Running Head: SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

The Effects of Subliminal Messages and Patriotism

Ashley Flowers
CUNY Hunter College

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

Abstract

The aim of our study is to examine how music affects patriotism. We hypothesize that participants will report higher levels of patriotism when listening to patriotic music than when listening
to a control song. For participants we used twenty random CUNY Hunter College students ranging from ages 17-33 in a between groups design. For our materials we used a psychology lab cubicles in which a participant would complete a numeric scale rating survey that was then used as
data in our experiment. In another cubicle a member of the 250 experimental psychology course
would play a experimental patriotic or a control song. To compare the experimental and the control groups we used an independent samples test and found that there was no significant difference between the control and the experimental groups with a t(18) = .000, p <.05 (or p = 1). Even
though the mean for both groups were 19.3, the control group had a higher SEM than the experimental group which shows that the control condition has a higher variability. Therefore, whether
the participants were listening to a patriotic song or a control song, patriotism was not affected.

The Effects of Subliminal Messages on Patriotism

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

Subliminal messages affects how a mind works by affecting our subconscious mind. Pictures can affect our mind fully and most advertisements made are designed in picture form because the people are aware on the effects it could play in your mind. They can affect the way a
subliminal mind works and also contributes to how our subconscious mind runs. Subliminal
messages are mostly used in advertisements where advertisers incorporates the subliminal messages which is then passed on to the viewer. The subliminal messages can either be helpful or
harmful depending on what person is seeing or hearing. In this way a persons level of patriotism
can be affect by subliminally effecting an subconscious mind. Researchers have conducted studies to determine whether exposure to patriotic symbols influences a persons behavior. Past research has shown that exposure to national images elicits a specific behavior.
A study called A Single Exposure to the American Flag Shifts Support Toward Republicanism up to 8 Months Later, conducted by Travis J. Carter, Melissa J. Ferguson, and Ran R.
Hassin at the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicagos Booth School discovered that people who are briefly exposed to the American flag tend to shift toward Republic beliefs. Scientists have speculated over whether national flags exert an unnoticeable influence on
political behavior. The speculation came to an end, when in 2007, Israeli researchers found empirical data to prove that subliminal exposure to a national flag leads voters to support politically
moderate views. In the study it is believed that in countries dominated by a two party system, the
national flag moves people toward one end of the spectrum rather than to the middle. Results of
both experiments found that a single exposure to a small American flag during deliberation about

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

voting intentions led to significant and robust changes in participants voting intentions, voting
behavior, and political attitudes, all in the politically conservative direction (Carter, 2007).
To tests whether the flag priming was truly subliminal, participants were told that the
mask would be preceded by either a flag which would be the experimental group or a scrambled
version of a flag , the control group, and that to indicate which they saw. Participants were not
able to confidently identify the stimulus. This resulted in having the participants complete two
experiments. In the first experiment participants were presented for 16 m/sec and immediately
masked; after they were ask whether the first stimulus were a flag or a mask.
This experiment did not result in a significant change concluding that the priming was
indeed subliminal. Based on the answers given they were divided into two sections: a high IWIN
and low IWIN. IWIN stands for Identification with Israeli Nationalism. Participants who answered with a more nationalistic answer correlated more with the high IWIN rather than low
IWIN. This examines how subliminal flag priming and IWIN affect political opinions. This experiment demonstrates the difference between a group in the control condition and a group in the
experimental group and how a prime can influence political opinions.
Other studies report that nationalistic images affect a persons political attitudes. Hassin
R.R, Ferguson, and Gross conducted a study which they named, Subliminal Exposure to National Flags Affects Political Thought and Behavior, this research was to determine whether
flag priming influences participants who would be more likely to support Republicans. They believe this to be true because a pilot study mentioned earlier by Travis J. Carter, Melissa J. Ferguson, and Ran R. Hassin ,suggests that participants associated with the American flag and with the
Republican party. To test this hypothesis they divided the study in two experiments.

