Previous Article |
Table of Contents
| Next Article 
PSYCHOLOGY
Subliminal exposure to national flags affects political thought and behavior
*Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91905, Israel; and Department of Psychology, 211 Uris Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
Edited by Edward E. Smith, Columbia University, New York, NY, and approved October 29, 2007 (received for review May 20, 2007)
Political thought and behavior play an important role in our lives, from ethnic tensions in Europe, to the war in Iraq and the Middle Eastern conflict, to parliamentary and presidential elections. However, little is known about how the individual's political attitudes and decisions are shaped by subtle national cues that are so prevalent in our environment. We report a series of experiments that show that subliminal exposure to one's national flag influences political attitudes, intentions, and decisions, both in laboratory settings and in "real-life" behavior. Furthermore, this manipulation consistently narrowed the gap between those who score high vs. low on a scale of identification with Israeli nationalism. The first two experiments examined participants' stance toward the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Experiment 3 examined voting intentions and actual voting in Israel's recently held general elections. The results portray a consistent picture: subtle reminders of one's nationality significantly influence political thought and overt political behavior.
automaticity | nationalism | social cognition | unconscious | voting
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0704679104/DC1.
The transformation of voting intentions into a Likert-type scale was done by R.R.H. and D.S. Consensus was very high, and all disagreements were resolved in a thorough discussion of the issue. The transformation rule was: Balad, 1; Hadash, 1; Aleh Yarok, 1.5; Meretz, 2; Yerukim (greens), 2.5; Avoda (labor), 3; Tafnit, 3.5; Kadima, 3.5; Likud, 5; Shas, 5; Ihud Leumi/Mafdal, 6; Israel Beytenoo, 6; and Heroot, 6.
¶ The seven political questions that appeared in this study were taken from Experiment 1. Replicating the results of that experiment, there was a significant 2 (priming) x 2 (IWIN: high vs. low) interaction [F(1,96) = 4.23, P < 0.05]. In the control condition, the average of low IWINs was 2.89 (SD = 1.45), whereas that of high IWINs was 5.50 (SD = 1.73). In the priming condition, the average of low IWINs was 3.27 (SD = 1.93), whereas the average of high IWINs was 4.38 (SD = 2.11). IWIN in itself strongly affected the responses (P < 0.001), whereas priming in itself did not (P > 0.3).
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ran.hassin{at}huji.ac.il
© 2007 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles in HighWire Press-hosted journals:
|
|
 |
|
  Oh! Say Can You (Not) See? Subliminal Flag Exposure and Political Views Journal Watch Psychiatry, January 18, 2008; 2008(118): 5 - 5. [Full Text]
|
|
