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Hypnosis acts, have you ever been involved?

MondoAtheist

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MondoAtheist
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
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190
A few years ago I was at a County Fair with my Sister's family. And I saw a hypnosis act, and I watched it, knowing it was fake. I'm pretty sure everyone in the audience believed it was fake, and just silly, as do the people in the act. But I always wondered if I were the one to be picked would I play along with the act, or would I spoil everyone's good fun and just stand there as if nothing were happening? Would I be boo'd for doing such a thing? Is it wrong to do this, would I feel sorry about it afterwards?

I'm very skeptical, and sometimes I believe my evil skeptical side would want to not play along to prove to anyone who believes in this that it, or at least the person wasn't a real hypnotist. I think because of this I would never want to be in the act. I believe I would be tempted, and I would ruin the poor guy/gal's act, and ruin the fun of everyone else involved in the act, as well as the audience.

Have you guys ever thought the same about this?
 
MondoAtheist said:
Have you guys ever thought the same about this?
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I've been to several... they all looked and acted very fake.

I did see several people just sitting/standing there.

Last one was Jay Medicine Hat. I will give Jay this... he didn't put up with any BS... one guy heckled and he was O. U. T. of the place... bouncers threw'em out. I wasn't complaining because the drinks were free.

At least one person I talk to afterward always states "of course it's real!" :rolleyes:
 
The only one I ever went to called about two dozen volunteers, including myself, to the stage and started his routine. He culled three quarters of them, including myself, before he started his "act". Apparently, stage hypnotists are good at recognizing who is suggestible.
 
But what would you guys do if you were up there? Would you spoil the fun, or play along and be a sport? I'm still trying to figure out which I would pick.
 
I think it's "real" in that some people are very suggestible, and the hypnotist usually tries to identify those people very quickly because they'll provide the most entertainment. When I was an undergrad at a very small college, one of the campus events included a hypnotist, and because of the nature of the school, I knew every one of the volunteers and was very close to a few of them. One of them later described it a just being in a dream state -- on some level, he knew things didn't make sense, but he just went with it. Another girl got a little out of control (falling off of her chair and so on; she was quickly taken off the stage), but I'd seen her act very similarly when she's drunk -- whether she was being overly theatrical in both instances or she really does get that uninhibited, I don't know.

But I did have one friend who "woke up" partway through, and another who wasn't under to begin with. They just played along with it and had fun (they were also theater majors and loved the opportunity for attention).
 
In the early 90's, while I was in the Navy, I visited a club next to the base, where a hypnotist was putting on a show. When he asked for volunteers, I accepted, as did two others. He went through his schpiel, wave hands a few times, told one guy to act like a puppy, the other to act like a kitty, and told me to act like a bird.

The other guys crawled around on all fours barking and mewing. I just stood there. He told me to act like a bird again. I said "No." After a few more attempts to "put me under," he gave up and went back to the others while his lovely assistant ushered me off stage. I went back to my seat, and watched the rest of the show.

The only feedback I got was from the club director, who accused me of trying to ruin the show, and from a security officer who wanted to know how I could resist being hypnotised.

I told them both it was all fake, that I never once believed otherwise, and that gullibility must be a key factor.

-Fnord of Dyscordia-
 
I've been in several, and it was real enough for me for 4 of them. The fifth one was by a really bad hypnotitst and I came out of it a couple times.

Being pretty sure that it is fake is pretty telling. I don't know how I am going to convince you about my experience, or what you mean by real. The guy who was really talented did a temperature swing, which got me both shivering and sweating within minutes. He also dropped aver $400 on the ground and told a volunteer that he could have it if he could pick it up. As the guy reached down he was told that it wieghed 2000 lbs. The hypnotist lost no money over 4 years of doing the act at my school.
 
Kage said:
I've been in several, and it was real enough for me for 4 of them. The fifth one was by a really bad hypnotitst and I came out of it a couple times.

Being pretty sure that it is fake is pretty telling. I don't know how I am going to convince you about my experience, or what you mean by real. The guy who was really talented did a temperature swing, which got me both shivering and sweating within minutes. He also dropped aver $400 on the ground and told a volunteer that he could have it if he could pick it up. As the guy reached down he was told that it wieghed 2000 lbs. The hypnotist lost no money over 4 years of doing the act at my school.
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Interesting. Well, I'm not going to say you're a liar. But I suppose me saying, "I just don't know if I can believe that, although I do believe you felt this" without me implying you're a liar. I don't think you're a liar. I'm sure what you described happened, I'm just not sure if it was a power of suggestion, and you wanting to believe this, or if this is legit stuff. I just don't know, from what I've seen, it would make more sense that this were to be false. If people like this existed, could they not just walk into banks and simply rob the place? Could they not go up to a person at an airport and get them to give him all their money? Could they not do many very bad, or very very good things with this power? Why would they use this power as an act at schools, and not use it for helping save lives from say "Jumpers?"

By Jumpers I mean, people who are trying to kill themselves by jumping off buildings of course. Could these people not become some of the best negotiators, or ambassadors this world has seen? once again, I believe you what you're saying is true that you experienced this, I just don't believe these people have the powers you're speaking of.
 
The hypnotist is not the one with the power. That comes from those volunteers who are willing to follow his directions, to believe the scenario that he presents. A hypnotist came to my college, and did a mass-hypnosis on the audience for whoever wanted to go along with it. I did it, knowing that I could stop at any time--and even did once, but started again. I didn't feel odd or different, I was in control even though I was obeying the hypnotist.

Being hypnotized is a freely made choice, it's not something that someone can do to another. It's something we do to ourselves.
 
MondoAtheist said:
I just don't believe these people have the powers you're speaking of.
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It appears as though you think of hypnotists more in the line of psychics who profess to have "powers," but they're really more in line with magicians, who've trained a skill to use for entertainment. I don't see you haranguing David Blaine for not using his levitation "powers" to save jumpers, either.
 
MondoAtheist said:
Interesting. Well, I'm not going to say you're a liar. But I suppose me saying, "I just don't know if I can believe that, although I do believe you felt this" without me implying you're a liar. I don't think you're a liar. I'm sure what you described happened, I'm just not sure if it was a power of suggestion, and you wanting to believe this, or if this is legit stuff. I just don't know, from what I've seen, it would make more sense that this were to be false. If people like this existed, could they not just walk into banks and simply rob the place? Could they not go up to a person at an airport and get them to give him all their money? Could they not do many very bad, or very very good things with this power? Why would they use this power as an act at schools, and not use it for helping save lives from say "Jumpers?"

By Jumpers I mean, people who are trying to kill themselves by jumping off buildings of course. Could these people not become some of the best negotiators, or ambassadors this world has seen? once again, I believe you what you're saying is true that you experienced this, I just don't believe these people have the powers you're speaking of.
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I totally understand that you are not swayed by what I am saying. I think that the issue here is that you are looking at a hypnosis show from the wrong direction. Hypnosis is a process, not an instant effect. By giving a group of people a series of tasks that progressively relax them, and require faster and faster compliance in order to perform the task correctly, while also screening out people who are not performing the tasks, a hypnotist selects a group of people who have been encouraged to follow his commands uncritically in an altered state. When you are on stage you are aware of what is going on, but respond on a sort of autopilot.

I'm not going to try to convince you that hypnosis is real by telling you stories, but I can perhaps related to everyday experiences that are somnambulism.

  1. Have you ever driven a long distance while listening to the radio or thinking, and realized that you haven't been paying attention to the road, yet still have avoided accidents?
  2. Have you ever zoned out and gone to the wrong place while driving?
  3. Have you ever watched tv or read a book and forgotten that you were watching tv or reading? Have you ever experienced sympathetic fear, like fear of hights when watching tv or reading?
  4. Have you ever had a waking dream, like the kind that are blamed for UFO obduction stories? (These are really scary---you cannot move and you think that people are out there and they want to hurt you).

All of these states are very simmilar, if not identical to hypnosis. Also to name a more authoritative person who experienced hypnosis on stage I would suggest that you read Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Fineman. Doing some research into false memory syndrome would also be a good course of research for someone who is skeptical of hypnosis.

As for the Bank thing, check out Derren Brown's The Heist, one and hypnotism and NLP are studied by some hostage negotiators. In one of Derren's shows, he gets a teller at a race track to pay out on losing tickets multiple times. The issue is rapport. A person has to like you and believe you to listen to you enough to become hypnotized. This is why people who think that it is bogus don't end up on stage. A good hypnotist would be able to hynotize you if you gave it a shot, but these are few and far between.
 
