Memories of mother, complementarity and shame: predicting response to subliminal stimulation with "Mommy and I are one".
A poorly understood finding with potentially wide-ranging implications is that subliminal stimulation with "Mommy and I are one" affects behavior. In this study (n= 62), "Mommy and I are one" lowered implicit mood (p= 0.0015) in comparison with a neutral stimulus ("People are walking"). The effect was most pronounced in shame-prone participants with less positive memories of their mother, and low self-mother complementarity (interaction p= 0.0044). Effects of a potentially shame-inducing stimulus ("I am completely isolated") were not significant (ps > 0.11). The results concerning less positive memories of mother replicate previous findings. We suggest that activation of unconscious associative networks explains the data. Though more research is needed, the cognitive content of these networks may involve representations of self-with-mother; for some, the affective content could involve shame.
Sohlberg
Staffan
S
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Sweden. Steffan.Sohlberg@psyk.uu.se
Claesson
Katja
K
Birgegard
Andreas
A
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers; D009769:Object Attachment; D012752:Shame; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation