My Thoughts: The Milgram Obedience Experiment and Suggestibility

(This blog was originally posted on February 6, 2015)

Photo by Rick Hustead

Experimenter is being promoted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival this week. The film is about psychologist Stanley Milgram, whose 1961 obedience experiment famously demonstrated how obedient people could be when they are confronted with real or perceived authority. 

I remember reading about this project while I was pursuing my undergraduate degree psychology. In it, participants were made to deliver electric shocks of various and increasing intensity to other people. The Yale University psychologist was interested to see at what point and under what circumstance a participant would disobey authority: i.e., refuse to administer the shocks, which were portrayed as extremely painful and possibly causing permanent physical damage to the recipient. In fact, the “shocks” were imaginary and the people who were supposedly receiving them were actually members of Milgram’s research team. Ultimately, the researcher reported that 65 percent of the participants were willing to administer the electric shocks to others despite the extreme stress they reported feeling while administering the shocks and the pain they believed they were causing others.

Remembering and thinking about this study made me cringe, but it also made me wonder: Could John Kappas, Ph.D.’s models of suggestibility explain the social psychologist’s observations? Following are reasons why I think the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder’s theories work very well to explain why Milgram’s research participants were willing (albeit begrudgingly) to continue to administer those shocks.

1.       He had authority. Milgram was conducting his research in a prominent and respected academic university. Since he held a Ph.D. in psychology his subjects would have called him “Dr.,” which automatically implies a position of power or authority.

2.       He had a message: The psychologist told the participants what to do and when to do it, and he did not waver from his instruction even when they voiced concerns about the harm the continued shocks must be doing to the shock recipients.

3.       He overloaded the participants’ conscious and subconscious minds with written and auditory information (message units) about the intensity of the electric shocks being delivered and the sounds/exclamations of pain that the recipients uttered. Milgram also continued to deliver his authoritarian patter of instructions that the participants should continue to administer the shocks even if and when they wanted to stop taking part in the experiment.

Afterward, Milgram and his team debriefed the participants to explain that the electric shocks used during the experiment were imaginary and reassured them that no one had been harmed in any way. I’m sure that was a relief for those who had obeyed each one of the psychologist’s instructions to complete the experiment. The questionable and controversial ethics of his research design reportedly resulted in the American Psychological Association creating ethical standards for ensuring the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of participants in future studies.

I also follow the APA’s guidelines for ethics and professional conduct when I work with hypnotherapy clients. I will not and would not ask you to say or do anything while in hypnosis that you would not say or do while in a fully alert state of awareness. Furthermore, your subconscious mind would not comply with any hypnotic suggestion(s) that contradicted your ethical and moral beliefs. For more information about hypnosis and how it works, check out the Hypnosis Facts link on my website.

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/.

© 2017

Schadenfreude and the Law of Attraction

(This blog was originally posted on March 14, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

There is a scene in International Velvet when a horse on a rival Olympic team knocks down a pole and incurs a points-error. When the protagonist’s aunt Velvet sees the error on television, she shouts, “Good!” The opponent’s error has made a little more room for her niece, Sarah, to secure a team gold medal if she can get around the course without making any mistakes. (Of course, she does.) But that doesn’t happen before Velvet’s partner, John, raises an eyebrow and comments, “That’s not very sporting of you!”

Schadenfreude.

I came across this word in the context of the plot in A Trick of the Light, a novel by Louise Penny, which I finished reading a few weeks ago. Basically, it means “deriving pleasure from someone else’s misfortune.” In the book, one of the characters is finally enjoying the critical recognition of her talent at a private show for her paintings, followed by a celebratory barbecue at her home. However, her husband and some friends discover the body of a former friend/enemy their garden the following day. The artist wants to celebrate the success of her show and budding career, but she feels guilty about wanting her art to be lauded even after the crime that happened in front of her home. Perhaps more disturbing to her is the eventual realization that her husband, a successful artist, has actually been jealous of her talent for many years and secretly hoped that the murder might derail her success a little bit. 

In addition to the scenarios described above, Urban Dictionary lists several common examples of this experience: hearing someone shout “Hold the door!” while running for an elevator, only to reach the lift just as the door shuts. Or, a straight-A student missing one question on a five-question quiz to bring the test score down to a B (80 percent). How about when the quarterback on the opposing team gets sacked after preventing your team from scoring a touch-down? Another example might be watching the value of a company’s stock shares plummet right after you have been fired. And so on.

