Victims of Hyper-Suggestibility?
Just when I was starting to worry that I still had no idea what to write
about for today’s blog, inspiration struck when I heard a news report about a
very unusual prank that happened yesterday in Minneapolis. Apparently, someone
called a Burger King restaurant under the
guise of warning the workers that there was a dangerous
gas leak that could blow up the building. The caller reportedly advised the
manager that this disaster could be prevented by smashing all of the windows to
ventilate the building and clear out the gas. Ultimately, the workers broke all
of the windows as the caller instructed them to do. At least one person reportedly
went along with this action out of fear and, significantly, because everyone
else was doing it.
The hosts of a popular radio show I was listening to immediately started
to crack up and even make jokes about the employees who fell for this prank. I,
on the other hand, felt sorry and a little sad about what happened to these
workers. After all, they took this drastic action in the belief that it was the
correct and even heroic thing to do to save their place of employment. Answering
a phone call in which the person at the other end of the line warns that you
are at risk of being caught in a gas explosion would make most people nervous
and hyper-suggestible.
Based on what I know about suggestibility and behavior, this is how the
scenario played out in an employee’s subconscious mind:
·
The work environment in a fast-food restaurant
is usually very busy. Even if there weren’t throngs of customers present when
the call came in, the employees were probably still in a state of natural
hypnosis. In addition to dealing with the public, the repetitive action of
flipping burgers, packaging the meals and counting change (stimuli overload) would
make anyone extremely suggestible.
·
In addition, the smell of food cooking might or
even the time of day when the person “typically” eats could have triggered a
hunger response in one or more of these individuals. As I wrote in my previous
blog titled Nutrition
and the Development of Phobias, low blood-sugar levels, which are associated
with hunger can exacerbate or even cause a person’s presenting problem
(behavior or belief). Hypnosis Motivation
Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.,
reported that it is also common for a person to experience psychological
symptoms such as depression, paranoia, irritability and memory problems when
blood-sugar levels drop.
·
The
three principles of hypnotic
modalities also played a role in influencing the employees' reaction.
First: The purported identity of the person on the phone was a posing as a
firefighter (authority). Second: The potential validity of the warning of an
impending explosion, unless the employees followed the caller’s instructions (the
message). Third: The official-sounding voice and the terrifying content of this
warning ultimately influenced (overload) how the employees responded to this
threat. Most people trust firefighters: they rush into burning buildings to
save lives, they rescue kittens stuck in high trees. The fallout from the 2010 gas
explosion that took out an entire neighborhood in San Bruno, California, is
still being felt in that community. So when a fireman contacts your place of
business to help you avert a similar tragedy, wouldn’t you give him the benefit
of the doubt? At least, at first?
·
Finally, the collective worry and panic that
this threat would come true became its own destructive force. Have you have
ever found yourself standing up and joining other fans do “the wave” at a
sports event, without knowing why you’re doing it? Have ever wondered at the
influence that one fussy toddler has, to be able to inspire just about every other
baby in a room to join in the cacophony of screaming? Anxiety breeds anxiety,
and when threat to life, limb and financial security are involved natural skepticism
that would have otherwise prevented such an extreme reaction often goes out the
window. In this instance, this metaphor became a reality.
Yes, logic, reasoning and good judgement probably would have made at
least one of these employees question the veracity of this warning. But when
you are working at a busy fast-food restaurant for minimum-wage pay and
suddenly learn that your source of income—and you—could blow up “unless,” it’s
a little easier to understand the employees’ reaction. Unfortunately, the
collective hyper-suggestibility of these individuals also made them the brunt
of two cruel jokes: that of the original prank caller(s) and the radio hosts.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist
based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation
Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an
appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2016
