Inattentional blindness is an effect that happens when you focus your attention one thing and fail to notice other things right in front of you. Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris created a film that demonstrated inattentional blindness. They filmed two teams, one team passing a basketball to each other and the other team not handling the ball. They used the film in an experiment where they had observers focus their attention on counting how many times the ball was passed. During the film a person in a gorilla suit walked through the scene which almost half of the observers missed.
After reading about inattentional blindness I automatically thought about subliminal messages and if they really work. There are many claims about subliminal messages particularly about how they are used to influence people’s behaviors. My curiosity about this subject lead me to question my instructor, Dr. Wede. I asked him, when considering inattentional blindness, does subliminal messages really work? He responded by telling me ” There is evidence in isolated types of studies where subliminal presentation can affect reaction times and certain types of basic memory tasks. But there is no evidence suggesting that subliminal messages affect more complex behaviors (like buying choice, language learning, dieting, quitting smoking or any other number of products that claim to use subliminal messages to change your behavior).”
Based on the information I read about inattentional blindness and the information I received from Dr. Wede, I don’t think subliminal messages work. For example, hidden pictures or messages used in advertising.
References
Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, 3rd Edition.Wadsworth, Inc.
I really enjoyed your post about inattentional blindness. It really made me think. It made me think in particular about the concept of “weapons focus.” This concept has particularly to do with eyewitness testimony. According to our text weapons focus is when “an eyewitness to a crime focuses their attention on a weapon, which causes poorer memory for other things that are happening” (Goldstein). The two concepts seem similar to me and both could have bad consequences. For the eyewitness testimony scenario the eyewitness could make a false testimony and put an innocent person away for a crime they did not commit. With regard to inattentional blindness if someone is focusing on something else that is going on and not paying attention to what’s in front of them they could be injured. For example a pedestrian texting while walking through a mall (this actually happened) and they fall into a water fountain. Not paying attention whether it be for our own safety or the safety and or innocence of others could all in all have bad outcomes. Whether it be the concept of weapons focus or inattentional blindness. Thank for sharing!
I enjoyed your blog post. Inattentional blindness is particularly interesting because it reveals the processes of human perception. Most believe that the mind simply takes in information in a passive way and we then go on to interpret and understand that information. The Simons and Chabris experiment you mentioned points to something quite to the contrary. We actually seem to be very active in how we take in information. There is a tendency to “fill-in-the-blank” on background details when we are focusing on something specifically and it is an important function because it allows us to channel our attention. However, it can also be detrimental because we may be prone to missing other details. I’m not quite sure how that particular study relates to subliminal messages, but I agree with your assessment that subliminal messages are mostly ineffective. They may be effective if someone’s attention is focused on a particular thing, say a part of a movie screen, and there is a few millisecond flash of the subliminal message, say “drink coke”. This may make an individual crave coca cola, but it is very difficult to make someone focus their attention, especially in today’s constantly distracted world, and this craving may pass soon after. Also, the situation would have to be right because even if the message was effective, they would not “drink coke” if they were not thirsty or did not like coke. There are too many variables that need to be overcome for subliminal messages to be effective in a practical sense. I do not believe they have the power of “mind control” but at their most effective, they can be a slightly influential nudge towards something someone already wants to do. Overall, I found your post to be insightful and it was successful in making me think.
As part of my nature I’m often times a contrarian. I will preface my statement or opinion that I’m no means an expert but did find research that supports subliminal advertising on consumer attitudes and buying intentions. The research article that I’m referencing supports how subliminal advertising works when it takes the form of product placement within a popular movie (Tsai). However, an important subtle detail must be recognized: consumers must have a level of awareness of the brand before product placement in movies can be effective; furthermore, the higher the awareness and the stronger the recall rate. A positive attitude also causes a greater intention of buying the product. Another major important point made by the research is the frequency in which a consumer is exposed to the subliminal advertising, the more likely the advertising will be effective, therefore compelling the consumer to purchase the product (Tsai). With this said I don’t suggest or subscribe to the idea that just seeing a movie with an iPhone being used will make you buy one. However, I do think by brining it to your attention whether it is consciously or unconsciously makes you aware of it. This exposure to a product, I do think influences decisions at times of purchasing. For example, you are probably more likely to purchase a product you are familiar with opposed to one you are not, with all things equal.
In closing I agree that subliminal messages or advertising may not have a direct influence on making a consumer purchase a product but I do believe it works to increase the likelihood.
Works Cited
Tsai,M., Wen-ko, L., & Liu, M. (2007). The effects of subliminal advertising on consumer attitudes and buying intentions. International Journal of Management, 24(1), 3-14.
