Final Comments on Hudesman,Page,and Rautiainen's (1992) Subliminal Psychodynamic Activation Experiment

Abstract

Hudesman, et al.'s (1992) contention that their finding shows that subliminal psychodynamic activation (SPA) improved academic performance is questioned. That experiment lacked controls outlined by Fudin in 1986 which are needed to support the assumption that a positive SPA outcome is effected because the meaning of an entire experimental message is encoded. In 1993 Hudesman and Page argued that Gustafson and Källmén's 1991 results, obtained with such controls, indicated that the controls do not have to be used in subsequent SPA experiments. The 1990 results of Greenberg and of Kothera, Fudin, and Nicastro, however, do not support those of Gustafson and Kàllmén. From a different perspective, it is argued that good experimental controls are needed in all SPA experiments because they increase internal validity. Given that Hudesman, et al's subjects scored in a limited range on the mathematics portion of the 1978 CUNY Skills Assessment Test, the implication that their result can be generalized to all subjects is questioned.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ariam

(1979) The effects of subliminal stimuli in Hebrew on academic performance of Israeli high school students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York Univer.

Cook

(1985) Effects of subliminal symbiotic gratification and the magic of believing on achievement. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 2, 365–371.

CUNY Skills Assessment Test. (1978) New York: City Univer. of New York.

Fudin

(1986) Subliminal psychodynamic activation: Mommy and I are not yet one. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 63, 1159–1179.

Fudin

(1990) Comments on Gustafson and Källmén's (1990) subliminal psychodynamic activation experiment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 71, 529–530.

Fudin

(1993a) Comments on Hudesman and Page's reply to Fudin's comments on Hudesman, Page, and Rautiainen's subliminal psychodynamic activation experiment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76, 856–858.

Fudin

(1993b) Comments on Hudesman, Page, and Rautiainen's (1992) subliminal psychodynamic activation experiment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76, 41–42.

Greenberg

A. C.

(1990) Response to subliminally activated fantasies of symbiotic-like oneness: a function of gender or psychological differentiation? Perceptual and Motor Skills, 71, 1179–1187.

Gustafson

Kállmén

(1990) Subliminal stimulation and cognitive and motor performance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 71, 87–96.

10.

Gustafson

Kállmén

(1991) Subliminal psychodynamic activation: an experiment controlling for major possible confounding influences outlined by Fudin. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 73, 163–171.

11.

Hudesman

Page

(1993a) Reply to Fudin's (1993b) comments on Hudesman and Page's response to Fudin's (1993a) comments on Hudesman, Page, and Rautiainen's subliminal psychodynamic activation experiment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76, 1097–1098.

12.

Hudesman

Page

(1993b) Reply to Fudin's comments on Hudesman, Page, and Rautiainen's experiment on the use of subliminal psychodynamic activation to enhance mathematics learning. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76, 733–734.

13.

Hudesman

Page

Rautiainen

(1992) Use of subliminal stimulation to enhance learning mathematics. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 74, 1219–1224.

14.

Kothera

Fudin

Nicastro

(1990) Effects of subliminal psychodynamic activation on dart-throwing performance: another nonreplication. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 71, 1015–1022.

15.

Parker

K. A.

(1982) The effects of subliminal merging stimuli on the academic performance of college students, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 29, 19–28.

16.

Silverman

L. H.

Lachmann

F. M.

Milich

R. H.

(1982) The search for oneness. New York: International Universities Press.