UNCONSCIOUS VISUAL PERCEPTION IN THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS

In this paper the authors deal with the idea of the influence of subliminal perception in the process of decision making. They present the results of two experimental studies performed on the sample of university students. The objective of the research was to investigate whether the subliminal presentation of stimuli can influence preferences for the object under consideration and its subsequent evaluation. This was followed by an assessment in 2 experimental conditions in each experimental research study (1st with an object and 2nd with an object associated with a positive facial expression). The results of the experimental studies showed neither change in preferences nor change of evaluation of subliminally presented stimuli, in either of the experimental conditions. According to our results, unconscious perception does not affect the decision making process and, specifically, does not have any effects on the selection of subliminally presented stimuli from several options and on its subsequent evaluation.