Two weeks ago, I spoke before a group of 200 therapists. I verbally gave the audience two different lists of 7 words each. Both groups of words had a common theme. Immediately after being given each list the audience members were asked to write down the words I said. In both cases over 40% of the people “remembered” a word that I had not said. Here’s one list I used:
Snore
Slumber
Pillow
Snooze
Blanket
Yawn
Dream
As you may have guessed, 40% of the participants remembered the word “sleep”, although that word wasn’t in the verbal list.
The brain fills in what “should” be there, even when it isn’t. People will often tell you that you absolutely said or did something because you were “supposed” to, or they thought you would, but indeed you did not say or do that thing.
When I consult with individuals about their business, I show them how to utilize the process of “remembering” (which is really not much more than constructing) in their business model.
Example.
Real Estate Agent to each person they speak with in the attempt to gain listings: “This year you have spent a lot of time thinking about moving…what have you been thinking about the most?”
This presupposes that the man at the bus stop or the office has been thinking of moving. He may or may not have been, but he will now.
Fact: People think thousands and thousands of thoughts. Because you suggest it, the individual constructs possible memories of what you have suggested. They will then tell you precisely what you have suggested.
As early as one year old and maybe earlier, infants “fill in” where their senses have left them without information. Because of this, our brains adapt to our environment. Unfortunately, this means that our memory is our “story” and not anything like a VCR on “play.” Two people seeing the same catch in the end zone will tell you two completely different points of view as to whether the foot was “in” or “out.”
Police officers will happily tell you of hundreds of times two people see completely different events even if they are married, best friends or standing right next to each other while an event happens.
Elizabeth Loftus helped bring the true function of “memory” to light.
During a recent study of memory recall and the use of suggestive interviewing, UC Irvine cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus successfully planted false memories in volunteers of several study groups — memories that included such unlikely events as kissing frogs, shaking hands with Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, and witnessing a demonic possession.
Her success at planting these memories challenge the argument that suggestive interviewing may reliably prompt real memories instead of planting false ones. A pioneer in false memory research and Distinguished Professor of Social Ecology at UCI, Loftus presented her latest research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting in Denver at the “Remembering Traumatic Experiences in Childhood: Reliability and Limitations of Memory” symposium February 16.
Most exciting:
Loftus conducted her study by having volunteers conduct a set of actions that mixed the common place (flipping a coin) with the unusual and even bizarre (crushing a Hershey’s kiss with a dental floss container). Later, her research team asked volunteers to imagine additional actions they performed that day, such as kissing a frog. At a future time, participants were asked to recall their actions on that specific day. Ayanna Thomas, a doctoral student in Loftus’ research group, found that 15 percent of the study’s volunteers claimed they had actually performed some of the actions they had only imagined.
In another study, Loftus showed how false memories can be planted with a visual. Loftus and her colleagues exposed volunteers to a fake print advertisement describing a visit to Disneyland where they would meet Bugs Bunny. Later, 33 percent of these volunteers claimed they knew or remembered the event happening to them. (Bugs Bunny is a Warner Bros. character and has never appeared at Disneyland.) The false memory rate was boosted when people were given multiple exposures to the fake advertisement. In one study, 36 percent of those given three exposures said they met Bugs Bunny, compared to only 9 percent in a control condition. Loftus’ collaborators on this study included Kathryn Braun-LaTour, Melissa Grinley and Jacquie Pickrell.
These studies continue three decades of research by Loftus proving that memory is highly susceptible to distortion and contamination. Her past work has shown that people can be led to remember rather familiar or common experiences, even when these experiences likely had not occurred. Much of Loftus’s work has focused on false claims of repressed memories of sexual abuse. She also has shown that eyewitness accounts, notably those given in court, often are inaccurate. Loftus has served as an expert witness or consultant on some of the nation’s most high-profile trials, including the McMartin Pre-school molestation case, the “Hillside Strangler” case, the police officers involved in the Rodney King beating and the Bosnian War Trials.
Ranked among the 25 psychologists most frequently cited in introductory psychology textbooks, Loftus is the author of “Eyewitness Testimony,” which won a National Media Award, and co-author of the widely cited book, “The Myth of Repressed Memory.”
Covert Hypnosis: An Advanced Course in Subtle Unconscious Influence The Master’s Secrets Revealed! (Vol. 1 – 8)
“This is THE advanced course in subtle influence! Remember when you read Covert Hypnosis: An Operator’s Manual, and you got that WOW! feeling inside?! Well, that was just the beginning. In Covert Hypnosis: The Master’s Secret Revealed, you are going to learn how to subtly move inside the minds of anyone you communicate with. In trance or out…this is the most powerful material on Covert Hypnosis on the planet. Period.” Kevin Hogan, Psy.D.
In CD 1, Kevin Hogan reveals specifically the secrets of how to weave the exact messages you want others to act upon into stories that captivate listeners.
CDs 2 & 3 show you how to motivate and compel other people to change their behavior as quickly as is humanly possible. Benefit: You can utilize these covert tools with your own unconscious mind because they link into the core drives and desires that you have!
CD 4 reveals ALL 22 elements of Covert Hypnosis for this first time anywhere! Never before released by anyone, anywhere. The complete Covert Hypnosis Model for change is here. Business? Sales? Consulting? Coaching? Therapy? Learn specifically how to generate change in their thinking with the Covert Hypnosis Model.
CD 5 gives you all the tools necessary to take a person’s deepest drives (sex, eating, acquisition, connection, etc.) and fuse them into building compelling outcomes (the girl of your dreams, lose weight, acquire wealth, meet new people easily). Ignore either aspect, and failure is assured. Successfully meld the two in the unconscious mind and amazing things can happen.
CD 6—Pattern Recognition: Getting someone to think about something is one thing. Getting someone to feel driven to DO something and then watch them do it like magic is something else entirely. Learn so much in just this one CD!!!
CD 7 – This is 2003 neuroscience and research that reveals how to rewire the brain. Some neuroscientists call it “sculpting.” It’s not something that happens instantly and it requires the use of both hemispheres which can be pretty tricky if you don’t know what you are doing.
CD 8 – You are going to learn some unique techniques in the eighth volume of Covert Hypnosis. Not only are you going to learn the truth about values (when they are critical and when they are MEANINGLESS) but you are going to discover the values of the unconscious mind! The unconscious mind and conscious mind do not correlate to each other but they both correlate to the behavior of every person you meet.
Intrigued? Discover the secrets to what separates Covert Hypnosis from every other compliance technology Discover what even the experts don’t know about how the mind interacts with the unconscious mind.
More Information about Covert Hypnosis or to order
