Basics of hypnotism

I have been trying to study some of the basic concepts of hypnotism for a while. I thought that perhaps I could share some of these concepts with fellow ATSers. So here is my humble attempt in sharing some of this information. To start off, let us define the term hypnotism:

Hypnotism:

1. a trance like state that resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject
2. any of various conditions that resemble sleep

Source: www.merriam-webster.com...

Now we have often experienced various degrees of obstacles while persuading or negotiating with our friends, relatives or clients. We could make meticulous and savvy presentations with all the facts and figures, yet the client wouldn't come to an agreement. We could spend hours in cajoling our friends and yet they wouldn't agree to come for a vacation trip.

There is a reason for the examples that were stated above. Any decision making process of human beings is executed within the paradigm of conscious-subconscious framework. The conscious mind acts as the gatekeeper. All sensory information such as images, sound, touch, taste etc. is initially received by the conscious mind through the various sensory organs. The conscious mind then evaluates this information based on pre-established belief system. Accordingly, requests, persuasions or discussions are classified into rational and irrational categories. Hence, if we ask a stranger to act like Napoleon, then the stranger’s conscious mind and his/her belief system would evaluate our request. Then the stranger might immediately discard the request as absurd because the request doesn’t confirms to his/her preconceived notion of rational or irrational acts. However, the subconscious mind doesn’t categorize the incoming information as rational or irrational. The subconscious mind is only capable of receiving the information and act accordingly (and immediately).

Hence once our commands reach the subconscious of the subject, those commands will be obeyed and will be executed accordingly. But here is a tremendous challenge that must be surmounted. How can one transmit the information, requests, orders or commands directly to a subject’s subconscious without the subject’s conscious mind intervening and evaluating the incoming information? It is at this juncture where hypnotism comes handy.

So we don’t want the conscious mind of subject to intervene and evaluate our commands or requests. How can we achieve that? To do so, there are two possible ways. 1. Distract the conscious mind of the subject towards some other information. 2. Induce a trance like state in which the conscious mind remains in a subdued condition.

1. Distracting the conscious mind towards some other information:

The best example of this case is subliminal programming. The following video is only used for elucidating the mechanism of subliminal programming. Whether there was a technical goof up in the video or whether there was a deliberate trace of subliminal programming can only be speculated. In case of latter, the subtlety of subliminal programming used in the following video is subjective to individual interpretation.



While, we (and our conscious mind as well) are looking at the dazzling graphics and the big “Right Now” message at the center, a picture of McCain, placed at the top right corner, is also transmitted at the same instant. While our conscious senses was focused on the “Right Now” message at the center, the McCain image slid under the radar and was detected by the subconscious. In some songs or other videos, the subliminal conditioning is even more subtle and requires careful analysis to decipher the hidden message. Subliminal advertising also work in a similar way. Our conscious senses are distracted in a commercial while the actual message is transmitted in a subliminal fashion.

In this case, the distraction of conscious mind and the transmission of the hidden message take place simultaneously. The conscious mind focuses on one part of information and processes it while the hidden message slips into the subconscious undetected. Repeated implementation of this technique might be responsible for creating the “Brand Loyalty” that we often find associated with products like beverages or apparel.

2. Induce a trance like state in which the conscious mind remains in a subdued condition.

We might have experienced sometimes that whenever we travel or drive on a straight road with less scenic or monotonous surroundings (e.g. a desert), initially our conscious mind works actively in trying to process the visual information and the associated thoughts. However, after some time, our conscious mind gets tired with the monotony of the task at hand. The thoughts arrive in our conscious mind with lesser frequency, our eyelids become heavy and slowly we reach the verge of falling asleep. The gatekeeper in the form of conscious mind gets very tired. Meanwhile, the subconscious mind gets exposed to “suggestions”. In other words, we reach a trance like state.

The first stage of hypnosis is to induce such trance like conditions in the subject. There are various ways to induce such trance like conditions in subjects. Based on circumstances or situations, different techniques are used. One of the favorite techniques used by the politicians is the story telling method. We might have come across a speech template used by famous politicians that is somewhat similar to the one shown below:

Continued...

Continued from above...

1. As I stand here, I can see many men and women who want a bright future for this nation.
2. Our nation is currently facing many challenges in the form of economic and social trouble.
3. Our nation is at a historical crossroads.
4. But imagine that you are looking at a bright tomorrow. Imagine that you feel confident about the prospects of this nation. Imagine that you have to pay less tax….

And so on…

Here we can see that points 1, 2 and 3 are nothing but universal facts. These are not immediately verifiable facts but rather universal truth. Anyone would want a bright future; the nation always faces some form of economic and social challenges. The nation could be at historical crossroads. As the politician utters these “facts” one after the other during the speech, the conscious minds of the people in the audience verifies them one after the other. Obviously, these facts would confirm to the belief systems of most of these people. After some time, the conscious minds of the people in the audience let their guards down. Their condition becomes somewhat similar to a man traveling in an uninhabited desert and looking at the same environs or surroundings continuously. At this juncture, the politician uses point 4 and tells the audience to imagine certain things. The audience internalizes and visualizes as said. The above cycle is repeated throughout the speech and the audience slowly enters the state of trance. At that moment, the suggestions passed by the politician are received by the collective subconscious of the audience. By the time the speech is completed, the subconscious mind of the audience receives the intended message of the politician. Now if the politician has a very charming or a very attractive personality, then that acts as an added advantage. However, personality or eloquence is not a prerequisite for such techniques. Even in regular day to day conversations, with slight refinement of tonality of voice and the content of conversations, such methods could be applied. In case of telephonic conversations, the job is easier as the attention of the subject is already fixated on the telephone and the associated conversation. The essential stage in both regular and telephonic conversation is the induction of trance like state.

