Double-Blind Tests of Subliminal Self-Help Audiotapes

Abstract

Three replications of a doirble-blind experiment tested siibliminal airdiotape products that were claimed to itnprove memory or to increase selfesteem. Conditions of use adhered to tnatiirfacturers' recommettdariotis, arid subjects (N = 237) were limited to persons who desired the effects offered by the tapes. Actual content arid labeled content of tapes were itidepetidetitly varied, so that some siibjects who believed they were using memory tapes were actirally using self-esteem tapes, and vice versa. After a month of use, neither the mentory nor the self-esteem tapes produced their claimed effects. Nevertheless, a general improvement for all subjects in both memory and self-esteem (a nonspecific placebo effect) was observed, and tnore than a third of the subjects had the illrision of improvement specific to the domain named on the tape's label.Subliminal self-help (SSH) audiotapes are widely advertised as being able to produce many desirable effects, including weight loss, smoking cessation, anxiety reduction, and improvement of sexual function. In ordinary use, purchasers of SSH tapes know and desire the target effect, which is clearly marked on the tape label and in accompanying literature. However, in listening (perhaps daily) to the tape, the user may hear nothing relevant to the target effect. The audible content of the tape typically consists of relaxing material, often music or recorded nature sounds.T h e r e a r e numerous reports of claimed therapeutic effects of subliminal audiotapes, but no such report has apAddress correspondence to A.G. Greenwald, Dept. of Psychology, NI-25, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. Telep h o n e : ( 2 0 6 ) 5 4 3 -7 2 2 7 , e m a i l : agg@u.washington.edu. peared in a competitively refereed psychology journal. Further, many of these reports have been produced by researchers associated with manufacturers of the tapes (Becker see review by Eich, in press).The present research was conducted to provide a rigorous assessment of therapeutic effectiveness of selected SSH audiotapes. Four aspects of procedure were essential to the experimental protocol. First, a double-blind method was used in order to separate effects of subliminal content from possible placebo effects. Second, conditions closely resembled the conditions of ordinary use of SSH tapes, in order not to omit contextual aspects of the ordinary procedure that might be necessary to claimed effects. Third, the research used subjects who were motivated to achieve the goals claimed by the tapes, because such motivation is plausibly a precondition for occurrence of claimed effects and is a condition that applies generally in the marketplace. And, fourth, the research used both pretest and posttest measures of status relative to the target goals, in order to obtain the increased sensitivity afforded by analyses of covariance with pretests used as covariates.Among the target goals for which SSH tapes were available from several manufacturers, improving memory and increasing self-esteem were selected both because...

Does self-control improve with practice? Evidence from a six-week training program.

“…In other words, any improvements in self-control in the trained group may be attributable to Hawthorne effects, placebo effects, or demand characteristics (see Shipstead, Redick, & Engle, 2012, for similar criticisms of studies training executive function). This problem is compounded when self-control performance is assessed using subjective measures that are especially susceptible to such influences (Greenwald, Spangenberg, Pratkanis, & Eskenazi, 1991;Shipstead et al, 2012), and when adherence to the training task is not assessed, which makes it difficult to confirm that completion of the training task is responsible for any observed improvements in the trained group. Although most previous studies asked participants to keep records of task performance, the methods used may not have reliably assessed adherence (e.g., paper diaries submitted after training; see Table 1), and rates of adherence generally were not reported, presumably because these records were designed more to motivate adherence than to measure it.…”

Selected alternative training techniques in HRD

“…Audiotapes appear to be the most popular subliminal approach (Merikle and Skanes, 1992 (Auday, Mellett, and Williams, 1991;Greenwald, Spangenberg, Pratkanis, and Eskenazi, 1991;Merikle and Skanes, 1992;Russell, Rowe, and Smouse, 1991).…”

Educing Information - Interrogation: Science and Art, Foundations for the Future

“…However, Nick Epley of Cornell University, a leading researcher in the area of subliminal persuasion, concludes simply that "the resulting body of work…has produced far from impressive results…." Similarly, research evaluations of audio material with subliminally embedded messages (such as those promoting self-esteem or weight loss) have shown that they produce no effects beyond what people expect to experience (Greenwald, Spangenberg, Pratkanis, and Eskenazi, 1991;Pratkanis, 1992). Eight years later, another review (Moore and Pratkanis, 2000) reported that "recent scientifi c evidence continues to support our original appraisal that actions, motives, and beliefs are NOT susceptible to manipulation through the use of briefl y (i.e., subliminally) presented messages or directives.…”