Hypnosis, Finally explained | Ben Cale | TEDxTechnion

[mervinbernardels]

"People are just exploiting the believe that they are being controlled by someone or something else to give themselves the legitimacy to do what they already wanted to do and be who they already wanted to be" - Words to live by.

[faran_iqbal]

Plot twist: The woman at that family event was just pretending to be hypnotized, in order to convince him to believe in himself, So actually since that day, he has been in her hypnotic trance

[thequietterkina]

"all hypnosis is self hypnosis"...
thats basically it ...

[ilialuk]

This is the first non BS explanation I’ve seen about hypnosis. Now it makes perfect sense to me. I know Ben, and he explained it to me before the TeD talk, very rare to have someone so logical and crisp in his explanation, 5min and I got it. Great job on the talk!

[SoulPusher]

He's coming from a magician perspective, utilizing physiological "tricks" to get his outcome. There are many hypnotists who put all the power in the subject and NOT themselves, and get wonderful results. He's explaining "expectancy", which is only one piece of a bigger puzzle. An important piece mind you, but still only a piece.

[mr.f]

I never really believed in hypnosis because already at a young age i found out about what he is telling us here. And i do believe he is absolutely correct. I realized this when i dont remember under what context but i learned of a trick: the trick is that you take a thin rope with a slight weight at the bottom (I used a string with a coin attached to it, a string on its own should also work) and then you hold it in your hand and you can simply tell yourself in what direction the thing is supposed to swing. No concious movement will happen but if you think to yourself i want it to swing from left to right, after a while it will. Same if you say it should swing away and towards you. And then the person that made me do the trick simply told me about micro movements. Movements so tiny your body does them without you even realizing. But as soon as you tell yourself i want it to swing a certain way, your body will make it swing unknowingly because of movements so small you dont even notice em. And then same thing applies here. If the person hypnotising you tells you the arm youre holding up feels so heavy that it will fall down imedeately after he snaps. That probably wont happen because such a huge movement from the arm is to obviously controled by you but if he says there is a weight on it and its slowly moving down, then yeah these micro movements wont be noticable to be of your own doing. Hope i was able to get my point across

[bartolomedelmar]

I was professionally hypnotized and can attest it is a real thing, not in a magic show context. It is basically entering a really deep trance (if you meditate, you've been there) and being "unconscious" enough that all instructions and guidance enter freely into your mind. You recognize you can break the "spell" at any time, but if instructions are not absurd or dangerous, then you are inhabiting a really particular place where, and this is the best description I can give, your conscious "operating system" is in the background.... There, but not quite so. It is REALLY interesting.

[grantarmstrong]

It’s a bit harder to explain because you have to think about consciousness when discussing this. We like to think about our mind being our own and in our control, but realistically it is not. You cannot control things like your heart beating, emotion, or basic functions (you can train and somewhat impact them, but never have complete control over them). This is because identity is a concept that we created, we are essentially a character that was created by the human mind. If this sounds outlandish, than you wouldn’t be alone, but you cannot deny that no matter how hard you concentrate, you cannot stop your heart by simply telling it too. So, when you talk about hypnosis, you aren’t just talking about convincing someone to agree to everything you say or to believe you are in control. You are really convincing the brain that the character/identity or whatever you want to call yourself which process everything is not in control. It’s not about convincing them that you are in control, it’s about convincing them that they aren’t in control

[pauline]

Can you imagine if this was a TED talk during the Salem witch trials, no doubt this is sorcery

[Learnjapanesefromsomeguy]

I went to a hypnotist show in Vegas once and was brought up on stage with four or five other people. Naturally, I was not under the hypnotist's 'control' and everything I did was of my own volition. I was, however, under the control of peer pressure, I would say. There are a number of things that went through my mind as I was on stage, "Everyone else is sort of doing these silly things and they are obviously not under any kind of spell either. So, I will just play along so as not to stand out, " and "I don't want to ruin the show for everyone, so I will play along just to keep the show running smoothly." I imagine the other participants had similar thoughts and ideas. To this day, though, the friends I went to the show with believe that I was legitimately hypnotized. I didn't want to tell them it was fake so as not to ruin the 'fun' or 'magic' of it.

[esh]

Basically an intensely focused and guided belief!

[motakez]

Everynight i got hypnotize for like 8-10 hours

[ChucknMcNuggets]

The phenomena can be tested to debunk the idea that something isn't actually happening. It's not hard to get someone stuck to a chair and take a leap of faith. The hypnotist can put $100 ten feet in front of the person, tell them if they can get it, they can keep it. The hypnotist can even say he's leaving the room and there are no cameras. The money will still be sitting there. People reveal passwords to their phones, credit card numbers, their address... and can pass a polygraph test afterward that they never revealed any info, and weren't hypnotized. (when they clearly were) What we call placebo is much more powerful than a trick of making someone believe a lie. People can go from balling their eyes out, to laughing in less than a second. They can get goosebumps on cue, raise their heart rate without doing anything physical, or remember where they put an object they thought they lost. You can't trick a person into chugging a brutal bottle of hot sauce as if it was a cold beer like you can under hypnosis, or holding a spider without a negative reaction, when they say they are terrified by them.

[parkkinglot]

This is similar to what the doctor said to me, when I argued that depressed people cannot make themselves better by thinking positively. He simply said "It's not they "cannot" the truth of the matter is "they will not".

[Ahmad-dgrx]

Man i keep imagining him say




*WOW you can really dance*

[dilpreetd]

this guy explained it all to the truest extent ever

[shahenazhalepotra]

Ok, I am a 14 year old and using mother's account right now. Like a year ago, watched a video of hypnotism and tried it. I have been trying new things since and now I can make you feel what I am saying and make you forget that it was me who did it. Sometimes it scares me that if I had ever hypnotized myself and made myself forget some important stuff for some reason.

[naomikriger]

Interesting! I like the occam's razor style of thinking. Seems like a good way to approach the topic

[peterlustig]

What a brilliant & amazing presentation and insight, I can't thank you enough Ben!! This was truely the most insightful TED-talk I've ever seen. All the best for you, love from Berlin to Israel!

[annelaout]

I wonder, if after explaining this, you would have asked another volunteer on stage, would the change of successfully hypnotizing that second volunteer be significantly smaller?