Hypnosis, Fact or Faux? Everyone has heard of hypnosis, many have seen someone hypnotized, and some may have been under the mysterious influence of a hypnotherapist themselves. It is not uncommon for a high school to hire a hypnotherapist to perform at a senior class party. Before I witnessed the phenomenon for myself for the first time at our senior class party, I was a skeptic. I couldn’t believe that I was seeing our all-state linebacker prance around and shriek like a girl and multiple other classmates act like animals without regard for their own dignity. Were they just acting to put on a show and make the crowd laugh, or were they really under the power of the mysterious condition of hypnosis? After learning that they had no recollection of what had happened when they …show more content…
Both the psychological and medical fields recognize hypnosis as a legitimate process even though there is still debate about whether hypnosis is truly an altered state of consciousness (King 171). One view of hypnosis, proposed by Ernest Hilgard, states that hypnosis involves a divided state of consciousness where one component follows the hypnotist’s commands and is not in touch with reality, and the other component acts as a “hidden observer” that stays in contact with reality (King 171). The other view is referred to as the social cognitive behavior view of hypnosis (King 172.) This perspective states that hypnosis is a normal state in which the hypnotized person behaves the way the individual believes that a hypnotized person should behave (King 172). Hypnotizability is the extent to which an individual is influenced by hypnotic suggestions and plays a key role in the behavior demonstrated while under the hypnosis’ effects (King