Video, sound and images have seen drastic increases in their resolution, quality, and depth in the last decade. Fueled by the improvements of both software and processing power, all forms of media have embraced the digital revolution. Music albums are now exclusively produced on a computer, magazine images are retouched by computer, and every minute of television has been enhanced with computer graphics and animations. The internet by its very nature exists in this digitized form giving anyone the ability to alter and modify to their will.

There has been a dark side to these improvements; covert psychological techniques are now being on a regular basis. It should come as no surprise that even the major media networks have their works inundated with subliminal messages designed to motivate you as a consumer, influence your voting, and keep you in-line with the masses.

What Are Subliminal Messages?

Subliminal messages are images and sounds embedded within a medium that eludes normal perception. A person will not consciously realize they have been shown a subliminal message, however the hidden messages will influence the brain subconsciously and can alter behavior.

Subliminal Sound

The mainstream beliefs about subliminal sound involve backmasking and other types of voice distortion. Backmasking is when a person records a spoken phrase and then plays it in reverse as part of the music. Unfortunately, there is little to no evidence that these techniques actually work. The human brain does not have the ability to flip sound around, nor can it interpret sounds that are played at a decibel too quiet to hear.

The covert messages in sound are usually in the form of audible speech patterns. A good hypnotist can influence by using specific words and by emphasizing certain parts of their speech. A master salesman will use things like presuppositions and embedded commands to make you more likely to buy. Non-verbal sounds include background noise and music that can alter your behavior. None of these techniques, however, are considered “subliminal,” because all of them can be clearly heard and consciously pointed out.

While I’m not going to say that subliminal messages in sound are impossible, I will say that I seriously doubt the current claims to its effectiveness. There are no professional studies that I can’t cite, and I’m yet to see any substantive “double-blind” evidence.

Subliminal Print Ads

Visual subliminal messages are a different story. The most pointed out of subliminal messages can be found in pictures and images. In this form of media the original images are carefully altered to include the hidden images or words.

Here is a nice video showing off print ads with subliminal images in them.

Subliminal Video

There has been controversy surrounding the effectiveness of subliminal video images. The blog Choking On Popcorn has a nice summary of how the controversy started:

“The most famous story about subliminal manipulation is that of the infamous experiment held in 1957 at a movie theatre in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Here it was believed that ultra-fast editing of images of popcorn and Coke throughout the movie would lead to a significant increase in refreshment sales during the intermission. This experiment caused such a stir, that subliminal messages were outlawed and deemed unethical. However, it soon appeared to be a hoax and the experimenter James Vicary admitted that he had been tampering with the results.”

The original experiment was a hoax, but psychologists have been studying whether or not subliminal images flashed in video can influence behavior. It has been shown that subliminal messages can indeed have an effect on behavior, but not in the way that Vicary believed. Subliminal messages are only effective when it comes to establishing familiarity and creating associations.

Subliminal messages work because of the phenomenon of priming. “Priming (from Wikipedia) in psychology refers to activating parts of particular representations or associations in memory just before carrying out an action or task.” Once you have been primed with an image, your memory will tend to recall other things your brain has associated with it when you are shown that image again.

I hope I haven’t gotten too technical, but to put simply:

Subliminal messages are not effective at getting you to purchase soda, but if you already intend to buy soda they are good at helping you choose Pepsi over Coke.

A paper from the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology explains this in much more detail: Beyond Vicary’s fantasies: The impact of subliminal priming and brand choice (HTML version).

Darren Brown does a good job of explaining this and then uses the technique to influence some advertisers… Pretty cool stuff.

Subliminal Advertising and Politics

Earlier this month I posted about subliminal messages on Fox News. In a video clip, a viewer caught the news channel inserting images of John McCain during the broadcast. Here is the video again:

While many readers quickly dismissed this as “paranoia” and “conspiracy theory,” I’m going to look at this in the context of subliminal advertising and priming… I would argue that this image may not get people to go out and vote for this candidate, but if someone already intends to vote it will influence which candidate that they vote for…

Other Subliminal Messages

The movie Fight Club was filled with subliminal messages, here is a video clip that shows when they were used.

