IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eco/journ3/2018-01-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can the Unconscious Mind be Persuaded? An Overview with Marketing Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Nittaya Wongtada

    (NIDA Business School, National Development Administration, 118 Seri Thai Road, Bangkapi, Bangkok 10240, Thailand.)

Abstract

Communicating directly with consumer’s unconscious thought is believed to enhance the effectiveness of marketing strategy. The current application of neuroscience in social science studies including marketing reinvigorates the interest in this topic. Thus, this article serves as an overview of the development of knowledge of unconscious communication and persuasion. Although there are some evidences to support the ability to communicate directly with unconscious thoughts and possibility to manipulate the processing of information by the unconscious mind by using subliminal cues, the reliability and validity of these findings are questionable. Inherited weaknesses in neuroscience tools, inappropriate research methodology, and alternative explanations of causal relations are among some threats to the value of current findings. Implications for marketing managers and academic researchers in this uncertain situation are also provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Nittaya Wongtada, 2018. "Can the Unconscious Mind be Persuaded? An Overview with Marketing Implications," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 8(1), pages 36-44.
    • Handle: RePEc:eco:journ3:2018-01-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/irmm/article/download/5782/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/irmm/article/view/5782/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roy F. Baumeister & Cory J. Clark & Jonghan Kim & Stephan Lau, 2017. "Consumers (and Consumer Researchers) Need Conscious Thinking in Addition to Unconscious Processes: A Call for Integrative Models, A Commentary on Williams and Poehlman," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(2), pages 252-257.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haase, Janina & Wiedmann, Klaus-Peter, 2020. "The implicit sensory association test (ISAT): A measurement approach for sensory perception," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 236-245.
    2. Yogesh K. Dwivedi & L. Hughes & Y. Wang & A.A. Alalwan & S.J. Ahn & J. Balakrishnan & S. Barta & R. Belk & D. Buhalis & Vincent Dutot & R. Felix & R. Filieri & C. Flavián & A. Gustafsson & C. Hinsch &, 2023. "Metaverse Marketing: How the Metaverse Will Shape the Future of Consumer Research and Practice," Post-Print hal-04292610, HAL.
    3. Wörfel, Philipp, 2021. "Unravelling the intellectual discourse of implicit consumer cognition: A bibliometric review," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Lopes, Evandro Luiz & Yunes, Lucas Zimbres & Bandeira de Lamônica Freire, Otávio & Herrero, Eliane & Contreras Pinochet, Luis Hernan, 2020. "The role of ethical problems related to a brand in the purchasing decision process: An analysis of the moderating effect of complexity of purchase and mediation of perceived social risk," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unconscious Thought; Neuroscience; Marketing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing
    • D87 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Neuroeconomics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eco:journ3:2018-01-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ilhan Ozturk (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econjournals.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.