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

In experiment one participants were acquired through advertising in online survey were
randomly assigned to either the flag-prime or the control group. The Democratic or Republican
participant were asked to completed questionnaires through various sessions. Session two included a scale for voting intentions, half with the flag and half without. Session three were the
voting results. Session four, which was conducted eight months later, asked the participants
questions about politics. There was a difference between sessions, in Session two, the flag priming group reported stronger intentions to vote for Republicans, stronger then that of the control
group. Flag priming group had more warmth toward the Republican party, and more conservative beliefs than the control group. Session three included participants in the flag prime group
were more likely to have voted for a Republican than were participants in the control group. Session four included participants in the flag prime group were not supporters of Barack Obama.
This experiment resulted in no significant difference between the participants who completed the
experiment.
In experiment two they tested whether the flag creates a shift specifically toward Republicanism rather or to any other party in the government. There were seventeen participants, where four
participants were eliminated from the study: one who previously took part in similar experiment,
one who did not complete the section of the experiment that involved having the priming, and
two who guessed the hypothesis of the experiment. The remaining thirteen participants were
shown four photos of buildings and asked whether or not they thought each photo had been taken
during the morning, afternoon, or evening. The result were that the American flag induced a shift
toward Republicanism even during a Democratic administration. This experiment is a reminder
that of ones nationality can influence political decisions.

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

In our experiment we decided to utilize music as a prime rather than nationalistic images..
Instead of viewing the flags, we altered our experiment so that our participants subliminally listened to music while completing a survey. The aim of our study is to examine if participants
would report higher levels of patriotism when listening to patriotic music than when listening to
a control song. We hypothesize that participants will report higher levels of patriotism when listening to patriotic music than when listening to a control song because when lyrics containing a
national identity is subliminally heard manifestations of national identification is depicted.

Method
Participants
There were twenty participants ( 8 males and 12 females ) with an age range of 17 to 33
years ( M age = 21.60, SD = 3.77 years ). Each participant was a randomly chosen student in
CUNY Hunter College an included: 2 Freshmen, 2 Sophomores, 4 Juniors, 10 Seniors, 2 Graduate Students. Participants included 20 US residents, 16 US born and 4 non US born. All participants had an understanding that they were participating in an experiment for a Psychology 250
course.

Materials
For our materials we used a numeric Likert rating scale survey. The rating scale ranged
from 1 ( strongly disagree) to 7 ( strongly agree ). The survey included filler questions such as
personality questions that were included to counter balance the patriotism in some of the questions. In our survey we used the National Attachment Measurement Patriotism scale, this portion
of the survey included 5 questions which included: " I am proud to be an American," " I find the

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

sight of the American flag very moving," "Every time I hear the national anthem, I feel strongly
moved,"The symbols of the United States (e.g., the flag, Washington monument) do not move
me one way or the other," "I have great love for my country." These questions were hidden between filler questions from Rosenberg Self Esteem scale which determines societal and adolescent self image, and the General Internet Usage scale.
While each participant was taking the survey in a cubicle music was being played. There
were two songs that were being played one of them being a "patriotic" country song by Billy Ray
Cyrus called "We the People" which represented the experimental and "Prayer in C" by Lily
Wood and the Prick which represented the control.

Procedures
Students from the Psychology 250 class invited random students found in Hunter College
to participate in the experiment. When and if the participant agreed to be in the experiment we
would then return to the class room. Each participant was placed in a randomly assigned group:
experimental or control. Each participant was walked into a cubicle where a survey was waiting,
as they completed the survey music would begin to play. In an adjacent cubicle a student of the
250 class was waiting with the music selections, he would either play the country experimental
song or the control song. After about 3 minutes or when the participant was finished with the
survey they would the be directed into another cubicle where they would be debriefed. The debriefing session included asking them questions such as, Did you know what the survey was
about? or Did you hear the music playing?
Results

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

For our research experiment we conducted an Independent Samples Test was conducted
to compare how our control group and experimental differed on demographics. The two groups
experimental and control groups randomly assigned each group having a value of 10 for a total
20 participants. A Levenes Test for Equality of Variances was conducted and produced a Sig,
column of 0.253 which is greater than .05 which means that the variability in the two conditions
is about the same and they do not vary much. There was no significant difference in the scores
for Control (M = 19.3, SD = 7.13) and Experimental ( M = 19.3, SD = 5.03) conditions; t(18) =
.000, p <.05 (or p = 1). These results suggest that higher levels of patriotism did not occur when
listening to patriotic music.

