Jones Beene wrote:
Wiki sez: Sirhan was hypnotized in prison by Dr. Bernard Diamond,
who simply instructed Sirhan to climb the bars of his cage like a monkey.
He did so. After the trance was removed, Sirhan was shown tapes of
his actions. He insisted that he "acted like a monkey" of his own
free will- he claimed he wanted the exercise.
People who act on post-hypnotic suggestions always say they are
acting of their own free will. This illusion is not surprising
because you can never compel a person to do something he would not be
inclined to do on his own, either during or after hypnosis. I think
one of Freud's students first demonstrated this principle unwittingly
during a hypnosis demonstration at a university. The subject was a
comely young woman. The hypnotist, a young man, suggested that she
take off her clothes. She slapped him in the face, without leaving
the trance. (I believe it may be possible to convince an inhibited
person to take off her clothes, but you would have to first convince
her that she is alone in her bedroom.)
You could never use hypnosis to compel a person to commit a crime or
some other they find unethical or disagreeable. You could do succeed
if your subject is a thug who enjoys committing crimes.
A person who feels embarrassed or inhibited, and who would not think
of acting like a monkey in the first place could not be compelled to
do so by a posthypnotic suggestion. On the other hand, people like
me, who enjoy imitating monkeys and other antics would think nothing
of it, and would feel no inhibitions.
Some people believe that hypnotic suggestibility correlates with
submissiveness and a willingness to follow orders. I do not know if
there is evidence for this. My guess is that there isn't.
- Jed
