What do people think of when they think of hypnosis?
When most people think of hypnosis, they think about the only exposures they have had to this phenomenon, which has generally been through television and movies. The depictions you see there tend to be more than a little unrealistic, with hypnotists wielding sinister powers over their subjects. Often these hypnotists use swinging watches or spinning wheels to entrance their subjects, and they typically use a combination of secrete words and gestures to command their hypnotic subjects to do their bidding. Some people have also seen a comedian, mentalist, or other entertainer perform hypnotism live on stage for entertainment purposes. These folks tend to associate hypnosis with losing control, acting in silly or embarrassing ways, and having amnesia for all the events that took place while they were in a hypnotic trance. Many people associate hypnotizability with being suggestible or gullible, even though these are not actually related to hypnotic capability at all. The degree to which a
