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Psychology & Marketing Vol. 16(6):451– 457 (September 1999)
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Nonconscious Memory
Processes in Marketing: A
Historical Perspective and
Future Directions
H. Shanker Krishnan
Indiana University
Charles V. Trappey
National Chiao Tung University
ABSTRACT
Nonconscious memory processes play a major role in influencing consumption, yet this topic is an understudied area within marketing. Within the general rubric of nonconscious processes recent marketing articles have focused on preconscious processing of advertising, implicit memory for brand names, and subliminal processing and choice. This article provides a historical overview of
nonconsciousness by tracing its development in psychology and
philosophy. Building on current work in this area, future research priorities are identified to enhance our understanding of this topic.
䉷 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Consciousness is a topic that has been examined for centuries. Influ-ential philosophers and psychologists as far back as Plato to as recently as Simon (1997) have written about the distinctions between conscious and nonconscious mental processes. Disagreements about the funda-mental nature of this distinction have always existed; however, it is clear that we now know more about this topic compared to even a decade
short standard Top of text Base of text ago. A historical examination of this topic may be used as a frame for
many of the current issues facing researchers.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON NONCONSCIOUSNESS If consciousness is a description of the brain, via the use of self-reflexive insight, then what is nonconsciousness? Nonconsciousness is assumed to exist (or coexist) with consciousness as part of the mind, but histor-ically it has played (and continues to play) a lesser or subservient role to consciousness. In fact, some philosophers have linked consciousness to godliness, placing it on a pedestal far above nonconsciousness. This view suggests that time is the infinite form of consciousness available to gods, whereas time-oriented consciousness and noninfinite conscious-ness (including the subconscious) are reserved for humans.
Philosophers have debated such views for centuries. The application of the philosophical concepts of consciousness to psychology and psy-chiatry did not occur until Freud began writing his classic texts. Al-though others such as Plato, Nietsche, and Bergsen talked about non-consciousness, Freud actually developed a theory incorporating the hidden mind. Freud’s theories about the ego (the seat of the conscious) and the id (the seat of the subconscious) remain a landmark contribu-tion:
What is in your mind is not identical with what you are conscious of; whether something is going on in your mind and whether you hear of it, are two different things.
Hence, consciousness was a fundamental aspect of the beginnings of the study of psychology. The primary mode of learning about noncon-sciousness was through an examination of one’s own thoughts, namely, introspection. However introspection had its limitations. As James (1890/1952) writes, “The attempt at introspective analysis in these cases is in fact like seizing a spinning top to catch its motion, or trying to turn up the gas quickly enough to see how the darkness looks.” Moreover, with the spreading influence of experimentation brought about by Eb-binghaus and others, introspection ceased to be a respectable method for studying nonconsciouness. The role of experimental methods for demonstrating nonconscious aspects of memory was to provide “objec-tive” standards. Interestingly, given the difficulty of devising experi-mental methods to measure the nonconscious, some recent methods have infused introspection back into the toolkit with the objective of providing a phenomenological account of mental processes (Rajaram & Roediger, 1997). Hence, one recurring issue in examining this topic is
“How can nonconsciousness be measured?”
psy-short standard Top of text Base of text chology, there appeared to be a resurgence of interest in examining
non-consciousness. This was spurred in part by the new methods that were being devised in the field. However, even as experimental methods gained popularity, it was clear that fundamental issues were not being tackled. In particular, it was not clear how nonconsciousness related to automaticity, awareness, and consciousness. Thus the issue “How is
nonconsciousness related to or different from consciousness” ? continues
to be a topic that engages many reseachers.
Motivation research in the 1960s also acknowledged the important role of nonconsciousness on our actions. Within the marketing area, Dichter (1964) extended concepts of a partitioned mind (or a self-reflex-ive mind) and postulated that the subconscious mind significantly con-trolled motivations and consumption behavior. He argued that, “What-ever your attitude toward modern psychology or psychoanalysis, it has been proven without a doubt that many of our daily decisions are gov-erned by motivations over which we have no control and of which we are quite unaware.” Dichter developed a typology of the hidden mean-ings in common consumer products. This research spawned the use of various projective techniques that could be used to probe for hidden meanings.
