Are subliminal self-help tapes really effective?
Subliminal tapes are recorded with ordinary classical music, but they contain some embedded self-help messages that cannot be detected consciously. In a study conducted by Pratkanis, volunteers were recruited to test the effectiveness of subliminal tapes. They were asked to take tests to measure their memory and self-esteem. Then they were given either self-esteem improvement tapes (The message I radiate an inner sense of confidence was recorded behind background classical music) or memory improvement tapes (The message My ability to remember and recall is increasing daily was recorded behind background classical music). The intriguing aspect of this study is that only half of the volunteers were given the correctly labeled tapes. One fourth of the volunteers were given self-esteem improvement tapes mislabeled as memory improvement tapes and one fourth of the volunteers were given memory improvement tapes mislabeled as self-esteem improvement tapes. After 5 weeks of listening to the ta
