Subliminal Messages Motivate People To Actually Do Things They Already Wanted To Do

To get people to behave in a certain way, the idea for such behaviour must first be planted in their minds. Once the idea has been planted in your mind (so-called ‘priming') then either a lack of something (deprivation) or a positive association with a certain action can ensure that you are actually motivated to carry out that action

results of the experiments showed that motivation for carrying out certain actions (such as drinking) occurs when the action matches an existing deprivation or has a positive association

These two motivational states both independently indicate that carrying out a certain action is worth striving for

motivational worth; if an object is relevant for attaining your goals then you will perceive it to be bigger than it actually is. In one of Veltkamp's experiments, glasses of water were estimated to be bigger, if the participants had not had a drink for some time