Changing the perception of behavioral properties by subliminal presentation

Profiles designed by Pittenger and Shaw were used in a tachistoscopic experiment. Subjects were asked to make estimates of age of a profile of a 10-yr.-old boy preceded subliminally by an older (old group) or younger (young group) profile or by a blank card (control group). Results show the mean estimate of the young group to be significantly smaller than that of the control group. The mean estimate of the old group was not significantly greater than that of the control group. The results are discussed in the framework of the debate on direct versus indirect perception. Marcel's 1983 data and the present results indicate that higher level perceptual processing (the perception of behavioral properties) can precede lower level perceptual processing (the perception of physical properties). By assuming that people do perceive directly the behavioral properties of an event, the direct approach avoids the danger of putting too much emphasis on intelligence in perception and at the same time avoids the homunculus trap.