Hypnosis remains one of the most-debated phenomena in the modern world. With a history dating back almost as far as records go, hypnosis has been studied, theorized about, and practiced by thousands of people since the term was defined. To this day, what hypnosis is and how exactly it works remains a hotly-contested subject among scientists, philosophers, and religious leaders.
In the following article, we’re going to deal with one of the most controversial types of hypnosis: conversational hypnosis. Also known as “covert hypnosis” or “sleight of mouth,” conversational hypnosis involves a person attempting to modify a person’s opinions or behavior subconsciously, usually without their knowledge.
Where some experts consider this to be nothing more than a useful debate tool, others think it to be equivalent to mind control, allowing men and women to do unethical things with a subject’s subconscious. Before we discuss some of the most common conversational hypnosis techniques, we’ll take a closer look at what actual science has to say.
What is the Science Behind Hypnosis?
Over the years, scientists of various pedigrees have concluded that hypnosis is both manipulative nonsense and a genuine pathway to real-world mind control. If we are to accept much more tempered (and much more recent) definitions, however, it could be said that science believes hypnosis to be a genuine neurological phenomenon.
As with all things science studies, the researchers often leave conclusions for long after they’ve read mountains of data and conducted thousands of experiments. In short, researchers are finding new evidence to support and criticize hypnosis all the time. That said, here is what the experts agree upon so far.
Hypnosis is an “Altered State” of Consciousness
Scientists widely regard hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness – similar to those achieved through deep meditation, yoga, and psychedelic drug use. Unfortunately, consciousness and its various states remain somewhat of a mystery to most scientists, so it is still not clear whether hypnosis is more akin to being awake, being asleep, or being in a “dream.”
This state of being hypnotized, however, is commonly referred to as a trance. Where much of the debate focuses is one whether or not these trances truly allow an outsider to manipulate a person’s mind without their knowledge or consent.
Hypnosis Leaves People Open to Suggestion
Mention hypnotism to the average Joe, and they’ll recall the time they saw their friend tricked into clucking like a chicken on stage. Though this is far from scientific research, there is evidence that hypnotism leaves subjects in a state of “suggestibility,” wherein outsiders can compel them to perform tasks they otherwise would not.
This claim is one of the main reasons both laypeople and scientists focus on whether or not hypnosis is actually mind-control. Unfortunately, even the opinions of professional hypnotists vary a lot when it comes to discussing the strength of their “powers.”
Successful Hypnosis Requires Several Elements
What science often refers to as the “hypnotic induction” procedure relies on several essential components. The first is the direction of the subject’s attention, either toward or away from some stimuli. The second component is the uncommon use of language.
Here, the word “uncommon” can refer to specific terms used, unusual tones of voice, or other vocal tricks. Lastly, induction relies on tests, which assess the success of the procedure.
What is Different About Conversational Hypnosis?
As we mentioned above, conversational hypnosis is unique in the world of hypnotic induction. It is the process of engaging with a person’s subconscious with the intent of having some effect over their behavior or feelings. Unlike what many critics of the practice say, however, it is not about “controlling someone’s mind” or turning them into an unwilling slave.
Indeed, many proponents of conversational hypnosis would argue that all conversation is, in some way, hypnosis. Not unlike techniques you might read in Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” your goal is to influence the other person by appealing to their subconscious rather than their conscious. Essentially, you’re having a “debate” with a hidden part of their mind.
According to James Braid, one of the progenitors of hypnosis, conversational hypnosis has four main stages.
Gain the Subject’s Attention – In this step, the hypnotist will use intense concentration to absorb the subject’s attention. You’ll have to do your best to eliminate all distractions for this to work.
Bypass Criticism – This step refers to getting around the part of the subject’s mind that denies the possibility of someone successfully hypnotizing them.
Activate an Unconscious Response – Eliciting an unconscious response from the subject will reveal whether or not the hypnosis has been successful.
Lead the Unconscious to the Desired Outcome – This step requires using hypnotic methods to lead the unconscious mind, which you now have a grip on to a particular outcome
What Applications Does Conversational Hypnosis Have?