Dichter’s introduction of research techniques designed to probe and describe subconscious motivations popularized the topic and fueled new research. Efforts were made to discover means and methods of control-ling the subconscious or repositioning it with respect to the conscious mind. However, one of the by-products of this popularity was that the issues started becoming part of popular culture. For example, the movie
The Manchurian Candidate focused on brainwashing techniques and
the scientific basis for them. Another example is the popular belief that advertisers use subliminal messages to influence consumers to buy products. Although subliminal research shows limited ability to influ-ence consumer choice (Trappey, 1996), researchers continue to explore the effect of subliminal stimuli on nonconscious processes. The main issue that motivation research brought to the forefront was “In what
aspects of consumers’ lives might nonconscious effects be prevalent?”
Modern research on nonconsciousness was sparked by studies on im-plicit learning (Reber, 1967, 1993) and imim-plicit memory (Schacter, 1987). These research efforts were more sophisticated than the early experimentation. Nonconsciousness was now generally regarded as un-awareness of stimuli or their effects during a task. Methods such as task dissociations (comparison of performance on two different tasks to infer consciousness) and development of specific criteria to assess par-ticipants’ state of awareness helped convince even skeptics that humans can learn and remember without awareness of the source of the infor-mation.
Also, during the early 1980s, the mind – brain problem emerged, as psychologists and computer scientists began to explore the brain via
short standard Top of text Base of text artificial intelligence. One outcome, parallel distributed processing
(PDP) models, continues to offer scientists a means to simulate lower-level mental processes and extend computer-based intelligence, al-though the approach is not without controversy and shortcomings. Dur-ing the early PDP years, new frameworks of conscious and nonconscious processes emerged, as well as descriptions of memory and its relations to these processes. Overall, it would be safe to say that the study of nonconsciousness was not peripheral to the advancement of science, but that it was a critical component of various models. For example, a frame-work was offered by Minsky (1986) to describe how humans pull things from the subconscious into consciousness to solve problems:
Whenever you get a good idea, solve a problem, or have a memorable experience, you activate a k-line to represent it. A k-line is a wire-like structure that attaches itself to whichever mental agents are active when you solve a problem or have a good idea. When you activate the k-lines later, the agents attached to it are aroused, putting you into a mental state much like you were in when you solved that problem or got that idea. This should make it easy for you to solve new similar problems.
MARKETING APPLICATIONS OF NONCONSCIOUS MEMORY PROCESSES
The historical perspective shows that the applications of nonconscious memory processes are still emerging. This Special Issue shows that al-though much remains to be learned, numerous applications of noncons-cious processes may be explored. The topics covered include a new meth-odology, a false fame test (forgotten exposure to stimuli), a framework for the nonconscious processing of design, and a model of nonconscious repeat purchase behavior. A summary of the articles follows.
A New Methodology. Shapiro, MacInnis, Heckler, and Perez describe a method that fosters the elicitation and detection of unconscious per-ception. A computer-controlled magazine holds the participants’ focal attention while peripherally placed advertisements are processed un-consciously. Because the magazine is computer based, it can track at-tention to task and monitor when atat-tention shifts from the focal task to the stimulus in the peripheral vision. Preliminary evidence shows that peripherally placed stimuli can be processed without being recognized. The authors also compare the technique to visual masking, dichotic lis-tening, and peripheral placement.
Forgotten Exposure to Stimuli. Holden and Vanhuele explore the false fame effect in a marketing context. They demonstrate that hearing
short standard Top of text Base of text a brand name once may make the name look familiar and, if the
expo-sure context is forgotten, the name tends to be viewed as an existing established brand. This research suggests that failure to remember such exposures does not preclude the possibility that it can affect future be-havioral processes. The authors state that although consumers may be conscious of their inability to remember a specific exposure, they may not be able to suppress its effect on brand familiarity (whatever the source or context). This effect becomes extremely important to the ex-tent that familiarity plays a role in the formation of brand reputation and choice.