It is not uncommon or even unnatural to feel happy about or want to get a small bit of compensation for our own misfortune. But, how “good” does it really feel? Does it make you feel happy? Relieved? Or, do you scramble for all of the reasons why the other person deserved this misfortune or inconvenience so you can justify feeling good about it? Human emotions can be very tricky things. They can be accompanied by physiological sensations such as palpitations, change in breathing, trembling, etc. Sometimes censorial thoughts from the conscious mind (and conscience) intrude on these celebrations, too: Why do I feel good about someone else feeling bad?

Try this simple technique to get a different perspective about what is going on inside and around you: Draw a deep, calming breath and hold this air in your lungs for four seconds. Do not think about the situation, your emotions or why you think/imagine you felt the way you do or did when the situation first occurred. Instead, focus your attention on your breath and someone or something that brings you a lot of love and joy. Perhaps it is your spouse, or your kids, a pet, your job, a hobby, etc. Then, as you exhale, release the breath on the word love. Repeat this exercise several times to reinforce this positive direction of your attention. 

In his book, Success Is Not an Accident: The Mental Bank Concept, Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., explains how the mental scripts we program into our subconscious mind determine the outcome of our actions. Whether we imagine a positive or negative result, the SCM follows that subconscious mental script to actualize the goal you “want.” When we focus on enjoying the negative outcome another person is experiencing, we may also be reinforcing a subconscious desire for a similar negative event to happen to us. Conversely, when we send out positive, encouraging energy to celebrate another person’s success, we are also telling the subconscious mind, I want success, too! Whether that success includes getting into an elevator before the door closes or celebrating your partner’s triumphant art show, wishing another person well is more likely to attract good things to you than the temporary pleasure of schadenfreude ever could.

For more information about the Law of Attraction, I invite you to read my blog titled Intuition and the Law of Attraction and check out the book resources on this topic in Suggested Reading.

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/.

© 2017

Time Management

(This blog was originally posted on January 6, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Many people fulfill several roles in their daily life. They juggle the role of parent, spouse or romantic partner, athlete, friend, etc., plus the myriad responsibilities they fulfill at work. Sometimes it feels like a full-time job to just keep track of who you are supposed to be and what you are supposed to be doing at any given moment. Here are some suggestions to help you relax and be completely “present” in whatever you are doing—no matter how much (or little) time you spend in that role.

• Square breathe. Draw a deep breath through the nose and hold it to the count of four, then exhale through your mouth. As you inhale, visualize, imagine, picture or pretend that you are inhaling calm, focus, patience and any word that you associate with feeling powerful and in control. As you exhale, allow any stress, frustration or negative energy or emotion that you identify in your body.

• Anchor this new sensation by pressing or rubbing the thumb and index (pointing) finger of either hand. This action physically “anchors” your subconscious mind to the calm, relaxed state of focused energy that you will be able to access as you fulfill each role.

• Prioritize what you need to do. Make a list—mental or write it down—of what needs your attention. The first item should be what needs to be done right now. What is the next priority, and so on?

• If a project is particularly complicated or involved, break that big project into several smaller, more manageable “chunks.” Even though the final project is the same, it is psychologically easier—and more rewarding—to tackle small portions of it at a time.

• Stay organized and on-task­. Make sure that you have all of the material(s) available and on-hand to achieve your goal or complete your project.

• Unless the project absolutely demands this kind of contact or you are waiting for someone in your group to arrive, turn off/silence your phone or computer. Technology makes our lives easier in many ways, but the temptation to check for unrelated text messages or voice-mail and browse the Internet for something-that-might-be-useful-but-is-actually-totally-unrelated to what you are doing, is almost always more distracting than helpful. 

• Complete each task according to its priority before you tackle the next one!

Whether you are supervising a project at work, spending quality time with your family or just chilling out with your friends, each activity will place a specific demand on your attention and the time you spend doing...whatever. It is important to dedicate as much time as you want or need to this activity, but make sure that your focus is completely on that project. You, and whatever you are doing or working on, deserve nothing less—and you will value the time you spend focusing on this endeavor even more.

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/.

© 2017