Subliminal Activation of Intrapsychic Conflicts: Subconscious Realms of Mind vs Subconscious Processes of Mentation

Abstract

Cognitive-state monitoring theory asserts that people perceive subliminal stimulation without self-consciously monitoring its external innervation (as opposed to central innervation). Thus monitoring theory predicts that subconsciously perceived discord, in the absence of any ‘external location’ cues, should be misinterpreted as centrally generated discord and should disrupt self-generated behavior. Consistent with this prediction, mathematical problem-solving in the current experiment was disrupted after mathematically competitive males repeatedly heard the subliminal message IT'S WRONG TO CRUSH DADDY stereophonically localized in the middle of their heads—but not after they repeatedly heard this subliminal ‘Oedipal’ message binaurally localized on one side of their heads. A subliminal message binaurally localized on one side of the self should not interfere with problem-solving behavior because, even though the message's external innervation is not self-consciously ‘monitored,’ its external location is inferable from subconscious cues.