Suggestibility – what is it: reasons, factors, examples

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Without noticing it, people receive suggestions from their environment and, to the same extent, influence others. All beliefs, ideas, thoughts, even characters and morals, are suggestible. It is an effective remedy to manage various forms of the condition. It is actively used in medicine, sports, and pedagogy. The main task of influence is to bring positive aspects and teach people to benefit. But there is a category of people to whom it is especially easy to impose their ideas, thoughts, and considerations.

What is suggestibility

A suggestible person is one who is easy to subordinate to someone else's will. This has not only disadvantages, but also its advantages.

Education occurs through suggestion. There are no people completely free from the judgments and opinions of others. First, parents tell their children what is good and what is bad. They convey information about the world around them within the framework of its advantages and disadvantages. Then along the way we meet other people who can also somehow influence us. Psychologists claim that the degree of suggestibility of each person has its own characteristics.

Pros and cons of quality

People who are suggestible easily adapt to circumstances and rarely conflict. They quickly remember any information and very often become professionals in one field.

Positive qualities:

• availability of talents;
• easy and quick perception of any information;
• plasticity of psyche and logic;
• high learning ability.

The disadvantages of suggestible people include the fact that they trustingly accept criticism addressed to them and have low self-esteem. They very quickly succumb to the influence of scammers, because they believe in the good deeds of other people.

Negative qualities:

• quick change of opinion;
• falling under the influence of scammers or swindlers;
• the emergence of frequent conflicts from a diversity of opinions.

Frequent conflicts are a possible consequence of increased suggestibility

Increased suggestibility does not interfere with a person’s life, but its degree can affect the quality of life.

Mass indoctrination

A person in a group is very similar to being hypnotized, as he tends to obey a large number of people. He accepts certain views when a large number of people around him hold those views.

Suggestion here depends on the simple force of number, and it is called "collective suggestion." Group indoctrination plays a large role in shaping individual behavior.

Out of fear of public opinion, Rama abandoned his beloved wife Sita. Widows in ancient India sacrificed themselves in their husbands' funeral pyres.

Every man or woman, when choosing a certain course of action, takes into account social approval or disapproval of these actions, thinking “what will people say?”

When several people suggest the same thing (right or wrong), a person accepts it without argument.

There is a story in the Panchatantra about how a Brahmana was fooled by some miscreants who told him one after another that the lamb he was carrying with him was a dog, and the poor Brahmana was forced to believe it.

Toothpaste advertising is done through a number of agencies and media and this influences people. Election campaigning is also carried out through several sources only to create a collective indoctrination.

Mass rallies, processions and campaigning work precisely on this principle. Signature collection campaigns are conducted in such a way that a mass of people who are initially reluctant to join a particular movement are influenced by many signatures.

Governments are also concerned about mass protests.

Mass indoctrination has a number of educational consequences:

• A class is an organized group. If the whole class or majority of students come to a certain decision, it affects the individual student. The group now has power. If the majority of students go astray, the rest also tend to follow the majority. The teacher must be careful with this.
• The teacher must treat the class with understanding. He must win the sympathy of the majority. If he fails to gain their trust, he may not be able to stand up to the class.
• When a teacher punishes one or two students, he should see that the majority of the students are on his side. Otherwise, mass indoctrination will work, and the entire class may rebel.
• A teacher should create good traditions in the classroom. The newcomer automatically adapts to these traditions. Thus, the prestige of the class or the entire school increases.
• The majority is the authority. If the majority of pupils (students) follow a certain tradition, everyone else should follow the same tradition.

Example 1: An experiment was conducted in Madras regarding school uniforms. The principal feared that it would not be possible to enforce the uniform because parents belonging to the middle and lower classes would object to it.

The director used mass suggestion. He managed to provide thirty percent of the students (who were poor) with free uniforms. When they came to school in uniform, many others who could afford them followed suit.

For some time, 20 to 30 percent of students did not show up in uniform. But over time, mass suggestion worked in their heads, and they forced their parents to take on the form. The school helped only a small number of families who could not afford to buy it themselves.

Example 2: The principal of a college wanted to shorten the holiday period for the benefit of the students. If he had called a staff meeting and made a proposal, he would have lost. But he personally convinced most of the staff members before he called a staff meeting.

When the majority said “I agree... I agree,” the dissenting participants in the meeting, who were in the minority, were puzzled and silent.

Suggestibility indicators

Suggestible people blindly follow advice, even if they wanted to do differently. They can easily change their views and opinions and are prone to irritation and imitation.

