The impact of subliminal symbiotic vs identification messages in reducing anxiety

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of a symbiotic subliminal message (Mommy and I are one), an identification subliminal message (Mommy and I are alike), and a control message in reducing state anxiety. Female subjects (N = 102) with high, low, and medium levels of self-identity cohesion were randomly divided into three experimental conditions. They responded to a state anxiety questionnaire, received anxiety-provoking instructions, and then were exposed to the subliminal messages. Finally, a post-measure of state anxiety was obtained. The ANOVA showed that subjects with high and medium level of self-identity responded with a reduced state of anxiety following both the “symbiotic” and “identification” messages. The low-level, self-identity subjects showed reduced anxiety only following the symbiotic message. The control message had no impact at all. These results are discussed in terms of the hierarchical organization of needs (symbiosis vs identification) and the impact of internal conflicts on the processing of subliminal information.