Unseen Motivators

Abstract

The human mind is constantly being influenced by a vast number of external stimuli that are perceived consciously as well as unconsciously. The chapter attempts to explore how unconscious (subliminal) priming of known and unknown human faces could impact product selection and decision-making time of consumers. 2 (Known face X Unknown face) X 2 (Product selection X Decision-making time) within-subject design was used for the study. A pilot study was conducted to estimate the subliminal time threshold of the population. It was found to be 17ms. A stimulus-priming experiment designed in Opensesame software was used to subliminally expose the participants to both known and unknown human faces. They were then asked to select a product that they were willing to buy from an option of four products, of which one of the products was primed along with human face (known vs. unknown). The product selection rates as well as the time taken to select the product were recorded. A total of 100 participants falling in the age category of young adults (18-39) took part in the study.