[1] Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco email: romanssimo@gmail.com ORCID: 0000-0003-1501-7684
[2] Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco, ORCID: 0000-0001-9631-5602 badiaa.elharraki@gmail.com
Abstract
This article critically examines the phenomenon of subliminal affirmations by exploring their linguistic, psychological, and cultural implications within contemporary digital spaces. Subliminal affirmations, often used in self-help and personal transformation contexts, are framed as a tool for subconscious influence; hence, they promise rapid physical and mental changes. The analysis employs a Critical Discourse Analysis approach to investigate how these affirmations function within broader socio-cultural systems, particularly through the lens of neoliberal ideologies. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from linguistics, psychology, and media studies, this paper uncovers the mechanisms by which subliminal messaging promotes narrowly defined ideals of physical perfection, emotional resilience, and individual responsibility. By critically engaging with the content of subliminal messages, the study highlights how these affirmations serve as cultural artifacts that reflect and reinforce contemporary values around self-optimization and consumerism. The article also critiques the ethical implications of subliminal messaging, considering its potential to perpetuate unrealistic standards of beauty and success while tapping into deeper cultural anxieties surrounding identity, empowerment, and control. Through this analysis, the paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on the intersection of language, power, and digital media in shaping modern subjectivities.
Keywords: subliminal affirmations; Critical Discourse Analysis; neoliberal ideology; digital media; self-optimization; psychological influence
References
Adam, B. (1995). Timewatch: The Social Analysis of Time. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Adam, B. (1998). Timescapes of Modernity: The Environment and Invisible Hazards. London: Routledge.
Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (2002). Dialectic of Enlightenment. (E. Jephcott, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. (Original work published 1947)
Andrejevic, M. (2013). Infoglut: How Too Much Information Is Changing the Way We Think and Know. New York: Routledge.
Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Bargh, J. A. and Chartrand, T. L. (1999). “The unbearable automaticity of being.” American Psychologist, 54(7), 462-479.
Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. (A. Lavers, Trans.). New York: Hill and Wang. (Original work published 1957)
Bhabha, H. (1996). “Culture’s In-Between”. In: Hall, S. and du Gay, P. eds. Questions of Cultural Identity. London: Sage. Pp. 53-60.
Bornstein, R. F. and Pittman, T. S. (1992). Perception Without Awareness: Cognitive, Clinical, and Social Perspectives. New York: Guilford Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. (R. Nice, Trans.). Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and Symbolic Power. (G. Raymond and M. Adamson, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”. New York: Routledge.
Dijksterhuis, A. and van Knippenberg, A. (1998). “The relation between perception and behavior, or how to win a game of Trivial Pursuit.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(4), 865-877.
Djonov, E. and Knox, J. S. (2022). Critical Multimodal Studies of Popular Discourse. London: Routledge.
Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. New York: Viking.
Ehrenberg, A. (2010). The Weariness of the Self: Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Ehrenreich, B. (2009). Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. London: Longman.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge.
Fairclough, N. and Wodak, R. (1997). “Critical discourse analysis”. In: van Dijk, T. A. ed. Discourse as Social Interaction. London: Sage. Pp. 258-284.
Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. (A. Sheridan, Trans.). New York: Pantheon. (Original work published 1975)
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. (2nd ed., A. Sheridan, Trans.). New York: Vintage. (Original work published 1977)
Gill, R. (2007). Gender and the Media. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday.
Greenwald, A. G., Draine, S. C. and Abrams, R. L. (1996). “Three cognitive markers of unconscious semantic activation.” Science, 273(5282), 1699-1702.
Halperin, I., Chapman, D. W., Martin, D. T. and Abbiss, C. (2022). “The effects of attentional focus instructions on punching velocity and impact forces among trained combat athletes.” Journal of Sports Sciences, 40(1), 1-8.
Hancock, J. T., Naaman, M. and Levy, K. (2020). “AI-mediated communication: Definition, research agenda, and ethical considerations.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 25(1), 89-100.
Harris, J. L., Bargh, J. A. and Brownell, K. D. (2018). “Priming effects of television food advertising on eating behavior.” Health Psychology, 28(4), 404-413.
Illouz, E. (2007). Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke Uni- versity Press.
Jørgensen, M. W. and Phillips, L. J. (2002). Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. London: Sage.
Karremans, J. C., Stroebe, W. and Claus, J. (2006). “Beyond Vicary’s fantasies: The impact of subliminal priming and brand choice.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(6), 792-798.
KhosraviNik, M. (2017). “Social media critical discourse studies (SM-CDS)”. In: Flowerdew, J. and Rich- ardson, J. E. eds. The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies. London: Routledge. Pp. 582-596.
Kouider, S. and Dehaene, S. (2007). “Levels of processing during non-conscious perception: A critical review of visual masking.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 362(1481), 857-875.
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lazar, M. M. (2020). “Postfeminist digital discourses: How ‘empowering’ digital media participates in neoliberal governmentality.” Feminist Media Studies, 20(5), 669-686.
Lupton, D. (2012). Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease and the Body. (3rd ed.). London: Sage.
Pratkanis, A. R. (1992). “The cargo-cult science of subliminal persuasion.” Skeptical Inquirer, 16(3), 260-272.
Rockstar Affirmations. (2016). Perfect Male Body – I Get My Desired Body Effortlessly – Super-Charged Affirmations [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwnK7Hby5Us
Rose, N. (1999). Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self. (2nd ed.). London: Free Association Books.
Strahan, E. J., Spencer, S. J. and Zanna, M. P. (2002). “Subliminal priming and persuasion: Striking while the iron is hot.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(6), 556-568.
Terranova, T. (2004). Network Culture: Politics for the Information Age. London: Pluto Press.
van Dijk, T. A. (1998). Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: Sage.
van Dijk, T. A. (2006). “Discourse and manipulation.” Discourse & Society, 17(2), 359-383.
van Dijk, T. A. (2014). “Discourse and knowledge”. In: Gee, J. P. and Handford, M. eds. The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis. London: Routledge. Pp. 587-603.
van Dijk, T. A. (2015). “Critical discourse analysis”. In: Tannen, D. et al. eds. The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. (2nd ed.). Oxford: Wiley. Pp. 466-485.
van Dijk, T. A. (2021). “Platform discourse.” Discourse & Society, 32(2), 127-140.
Weinberger, J. and Westen, D. (2008). “RATS, we should have used Clinton: Subliminal priming in political campaigns.” Political Psychology, 29(5), 631-651.
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. eds. (2015). Methods of Critical Discourse Studies. (3rd ed.). London: Sage.
Wood, L. A. and Kroger, R. O. (2000). Doing Discourse Analysis: Methods for Studying Action in Talk and Text. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. New York: PublicAffairs.