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UNDER THE MICROSCOPE:Non-conscious influences have more of an effect on our behaviour than we like to think, writes WilliamReville. 

YOU GO TO the box office to buy tickets and you are confronted by a long queue. You decide to jump the queue and go directly to the box office window. Which of these excuses do you think would go down best with the queue: "I'm in an awful rush" or "I need to buy tickets". Surprisingly the second excuse, even though it is nonsensical, works as well as the first. Both excuses have the same basic "form", each causing people to mindlessly perform apparently thoughtful actions (in this case, giving way at the queue). Non-conscious influences have a huge effect on our behaviour and our conscious minds do not exert the powerful control we think they do. The underpinning research is described by Christian Jarrett in The Psychologist, April 2008.