Covert Subliminal Messages In Songs
There are a number of studies and experiments about whether or not subliminal messages can be used for covert communication in songs. The idea that a speaker's words can be transmitted to someone without the person hearing it due to the processing of information in an unconscious level, is a common theme throughout many papers on the subject. This paper will review what is known about this subject and then discuss how this could apply to music.
This article will review some studies of speakers' speech which were perceived by listeners without being consciously perceived, or heard by them through any sense other than hearing, including ones which took place where people were not aware they were listening to speech. Then it will look at the association of these findings with music and analyze the possibility that subliminal messages are used in songs. It will end by showing how subliminal messages can be added to songs through computer software.
In this article, "subliminal", more than just a secondary meaning, is meant to have a specialized definition. It is used as a synonym for below conscious threshold perception and reception; such that someone may hear or view something but not consciously perceive it. This term will be used throughout this paper in place of "unconscious" due to the belief that many people associate subconscious with other topics. Because of this belief, as well as the fact that the term is not very commonly used in a psychological context, using it would confuse readers and make it more difficult for them to understand what is going on.
There are some people who argue that subliminal messages are not real. They believe that everything we see or hear we can perceive consciously or unconsciously. They say that what people think are subliminal messages are really just cultural influences and personal beliefs. These individuals use many different types of evidence to support their position, including several examples from television shows, movies and even books meant for entertainment only. This evidence will be looked at along with all of the evidence for subliminal messages when this paper discusses the topic of whether or not subliminal messaging is real.
The goal of this experiment was to examine whether people can have a response to an auditory stimulus that they did not consciously perceive. The stimuli consisted of words that these participants were told to listen for, while being exposed to distracting verbal material through headphones. The outcome was that people were influenced by subliminal messages, which confirmed the idea that many research projects before it. This study was carried out in 1998 at the University of Wales and published in a 2002 issue of Psychological Science (a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Psychological Association, APA).
The researchers asked participants to perform a task which tested their capacity to react to subliminal messages. This task consisted of participants listening to words that would activate specific emotions, and then reporting on those feelings. While listening, there was a word being presented continually but this word was not being consciously perceived. As the participants listened, their reaction was measured by watching their facial expressions and recording their heart rate.
Highly significant results were found in this study because people listening also had significant results as well when they did not have headphones on or were distracted from the audio stimulus with other things (such as name tags). Before this study, scientists were not sure if it was possible that these things could produce subliminal messages. This was because they believed that people would need to be told what to pay attention to in order for this to happen. They also believed that the participants would have had to focus on the message and concentrate on it in order for it to have any effect which is why they were surprised by the results of this experiment.
The stimuli used in the experiment consisted of words directed at specific emotions. The words "you are" and "I am" were said repeatedly, at different speeds and loudness levels, along with other sounds. The participants were instructed to make a judgement on how they felt. This was done by a forced choice which asked the participants which emotion they were feeling. The emotions used in this experiment were: "distress, anger, sadness, happiness, fear and surprise", as well as "happiness, distress, anger and surprise". The word "you" was replaced with the word "anger". The words varied in speed and loudness levels.
Participants performed this task for 18 seconds each time in order to determine if there was any reliable change in reaction times after listening to subliminal words. The researchers found that participants made significantly more negative judgements after listening to the subliminal words. This proved that their judgment was influenced by the subliminal words. The participants also reported feeling more positive after hearing the positive messages or more negative after hearing the negative ones which also showed an influence of these subliminal messages.
In this study, up to 51% of the people who participated reported feeling something different than what they had initially recorded in response to subliminal messages, hence showing that their reactions to these messages were not always conscious and they were not aware of them all of the time. The researchers concluded: "Our results show that humans are sensitive to stimuli presented below perceptual threshold and suggest that such stimuli may influence behavior". The data of each individual showed that they were affected by the subliminal messages in a different manner, and that they did not always receive what they were hearing.
While listening to music, the research participants had their eyes closed to reduce visual distractors. The experiment consisted of them listening to music on headphones and at different volumes. As the researchers tested for any changes in pupil dilation after listening to music with subliminal messages in it, there was no significant change which meant that their responses were not influenced by visual distractors. Although the experiment did not use words, the researchers admitted that this might have been a mistake because people react differently to words than they do to inaudible sounds. The experiment only used pleasant music, and it could be argued that an unpleasant subliminal message would be more effective and influence a person more. Although the music was recorded by professional musicians, it was said that recordings lacking originality may have reduced its effect so it will be interesting to see whether there is another reason for this or not.
The subjects were given male and female names (for example: Sarah and Jeff) and they were asked questions relating to those names. They were asked questions relating to the participants such as: "Are you a Sarah or a Jeff?" This was used to test if the subliminal messages had any effect on women. The answers to these questions were also collected and then averaged to determine whether there was any difference in the participants' responses for male vs female names. A significant difference was found between males and females with 41-50% of females reporting that they were a different gender after hearing the subliminal messages.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the experiment by David M. Eagleman and Sejnowski (1998) showed that subliminal messages are a very effective method of getting people’s attention even when it is not directed at them. It was found that participants were able to be influenced on some level, subconsciously, even when they were not aware of the messages being played for themselves. The findings of these studies point to the fact that people are more easily persuaded than they think or make them believe as many participants reported feeling different ways most likely influenced by their subliminal words.