Hypnotic Thoughts.

AEG Uses the Endowment Principle with Jackson Concert Ticket Holders

According to an article on CNN.com, the concert promoter for Michael Jackson's "This is It" concert series in London has announced that ticket holders will have their choice of a refund or a souvenir.  The souvenir?  A commemorative ticket conceived by Jackson himself.  There are eight designs, which will be posted on michaeljacksonlive.com in coming days.

It's a shrewd business deal on the part of AEG, the concert promoter.  Ticket revenues for the concert series are rumored to be in the range of 85 million dollars.  They've certainly spent money already on the preparation and marketing of the event, which leaves them in a tough spot if they end up giving all the money back.  Instead, they've created an option which plays on the endowment principle.

The endowment principle is the idea that when a person comes into possession of something, they automatically perceive its value to be higher than what they acquired it for, thus they are less likely to get rid of the item even when offered the full value they had to give up to get it in the first place.  Like an endowment, while we have a thing its value grows.

In this case, tickets for the Jackson concert were reportedly a minimum of $105.  Imagine that you hold a ticket to this concert, and that you paid $105 for it, but now you can't even go.  Some people will immediately think, "Now this ticket is worthless."  Others will have an "Aha!" moment in which they realize they are holding onto a piece of music history.  The ticket for a concert that the King of Pop never got to perform at?  It will have value to someone.  And somebody at AEG realized this.

For some people, those tickets are now priceless.  The opportunity to trade the ticket for a commemorative souvenir will be worth more to many people than the $105 (or more) that they paid for the tickets in the first place.  Some will be profit-driven.  They'll think of how much they'll be able to sell it for on Ebay.  Others will be motivated only by the thought of having a somewhat rare piece of Michael Jackson's creativity.  In any case, I suspect that AEG will get to hold on to quite a bit of the money that they collected.

The endowment principle isn't hypnotic, but it's one of those related areas of influence that I think is interesting to study.  Like any tool, it can be used ethically or unethically.  It's important to understand this kind of stuff if you want to better understand why you make decisions the way you do.  Each of us makes a fair amount of our decisions based on emotions rather than logic, and the endowment principle is one example of how that happens.

Brain Imaging Helps Researchers Understand How Hypnosis Works

A group of researchers from the Neuroscience Center and Medical School at the University of Geneva designed an experiment to assess motor and inhibitory brain circuits during hypnosis-induced paralysis. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging to directly test whether a hypnotic suggestion of paralysis activates specific inhibitory processes and whether these may or may not correspond to those responsible for inhibition in nonhypnotic conditions.

From what they observed, the study suggests that hypnosis does not actually impair motor function in the brain, but increases self-monitoring processes in the brain, giving the person a heightened sense of voluntary control.  So the person is "paralyzed" not because the hypnotic state somehow shuts off motor control in the brain, but because the part of their brain responsible for self-imaging has really bought into the suggestion of paralysis and willfully stops sending motor impulses, it would seem.  There's a disconnect from normal voluntary processes.

At first this may seem like an explanation of social compliance, or "going along with it," but it's important to recognize that the researchers were able to actually see increased activity in other parts of the brain.  Other functions were actually becoming heightened.  Slowly, but surely, these kinds of studies are helping us understand how the power of suggestion works at the neurological level.  Very cool!

Michael Jackson Hypnotized by Uri Geller

Uri Geller, who achieved great fame in the 70's claiming to be a psychic, but was later de-bunked and shown to be a mentalist using stage magic techniques to achieve his feats, has recently given interviews about time he spent with Michael Jackson.  Jackson was Geller's best man when he renewed his wedding vows in 2001.

According to Geller, while he was working on his "Invincible" album Jackson asked Geller to use hypnotism to help him stop eating a food that he didn't want to eat anymore, and once Geller had Jackson in deep trance, "I did something unethical.  I asked him, 'Michael, did you ever touch a child in an inappropriate manner?' and he answered, 'No, I would never do that.'"

Geller goes on in the interview on Britain's Channel 4 to describe his additional questions and Jackson's responses.  He said that he believes in Jackson's innocence because of this experience.

There are a few problems with this account.  First, Uri Geller doesn't have a lot of credibility.  He claimed for years to have psychic abilities until he was finally de-bunked by James Randi and others who analyzed slow motion footage of his performances.  It's hard to put your faith in a guy who lied to people for years so that he could make a ton of money.  But, in fairness, there's not too much for Geller to gain by telling this account, so let's say that he's genuinely trying to support Jackson's posthumous image based on an experience he really had.  Fine.