As you might infer from the information presented above, those who practice conversational hypnosis most commonly utilize it in debates, business dealings, and sales. You also see it used in motivational speaking, especially in cases where there is some seemingly insurmountable problem (debt, drug use, alcoholism) to be conquered by the subject or subjects.
There are also practical applications for conversational hypnosis in one’s private life. If you have issues communicating with your peers, loved ones, or co-workers, many of these techniques can help you gain the confidence you need to master interpersonal communication. Rather than controlling your subject, you might learn to control yourself better as you communicate.
It is, of course, worth noting that not every person who uses conversational hypnosis will do so morally or responsibly. Like owning a gun or driving a car, there will always be people who are capable of doing something responsibly but choose not to.
Conversational Hypnosis Techniques
Let’s take a closer look at conversational hypnosis techniques.
The Use (and Understanding) of Body Language
While hypnosis is not generally thought of to be a visual phenomenon, the link you need to establish to perform conversational hypnosis well depends significantly on visual factors. As conversational hypnosis relies on a strong connection, your ability to present the proper body language to the subject is crucial, as is your ability to read the cues they’re showing you.
Conversational hypnosis, like meditation or yoga, should be thought of as a steady process, not something one does quickly or dramatically. Accomplishing this means ensuring that your tone, demeanor, and body language are all incredibly calm. You should be utterly focused on the subject, non-threatening, and making and maintaining eye contact whenever possible.
When it comes to reading the subject’s visual cues, you can determine a lot about where they are in the hypnosis process from their eyes. People tend to nervously glance away and allow their eyes to dart around during conversation. Your goal is to lock the subject’s eyes in your own. Meeting their gaze will enable you to read what’s going on in their subconscious.
The same goes for your subject’s body language. Not only will you want to read up on what given body language means, but you’ll also want to do your best to get them to mimic your body language or vice versa. This type of synchronicity is a big part of how conversational hypnosis works and should be one of the first goals of any session.
The Use of Submodalities
Submodalities are a frequently-heard term in hypnotism circles, as they are quite intrinsic to many methods of hypnosis in use today. The fact that they are so essential, however, does little to explain what they are to newcomers.
In essence, submodalities refer to the finer distinctions of our senses. We have five basic senses (sight, hearing, tasting, touch, and smell). These are referred to as representational systems or modalities, as they allow us to “represent” to our mind what we are seeing, hearing, etc. Submodalities, as you might deduce, are the thousands of ways we can define what we are tasting, seeing, and hearing.
Over time, these submodalities become deeply associated with certain things the subject perceives, and these, in turn, become deeply linked to emotions and mental experiences. In effect, tasting something bitter can trigger a range of emotions and feelings, whether the subject wants to experience them or not.
A talented conversational hypnotist will analyze their subject for these types of reactions and responses. Once you have identified these positive and negative emotions (and their associations), you can use those cues to your advantage to activate that feeling. In essence, your understanding of your subject’s submodalities can allow you to alter their emotions at will.
The Use of Keywords
Keywords are specific phrases or terms that cause the subject’s mind to react before they can consciously decide not to. Such phrases include “relax” or “imagine.” When a person hears these terms, their subconscious mind immediately goes into action, often without them realizing it. The ability to cause such a reaction is understandably useful in hypnosis, particularly conversational hypnosis.
One of the best uses of keywords is to get the subject to visualize something. By telling them to imagine or think of a particular object or scenario, you are programming their mind in a way that has endless potential for you. Depending on what you tell them to visualize and what keywords you use to do so, you can accomplish a wide range of hypnotic goals.
The Use of Ambiguity
As we’ll see when we get to the subjects of cold and warm reading, ambiguity is an essential component of many conversational hypnosis techniques. Using ambiguous language forces the subject’s conscious mind to remain busy figuring out the meaning behind the terms you’re using. While this is happening, you can use more specific language to implant suggestions in the subject’s mind.
You see this type of manipulation in sales and political speech all the time. Rather than a person telling the subject exactly how their policies, product, or services will benefit them, they talk about embracing “change” and “progress.” Words like “innovative” and “proven” replace actual demonstrated results. With ambiguity, the sky’s the limit when attempting conversational hypnosis.
