Final - Lecture 9

Question 1

Subliminal Persuasion

Answer 1

Mix of psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism

stimulus is below the lower threshold of conscious perception but above lower unconscious

Question 2

The Vicary Experiment

Answer 2

projected hungry eat popcorn/thirsty drink cola onto a movie and increase in sales

Question 3

skeptics view of subliminal persuasion

Answer 3

• range between conscious perception and lower threshold of unconscious perception is extremely small
• since individual perception and sensual abilities differ significantly, a stimulus which is within the range of one person’s unconscious perception may be consciously perceivable to another or below all
• messages ineffective for the majority while many others would be consciously aware

Question 4

perceptual constraints

Answer 4

occur when individuals cannot receive or process sensory signals due to limitations in the body’s senses

Question 5

perceptual biases

Answer 5

• improperly process sensory signals due to mental processing errors with prior patterns of experience
• unconsciously or consciously make erroneous connections between one stimulus and another due to prior patterns of experience or a flawed mental state

Question 6

pareidolia

Answer 6

psychological phenomenon in whicha vague and random stimulus is perceived to be meaningful and deliberate