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Hypnosis, The Power of Suggestion & the Media
Hypnosis, The Power of Suggestion & the Media
As human beings we are incredibly responsive to the power of suggestion which is an extremely important part of our existence.
What is suggestion? From a psychological standpoint, suggestibility is the tendency of human nature to believe any statement that is repeated a great number of times. That is regardless of the “truth” of the statement. The statement is believed solely because it is repeated many times. Of course advertisers know this all too well and use it to their benefit with product placement in movies and sponsorship of ad breaks for your favourite TV shows. Did you know the average person spends fifteen years of their life in front of the television and unfortunately puts a lot of faith into believing the information they get from it.
As A M Krasner Ph.D says in the book, The Wizard Within, “We always act and feel and perform according to what we imagine and believe to be true about ourselves and our surroundings.”
Billions of dollars are spent every year by companies to sell us ideas and products that we could very likely live as well without. Advertising using the power of suggestion to implant habitual patterns of thinking and behaving among its audiences.
Suggestions become effective and acceptable because they are expressed simply, in a confident tone and repeated often. This technique is extremely persuasive which is why companies invest in slogans. Slogans are offer expressed as being imperative:
"You must do/have/be this otherwise you won't own/achieve/live that ".
Examples:
Nike – “Just do it”
BMW – “The ultimate driving machine”
Kit-Kat – “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat”
Every day, everywhere we look we are exposed to advertising whether we are in our cars or watching TV at home. We are constantly being told to buy something or to vote for someone. And if we are told the same thing every hour, every day of every week for weeks on end...eventually we will act upon that suggestion. Just like clients do in hypnotherapy – act upon the suggestions that are given to them by the hypnotherapist or hypnotist.
It’s not just the advertising media that use the power of suggestion to persuade you to take action on their message. It happens also in news programs, talk shows and other TV programs. Think about it for a moment. Why is it called TV programming?? Because it literally reprograms your mind!!
Without getting into too much detail here are some things to become aware of, particularly in news programming:
The choice of items or issues discussed:
One way to attract more viewers and to entertain them is described as sensationalism. That is stories that are perceive as exciting, sensational or interesting are chosen ahead of less exciting but ones that are actually more newsworthy.
Time – and there are 2 factors that influence the viewer:
The first is the story placement – stories at the start of the newscast are given more urgency and impact. Then secondly, the amount of time the story is covered for. Plus if there’s a guest on the program who is discussing different sides of the issue, the audience tend to feel more acquainted and therefore more likely to be influenced by the message.
Language – key to persuasion, influence and suggestion is the use of language:
The words the reporter use to describe the situation or story will determine and affect the audience’s perception of the event or issue.
For example in this news report where something has taken place, notice how the choice of words would affect the audience’s perception. There's a big difference between:
"Group X takes credit for the ......"
"Group X held responsibility for the ......."
Nonverbal communication is a powerful form of suggestion
The way someone is dressed is an important factor in creating a suggestion about their character and appropriateness for their given role. A smart tailored suit suggests a professional, expert in their field. An authority figure, someone to be listened to and again this forms part of creating the circumstances where the audience will accept the message uncritically.
There's distinct advantage in learning Hypnosis. Learning Hypnosis, learning about how the power of suggestion actually operates, means that you can critically evaluate the information that you receive as a listener or an observer, so you can objectively make a decision about how to proceed.