Here is a McDonalds Ad in the Middle of the Show Iron Chef.

Fast food Carl’s Jr. does the same thing on the show Beauty and the Geek.

Make This Information Mainstream

Subliminal messages are a very real thing. The general public needs to be aware and corporations/individuals need to be held accountable for these deceptive practices. Hopefully this has opened up your eyes.

In todays society lying is no longer an option, it is a skill that is absolutely necessary for survival.

I’m not here to discuss the ethics of lying (that’s what philosophy websites are for), nor am I here to tell you to always be “good” (the world isn’t black and white by the way). Nope, I’m here to tell you how to lie and lie so well that no one (not even your own mother) will know.

But this is only fair. The world can be a downright evil place and it’s totally reasonable that you have the tools to fight back. With that said I’m going to treat everyone like an adult, and ask that you use these abilities for good… mmmkay?

Hypnosis Control and our affiliates in no way condone unethical behavior.

A Sharp Double-Edged Sword

Knowing when you should lie is a tricky skill all by itself. So before lying you should first evaluate both the potential benefits of a successful lie against the consequences of getting caught. If the benefits clearly outweigh the risks, then you are probably good to go. But remember that you may be risking your own reputation by lying and there are social consequences (people may no longer trust you) if you get caught.

The Truth About Lie Detection

The best lie-detecting psychologists in the business will point out that there is no foolproof method for detecting lies. Let me make this very clear: THERE IS NO FOOLPROOF METHOD FOR DETECTING LIES.

When a trained professional wants to know if someone is lying, they are forced to look for indirect signs. They look for behaviors and language that seem out of place. Things like nervousness, hesitation, and defensiveness are some of these signs. Even polygraph tests look for indirect signs, such as a change in heart rate or blood pressure.

Telling effective lies, however, is not simply about trying to mask these outward signs. Lying convincingly is all about your own MINDSET. When you have the correct mindset your body language and behavior will automatically follow. You will not even have to think about masking behaviors because all of your behaviors will seem natural. You will show none of the indirect signs and your lies will become indistinguishable from the truth.

Create A Plausible Story

The first thing you’re going to need to do before lying is prepare the story that agrees with all the available evidence. This story needs to be kept as simple as possible and things that are “out of the ordinary” must be kept to a bare minimum. Really picture yourself in that situation as vividly as possible, and go over it a few times in your head. If anything seems unbelievable then you need to come up with a better story.

Also be sure that your behavior in the story is “in character.” For example, hardly anyone is going to believe that you were late for work because you ran into a burning house to rescue an old women. However, most people will believe that you were late for work because you tripped on the sidewalk and tore a hole in your pants. While it’s not necessary to be self deprecating or embarrassing, keeping the story “in character” makes the story personal and much more believable.

To make sure that your story is good also ask yourself the 6 Ws for your story: Who, What, When, Where, Why and HoW.

- What were you doing?

- Who were you with?

- When and Where were you?

- Why were you doing what you were doing?

- And HoW did you do it?

Also try to imagine how someone else (an onlooker) would see the whole situation. If the story still seems legitimate, then you have probably got a good story.

Practice The Story And Develop Details

Go over the fake story as many times as you can in your head. Try to imagine tons of other little details that may not be directly relevant to the story, but will give your story depth. The most effective details are unverifiable and subjective (e.g. “the soda was flat”).

Here are some good questions: What were you wearing? Were you hot or cold? Did you feel healthy/sick? Were you hungry? Did you have to go to the bathroom? Did the air have a scent or smell ? What did it sound like? Were you preoccupied with something at the time?

Also be sure to consider your emotional state. Think about how you were feeling at each and every moment of the story. Were you happy, sad, angry, etc.?