Silly Green Monkey said:
The hypnotist is not the one with the power. That comes from those volunteers who are willing to follow his directions, to believe the scenario that he presents. A hypnotist came to my college, and did a mass-hypnosis on the audience for whoever wanted to go along with it. I did it, knowing that I could stop at any time--and even did once, but started again. I didn't feel odd or different, I was in control even though I was obeying the hypnotist.

Being hypnotized is a freely made choice, it's not something that someone can do to another. It's something we do to ourselves.
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But I believe I mentioned I thought it was more a power of suggestion than anything else. And I didn't believe it was what I was describing in the rest of the post. And if it's controlled soley by the person, then why wouldn't that person pick up the $400 dollars or whatever the said number was by that hypnotist? If you were able to stop at anything, like you said, wouldn't you have gone for the money and said; "Later man, thanks for the dough." And walked off the stage? Why did these guys NOT do the same thing as you described you could do(free yourself) when the money was dropped in front of them?

Kage said:
  1. Have you ever driven a long distance while listening to the radio or thinking, and realized that you haven't been paying attention to the road, yet still have avoided accidents?
  2. Have you ever zoned out and gone to the wrong place while driving?
  3. Have you ever watched tv or read a book and forgotten that you were watching tv or reading? Have you ever experienced sympathetic fear, like fear of hights when watching tv or reading?
  4. Have you ever had a waking dream, like the kind that are blamed for UFO obduction stories? (These are really scary---you cannot move and you think that people are out there and they want to hurt you).
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1.No, I hardly drive and I've never experienced this driving or not driving.
2.No, Same as above.
3.
a.) Only when I'm tired.
b.) No, I'm only afraid of hair in food because I'm a weirdo.
4.No, only dreams caused by DMT while in REM. I wouldn't relate those to any hypnotist.

In the last part what you're discussing sounds a lot like Social Engineering. Kevin Mitchnick, also known as one of the most famous hackers/crackers in the world. Wrote a book titled; "The Art of Deception" which was all about social engineering. I'm also sure a well trained Confidence man could duplicate these results without using hypnosis.
 
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Forty-Two said:
It appears as though you think of hypnotists more in the line of psychics who profess to have "powers," but they're really more in line with magicians, who've trained a skill to use for entertainment. I don't see you haranguing David Blaine for not using his levitation "powers" to save jumpers, either.
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I don't believe you understand my point. I'm saying they don't have powers, it's all power of suggestion. Just like Faith healers. I'm not saying Hypnotism doesn't exist or work in some way. I just don't believe in works in the ways most people describe it to work. As not being able to control your body, when already, I've seen 2 people in here say the opposite and they said they were hypnotized just like the individual who said he was on 4 accounts, and an additional time but it did not work.
 
My understanding is that hypnosis is a matter of trusting the hypnotist enough to suspend one's own powers of discrimination and will. Some people can/will do that.

By contrast, I was at a stage hypnotism program once and went up on stage when the performer called for volunteers. He used a series of exercises to screen the volunteers for suggestibility and willingness to suspend disbelief (distrust?) Those who didn't meet his criteria didn't get to go through the act. I was one of them.

Yet another promising career (stage magician's assistant) nipped in the bud.
 
Kage said:
All of these states are very simmilar, if not identical to hypnosis. Also to name a more authoritative person who experienced hypnosis on stage I would suggest that you read Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Fineman. Doing some research into false memory syndrome would also be a good course of research for someone who is skeptical of hypnosis.
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/nitpick/ It's "Feynman". /end nitpick/
 
Hypnosis is just a word we use to mean 'the power of suggestion' under certain social circumstances. I find it an interesting subject; A sort of pulling onesself up by the bootstraps mentally.

I'd say that the big myth, perpetuated mostly by hypnotists themselves, is that a person is either A) in a trance, or B) not in a trance. There are several factors that can increase the power of suggestion. One would be willingness to cooperate. We'd also have: the subjects perceived power of suggestion, perceived authority of the suggester, any group dynamics, relaxedness of the subject, and the level of dissociation of the subject. These factors can all feed on one another, loop back upon one another.

