A psychoanalytic reinterpretation of the effectiveness of systematic desenitization: experimental data bearing on the role of merging fantasies

Subliminal Psychodynamic Activation: Mommy and I are Not Yet One

Aspects of Silverman's subliminal psychodynamic activation (SPA) method are critically evaluated and SPA results are discussed within the context of information processing. Silverman's method has questionable features that involve visual-field position of the stimulus and structural matching of experimental and control stimuli. It lacks the converging operations required to support his contention that successful SPA experimental outcomes are due to differences in the contents of experimental and control stimuli. Evidence is offered to support the 1984 contention of Bornstein and Masling that SPA research has several unanswered questions about how consciously non-perceived stimuli are encoded and how such information can influence subsequent behavior. Extensive procedural changes for further SPA research are offered.

Subliminal Psychodynamic Activation: Note on Illumination and the Bleaching Hypothesis

The effect of illumination on the outcome of subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments is discussed and the bleaching hypothesis Silverman, Ross, Adler, and Lustig in 1978 used to explain negative results under certain illumination conditions is critically evaluated. Illumination levels suggested by Silverman for this research do not completely agree with values used in most successful experiments prior to 1980. The sequence of tachistoscopic events usually presented in a typical experiment and information-processing considerations suggest that, contrary to Silverman's earlier suggestions, stimulus-field illumination should be higher than blank-field illumination. Aspects of the bleaching hypothesis are questionable, and it seems to be of minimal value because the specifics of how bleaching is thought to interfere with the effects were not documented by reference to the literature in photochemistry. Further empirical investigation of the effect of illumination could be combined with attempts to understand how this variable affects stimulus processing during subliminal psychodynamic activation.

Problems in Silverman's work indicate the need for a new approach to research on subliminal psychodynamic activation

The basic assumption in subliminal psychodynamic activation research is that participants can unconsciously perceive the psychodynamic meaning of a complete message as it is intended by the experimenter. In attempts to account for negative findings Silverman contended that this assumption holds only under certain luminance conditions and visual field positions of a message. Paradoxically, almost all of his findings, his major evidence in support of the basic assumption, came from experiments in violation of those strictures. Further, Silverman never presented MOMMY AND I ARE ONE under a critical condition required for it to be effective. These and other considerations identify the need for an account of empirical findings other than his and for changes in his experimental method. Such research must take into account the encoding of subliminal stimuli, an area neglected almost completely by Silverman. Shevrin and his colleagues' 1996 work is outlined as a model for the use of subliminal stimuli to investigate psychoanalytically generated hypotheses.

Subliminal psychodynamic activation: methodological problems and questions in Silverman's experiments

Analyses of procedures in Lloyd H. Silverman's subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments identify problems and questions. Given the information provided, none of his experiments can be replicated, and none of his positive results were found under luminance conditions he reckoned in 1983 were typical of such outcomes. Furthermore, there is no evidence in any of his experiments that all stimuli were presented completely within the fovea, a condition critical to the production of positive findings (Silverman & Geisler, 1986). These considerations and the fact that no experiment using Silverman's procedures can yield unambiguous positive results (Fudin, 1986) underscore the need to start anew research in this area. Such research should be undertaken with a greater appreciation of methodological issues involved in exposing and encoding subliminal stimuli than that found in all but a few experiments on subliminal psychodynamic activation.

Subliminal psychodynamic activation: updated comprehensive list of experimental results and comments on previous lists

A comprehensive list of results from visual subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments is presented. This list includes results reported since the publication of the last comprehensive list by Weinberger and Hardaway in 1990 and several results not found on that list. On the present list, SPA results are categorized according to criteria that we contend are more objective than those used previously. In contrast to conclusions drawn from previous lists prepared by Silverman in 1980 and 1983, by Weinberger and Hardaway in 1990, and by Weinberger and Silverman in 1987, the present list indicates that the results of a majority of experiments do not clearly support hypotheses tested by the subliminal psychodynamic activation method. Aspects of Hardaway's meta-analyses from 1987 and 1990 for major areas of research on subliminal psychodynamic activation are discussed in terms of suggestions for further research.

Review of auditory subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments

Subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments using auditory stimuli have yielded only a modicum of support for the contention that such activation produces predictable behavioral changes. Problems in many auditory subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments indicate that those predictions have not been tested adequately. The auditory mode of presentation, however, has several methodological advantages over the visual one, the method used in the vast majority of subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments. Consequently, it should be considered in subsequent research in this area.

Subliminal stimulation and cognitive and motor performance

The present experiment investigated whether subliminally exposed messages affect cognitive and motor performance and whether personality factors can explain interindividual differences in this respect. According to Silverman (1983), people have a symbiotic fantasy, that is, a need for symbiotic oneness with the mother figure. This need can temporarily be satisfied by a tachistoscopic exposure of the message "Mommy and I are one." By relieving the unconscious conflict, psychological tension is reduced. Using these notions, it was hypothesized that different measures of performance should be improved. The results indicate that both cognitive performance, in terms of the ability to interpret incomplete and fragmented pictures, and motor performance, in terms of the ability to follow a printed line with a stylus, is improved by this procedure compared to that of a control group exposed to the neutral message "People are walking." However, it was not possible to relate these changes to individual differences in terms of the individual's structure of his psychological defense system as measured by the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT). Other possible explanations are discussed.

Alcohol, subliminal stimulation, and disinhibitory processes

An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that an unconscious conflict between a wish to attain symbiotic oneness with another person on the one hand and personal independence on the other, should be weakened by alcohol if the main effect of intoxication is to reduce the strength of psychological inhibitions. In turn, a reduction in such conflicts should improve motor performance. Data indicated no such effects, and it was concluded that the disinhibition hypothesis as an explanation of alcohol-related behavior was not supported.

On the activation of symbiotic gratification fantasies as an aid in the treatment of alcoholics

Seventy-two alcoholics being treated at Veritas Villa were divided into an experimental and a control group. In addition to the regular treatment program both groups received four subliminal exposures of a verbal message in each of six sessions over a 2-week period. The messages were MOMMY AND I ARE ONE (experimental) and PEOPLE ARE WALKING (control), administered under double-blind conditions. In keeping with the main hypothesis, the experimental Ss were rated as significantly more involved in treatment. In addition, among the alcoholics who were more symptomatic to begin with, the MOMMY message, when contrasted with the control, lowered anxiety and depression, enhanced self-concept, and reduced alcohol consumption after a 3-month follow-up.