By rehearsing and questioning your story, your brain will begin to take the story from your imagination and put it into your memory. Ideally you want the entire story stored in your memory. When you are primarily using your memory you will only show those behavioral cues (eye movements, facial twitches, and body language). It doesn’t matter if the memory is the truth or a lie because your memory does not know the difference. All that matters to you is that you display memory-accessing behavior and deceive anyone watching.

Find Confidence By Believing Your Story

Now that you’ve got a good alibi and have set it into your memory it’s time to start believing your story as literal truth. Religion has shown us time and time again that your mind can be manipulated to believe just about anything as fact. So believing your own modest alibi should be no stretch of faith.

When you have gotten to the point of believing your own story NO ONE will be able to tell you are lying without hard evidence. Polygraph tests, MRI scans, and lie detection software will all indicate that you are telling the truth once your own brain really believes.

For this step make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. Concentrate and slowly go over the whole story. Imagine yourself in 1st-person, experiencing every single moment of the story, detail by detail. Know that the events unfolded exactly how you imagine them. Know that what you are thinking is real. Watch the whole story again in you head, but this time see yourself from afar. Notice all the little details you overlooked earlier. Go over the story one more in your head, detail by detail. See the story unfold in any order that you like. This story you see is what happened and you are confident about it.

Prepare For Questions

Naturally people may ask you about what happened. Try to imagine how you would respond and try saying the answers out loud. By rehearsing you will prepare yourself and seem much more confident when you actually answer. Know that your answers are true to what you believe, and other people will trust this confidence.

Trained professional will often look for altered sentence structure and for words that are emphasized. A nervous person will tend to emphasize odd words and will think too much about how they are saying their answer. A confident person, on the other hand, will see the story unfolding in their head. They will not put too much thought into how or what they are saying and their speech will flow freely.

The Moment Of Truth

Your brain is confident in what you believe. Tell you story to anyone with ease.

Don’t Fall For Bluffs

There is still the chance that someone may doubt you and will try to catch you with a bluff. A bluff happens when a doubter lies to you about what they know in an attempt to catch you off guard. The doubter doesn’t actually know the truth but is hoping that you will panic and admit to lying without first seeing/hearing the evidence. Don’t fall for it. The trick is to remain calm and “deny, deny, deny.”

This is how a bluff happens… quoting a Seinfeld episode called “The Red Dot.”

Elaine: Hey George, did you buy that sweater knowing that red dot was on it because you could get it at a discount?

George: What? Did I what?

Elaine: You did didn’t you.

George: Elaine, I’m, I’m shocked. I’m shocked. Here I go out in the spirit of the season (Elaine looking like she’s not buying a word of it) and spend all my savings to buy you the most beautiful Christmas sweater I have ever seen to show my appreciation to you at Christmas and this is the thanks that I get at Christmas.

Elaine: Well Jerry told me that you did.

George: You told her? How could you tell her? I told you not to say anything.

Jerry: I didn’t tell her you stupid idiot. She tricked you!

Elaine bluffed and George fell for it.

When someone tries to bluff, just remain calm and deny. The doubter is taking a risk by doubting what you have said, and it lets you and everyone else that they don’t trust you. You can use this to your advantage as long as you stay calm and collected.

Advanced Techniques

If you would still like some extra practice to perfect your lying, try recording yourself on video telling both lies and the truth. Notice differences in you facial gestures and body language and practice until the two are indistinguishable. Practice makes perfect.

I noticed this on reddit today… Someone slowed down the Faux News animation and what do you see? It’s a picture of McCain! This is a perfect example of subliminal message in television… Shame on you Faux.

No one’s memory is perfect. Here is a nice little demonstration showing how your memory can be manipulated and tricked. So the next time you are “absolutely sure” of something, consider that you may in fact be wrong, especially when objective evidence is available.

An article in the New Scientist Reported about how human imagination may be the underlying cause of religion.

The previous theory said that social bonding was the culprit, but this may only be a side effect.

“We had to evolve the necessary brain architecture to imagine things and beings that don’t physically exist, and the possibility that people somehow live on after they’ve died.”

See the original article: Religion A Figment Of Human Imagination.