Kaiden,
The Bandler experiment is interesting but also meaningless without specific details on how he actually constructed both his tape and his test. It's not enough to just merely submerge a bunch of affirmations beneath a masking sound. Go too deep underneath that sound and the affirmations become useless.
I KNOW subliminal tapes have worked for me but definitely not all of them! The very best I've yet seen are the Eldon Taylor tapes. I do NOT believe however that these are subliminal tapes in the truest, purest sense of the word (and neither does Eldon for that matter---he makes that point very clear)but I am absolutely clear about the fact that they work.
Eldon himself says that about 1 out of every 5 listeners will have a placebo effect but it's what happens with the other 80% that spells the difference between his tapes and also-rans.
For a short time (very short), I worked for a subliminal company here in Michigan and while there were plenty of aspects of their tapes that left me less than impressed, there was one demo recording that I found very telling. The whole basis of their tapes was to have lifelike recordings. They used a $5000 mike called Dolly which made every single sound absolutely and totally lifelike. On the demo, among other things, was the sound of a dentist drill. The thing was so real that I actually got upset with to stomach for over 20 minutes!;0)) However, I felt other aspects of their scripting and recording were not as well advanced.
I'll also admit that I, myself, with the exception of E. Taylor's tapes, have gone on to affirmation and hynpnotic type tapes. I also make my own. I've made subliminals for my own use for about 11-12 years now and I've had a variety of results with them (some topics like relaxation and stop procrastination get much faster results than do others like` self-esteem and weight loss to name a couple). I've also made what I call Flood Voice tapes which are 3-5 layers of my own voice doing different affirmations in a round-robin sequencing and also disjointed sequencing. In the background, I put a sound pattern or baroque music but you can hear all the voices. I play them at a fairly low level so that the the voices are not annoying. If there's tension, the volume is too loud. With these recordings I often just go about my business. Sometimes I'll notice and affirmation but for everyone I might notice, there are dozens and dozens going in unnoticed. ALL affirmations are positive and short. The tapes are not pretty but they ARE powerful! Sometimes I'll have one layer of voices done in whisper. Can only do one layer in whisper because I like to keep each layer clear and succinct.
Kaiden, there IS one bogus presupposition that the subliminal companies have gone unchallenged on through the years (correct me if I'm wrong) and that's this notion that since your conscious mind very often will reject contradictory input, then the ONLY way to receive new input and thus change behavior is to have the input coming into the subconscious FROM a subsconscious medium (i.e.subliminals). I have yet to see anyone challenge that notion and it IS bogus! If that was the case, then affirmation tapes could NEVER work and yet we know they do (even if sometimes slow). That there are FASTER ways to create positive change is one thing but the subliminal marketers make it all too often sound that the ONLY effective way to create change is to use subliminals. This notion is of course, patently false. My take is that there are SOME good, effective subliminal tapes out there. I KNOW this from both positive and negative experience. They DO have a place in self-improvement because they can be used where hypnotic tapes CAN'T (i.e. while driving, using machinery, etc.).
Btw, thanks for filling me in on the popcorn and coca-cola. Always good to keep abreast of things! I happened to be at Ft. Lee for training about 22 years ago. I wonder if the movie house I attended was the same one referred to! ;0))
