Stage Hypnotism

[blike]

I went to a stage hypnotism show today which was very entertaining. I'd like some opinions on whether what is taking place is (a) real (b) moral © looked down upon by the psychology profession...

[Glider]

a) Debatable. What happens is undoubtedly real, but as to how or why, there are several schools of thought on the matter. They range from: People act the way they do under stage hypnotism because they have been given 'implicit permission' to do so, and are under pressure to conform to the wishes of the 'hypnotist' by the presence of an expectant crowd. To: Hypnotism induces fundamental changes in the way information is processed so the participant has no choice, and in some cases, depending upon the susceptibility of the individual, these changes may be persistant and have lasting and deletirious effects, which may not necessarily be directly related to the process of hypnotism itself.

 

b) Not really, for a number of reasons. Not least of which is that as the underlying mechanisms of hypnotism are so poorly understood (particularly by 'stage' hypnotists, who are rarely at the forefront of research on the subject), the ethics of inflicting it on people simply for the entertainment of others is dubious. The situation boils down to people doing something they don't really understand to other people (and which may, in some cases, have lasting effects), to make a lot of other people laugh.

 

c) Not so much looked down upon, as 'observed with deep suspicion'.

[blike]

At first it appeared somewhat fake to me. After talking to the people on stage for around 10 minutes he eliminated some people. Then, he basically told them to 'sleep' and they all almost instantly slumped over. But I began to notice little things about people that indicated that perhaps something was really happening, and that they weren't just performing.

 

For example, two people hit heads really, really hard when he put them to sleep. Neither of them flinched or gave any indication that they felt it. In fact, they hit heads again next time. I would assume that if they were faking it, both of them would take steps to ensure that their heads did not collide again.

 

The transformation of people's mentality seemed to change completely. One guy he pulled on stage was extremely shy and obviously a little embarassed to be up there. An hour later he thought he was the star in a river-dance performance. He was alone on stage, awkwardly dancing his heart out. It just seemed that he had almost a complete lack of inhibition. He was also dead serious about his performance.

 

Some of the things that happened were hilarious, but the people who were on stage rarely laughed as long as they were involved in the scene. They didn't even smile.

 

There were around 15 people on stage and often times he would single out people to do something. Sometimes though, a person sitting 10 chairs away would start performing even though the hypnotist was talking to someone else. I figured that if they were faking, they would have known that they were not supposed to perform at that time.

 

The way he chose people to go on stage was to toss a ball back over his head into the audience. Whoever caught it could go on stage unless they didn't want to. That person would then toss the ball back over their head and the next person who caught it could go on stage. This continued until he had 15 people. It was obviously random and so no preparation beforehand went on.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Hypnotism isn't saying "All right, you're asleep now." You have to do plenty of stuff before they are actually under hypnosis. Under hypnosis you also don't have to do anything you don't want to do. You can't make someone suddenly go around pretending to be Aristotle unless he wants to, or tell him to kill someone. Mainly it lowers their inhibition and makes them vulnerable to suggestion. You can hand them a glass of water and say "This is a glass filled with pure lemon juice, but you have to drink it" and they will act like it's lemon juice, even though it's just water.

[blike]

Hypnotism isn't saying "All right, you're asleep now."

 

Hence the 10 minute prep talk involving lots of hypnotic suggestions.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Plus you don't actually go to sleep. Your eyes stay open. You are just really really relaxed.

 

Edit: Let's clarify: When people go into hypnosis they do not just "fall asleep" or slump over. That's not hypnosis. Their eyes stay open and whatnot. It's just that now they are a lot less aware of what is going on around them and whatever you say, they tend to believe. You don't just say "All right, now do the Irish Jig." No, you have to say "You're in Ireland in a pub, and everyone gets up and starts dancing..." etc. etc. If the subject doesn't like dancing, you can't force him, unless you do something like "A beautiful woman appears next to you and says, 'Would you like to dance?'" to get them to want to. Basically you spoof their senses and make them think it's all real. However, they will not really interact as much with their environment. Tell them that they're on a beach and they're in a swimsuit, and you'd think they'd jump in the water, but really, they won't. That's not how it works.

[Sayonara]

See post #5, and consider that Blike's post is not supposed to be a blow-by-blow account of what actually happened.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

That's why I'd like him to give more detail so I can figure it all out.

[LucidDreamer]

I think there are three factors involved when someone in hypnotized. The first factor is the hypnotic state that is created. The hypnotic state is similar to the state brought on with meditation. If you hook up an EEG to someone's brain while they are in this pseudo-somber state you see lots of alpha waves. Alpha waves are associated with a very calm state where both suggestibility and memory retention are increased. I think if you go really deep into a hypnotic state then your conscious mind is somewhat suppressed and your subconscious mind takes some of the control. Your subconscious mind is less inhibited, more suggestible, less rational than your conscious state. Another name for the hypnotic state is the trance state. The hypnotic or trance state is not always associated with a pseudo-sleep state, but it is always associated with an "alternate" form of consciousness.

 

The second factor is the power of belief. In order to be hypnotized you must agree to the procedure. In order for you to enter a state of hypnosis you must be comfortable and trust the hypnotist. You don't necessarily have to believe in hypnosis to be hypnotized, but how effective the message is in changing your behavior is dependent on belief. Later on a decision on whether or not you smoke after a hypnotherapy session will depend on how much you believe it has effected your behavior. Belief also affects how deeply you let yourself go into a hypnotic state and what you are willing to do while you are hypnotized.

 

The third factor is authority. Authority comes into play when you are forming your beliefs about hypnosis. If you feel that the hypnotist is a scam-artist you are less likely to allow him to hypnotize you. The hypnotherapy is also less likely to be a success if you doubt his competence. However, if you do trust your hypnotherapist the effects of your hypnotherapy are much more likely to be a success. You have read about hypnosis and believe it works. You have scheduled an appointment with a real professional. In this case authority is likely to be a strong contributing factor when it comes to how deep you go into a hypnotic state and how much it is a success afterwards.

 

I think all of these things come into play for stage hypnosis. Some people strongly believe in hypnosis and actually enter a trance state on stage. This is similar to the trance state you might observe at a very charismatic church where people are falling down and shaking. They have entered a trance state and with the help of strong beliefs and the authority of the preacher they will do some strange things. The power of authority also plays a factor in stage hypnosis. In this case there is a hypnotist and whole audience that wants you to act a certain way. This power of authority is very strong. The 3 factors affect the participants on stage differently. Some are actually in a trance state and some do not enter a hypnotic or trance state because they don't want to or because they are nervous. But just because they don't enter a trance state does not mean that won't act foolishly. The force of the hypnotist and the audience is enough to make them comply and if they wont' then the hypnotist will weed them out early in the selection process.

 

a) Yes and no

b) If people want to get on stage and make fools of themselves then let them. So yes, in my opinion, it’s moral

c) I doubt most psychologists who practice hypnotherapy think highly of stage hypnosis, but I haven’t talked to many of them.