Here is a study conducted in 1978 on the effects of subliminal messaging upon weight loss:
Two experiments were conducted using two groups of 26 and 30 women. The women were over 15% overweight. They were divided into 2 groups, being the ‘subliminal group’ and a ‘control group’. Both groups were given some information on weight loss and healthy eating.
Then at the beginning of every session everyone was told to imagine a situation in which they would be tempted to eat.
It was at this point that both of the groups were exposed to a subliminal message for 4 milliseconds At this point they were exposed to a subliminal message for 4 milliseconds. Either a weight loss based subliminal message for the subliminal group / a neutral subliminal was played for the control group.
Results showed that the ‘subliminal group’ lost more weight than the control group, even after the end of the follow up period when the researchers caught up with the 2 groups to assess continued weight loss.
Here is another study conducted by Dr. Becker et al on subliminal messaging and weight loss. Dr. Becker had a weight loss clinic, and played to them 2 tapes containing subliminal messages.
His results were astounding:
- One woman even lost 100 pounds within one year.
- In follow up interviews Dr. Becker found 50% of the patients maintained over half their weight loss for up to two years following the subliminal program.
- Even better- 23% maintained between 75% and 100% of their total weight loss.
- Furthermore these figures were significantly better than diet programs in which he did not use subliminal messaging.
More Research
There is a lot more research into subliminal audio and visual stimuli, some conducted scientifically, some written up from case studies, and some conducted from a social science angle. Take a look at our main research page for our master list of all of the research studies we could find, as well as links to their official journal write-ups.