[Dfran]

You're more likely to find articles, books, thesis, etc. that are about 'perception', "perception management" and how that works. Under that subject and the subject of group psychology (thats whole family of studies) is where you'll find references to the link between symbolism and the subconscious laid out. Advertising is another source.

You are probably familiar with subliminal suggestion, hidden images, that sort of thing. For instance I believe you probably know that back when whiskey was advertised a lot, and there was the ubiquitous picture of a glass with Scotch on the rocks - whatever, they used to put faces in the ice, dark images, specters. The thinking was that subconsciously men associate drinking with death, sin, darkness, evil, etc.

You'd think it would have the opposite effect, but it didn't, focus group studies were said to have revealed that the group shown death faces responded more positively to the ad than the group shown ice with happy images superimposed. The abstract of this sort of psychological literature, regarding the effect of symbols on the mind, is what I think of as symbolic psychology.

Everyone is familiar with the ink blotter tests. Have you ever been exposed to the solutions? Have you been shown the association between all the typical interpretations with regard to their meaning? That's very interesting, and very supportive of the hypothesis that most people 'read' some deeper meaning into all effective use of symbols than you'd think at first glance. Greek letter fraternities are a prime example. Why not Arabic, or Latin, or ancient Egyptian? None of those carry the same meaning symbolically.

If you know fraternal history then you're aware of the Masonic influence, Masons know the power of symbols. Pick up a copy "Freemasonry and It's Symbols." Check it out.

I will be happy to answer any questions about the world’s oldest and largest fraternity as well. I isn't a 'secret society.' It's not Skull and Bones. There are about quarter million texts on Masonic philosophy, jurisprudence, history, etc. If you’re interested in origin the place to start is “Born in Blood” by Robinson.