The Use of Conjunctions
Using conjunctions is one of the most popular conversational hypnosis techniques because it is incredibly easy yet still not so apparent as to immediately signal the subject as to your intentions. The method works by having you state several absolute, irrefutable truths that the person you’re speaking to would never think to contradict. Afterward, you like the information to a suggestion through a conjunction.
One of the most common conjunctions when it comes to conversational hypnosis is “because.” The conscious mind is quite powerful when it comes to blocking unwanted information, including facts that might change the subject’s world view or force them to accept a truth they had previously discounted. The word “because,” when proceeded by accepted facts, allows you to get around this.
Essentially, it works like this: the conscious mind carefully validates all information given to it to see if it has the potential to change the subject’s viewpoint. If the first few facts prove not to cause a conflict, it becomes less stringent in its evaluations. This moment is the perfect time for a conjunction statement to bypass the conscious and reach the subconscious where it can more effectively change the mind of the viewer.
The Use of Presuppositions
Typically, in hypnosis, the goal is to distract the subject’s conscious mind so that you may implant a suggestion in the subconscious. With presupposition, you can effectively reverse this process. Presupposition begins with the suggestion, and the hypnotist then begins distracting the subject’s conscious mind to prevent the idea from being too closely scrutinized.
Presupposition is another technique that crops up a lot in sales and advertising. You’re probably familiar with phrases like “product X can help you do Y and Z while also assisting with A and B.” Phrases like this, however, are heavily scrutinized by the conscious mind. To get around the conscious mind, we would attempt to state the above sentence with more generalized terms.
With presuppositions in place, the sentence becomes “product x is reliable and innovative, helping you do more while costing less and assisting with all manner of common problems.” Through this phrasing, the subject is more inclined to believe the suggestion is truthful, as there are fewer specific claims for their conscious mind to scrutinize.
The Use of Analogue Marking
Unlike many of the conversational hypnosis techniques on this list, analogue marketing is something that many of us do naturally in our daily conversations.
The goal is to highlight certain keywords and phrases while talking with your subject. Doing this successfully can sometimes help you directly communicate with their unconscious mind. While it can take a little practice to get right, analogue marking is incredibly useful.
Analogue marking relies on one simple fact: changes in the immediate environment are almost always noticed by the subconscious mind. Through this technique, the hypnotist will induce some sort of alteration to the current situation while simultaneously sending a message to their subject. Think of it as creating a “window” to the subconscious by stimulating it to take over the subject’s mind briefly.
The reason analogue marking appears much later on this list is that hypnotists have a much better success rate with this technique after they have already established rapport and trust. This means that you might need to implement some of the above techniques first, before attempting this one. Assuming you’ve determined that needed rapport, you would then perform the following steps:
- Decide on the message that you want to communicate to your subject’s unconscious mind. It can be pretty much anything, but it should be a form of command or instruction, regardless of how subtle.
- Consider the context in which you would convey the message, including the location. Make sure the setting will not force the message or the change you induce to seem too out of place. For instance, you wouldn’t want to use an audio cue at a concert or loud setting.
- As you communicate the message, perform an action, or alter the environment in such a way that it will “mark” the words in the subject’s mind. There are lots of ways to do this, from changing the tone or pitch of your voice to touching them, touching yourself, or moving your head in a certain way.
- When appropriately done, this change in the environment will be noted by the subject’s subconscious mind, allowing the message to take deeper root.
The Use of Persuasive Voice Pitch
As we just mentioned, there is power in the pitch of your voice. Indeed, many conversational hypnosis practitioners alter their voices in some way or another nearly every time they are working with a subject. Not only is it one of the most straightforward techniques to learn, but it can also be combined with other items on this list to create a more lasting subconscious impression.
On an unconscious level, the pitch or tone of your voice can indicate to the subject how you’re trying to communicate, not just what. You can say a sentence in a dozen different ways, altering the pitch each time, and the subject will have a different subconscious reaction to each one. For the sake of brevity, however, we’ll just go over the basics.
- Rising Pitch – A phrase that begins low and slower and rises to a higher, more shrill pitch is subconsciously indicative of a question. Even if the sentence itself does not ask anything, the mind interprets this pitch presentation as one that seeks additional information.
