Abstract: Subliminal persuasion refers to the use of subliminally presented stimuli, or messages presented to individuals beneath their level of conscious awareness, that are intended to influence their viewpoints, attitudes, or actions. Existing studies investigated the effect of subliminal persuasion from different perspectives, and resulted in a considerable controversy over whether subliminal persuasion actually works. The reasons of the controversy may lie in awareness, subliminal semantic activation, motivation and habit. Recent studies focus on exploring the key role which current motivation plays in this domain. For future studies, methods of promoting semantic activation and causing motivation should be improved, and the diversity of motivation categories should be mentioned. What’s more, the organic variable should be paid attention to, so as to explore new mechanisms.

Key words: subliminal persuasion, awareness, subliminal semantic activation, motivation, habit