Q. Is hypnosis a marvelous psychological tool or mere fakery?
A: Experts can't even agree if it's a bonafide altered state of consciousness or just a mood of relaxed suggestibility with subjects unconsciously playing along so as not to "spoil the act," says Dennis Coon in "Introduction to Psychology: Exploration and Application."
Some 80% of people can "go under," but only half of these are "good hypnotic subjects," who can fantasize readily and focus attention inward. Subjects may report feelings of floating, sinking, separation from the body. Actions seem automatic, as if happening without effort.
Hypnotic fakery may be found on stage but hypnosis is real, useful clinically for relaxation and to relieve pain, common in dentistry or for easing childbirth. A hallmark of hypnosis is the altering of sensory experience. "Given the proper instructions, a person can be made to smell a small bottle of ammonia and respond as if it were a wonderful perfume," says Coon.
Especially bizarre is the "hidden observer": When subjects are directed to stick an arm into normally painful icy water, most will say they feel no pain. But if asked whether "some part of them" is feeling the pain, many say "Stop it! You're hurting me," as if split into separate selves.
An easy test--from the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale--is to stand with eyes closed while someone tells you you're starting to sway. If in fact you do sway, you're very hypnotizable.
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