The easiest way to best categories Hypnosis is into 2 parts: 1) Clinical Hypnosis and 2) Entertainment Hypnosis.
Clinical Hypnosis is generally practiced to help calm patients, reduce pain during surgeries, quit a habit (smoking, masturbation, OED, etc), overcome a dramatic trauma (physical abuse, fear of dogs, etc) and much more. Very often, a session can last for about an hour and patients are brought to a very deep state of hypnosis that is very similar to a deep sleep.
In comparison to Clinical Hypnosis is Entertainment Hypnosis (a.k.a. Stage Hypnosis) and no it doesn’t involve a swinging pocket watch. It is in fact much more challenging and will require a professional hypnotist with experience. During the performance the hypnotist will need to be mindful of the entertainment segments and the well-being of the participants. If not handled professionally, participants may hurt themselves or in rare cases suffer prolong effects of hypnotic stress (epileptic seizure, paradoxical laughter, pseudobulbar affect and etc).
The use of hypnosis during the earlier days weren’t so sunny. In the 1950s, the CIA funded a top secret illegal mind control project with its code name known to be as MK Ultra. Hypnosis along with drugs (LSD, amphetamine, etc) and other methods were used during the experiment to manipulate the minds of their human test subjects. Hence, it possible that the term Speed Hypnosis (Speed is the street name for amphetamine) was coined in relations to MK Ultra and to describe a quick hypnosis technique. Speed Hypnosis was later known as Rapid Hypnosis to break away from its dark history. Other terms to describe quick hypnosis technique were later used to commercialized by hypnosis coaches.
In Episode 4, Alvin Terence lead his participants into a trance-like state in heightened focus and concentration. While in a trance like state, participants were put into several state such as catatonic (immobile), mutism (unable to talk), amnesia (lost of memory) and confabulation (having memories of the wrong information).
So how was it done? We can all generalize the technique as Hypnosis but to be specific, the psychological technique used in the video was PWA or Perception Without Awareness.
In short, PWA is a manipulation technique to control either by manipulating the stimulus conditions or by instructing observers on how to distribute their attention. For an example, if someone whistles at you from a distance maybe because you were distracted or focused on something else, your brain stores that action (whistles) and response to it at a much later timing when that distracted is removed. Thus, causing your mind to either have to urge to whistle or hum to a melody.
At the 7.12 minute of Episode 4, a red arrow have been conveniently used to point out a physical touch stimulus to influence the participant. The sense of touch is located in the skin. It comprises of three layers, starting from the surface to the inner: the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. Different types of sensory receptors, varying in size, shape, number, and distribution within the skin, are responsible for relaying information about pressure, temperature, and pain. Pacinian Corpuscle is the largest touch sensor located in the hypodermis, the innermost thick fatty layer of skin, which responds to vibration.
Between 5.09 min to 6.01 min, Alvin Terence distracted the participant with several hand gestures while at the same time implanting the new name “Sharon” by writing “Sharon” behind the right shoulder.
Unbelievable? Let’s try this out. Invite your friend to try a simple experiment and follow the instructions below:
1) Instruct your friend to stand near you.
2) Put your own hand over your friend’s shoulder.
3) Explain to your friend that you’re going to try an experiment. “Hey, have you heard of PWA or Perception Without Awareness? It’s a cool psychological theory which describes how we are being influenced by our surroundings. I would like to see if this theory is true.”
4) While explaining in Step 3, start to draw circles with your ring finger behind your friend’s back while at the same time rock their body. Please note to use the ring finger (4th finger) as it is the weakest finger and doesn’t being much attention to the drawing. The rocking of body helps make the drawing less suspicious.
5) List down a couple of shapes and get your friend to select a shape. “I want you to select one of this shapes: triangle, circle and square. Which one will it be?”
Did it work? We will like to hear your experience by leaving us your comment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gOF41aNDN0
For more unrevealed techniques of Psychic: Season 1, be sure to check out the DVD under the ‘Online Store’ section on our official website, http://www.MagicATOM.com/psychic.
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