My friend Jim Kellner performs “mental magic” to audiences around the country. Technically, he’s a stage hypnotist, and a couple of weeks ago, he did a performance where he hypnotized a few people including a friend of mine named Brian. Here’s just a little taste from the show. (Warning: you might not want to drink anything while watching. It could get messy!)
I talked to Brian a few days afterwards and asked him how it was. He said, “it was the weirdest thing, but I don’t remember anything about it!”. I just remember waking up and feeling really relaxed!
I confess, as a person that is less susceptible to hypnosis, I marvel that some people can get that deeply hypnotized. Furthermore, Jim’s shows really awakened my curiosity! What is going on in people’s brains that make them so highly suggestible?
According to an EEG study by Dr. Mark Jensen from the University of Washington, people under hypnosis have less fast brain wave activity and more slow-wave activity. The fast wave activity is usually high when we are thinking. Slow-wave activity happens during relaxation, focus, and sleep.
Also, by putting patients in brain scans, researchers can see a decrease in the activity of the prefrontal cortex. This is the area of the brain that gives meaning to what people are experiencing. This is also the area of the brain that also regulates planning complex behaviors, decision making and moderating social behavior.
How is thought control relevant to us if we aren’t getting hypnotized?
Believe it or not, we go in and out of these suggestible states on a regular basis, even if we are not aware, And the media, advertising and politicians are especially adept at knowing how to influence our thoughts. Despite the fact that most people believe they are immune, the studies show otherwise!
For example, do you believe:
That bottled water is safer or healthier for you?
That fluoride is good for your teeth?
That the US military spends most of its resources defending our nation?
If you do, your decision was made by effectiveness of advertising and not by the facts.
Three methods of thought control by media, advertisers and politicians:
Knowing about these thought control methods can help you more effectively question the information you are presented with:
1.) Affective conditioning
A study conducted in 1992 by the Institute of Medicine showed that deceptive water bottle labeling was a widespread practice.
For example, 1they often label bottled water as pure, pristine, natural or mountain water, even if it comes from a pumped well and treated with chemicals. The images of nature on the label pair positive (yet deceptive) images with bottled water, thus inferring that they are superior to the water we get from our tap. The pairing of positive images with a product is used all the time in advertising.
Affective conditioning is so effective in persuasion that it is more effective than logical arguments!
A 2010 paper in the Journal of Consumer Research compared the choice people made between two different pens. One pen clearly had better properties than the other. Then half the subjects watched a screen that showed the inferior pen paired with positive imagery. The people that were not subject to affective conditioning chose the better pen. However, 70-80% of the people who were subject to the affective conditioning chose the inferior pen despite having been told the properties of both!
Affective conditioning is more powerful when you don’t realize it is happening! This is probably because our frontal lobes are not engaging in an active assessment of whether the information we are being presented with is believable!
Affective conditioning also influences our perceptions of others. For example:
In movies and on TV, the hero or heroine is usually attractive and the villain is usually ugly. This programming makes us believe that good-looking people have attractive qualities and unattractive people are not as virtuous. Unfortunately, there are many attractive narcissists that take advantage of our biases to undo us.
The news media has often perpetuated racial stereotypes. 2If a suspect that has committed a horrific act is white, the news media often described them with an air of disbelief, emphasizing their positive qualities. If the victim is black, the media often used unsympathetic or dismissive tones. There does seem to be a growing awareness of the negative sterotypes, and an effort to not perpetuate negative stereotypes in some media sources.
2. Language:
I mentioned above that the bottled water industry calls its water pure, pristine, and natural, even though the evidence indicates it is no cleaner or safer than tap water.
Language is often used to deceive us.
Here are some other examples:
The Department of Defense used to be called the Department of War. That subtle change of language means that at a more subconscious level, many Americans believe that our military defends our interests. But America has been at war for 225 out of 243 years of our history since 1776, and most of the military operations since WWII were initiated by us. This subtle change in language makes it harder for us to see the reality of what our country is really doing.
Have you noticed that bombs made and used by America are called innocent things like “Baby bombs”, B52s, TNT, or atomic bombs? But George Bush was able to start a war in Iraq with the false accusation that Saddam had “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. He conveniently neglected to mention that we have “weapons of mass destruction” as well. If the bombs were labeled anything similar to the weapons used in the US, he would have had a much harder time convincing us to go to war.
The term free trade speaks to the American desire for freedom. In reality, free trade means that protections by governments to protect their people and their environment will be overlooked in order to allow more trading opportunities. Despite the tremendous amount of data showing that free trade has meant a tremendous loss of jobs and a decline in benefits and working conditions everywhere, most people have a hard time believing free trade could actually hurt us more than harm us.
3. Repetition
Studies show that repetition is one of the most effective methods of persuasion. In fact, people more likely to believe statements true if they’ve heard them just one more time! Even if the person saying them is lying! And if we think that the statements might be true, we are more likely to be persuaded by them. This was both Trump and Hitler’s favorite persuasive strategies.
Why? Familiarity breeds liking.
Like associative conditioning, this method is especially effective if you the listener is not paying attention!
If its complicated, then its harder for people to think about. So they tend to believe it less. This is why short memorable phrases such as “trickle down economics”, “Yes we can!”, “Weapons of Mass Destruction” and “It’s the economy, stupid” can be so influential!
This is also why it can be so hard to overturn concepts that were once believed to be true. Since the 1950’s the American Dental Association (ADA) has believed and told us that fluoride is good for our teeth. But evidence has been accumulating that shows that not only is not decisively protective, but that it is a neurotoxin! And despite the overwhelming evidence showing the harms of fluoride, the ADA is unwilling to take an objective look at the evidence!
What can I do to have more control over my thoughts?
So now that you understand at least some of the forces that affect how you think, how can you enhance your ability to see the truth? The more you know about the forces that affect your thinking, the easier it will be to prevent thought control from advertisers and politicians. You can try to minimize your exposure to advertising, but it is virtually impossible to do if you live in today’s modern day world.
A more effective solution is to know that big corporate advertising, the mainstream media, and many, but not all politicians are especially adept at the subtle method of persuasion. So it is especially important to find independent sources of information from reputable sources that do not stand to benefit from the information they disseminate. Use your frontal cortex! Always ask questions and examine the evidence.
Do you like this article? Please click the buttons below to share it with your friends!
Great article, thanks, Tina!
You are welcome Jean!