There has been a lot of controversy about the efficacy on subliminal messages. Many believe that subliminal messages cannot register at a conscious level and has no influence on ones behavior. But should one be paranoid about this subject? It has been theoretically demonstrated, that subliminal messages can have an effect on how humans make decisions, we know that subliminal messages are about pictures or words with some message that are presented during a short time and intercalated. One can think that these short periods will not have an effect on the brain, however it is said that one part of our brain is registering these images, and our brain will use this information when making decisions. On the other hand while this definition assumes a difference between conscious and unconscious this might be misleading in the understanding and use, it may be more true to suggest that the subliminal message (sound or image) is perceived by deeper parts of what is a single integrated mind. Research findings do not support the conclusion that subliminal suggestions are peculiarly powerful. Although this might be because most of the studies into subliminal suggestions or influence involve a one-off subliminal stimulus, and then behavior is measured to test any influence, usually if at all the response of subjects is small and weak. Do subliminal messages work? Manufacturers of Self help products will say YES, Scientists and Psychologists will generally say NO!
http://www.mindfithypnosis.com/what-are-subliminal-messages
I would have to say that I do agree with you as far as subliminal messages go. I do not feel that the flashing images or subconscious audio is what makes people buy tings or do things as much as it is image and auditory manipulation as well as visual placement. I feel that we are more suggestible to this type of stimuli it could be from visual or auditory images and sounds. What a persons perceives to be will be.
For example, we may see a commercial or image and it is not necessarily what is being said or done but what we see in the advertisement by using image manipulation. It is the I want to be like them or I want to eat that because look how amazing it looks phenomenon. When we go to the grocery and we try a sample of something or see a sample recipe we see what the food could look and taste like. We see how fun a product looks or the image of how much fun they look like they are having. There are words on the boxes that gab our attention and scream buy me. When you see a commercial for anything It is the images that will stand out the things that we actually see that draws us in not the things we can not. When we buy self-help programs it is not subliminal messages that get us it is the thought that it does work that does.
I feel that yes people will always hide images and words to try to make people what to buy, see, or do things however, does this actually work I don’t know if I believe that. Could this work, yes I think it could, but as for now I believe that it is purely image manipulation that gets us. It is what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears that gets us nothing subliminal about that.
Hey there! I really liked that you mentioned subliminal messages in your post. Last semester, I took a Social Psychology course that I really enjoyed, and we briefly covered subliminal messages in advertising. I was surprised to learn that they don’t really work because it seems to be a general understanding that subliminal messaging is incredibly powerful, and can dictate what we like, purchase, or how we feel about the topic at hand. I remember learning that in experiments performed in a laboratory setting, some participants did fall victim to subliminal messaging, but this happening in the real world is pretty unlikely. For example, if it is television we are talking about, you would have to be looking at the TV at the exact second the message flashes (it could literally happen while you’re blinking), while being completely focused on the screen with no other distractions taking place. No dogs barking, cars beeping, people talking, or thoughts about the day running through your mind. Obviously, this situation rarely presents itself. The truth is, regular advertising is way more powerful when it comes to dictating our behavior. Basically, most people tend to think that regular advertising doesn’t really influence us (when it does), and that subliminal advertising is really powerful (when it’s not). I just think that’s so cool!
Understanding inattentional blindness is a big part of what I do for a living. I teach people to defend themselves during violent encounters. Being aware and mitigating inattentional blindness is a big part in the avoidance of becoming a target in the first place. But, if a person is attacked they will likely experience a surge of adrenaline. In a high anxiety scenario they may experience “tunnel vision” which sounds similar to inattentional blindness. Tunnel vision causes an individual to “hyper-focus” only on one aspect of their environment (usually an attacker) and to not notice other people or activity. Tunnel vision may include a loss of peripheral vision and acute visual clarity of a smaller field of view.
One police officer reported his tunnel vision, “I told the SWAT team the suspect was firing at me from down a long dark hallway about 40 feet long. When I went back to the scene the next day I was shocked to discover he had actually been only about five feet in front of me in an open room. There was no hallway.” (Alexis Artwohl, 2008)
A person such as a police officer or somebody who is defending him or herself may also experience auditory exclusion. Auditory exclusion may cause a person to hear only one sound or voice while ignoring everything else such as somebody who is calling their name.
It’s as if the mechanisms that filter unattended messages can stop making exceptions and will only process certain stimuli when adrenaline and fear become part of an experience. In addition, although this may be a bit outside the scope of these topics, perceptual and memory distortions can occur during high anxiety scenarios.
Another officer reported, “During a violent shoot-out I looked over, drawn to the sudden mayhem, and was puzzled to see beer cans slowly floating through the air past my face. What was even more puzzling was they had the word “Federal” printed on the bottom. They turned out to be the shell casings ejected by the officer who was firing next to me.” (Alexis Artwohl, 2008)
Alexis Artwohl, P. (2008, April 12). Perceptual and Memory Distortions During Officer Involved Shootings. Retrieved March 27, 2014, from aele.org: http://www.aele.org/law/2008FPJUN/wb-19.pdf