P.S: The above posts were based on my subjective learning of the topic at hand. If any poster would like to make any corrections or additions, he/she is most welcome.

Peace and Regards

Now this is one good demonstration of hypnotism

Derron Brown. does not get it right first time.

it takes him hours to get one shot of someone falling exatcly for what he sais/does.

Hypnotism does not have a decent effect in real life situations.

it's not likely to work on someone extremly angry.

"you dont want to shoot me"
"i dont want to shoot you"

"move along"
"moving along"

This is a very interesting subject. i would like to hear any more thoughts or input you have on the matter.

That second video of Darren Brown buying stuff with blank pieces of paper is not fake, and is not hypnosis. This is known as Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Some psychologists swear by it, most of them call it bunk. I don't know why they are so resistant to it, since it IS real and definitely works. Most likely because they don't want the SHEEPLE to know what is being done to them. This is more what you are talking about in political speeches, and also subliminal advertising.

I am in sales, and we use these tricks every day. I get people to give me fifty to a hundred thousand dollars on the spot after talking to them for only an hour, and I'm not in a store, they definitely didn't come in here to buy ANYTHING. I don't need to tell you exactly what we are doing here, because you could very well be my next victim. But, people come every day to get the free gifts they are promised for listening to the sales pitch. They always have in mind, we will listen to this guy but we are NOT BUYING ANYTHING. And in one hour, I twist their minds around until they are thanking me for taking their money.

I always open with a little diatribe about how I know they are not here to buy anything, and I'm not going to sell them anything. I then go on about how I'm just going to show them around so they can SEE WHAT THEY ARE BUYING TODAY, and then bring them to get the free gifts they were promised for coming today. Since most people are stupid and do not pay too much attention to anything, all they hear consciously is "Blah blah blah blah, FREE GIFTS," while the "what you are buying today," slips right into their subconscious. I am not making this up, this stuff totally works.

If you note in the video, the guy is telling them a story about taking the subway, which has nothing to do with anything, as he is handing them the blank pieces of paper. Right at the point of handing it to them he is relating how his friend told him the subway is good, saying, "It's ok, take it, take it," as he is handing them the paper. This is the NLP. I use this little trick every day, telling tales that have the words "take it" right as I am handing them a pen to sign the contract. Almost always they will take the pen and start signing papers without even thinking about it.

Look up Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP on youtube, there are lots of videos demonstrating it that will blow your mind.

Check this one out for starters. This is NOT FAKE. You chumps fall for it all the time without even knowing it. If this simple trick works, imagine what letting the TV drone into your brain for hours every day does to you, and especially what it does to the malleable minds of YOUR KIDS. Don't think everyone in the propaganda business (you call it entertainment) doesn't know about this stuff, they invented it.

KILL YOUR TELEVISION.

Watch this one and weep:

You will find that all members of secret societies are basic hypnotists.

They just try to hide it, but thats one of the things needed.

reply to post by andy1033


based on what?

or is that just something that you made up as fact.

reply to post by CaptChaos


@MR BOB and @CaptChaos

I agree that hypnosis is more difficult to implement in real life situations such as negotiating with a client for a sales deal. In case of the politicians giving speeches during election campaign, they make use of Ericksonian techniques of hypnosis. This technique is more overt and is suitable for occasions when there is a chance of unidirectional flow of conversation, for instance, an election speech where people hear to what the politician says.

In case of regular day to day conversations, overt techniques of hypnosis might not be that effective. Also, there is a constant exchange of ideas between two negotiating parties. Also, the objectives in such situations are less exotic, for e.g. finding a common ground and working on a mutually beneficial solution. In such situations, trance induction might be helpful to break the resistance (which in some cases is inexplicable or lacks logical ground) that is offered by the other party. Trance induction helps the person on the other side of the negotiating table to consider the various realms of mutually beneficial opportunities or ideas that exists. So we can say that it in regular situations, the objectives of hypnosis might get restricted to finding common ground for negotiations.

Peace

Ah ha, sounds like you are in sales yourself, eh? Very good. I will look into this Ericksonian technique. Thanks for the tip.

Hypnotism requires consent, at least some degree of willfullness, it's is too late for count Dracula to hypnotise the angry mob burning down his castle.

-v

[edit on 21-4-2010 by v01i0]

Bravo! FANTASTIC THREAD! I have always harnessed an intense interest in hypnosis, subliminal messaging, brainwash, human reasoning, etc...

I love reading this kind of stuff and in your research have you heard of anything called the Azrael block? (think I spelled that right) I have looked everywhere for something with a decent amount of information on that but I can't find diddly. Odd's are it could be fiction I suppose?

reply to post by Crossfate



I haven't come across the Azrael block, but I will dig deeper to find some information about it.