If hypnosis isn’t mind control, how does stage hypnosis work?
Glad you asked. As you know, the purpose of stage hypnotism is to entertain and everyone in the audience knows this. So when the stage hypnotist asks for volunteers, many people do not raise their hands, because they don’t want to be the entertainment. Those that do raise their hands are likely to be extrovert personalities who enjoy being the center of attention and enjoy the idea of being on stage, even if means going along with some unconventional suggestions. The stage hypnotist isn’t going to take any chances, however, on uncooperative volunteers, so he or she will put the volunteers through a short responsiveness exercise or two and weed out any that don’t go along with his/her instructions. Those that cooperate wholeheartedly will be asked to remain on stage while the others return to their seats. Once the show is underway, and provided the hypnotist doesn’t attempt to breach the volunteers’ moral codes, full cooperation is likely. Few people, let’s face it, are brave enough to