How can we know that Geller applied a proper forensic approach in that situation?  Hypnosis does not automatically ensure that people tell the truth.  Forensic hypnosis is a special application of hypnotism, and in some states in the U.S. testimony under hypnosis isn't admissible even if it was done under a forensic hypnotist.  Geller is only recounting a personal experience, and his story doesn't have to qualify as testimony, but I just think it's important to be careful about how much stock you put into his statement.  I would love for it to be true, and for Jackson to truly be innocent so that we can all focus on his contributions as an artist, but we can't do that just because Uri Geller says so.

Girls Can Build Self-Esteem Using Hypnosis

I try to take hints from what's going on around me when it comes to developing new products and services.  Over the past several months, I've had several different clients tell me that they enjoyed using hypnosis for their own increased wellness to the extent that they think it would be great for their kids.  Specifically, they all mentioned their daughters and how they wished there was a way to use hypnosis to help them be more confident and positive about themselves.  How could I not follow up on that one?

And voila:  "Thinking Positive (for girls)"

The first of a new line of ego strengthening audio programs, Thinking Positive (for girls) is designed for girls 12-18 years old.  It uses the framework of a classic ego strengthening routine, but it's modified to have language friendlier to a young person and it has a whole extra set of suggestions aimed at helping girls be reminded that they are beautiful, talented, and gifted. 

Look, let's be honest: girls can be pretty mean to each other.  Kids can be tough on each other in general, but there's something particularly difficult about girl culture.  I saw it when I was a teacher, and I still hear about it today from my friends who have daughters.  All of those behaviors are suggestive.  If they happen enough, which they usually do in adolescence, they can take on the power of waking suggestion, and girls can start to actually believe the mean things that are being said. 

When kids are in grade school, they believe the sky is the limit for them.  One day they want to be an astronaut, the next a movie star, and they always believe it's possible.  As they move into adolescence, the range of possibilities shrinks, largely because they keep getting messages from parents, teachers, and peers about what they can and can't do.  It's waking hypnosis!  And a bad form of hypnosis at that.

How do you fight it?  With some good hypnosis.  If you've got a daughter, provide her with suggestions in the waking state EVERY DAY.  Remind her that she's got skills, smarts, creativity, humor, and a sense of right and wrong.  That's what my audio program does, and that's what I do with girls when their parents bring them in to see me for live personal coaching.

Book Review: "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill

"Be prepared... when you expose yourself to the influence of this philosophy, to experience a CHANGED LIFE which may help you not only to negotiate your way through life with harmony and understanding, but also to prepare you for the accumulation of material riches in abundance."

Those words from the preface of "Think and Grow Rich" pretty much sum it all up perfectly.  It is amazing to me that a book written in 1937 can be so contemporary in its approach to waking suggestion and personal achievement.  It's as if the book was written last year.  Hill's points about the power of suggestion and how we can think our way to success are just as important today as when he made them over 70 years ago.

Hill presents 13 steps to riches.  Along the way, he uses analogies of great men that he interviewed over more than 20 years who used these same steps and habits to build great fortunes.  Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Charles Schwab, and Alexander Graham Bell are just a few of the names from which Hill collects his wisdom.  Even though the names are very old, they still have a place in our culture today, so it still works to read about their stories.

The stories Hill shares are inspiring, the advice that Hill gives is motivational.  This is a book worth re-reading many times.  At its core, it's a hypnotic book, full of suggestions and tactics for using the power of the mind to achieve great success. 

Pakistan's Cricket Team Wins T20 World Cup Helped by Hypnosis

Pakistan's national cricket team just won the World Cup, and apparently they got a boost by using hypnosis.  Maqbool "Max" Babri is the team psychologist, and he is also a Certified Hypnotist.

"As a hypnotist I helped them let go of any negative past experiences and utterances of parents, and other powerful people which were in a negative light. Forgive others and self and not carry any burdens from the past or fears about the future. To remain in here and now play each ball, over, inning and match as if this was the only match that there is. Doing whatever can be done in here and now" said Babri.  You can read more about it here.

This is nothing new, but it's great to see hypnosis being used at a high level of athletic play in a sport that gets plenty of international attention.  It's just another example of how hypnosis can help people be at their best.  Kudos to the coaching staff of the Pakistani team for being open-minded enough to use hypnotism as part of their team development, and to Max for helping them get such great results.

Would Hypnosis Used on "The Mentalist" Really Work?

"The Mentalist" is a television crime show featuring a main character, Patrick Jane, who is a mentalist.  Jane uses his powers of mental acuity to help law enforcement solve crimes.  In the episode "Red Hair and Silver Tape" Jane uses a covert hypnotism technique to gain information from a woman related to the crime.  Is this technique real?  Would it really work?

