I read about the workings of the subconscious mind in today's New York Times. The first few lines of the article piqued my interest; here they are:
In a recent experiment, psychologists at Yale altered people’s judgments of a stranger by handing them a cup of coffee.
The study participants, college students, had no idea that their social instincts were being deliberately manipulated. On the way to the laboratory, they had bumped into a laboratory assistant, who was holding textbooks, a clipboard, papers and a cup of hot or iced coffee — and asked for a hand with the cup.
That was all it took: The students who held a cup of iced coffee rated a hypothetical person they later read about as being much colder, less social and more selfish than did their fellow students, who had momentarily held a cup of hot java.
We've all heard about how our subconscious can push us to behave in certain ways without our "knowing" it. Remember hearing about movie audiences who bought more of certain snack foods when imperceptible images were flashed on the screen? The article says that one was made up, to promote the business of the ad man who claimed to have done it. Remember imitating Mr. Subliminal on Saturday Night Live to the amusement of "unsuspecting" friends?
According to the article it's more complicated than that. Isn't everything? But after reading it, I'm taking a fresh look at what's posted on the walls of my classroom. I'm thinking of replacing the poster that says "Question Authority" with "Suck Up." Ha!
Here's the link so you can read the entire article:
www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/health/psychology/31subl.html?ex=1343620800&en=d63e52cd16496308&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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