Discussion

We hypothesized that participants will report higher levels of patriotism when listening to
patriotic music than when listening to a control song. Based on our experiment our results was
not supported by our hypothesis. This could be due to the fact that although country music is as-

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

sumed to represent a increased support for the beliefs in a particular political party it did not affect those who live on the east coast such as the students in CUNY Hunter College. Overall, the
results of this study did not support the hypothesis that patriotic music raises higher levels of patriotism.
Limitations:
The experiment had several limitations. This study was limited by its small sample size.
The sample size could have been expanded by including more students. The majority, 10 out of
20 participants in the experiment were seniors, this could be because most seniors tend to work
during the day and take night courses. This could be mended by doing the experiment during the
day to get a more variety. During the debriefing part of the experiment, the participants reported
that they did not hear the music when they were taking the survey in the cubicles. Another possible limitation is that the participants were only in the cubicle for 3 or so minutes. Much of the
data was self-reported, people are not always truthful especially when it comes to questions
about themselves.
Future Research:
In future experiments a possible improvement to the study could be to have better music
choices for the participants to listen to while filling the survey. Music that will better illicit nationalism. Sixteen out of twenty participants were born in the United States, which could influence the validity of the experiment. For future research having a more balanced participants. Another possible improvement to the study could have been interviewing the participants. Personal
interviews could elicit greater information regarding participants knowledge and attitudes. This
method can add greater insight into the participants opinions.

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

References
Carter, T., Ferguson, M., & Hassin, R. (n.d.). A Single Exposure To The American Flag
Shifts Support Toward Republicanism Up To 8 Months Later. Psychological
Science, 1011-1018.
Chen, L. Y., Hsiao, B., Chern, C-C., & Chen, H. G. (2014). General Internet Usage Scale
[Database record] Retrieved from PsychTESTS

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SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

11

Cyrus Billy. We the people

Federico, C. M., Golec, A., & Dial, J. L. (2005). National Attachment Measure [Database
record] Retrieved from PsychTESTS
Hassin, R., Ferguson, M., Shidlovski, D., & Gross, T. (2007). Subliminal exposure to
national flags affects political thought and behavior. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 19757-19761.
Lily Wood and The Prick. Prayer in C
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for Equality of Var-

t-test for Equality of Means

iances
F

Equal variances assumed

Sig.

1.394

.253

df

Sig. (2-tailed)

.000

18

1.000

.000

16.182

1.000

Pat_Tota
l

Equal variances not assumed

SUBLIMINAL EFFECTS ON PATRIOTISM

Section I
1. I use the Internet to read my email.
12345 Never Sometimes Every Day
2. I participate in chat rooms on the Internet. 12345
Never Sometimes
3. I shop online. 12345
Never Sometimes
4. I download music from the Internet. 12345
Never Sometimes
5. I browse Facebook or play the games on Facebook. 12345
Never Sometimes
Every Day
Every Day
Every Day
Every Day
6. I watch YouTube videos. 12345
Never Sometimes Every Day Section II
1. I am proud to be an American.
1234567
Strongly Disagree
2.
Strongly Agree
I find the sight of the American flag very moving.
1234567 Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree
3. Every time I hear the national anthem, I feel strongly moved.
1234567
Strongly Disagree
Strongly Agree
4.
The symbols of the United States (e.g., the flag, Washington monument) do not move me one
way or the other.

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