Suggestibility indicators:

• timidity, dependence, gullibility;
• impressionability, the presence of an inferiority complex;
• anxiety, emotionality, low self-esteem;
• subject to the influence of hypnosis;
• lack of confidence in one’s own strengths and assertions;
• slowness of thinking;
• presence of mental disorders;
• tendency to imitate.

Suggestible individuals do not know how to compare facts and reason, and do not have their own opinions. They constantly worry about their behavior, feel anxious when they need to make an independent choice, and doubt the correctness of their actions. They are always in search of a person, preferably one of authority and status, who will advise and help, and will inspire the right choice.

Main features

Increased or excessive suggestibility manifests itself not only in a state of trance, but also in the behavior of an individual in familiar conditions. Willingness to obey affects the personal and professional qualities of an individual. She is the ideal subordinate, a worker who can follow the leader and not challenge his authority. She simply accepts other people's ideas - increased individual suggestibility is combined with low self-esteem, then it is difficult for a man or woman to believe in their own strengths.

Advice for such people is a guide to action. Suggestible and weak people quickly agree and rarely start arguments. They are calm and complex. Such people are dependent on the mood of others, they become infected by the general mood, regardless of personal preferences. The measure of suggestibility is reinforced by additional unfavorable conditions: against the background of increased anxiety and frequent stress, the readiness to obey increases. The gullibility and apathy of the suggestible personality are hypnotizability assistants and determine the overall influence of hypnosis.

Factors and reasons

Suggestible people may not even suspect that they are being influenced. There are situations in which they become a victim of obsession. Suggestibility is influenced by factors:

• degree of importance of information;
• fatigue and lack of time;
• stress and pressure from others;
• uncertainty in choice;
• psychological instability;
• alcohol or drug addiction.

Children and the elderly are quickly suggestible. During illness or a stressful situation, it is easy to inspire specific actions in people. When a person understands the result of influence, his self-esteem drops. Suggestibility depends on the following categories:

• circumstances;
• life experience;
• the level of education;
• age.

You can succumb to suggestion both under the influence of hypnosis and due to low self-esteem. Stopping being influenced is difficult, but possible.

"A Clockwork Orange" (1962)

Anthony Burgess
Alex combines a love of violence and beauty. He is a victim of his time, who is also the executioner of the system. After a juvenile delinquent is placed in an experimental re-education program, he loses the part of himself that was responsible for his will to live. Without inner impulses, Alex becomes subhuman. And Beethoven’s favorite music now only causes nausea.

You shouldn't expect a happy ending here. This book is a reflection on the nature of human cruelty and the desire for beauty.

Degrees of suggestibility

In psychology there is a concept of the degree of suggestibility. It can be increased and mild. The first is typical for people:

• poorly educated;
• with mental disorders;
• prone to hysteria.

The second degree is observed in a certain situation:

• under the influence of alcohol;
• under stress;
• during hysterics;
• in children 7-11 years old.

When under stress, a person becomes more suggestible

Dangers

Suggestible and weak people can be dangerous to themselves and others. Self-hypnosis and outside suggestion are equally dangerous. The personality tends to accept incorrect judgments as verified facts. She has no personal opinion, or she cannot defend it.

Self-hypnosis is dangerous for people with low self-esteem. They are better at accepting negative information that confirms their inadequacy. There are two types of suggestibility: primary, associated with self-hypnosis, and secondary, based on low self-esteem and lack of motivation.

The danger of self-hypnosis or suggestion also lies in the fact that a person does not come to conclusions on his own, and therefore cannot rely on them in a difficult moment. The instilled beliefs only seem reasonable to her, but they cannot be used for her own benefit. The subconscious mind does not distinguish between random self-hypnosis and the suggestion of a hypnotist, so mental disorders arise, stress resistance decreases, aggression and apathy appear.

Group suggestibility

In addition to individual suggestibility, group suggestibility is distinguished. The so-called crowd effect. When a group of people is influenced by one person, the individual cannot control his emotions and thoughts. He thinks and acts the same way as the people in his group. The very acceptance of information occurs as if under hypnosis. This is unconscious and uncontrolled suggestibility. A person may unconsciously perceive information just to be in this group. This is not always a negative effect. Categories of such groups accompany people throughout their lives:

• groups in kindergarten or school;
• group of friends;
• team;
• circles and sections.

The desire to be in a group becomes higher than one’s own principles and life positions. An individual cannot be alone and therefore must accept the rules of the group and obey them.

Briefly about the main thing

People live in society, so it is not at all surprising that each of us is influenced by different factors throughout our lives. Suggestion in psychology is the introduction into a person’s consciousness of ideas, beliefs and opinions that belong to another individual or even a group of people. Moreover, these ideas must necessarily have an impact on a person’s future life and his actions.

