Moderation of Mood Change after Subliminal Symbiotic Stimulation: Four Experiments Contributing to the further Demystification of Silverman's “Mommy and I Are One” Findings

An increase in adaptive behavior following subliminal exposure of “Mommy and I Are One” (MIO) is a well-established but poorly understood finding. Given the known effects of positive mood on behavior, mood change after MIO is a finding that could make the overall result seem less of a mystery. Using a novel, indirect mood measure and tachistoscopic 5-ms exposures of MIO vs “People Are Walking” we observed mood change in four consecutive experiments (N= 157). Inconsistent with the original hypothesis, the direction of change could be systematically moderated to be positive or negative. The data imply that individual differences in “identification with mother” may explain this outcome.