Trance is just dissociation. All of us are in a varying state of dissociation every day, and some people are more dissociative than others. There is some sort of questionnaire you can take to determine your rating on a dissociative scale. The higher your rating, in general, the higher your suggestibility, your hypnotizibility. This type of person, the highly dissociative, probably has a more vivid imagination and would become more engrossed in movies than others. I think I would rate moderately high on this scale, and I find it curious that people are so against hypnosis - to be hypnotized shows you are weak! Control freaks, I say. :) I suppose dissociative people could risk being deceived more easily than others, true. However, if you understand suggestion, and learn how to use it for yourself and your benefit, then being hypnotizable is a big plus.

Hypnosis is a cooperative game, to some extent. In Feynman's story, however, he tried to willfully reject being hypnotized, but found he could not fully. Suggestion, especially when heightened through dissociation, is very powerful. I think it's best to understand and respect these...forces, for lack of a better word. Use them as best we can for mental health, and whatever other positive ends we can. Also, don't make people ill with them, as with False Memory Syndrome and (imo) Multiple Personality Disorder. Respect autonomy.

Please excuse the midnight rambler,
the one you never seen befo.

`porch
 
porch said:
Hypnosis is just a word we use to mean 'the power of suggestion' under certain social circumstances. I find it an interesting subject; A sort of pulling onesself up by the bootstraps mentally.

I'd say that the big myth, perpetuated mostly by hypnotists themselves, is that a person is either A) in a trance, or B) not in a trance. There are several factors that can increase the power of suggestion. One would be willingness to cooperate. We'd also have: the subjects perceived power of suggestion, perceived authority of the suggester, any group dynamics, relaxedness of the subject, and the level of dissociation of the subject. These factors can all feed on one another, loop back upon one another.

Trance is just dissociation. All of us are in a varying state of dissociation every day, and some people are more dissociative than others. There is some sort of questionnaire you can take to determine your rating on a dissociative scale. The higher your rating, in general, the higher your suggestibility, your hypnotizibility. This type of person, the highly dissociative, probably has a more vivid imagination and would become more engrossed in movies than others. I think I would rate moderately high on this scale, and I find it curious that people are so against hypnosis - to be hypnotized shows you are weak! Control freaks, I say. :) I suppose dissociative people could risk being deceived more easily than others, true. However, if you understand suggestion, and learn how to use it for yourself and your benefit, then being hypnotizable is a big plus.

Hypnosis is a cooperative game, to some extent. In Feynman's story, however, he tried to willfully reject being hypnotized, but found he could not fully. Suggestion, especially when heightened through dissociation, is very powerful. I think it's best to understand and respect these...forces, for lack of a better word. Use them as best we can for mental health, and whatever other positive ends we can. Also, don't make people ill with them, as with False Memory Syndrome and (imo) Multiple Personality Disorder. Respect autonomy.

Please excuse the midnight rambler,
the one you never seen befo.

`porch
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…Which was performed in front of an audience, so lots of other known psychological factors involved.

Interesting to hear some accounts of people who’ve been hypnotized on stage though.

I believe a lot of hypnosis is allowing our internal representations of the world have higher significance than they usually do. Some people are better at this than others, as with most things in life.

If you don’t feel comfortable with the person giving the suggestion or the suggestion itself then you’re unlikely to accept it. So “Go to the vault and get me $1000000” to a bank teller is unlikely to have the desired effect. That’s not to say we can’t be fooled. We tend to see what we think we’re going to see. If we agree to not, or are distracted so we cannot put in the effort to correct a difference between what out senses are telling us and what we think our senses are telling us, then we go with the internal representation.

The jury’s still out if hypnosis is an altered state, though some interesting studies using brain imaging have show different parts of the brain being used when hallucinating in a hypnotic “state” compared with imagining the same stimulus.
 
Kage said:
IAll of these states are very simmilar, if not identical to hypnosis. Also to name a more authoritative person who experienced hypnosis on stage I would suggest that you read Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Fineman. Doing some research into false memory syndrome would also be a good course of research for someone who is skeptical of hypnosis.
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Before you invoke Feynman as an authority there are a couple of points you should remember. First of all, he was a physicist, and therefore no more qualified to know anything about hypnosis than some random off the street. Secondly, he said that he chose to go along with the hypnotist for the show but was not in any special state and could have stopped any time he wanted to, he simply didn't want to spoil it for others.
 
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