!
Another great way to stop procrastination and gain the mindset of someone who is successful, motivated, and productive is to use positive thinking and most specifically positive affirmations. This is a very powerful method for creating a powerful, yet subtle  shift to your thought processes. For instance, you can use specially designed stop procrastination affirmations that will target your procrastination tendencies and replace those automatic processes with new more positive and productive ones. You have the power to make positive changes in your life, the key is to educated yourself on the methods and tools available, and then just go for it!