A Framework for Processing of Design. Veryzer provides a non-conscious processing explanation and framework for consumer response to design. The author notes that the process of rule development and design interpretation need not be a conscious one. The conscious level involves attending to an object (product design) and registering feelings or other responses to it. The nonconscious level involves perceiving the object and determining its consistency with rules that have been ac-quired (primarily through nonconscious learning) over time.
Nonconscious Repeat Purchase Behavior. Huang and Yu offer a new look at brand loyalty. A model selection procedure is used to test whether or nor a U-shaped relationship exists between the intercorre-lation of evoked sets and brand loyalty. The derived model provides a means to measure the degree of a consumer’s loyalty and provides an explanation for inertia, the nonconscious repeat purchase behavior due to habit.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
It is clear that, although these articles have added to the literature on nonconscious memory processes, much needs to be done to resolve some basic issues in this area. First, the theoretical nature of nonconscious-ness needs to be articulated very clearly. Given that this word means different things to researchers in philosophy, psychology, computer sci-ence, and consumer behavior, building a common vocabulary that cuts across disciplinary boundaries is a starting point. Also important is that researchers indicate clearly what are nonconscious memory processes as opposed to perceptual or learning processes.
Second, it is also necessary to integrate nonconscious processes into other theories and frameworks that are more pervasive in marketing. For example, how are nonconscious memory processes involved in clas-sical conditioning and mere exposure effects? Are tacit learning and intuition other forms of nonconscious processing that can be studied with the use of appropriate tools? Such integrative research should not
short standard Top of text Base of text only enable one to link this topic with other theories, but also be
inform-ative about the specific assumptions under which each of these theories operate.
Third, methodological improvements need to be devised for assessing nonconscious processes. Many researchers are interested in online methods for tracking awareness to stimuli, as opposed to self-report measures. This is a particularly challenging task, because online mea-sures may tamper with the inherent response. Also useful would be a metaanalytic review that compares conscious and nonconscious effect sizes on important responses.
Finally, the opportunity to explore substantive marketing phenom-ena with the use of theories of nonconscious processes should be em-phasized. One area that has been explored is advertising effects (e.g., Janiszewski, 1988; Krishnan & Chakravarti, 1999; Krishnan & Shapiro, 1996). These communication effects may be extended to understanding the effects of billboard advertising and product placement, where brief exposures are the norm. However, other marketing contexts may be equally relevant. For example, how can retail stores be designed to cap-italize on habitual behaviors where the consumer does not think about the choices for very long? The development of such applications to the theories will also provide a useful forum for understanding theoretical shortcomings, and lead to enhancements of theories of nonconscious pro-cesses.
REFERENCES
Dichter, E. (1964). Handbook of consumer motivation. New York: McGraw-Hill. James, W. (1952). Great books of the Western world: The principles of psy-chology. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. (Original work published 1890) Janiszewski, C. (1988). Preconscious processing effects: The independence of
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Krishnan, H. S., & Chakravarti, D. (1999). Memory measures for pretesting advertisements: An integrative conceptual framework and a diagnostic tem-plate. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 8(1), 1 – 37.
Krishnan, H. S., & Shapiro, S. (1996). Comparing implicit and explicit memory for brand names from advertisements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2, 147 – 163.
Minsky, M. (1986). The society of mind. New York and London: Simon & Schus-ter.
Rajaram, S., & Roediger, H. L., III. (1997). Remembering and knowing as states of consciousness during retrieval. In J. D. Cohen & J. W. Schooler (Eds.), Scientific approaches to consciousness (pp. 213 – 240). Hillsdale, NJ: Erl-baum.
Reber, A. S. (1967). Implicit learning of artificial grammars. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 77, 317 – 327.
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Reber, A. S. (1993). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: An essay on the cognitive unconscious. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 501 – 518. Simon, H. A. (1997). Scientific approaches to the question of consciousness. In J. D. Cohen & J. W. Schooler (Eds.), Scientific approaches to consciousness (pp. 513 – 520). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
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Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to: H. Shanker Krishnan, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 (skrishna@indiana.edu).