This technique, in the exact way that it is used in the show, is the equivalent of hitting a hole in one in golf.  Yes, it's possible, but it very rarely works.  Let's break it down.

First, the target of the hypnotism would have to have certain factors that predispose him/her to this technique.  The person would have to be highly suggestible, easily influenced by others, and have a need which the hypnotist offers a much-desired solution for.  The female character in the show fits these characteristics.  She is obese, which suggests that she has a weak ego and struggles with self-acceptance.  She knows something about the woman who was murdered, which suggests she carries a certain level of guilt as a secret-keeper that she may wish to be relieved from.

Jane gives her a quick verbal patter that is out of context with the interview she was having with the police.  This causes confusion, which opens up the woman's mind to accepting a suggestion that will bring her back to familiarity or order.  Jane provides this in the form of a suggestion about what will happen when she goes to sleep that night.  He uses language about being light, being free, having the feeling of flying.  All of these things give her a sense of relief from the weight of the secret that she's keeping.  Jane then plants a kinesthetic anchor by gently tapping the woman on the knee as he's speaking.  Anchors provide the subconscious mind with a way to activate or trigger a response or behavior.  Jane couples the physical anchor with a verbal anchor of saying "hello."

Later on in the episode, the woman is brought in for questioning in again, and when Jane sees her he uses the tap and the verbal anchor of saying hello.  The woman shifts into state and voluntarily shares the secret that she's been keeping, the knowledge that the murder victim was secretly dating a man.  It all looks pretty impressive the way they do it on the show, but how many people would this actually work on?

I have no way to make an accurate prediction.  I can't give a percentage of people that this would work on, but I'll stick to my earlier analogy of the hole-in-one.  Yes, it's possible, but most people will never experience it.  The factors that have to come together to make this scenario work are pretty complex, and the writers of the show have the luxury of making all those factors come together.  They make it look way easier than it is.

There are lots of books, ebooks, and "secret" websites out there that claim to be able to teach you covert hypnosis.  Be careful about what you believe when it comes to their claims. 

Hypnosis Calms Children Before Surgery

Children hypnotized before their surgery were less likely to report anxiety and also had less behavior problems than children given the drug midazolam, according to a 2005 study by researchers at the University of Rennes.  50 children between the ages of two and eleven participated in the study.  All of them had abdominal procedures.

39% of the children who used hypnosis reported anxiety before the surgery, compared with 68% of the group who received the midazolam.  After the surgery, 30% of the children who used hypnosis had problems with eating or sleep or being aggressive toward their parents, while 62% of the children who used the midazolam had aggressive behavior, eating or sleep problems.

A more detailed summary of the study can be found here.

Study Suggests Self-Hypnosis Can Help Children with Migraines

NaturalNews.com ran this article about a study that found children could use self-hypnosis to deal with their migraine headaches.  The study consisted of 28 children and they received a combination of medication, placebo, and self-hypnosis. For 6 months, all children received 3 months of medication to help reduce migraines (propranolol) and 3 months of placebo (no active ingredients). After the 6 months, the children were taught how to use self-hypnosis and used the techniques for 3 months.

The results?  During the 3-month time period that the participants received the medication they reported an average of 14.9 migraines. While on a placebo for 3 months the children reported an average of 13.3 migraines.  For the 3 months the patients used self-hypnosis, they reported an average of 5.8 migraines.

It would be great to see someone conduct this study again with a larger sample of children.  While I'm inclined to think the results are really great, there are always folks who will get hung up more on the process and methodology of the study and they won't be able to look past the small size of the study.  In any case, it's always nice to hear more good news about hypnosis being used to improve wellness.

If you need help relaxing, try my audio program.

Ultimate Fighter Gets Hypnosis for Gag Reflex

David Faulkner fought his way on to the 9th season of The Ultimate Fighter, but a simple rubber mouthpiece threatened to ruin his quest.  Faulkner couldn't keep the mouthguard in during his training sessions because it triggered his gag reflex.  As his quarterfinal fight approached, Faulkner was warned by his coach Michael Bisping over and over again that if he didn't keep the mouthpiece in the referee could deduct a point, and that could cost him the fight.

Faulkner went to a hypnotist in the Las Vegas area, and it appeared to help.  The footage of his fight doesn't show him spitting out the mouthguard at all.  Unfortunately Faulkner still lost the fight.

Some people have a heightened sensitivity when it comes to their gag reflex, but hypnosis is an excellent way to reduce this sensitivity.