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It turns out that the concept of suggestibility is a reflection of such character traits of a person that incline him to obey the influence of the environment: the media, people, groups, etc. At the same time, not every individual understands that he is suggestible; he can accept the group’s ideas as his own and follow them. Suggestible people are usually somewhat different from the general mass. They have certain features:

• Timidity.
• Dependence on others.
• Gullibility.
• Increased impressionability.
• Excessive emotionality.
• Anxiety.
• Low self-esteem.
• Poorly developed logic.
• Slow progress of mental processes.
• Diffidence.

It is worth noting that suggestibility to one degree or another is inherent in absolutely all people. If this were not the case, then we would hardly be able to accumulate social experience.

Agree, for example, that the process of upbringing is also an example of suggestibility: parents tell their children every day about how to behave and how not to behave, what is good and what is bad, etc. Teaching is again a process of suggestion, the teacher planting some information in the heads of students. Many more similar examples can be given.

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Suggestibility within normal limits does not in any way prevent a person from living, but if the degree of this characteristic is increased, then the person becomes pliable and is ready to believe in any information. Manipulators often take advantage of such individuals, forcing them to do something to benefit themselves.

Misconceptions

Many people are susceptible to influence and suggestion, but there are no absolutely non-suggestible people. Those people who claim that they live completely only in their thoughts seem to be protecting themselves from the world. They want to prove to themselves that they don’t look at anyone and don’t listen to anyone. But that's not true. Any information that comes to us is already an influence, someone’s opinion, which is sometimes worth following, and not just accepting.

The consequences of suggestion can also include elementary rules of behavior and established requirements in society. Teachers at school give knowledge - this is also suggestion and a requirement for its processing and perception. Each person then learns to extract from the information received what they need for themselves. This confirms the fact that suggestibility is not such a bad quality as it seems. It is necessary to benefit from information.

Some psychologists study the power of suggestion as a method of combating illness. In the category of patients there are those who have caused the disease to themselves.

Self-hypnosis

Sometimes a person receives a suggestion from himself, from his inner essence. In this case, the giver and recipient of the suggestion are the same person. This is called self-hypnosis.

The patient may say to himself: “I am getting better and better every day.” A politician inspires himself: “I will be the winner in the elections.” The student inspires himself: “I will definitely pass the exam.”

In all of these examples, the person is an optimistic thinker and strives to improve his or her weaknesses. It adds confidence to yourself. These are cases of positive self-hypnosis.

In negative self-hypnosis, a person says: “I won’t be able to pass the exam,” “I have a bad memory,” “Others don’t like me,” “I’m not popular,” etc. Thus, a person underestimates himself and is filled with pessimism.

Positive self-hypnosis is very useful. It gives you self-confidence. The Indian Army, with the positive self-image “We are the brave Jawans”, has demonstrated excellence and performed great feats in military conflicts with China and Pakistan.

The teacher should promote positive self-hypnosis in the classroom. This instills in students optimism, self-confidence and a positive attitude towards life.

Negative self-hypnosis is dangerous. It can lead a guilty person to the feeling of committing a deep sin and crime, a weak person to apathy and depression, a lagging student to repeated failures, and so on.

Psychologists and teachers of the East and West have always used positive self-hypnosis in all unusual situations and states of mental disorder.

Renowned Indian philosopher Patanjali emphasizes the importance of positive self-hypnosis for maintaining good mental health. He says that whenever a person feels weak, let him say to himself: “I am strong.”

When sick, let him say: “I am healthy.”

This way he will control his anxious thoughts. They can be controlled by opposing positive thoughts passed through oneself.

State of increased suggestibility

Hypnosis is a state of increased suggestibility. Many people are sure that they are smart and strong in spirit, so hypnosis is not scary for them. They confuse suggestibility with gullibility.

Hypnosis is a human condition characterized by increased suggestibility

Gullibility is the concept of simplicity and gullibility. Such people are easy to deceive and convince. Hypnosis rejects the idea that only the stupid and undeveloped, the gullible, can fall into a state of hypnosis. On the contrary, hypnosis increases the level of suggestibility. The smarter a person is, the more developed his thinking is, the higher his suggestibility. Hypnosis does not aim to deceive. It creates a situation in which it is easy to instill ideas. Psychologists have proven that the most suggestible individuals are very smart and talented. They easily receive information with new ideas and views. They can quickly make them their own, remake them for themselves.