- Level Pitch – A phrase that starts and ends with the same pitch, never wavering throughout, is mostly indicative of a statement. When you speak this way, your words are more likely to be considered by the subject.
- Descending Pitch – A phrase that starts high and ends low and more slowly is subconsciously indicative of a command. As you might expect, this is particularly useful in conversational hypnosis. With a little practice, you can learn to manipulate conversations and access your subject’s subconscious at will.
The Use of Misdirection
Magicians have been using misdirection to their benefit for hundreds of years. Not only is misdirection rather easy to master, but its uses (particularly in hypnosis) are also virtually endless. The goal of misdirection is to divert a subject or audience’s attention to something unrelated to the covert action that is about to be performed. For covert hypnosis, this is usually conversational.
If the goal is to get someone to do something via covert suggestion, you would want to divert their attention away from that suggestion in some way. You can do this by changing the wording of the proposal, changing its context, or both. You can harness a variety of submodalities to accomplish this, referring to things that are in the environment or inside the subject’s mind.
Misdirection is also quite useful when the subject is being resistant to your hypnotic attempts, especially if they accuse you of trying to manipulate them. In this instance, the goal is to quickly distract them from the revelation you are actively altering their thoughts while remaining perfectly calm.
NOTE: As you can see from our suggestions so far, there is no “one technique” that will make conversational hypnosis successful. Instead, you have an array of “weapons” at your disposal that you must use as the changing situation dictates.
The Use of Deception
Deception, while it may sound devious, refers more to the concealment of your intentions to hypnotize someone than it does to some flouting of the moral conduct code. In conversational hypnosis, deception will have a wide range of forms. For instance, you might make up a story about your past to help gain rapport with your subject, or you might deny something they’ve seen you do or say.
Deception is essential to concealing your true intentions, but it is not necessarily synonymous with outright lying for personal benefit. While this is one of the significant moral hang-ups people what when it comes to conversational hypnosis, it is up to the man or woman doing the hypnotizing to determine how far is too far.
The Use of Cold, Warm, and Hot Reading
Cold reading is a common trick of “psychics” and mediums who want to create the illusion that they can read minds or see the future, past, etc. In reality, cold reading, warm reading, and hot reading are much more frequent (and scientifically supported) in the world of hypnosis. This fact is particularly true of conversational hypnosis, which relies significantly on all of these techniques.
Cold Reading
Cold reading involves making vague statements about a person, their likes and dislikes, or their past experiences after a period of observation. These statements are mostly random guesses that you word in such a way that your subject might lead you to the correct answer. In turn, you can work questions like these to lead your subject to your conclusion about them.
Cold reading is essential to the conversational hypnosis process because it establishes a subconscious rapport between you and your subject. Where a crowd at a psychic’s show might see them as having supernatural abilities, your subject will instead see you as having a unique insight into their personality or behaviors. This feeling, in turn, will put you in a position of dominance.
Warm Reading
Warm reading is similar to cold reading, but it doesn’t require any pre-analysis for you to use it successfully. Instead, warm reading involves making generalized statements that can apply to virtually anyone, and then using the subject’s responses to build a mental profile of them quickly.
You could say, “clearly, you’ve changed a lot in the past few years.” This phrase can apply to virtually anyone, yet still establishes your position of dominance and insight.
Hot Reading
Hot reading, more than any other type of conversation techniques, is likely to leave your subject completely amazed. However, there is nothing particularly innovative or scientific about the process. In essence, you’re going to present your subject with 100% accurate, precise information about them. You’ll be able to do this because you’ll have attained that information ahead of time.
When you present a subject with info that they don’t expect you to have, you can create the illusion that you are much more insightful than they could have possibly imagined. Such a situation provides you with mountains of conversation and leverage. From this point on, you will be able to use any of the other techniques on this list to establish your position further.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are quite a few techniques that you can learn to master the art of conversational hypnosis. Despite how the techniques vary, you can also see that the goal remains mostly the same: circumventing or breaking through the subject’s conscious mind to access and alter the subconscious.
From getting better at sales and marketing to learning how to better interact with your peers at work, there are hundreds of different applications for these techniques. In time, with a little practice, you can become a successful conversational hypnotist.
