Who’s minding the mind?

Psychologists say “priming” people this way is not some form of hypnotism; rather, it’s a demonstration of how everyday sights, smells and sounds can selectively activate goals or motives.

More fundamentally, the new studies reveal a subconscious brain that is far more active, purposeful and independent than previously known. Goals, whether to eat, mate or devour a latte, are like neural software programmes that can only be run one at a time, and the unconscious is perfectly capable of running the programme it chooses.

The give and take between these unconscious choices and our rational, conscious aims can help explain some of the more mystifying realities of behavior, like how we can be generous one moment and petty the next, or act rudely at a dinner party when convinced we are emanating charm.

“When it comes to our behavior from moment to moment, the big question is, ‘What to do next?’ ” said John A Bargh, a professor of psychology at Yale and a co-author, with Lawrence Williams, of the coffee study. “We’re finding that we have these unconscious behavioral guidance systems that are continually furnishing suggestions about what to do next and the brain is often acting on those.”

Priming the Unconscious

The idea of subliminal influence has a mixed reputation among scientists because of a history of apparent fraud. In 1957, an ad man named James Vicary claimed to have increased sales of Coca-Cola and popcorn at a movie theater by secretly flashing the words “Eat popcorn” and “Drink Coke” during the film, too quickly to be consciously noticed. In a 1962 interview, Vicary acknowledged that he had trumped up the findings to gain attention for his business. Later studies of products promising subliminal improvement, for memory and self-esteem, found no effect.

Some scientists also caution against overstating the implications of the latest research on priming unconscious goals. Yet most in the field now agree that the evidence for psychological hot-wiring has become overwhelming.

In one 2004 experiment, psychologists at Stanford University had students take part in an investment game. Half played sitting at a large table, at the other end of which was a briefcase. These students were found to be far stingier with money than those who played in an identical room with a backpack on the table.

In a 2005 experiment, Dutch psychologists had undergraduates fill out a questionnaire. Hidden in the room was a bucket of water with a splash of citrus-scented cleaning fluid. Later, they were given a snack, a crumbly biscuit. The researchers found these students cleared away crumbs three times more often than a comparison group who had taken the same questionnaire in a room with no cleaning scent. “That is a very big effect and they really had no idea they were doing it,” said Henk Aarts, a psychologist at Utrecht University and the senior author of the study.

The Same Brain Circuits

The real-world evidence for these unconscious effects is clear to anyone who has ever run out to the car to avoid the rain and ended up driving too fast, or rushed off to pick up dry cleaning and returned with wine and cigarettes, but no clothes.

The brain appears to use the very same neural circuits to execute an unconscious act as it does a conscious one.

In a study that appeared in Science in May, a team of English and French neuroscientists found that such decisions activate an area called the ventral pallidum, in what used to be called the reptilian brain, well below the conscious areas of the brain. The results suggest a “bottom-up” decision-making process, in which the ventral pallidum is part of a circuit that first weighs the reward and decides, then interacts with the higher-level, conscious regions later, if at all. This bottom-up order makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. The subcortical areas of the brain evolved first and would have had to help individuals fight, flee and scavenge well before conscious, distinctly human layers were added later in evolutionary history. In this sense, unconscious goals can be seen as open-ended, adaptive agents acting on behalf of the broad, genetically encoded automatic survival systems.

In several studies, researchers have also shown that, once covertly activated, an unconscious goal persists with the same determination that is evident in our conscious pursuits. This may help explain how someone can show up at a party in good spirits and then for some unknown reason — the host’s loafers? the family portrait on the wall? some political comment? — turn a little sour, without realising the change until later, when a friend remarks on it. “I was rude? Really? When?”

“Sometimes nonconscious effects can be bigger in sheer magnitude than conscious ones,” said Mark Schaller, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. “Because we can’t moderate stuff we don’t have conscious access to, and the goal stays active.” Until it is satisfied, that is. In a 2006 study, researchers had undergraduates recall an unethical deed from their past. Afterward, the students had their choice of a gift, an antiseptic wipe or a pencil. Those who recalled bad behavior were twice as likely as others to take the wipe.