Examples of unconscious influence

One of them, a man, for example, at that moment decided to spit out the collected saliva and does it not towards the lawn, but at the feet of a young girl walking towards him. This can be regarded as a manifestation of the stranger’s negative attitude towards the girl who happened to be walking by. Or you might just think that the guy is poorly educated and always acts so ugly. But that same girl has no idea about the real thoughts of the person she meets, so she takes this spit personally. This means her mood and self-esteem suffers.

Suddenly, on this very day, the young lady, in her opinion, did not look very good. And in her opinion, the guy noticed her shortcomings and reacted this way to her second appearance. One way or another, the psychological trauma was inflicted on the young lady in a matter of seconds. The young man’s unconscious behavior did not influence the stranger in the best way. Without suspecting it, he instilled in her a feeling of inferiority and gave her a complex.

Another example of a negative impact would be going to the cinema. At the cinema box office, watching a pair of lovers, you can identify the leader, because this is not always a man, and understand who sets the tone for the relationship and influences the behavior of the partner. She wants to watch a film about love, which is natural, it’s horror. Their desires are currently separate. And then the opposition begins - who will win. A clearly negative psychological influence is used - insults, tears, screams and threats.

Most often girls suffer from this. For them, such methods are the simplest instrument of manipulation. Men, as a rule, have one answer - silence, frowning and active analysis of probable outcomes. A soft and compliant man knows even before entering the cinema what film he and his companion will watch today. Also, truly men in love give all the reins in choosing a film to their girls. He will watch a film that the guy himself likes alone at any convenient moment.

TV advertising can be considered both a negative and a positive example of persuasion or suggestion. And, as you know, they advertise everything you need. For example, medications are something that is difficult for many to refuse. Pharmaceutical companies are investing multimillion-dollar sums in information that will impact billions. This or that remedy will eliminate a specific problem for a specific person. The TV viewer watched and forgot, but the information received was fixed in the subcortex of the brain. This means that there was contact with direct and even positive suggestion. And as soon as a person has a health problem, he remembers active advertising calls and rushes to the pharmacy for a healing drug. The direct influence of advertising on human behavior can be traced across all positions of the promoted product.

The method of repeated suggestion of information works especially well. Fashion can be considered such an influence option. The creation of clothes by one person, its promotion and sale to the masses is the simplest chain when one idea influences the masses. Everyone strives to imitate fashion trends, models and stars. This desire is dictated by many years of repeated suggestions about fashion, beauty and the demand for certain things, hairstyles, shoes, and cosmetics. Fashion influence is a conscious influence on the part of fashion trendsetters and those who obey their laws.

The former give a message about a fashion item, the latter accept this message and become potential buyers. They already know that they will purchase the product of that particular brand or specific model of dress or coat that they saw in the advertising space and believed what was said there. Fashion is just imitation, the desire to be like everyone else. A kind of psychological dependence on other people's opinions. After all, if you are not dressed in the latest fashion, then you are a profane person. Only brave and self-sufficient individuals are able to resist the imposition of thoughts and behavior.

Children, due to their age, have not yet reached the level of conscious choice and often imitate adults. The result of the influence depends on which adult is next to the child. A bad example is a bad educational result, and vice versa. Drinking, yelling and poorly behaved adults will have the most unfavorable impact on their child, which will further lead to negative behavior in the family of the grown-up heir. Any educational, and therefore influential, example always carries a load. It is better to be a positive example and influence the future of your children only positively.

Fighting methods

If a person is highly suggestible, this causes a lot of problems for her and those around her. Often, someone else's unnecessary opinion creates a barrier in relationships between loved ones or friends. Ways to combat the feeling of suggestibility:

• work on improving your self-esteem;
• actively develop abstract thinking skills;
• learn to operate with facts;
• know how to check the information presented;
• learn to process information, analyze and extract only useful data;
• Participate in training to develop critical thinking.

A high degree of suggestibility does not allow you to live your life. All emotions, views, concepts are dulled and relegated to the background. Such an individual succumbs to stress, which leads to complete abstraction and lack of will. If he comes across a person with good intentions on the way, who allows him to believe in his own strength, then suggestibility will become a faithful companion.

Bottom line

Any quality that is inherent in all people has its positive and negative sides. We should not talk about suggestibility as an exclusively negative quality, since it allows you to quickly adapt to the world around you and learn the rules of society. The result is high adaptability.

A negative feature of suggestibility can be the loss of one’s own opinion by an individual. A person can forget about who he is, since all his ideas are based solely on the feedback of others. This does not help in establishing contacts with people, but even destroys or distorts them. To prevent this from happening, in a situation where you are confused, seek the help of a psychotherapist on the website psymedcare.ru.

