How “Suggestion” Works
Ever since the Victorian era, audiences have been astounded by showmen who have reduced respectable men and women into infants and chickens by the snap of his fingers or the ticking of his pocket watch. These acts of hypnosis are mostly fake, employing sleight of hand, social compliance, or simple bribery. Nevertheless, they have inspired a plethora of fictional concepts such as Merritt McKinney, the Ludovico Technique, and Kotoamatsukami, along with generations of academics to look into the power of suggestion. But what exactly is “suggestion”? And how does it affect us?
The Father of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, divided the mind into the conscious mind (or the “ego”) and the unconscious mind, further divided into the “id” (instincts) and the “super-ego” (conscience). The id supplies the instinctual needs one desires, the super-ego plays a hyper-critical and moralizing role in regards to those needs, and the ego plays the mediator that reconciles those two aspects. Though the ego ultimately decides what actions one takes, it is the unconscious that supplies the ideas and the options. The more powerful the idea or the more susceptible the person, the more likely that idea is to be acted upon. Therein lies the purpose of suggestion.
Suggestion is the psychological process by which one person guides the thoughts, feelings, and/or behavior of another person. This is done by implanting ideas in the unconscious mind, overriding one’s own judgement. An exaggeration of this concept is the core of the science-fiction movie Inception, where a team of thieves who steal information from a target’s mind is commissioned to instead implant an idea into a person’s subconscious.
Émile Coué, a French pharmacist and psychologist, approached therapeutic suggestion based on four non-controversial principles:
(1) suggestion can produce somatic phenomena;
(2) specific suggestions generate specific somatic outcomes;
(3) suggestions are just as efficacious in the treatment of physical or organic conditions as they are for functional or emotional conditions; and
(4) a successful suggestion-based intervention for a physical condition does not indicate that the original complaint was in any way imaginary.
Though “suggestion” can certainly seem very sinister, it’s actually much more common than you think. Imagine yourself walking down the street. It’s half past one and you haven’t eaten. There, on the side of the street, stands a red building emblazoned in a yellow double-arc resembling an “M”. On the doors and the windows are pictures of hungry people such as yourself, hungrily consuming the crispiest fried chicken, the juiciest burgers, the sweetest drinks. Are these pictures accurate? Probably not. Are you going inside and ordering the whole menu? Yes, don’t lie to yourself. A powerful idea playing to an instinctual desire given to a mind in a susceptible state creates action, hence “suggestion”.
But you’re not hypnotized to go to McDonald’s (hopefully, at least). So what does hypnosis have to do with it?
Though there are competing theories on what hypnosis actually is, be it an altered state of mind, a type of placebo, or a form of imaginative “role enactment”, it’s commonly agreed that the condition of hypnosis involves focused attention and concentration, reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. The condition itself usually manifests upon “hypnotic induction”, which itself is a form of suggestion. In essence, the hypnotist suggests you into a state where you are more likely to respond to suggestion. If you actively resist the suggestion, you cannot be hypnotized. In addition, someone cannot be hypnotized into doing something that goes completely against their id, such as suicide going against the human instinct to survive, a fact that is accurately displayed in the Doctor Who episode “the Christmas Invasion”, where the Doctor releases billions of people from hypnosis by ordering them to jump off the nearest building.
So theoretically, it is entirely possible to hypnotize random people on the street into believing they’re chickens. But there isn’t a band of hypnotists going around and turning countries into poultry farms, so what’s the point?
As we’ve discussed before, “suggestion” takes many forms. From advertisements to propaganda, humanity has perfected that particular art. From word choice and rhyming to picture placement and even the psychology of color, we have been able to distill “suggestion” into a science.
Let’s take two of the most popular fast-food brands, KFC and our good old friend McDonald’s, along with some others. We’ve discussed before how advertisement could serve to entice someone to purchase their product, but there’s something else at play in regards to these brands’ effectiveness. Have you ever noticed how “red” their logos are? If you haven’t really thought of it that much, then you‘re a victim of suggestion. Why? Because according to studies, the color red increases appetite and hunger, which, needless to say, is what a business wants for a fast-food restaurant. And this extends to much more than just food. Everything from beauty products and clothes to houses to movies to phones to even services such as delivery and transport are all shot, packaged, or described in a way that makes them just the right thing for you to have right now. And that brings us to the final topic: propaganda.
How does suggestion influence propaganda? It may very well be the basis.
Propaganda is a form of communication that influences an audience to further an idea or, more accurately, an agenda. One could make the argument that the purpose of propaganda is to “sell” an idea, which makes it no different from an ad. Suggestion in regards to propaganda takes two forms. The essential one is long-term suggestion, implanting the idea that the propagandist, be they person or party, is always right. This leads a populace to accept any changes enacted by the propagandist, which leads to form two: making broad statements such as “this is good” in regards to a new idea that appeals to an audience’s id so that they may accept it as “good” without actually describing the details and consequences, even if it goes against all logical reason or critical thinking.
Striking imagery such as “Triumph of the Will” may be easily discernible in hindsight and with context as propaganda, but what about now? We no longer see videos of goose-stepping soldiers and proud flags waving in a field of defeated enemies, but does that mean propaganda just doesn’t exist anymore? The next time you watch the news, try and see if journalists, the people who report on the news “as is”, try and paint a picture outside of the context of events.
In the end, no matter how powerful the idea, it is us that act upon it. So listen well the next time someone tries to sell you an idea, lest you become another chicken.