A brief exposure to the image of Israel's flag – so fleeting that people did not even have time to take it in – was enough to cause people to embrace more modest views. Another experiment, carried out weeks before the Israelis pulled out from Gaza, produced the same results and displayed centrist views with respect to the retraction and the presence of Jewish settlers in Gaza and the West Bank.
The third experiment, conducted just before the country's most recent general elections, demonstrated the same results. The subliminal image of Israel's national symbol – the flag – attracted left wing, as well as right wing, Israelis to the political hub. Significantly, the participants who were subconsciously exposed to the national flag stated that they meant to opt for more predominant parties than those who were not intentionally exposed to the subliminal image.
The research proponents then summoned the participants after the general elections and discovered that the subliminally exposed group actually voted more moderately. The subliminal exposure to the national flag demonstrated what appears to be an astonishing effect that is yet to be probed and analayzed.
According to Dr. Hassin, the outcomes were interesting for two basic reasons. First, the results provided reliable empirical proof for the non-conscious means in which national ideas ingeniously affect a person's behaviors and thoughts. Dr. Hassin's research team is now expanding the study to investigate what other dogmas can do so, as well as the ways they are expressed.
Secondly, the outcomes considerably extend the experimental knowledge with regard to the nature of the subconscious processes, as well as the influences of subliminal message. At present, Dr. Hassin and his team are exploring the psychological mechanisms that cause this phenomenon.