You can learn the very skills of suggestibility. After all, not only other people can influence you, but you can also influence them.

If you want to evoke positive emotions in your interlocutor, then you should remember the simple saying that “they meet you by the way you are dressed.” Although people hope that their opinion about themselves can be changed as they communicate, they do not see the obvious: most often people both meet and see each other off.

You can impress another person with your appearance! This is a fact that is undeniable. You can amaze someone with your behavior, character, and manner of communication. But if all this is not supported by an appearance that should be attractive and bewitching, then any of your attempts to impress may be pointless. This is also a method of suggestion.

Be that as it may, people are still “led” by appearances. Just as men pay attention to beautiful women, women evaluate the external image of men. And sometimes it’s not so much about beauty, but about how a person positions himself. If you remain silent and the other person does not exchange a word with you, then what can he say about you, looking at you from the side? It is your appearance that conveys your essence. And if all this is supported by your behavior and manner of communication, then this adds bonuses.

To impress a person, sometimes you just need to look rich, beautiful or well-groomed. People are “led” by external surroundings. Of course, communication may not work out. But still, external attractiveness plays a big role in who a person wants to meet, communicate with and continue a relationship with.

Clinical diagnosis

Establishing an accurate diagnosis can take a long time. The problem is that patients get to the doctor late. They go to specialized specialists, and often in circles until they get to a psychiatrist. Uncertainty can last for months and even years.

In the client clinic:

• They carefully question and listen to complaints.
• They examine.
• Investigated by physical, laboratory and instrumental methods.
• They are referred to specialists for clarification.

Psychologists are involved in the diagnostic process, prescribing:

• Carrying out tests.
• Application of questionnaires.
• Projective techniques.

Only after a final diagnosis has been established is a treatment plan selected.

Description

It is an individual personality trait and depends on a number of characterological characteristics (for example, in hysterical individuals it is higher than in psychasthenics), on age (higher in children), and certain painful conditions (increased suggestibility is typical for alcoholics).

Suggestibility depends on the psychological state of the individual at one time or another, his emotionality, degree of fatigue, etc. It is largely interconnected with conformity, that is, with the tendency to subordinate one’s behavior to the influence of other people (such “group pressure” is more determined by social factors) .

Varying degrees of suggestibility and its nature determine the choice of psychotherapeutic techniques - hypnotherapy, rational psychotherapy. Suggestibility regarding hypnotic influence - hypnotizability. There are special suggestiveness tests.

Test by S. N. Astakhov (1962)

Light pressure on the eyelids in the area of ​​the superciliary arches after appropriate exposure in persons with increased suggestibility and hypnotizability causes the eyelids to close.

Test by P. I. Buhl (1955)

The subject is given a metal weight suspended on a thread, to which a horseshoe-shaped, specially painted “magnet” cut from wood is either brought in or removed.

The patient is told to pay attention to the supposed deviations in the position of the load under the influence of the “magnet”. In suggestible individuals, the load actually begins to swing in a given direction due to the occurrence of ideomotor movements.

Features of the formation of disorders

The pathogenetic scheme of disease development includes several stages.

The violation is formed against the background of:

• The tendency of the target organ to be affected by a stress agent.
• Accumulation of affective tension.
• Excessive response to stress of the autonomic nervous system.
• The appearance of deviations in the functioning of neuroendocrine reactions.

Due to disease processes:

• Physiological nerve impulses are disrupted.
• The innervation of blood vessels and blood circulation suffers.
• Ischemia and metabolic failures occur in the organs.

In the very initial (functional) stages, if treatment is used, the process is reversible. If timely assistance is not provided, the patient develops somatic pathology.

Literature:

1. Psychosomatic diseases: Full. reference / [E.V. Bochanova and others; Ed. Yu.Yu. Eliseeva]. - M.: EKSMO, 2003 (N. Novgorod: GIPP Nizhpoligraf). – 602 s.
2. Psychosomatic diseases: theory and practical research / [D. N. Efremova, O. I. Kayasheva]. - Moscow: URAO; St. Petersburg: Scientific Research Center ART, 2015. - 100 p.
3. Mortality of the Moscow population from mental and psychosomatic diseases: Monograph / S. P. Ermakov, Yu. P. Boyko. - M.: Publishing house Ros. Peoples' Friendship University, 2002 (Type. IPK RUDN). – 108 s.

The text was checked by medical experts: Head of the socio-psychological service of the Alkoklinik MC, psychiatrist-narcologist L.A. Serova.

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