Hypnotic messages all around us
Hypnosis may seem exotic, but you’re likely more familiar with hypnotic principles than you think
When people think of hypnosis, they often think of it as something exotic, rare and sensational. But the reality is that our daily lives are inundated with hypnotic messages. They are all around us, all the time. You might be shocked at who is using hypnotic techniques to try to influence your decisions and your opinions. From television to radio, from politicians to preachers, hypnosis is in near-constant use, if you learn to recognize it.
When most people think of “covert” attempts to influence people, they think of subliminal messages. This article in Psychologistworld.com examines subliminal advertising, and includes this quote from Philip Merikle, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo: “Over the years there have been literally hundreds of studies…these studies show that considerable information capable of informing decisions and guiding actions is perceived even when observers do not experience any awareness of perceiving.”
Interesting side note: director William Friedkin famously experimented with subliminals when he made The Exorcist, including adding sounds of angry bees in a background track on the soundtrack and a brief image of a demonic human face inserted in the film. There’s more and it can be easily researched with a simple Google search.
Friedkin’s goal was to frighten and unsettle the audience, but more commonly, covert hypnosis is used to persuade and influence buying decisions. This covert hypnosis falls more into the realm of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), in which specialized language patterns are used to create stealthy suggestions to influence consumers. Some advertisers cleverly blur the line between the homonyms “buy” and “by” so that “By now…” becomes “Buy now…” to the consumer’s subconscious mind.
Ever wonder about those fast-food commercials on late-night television? The advertisers know that as people fall asleep they briefly become more suggestible, so they run the commercials late at night in hopes you will be nodding off, and then influenced to get a Whopper or Whataburger the next day, thinking it was your own decision!
Politicians, attorneys, public speakers and preachers use hypnotic pauses in their speeches to create what is called “response attentiveness,” so that you pay closer attention without realizing it, and they also pitch their voices like a hypnotist would.
All of this is designed so that your decisions are influenced in some way desirable to those creating the message, while it feels like you are making an objective, independent decision of your own.
It’s pretty sneaky, but it’s also something you can learn more about, and perhaps even use to influence those around you.
Originally published at greaterhoustonhypnosis.com on November 6, 2018.
