Exploring The Psychology Of Suggestion

In this article, I’d like you to think about the concept of ‘suggestion’ and the psychology that sits behind the conscious delivery of an effective suggestion. You may have come across the concept of ‘suggestion’ before, perhaps connected with the highly efficacious work which underpins the discipline of Hypnosis? A well-crafted suggestion delivered whilst someone is experiencing a deep state of relaxation is a gentle yet powerful catalyst for behavioural change.

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I’d like you to consider ‘waking suggestion’, those suggestions that you create in your business life or home life to positively suggest some action or element of thought to someone else. Suggestion can also take the form of ‘autosuggestion’ and these are the suggestions that you give to yourself through the medium of your internal dialogue. Your unconscious mind is always listening to your self talk and consistently acts on the suggestions embedded within it.

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So, what is suggestion?

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A suggestion is any single thought, series of thoughts, ideas, words, beliefs or actions given in any manner. A suggestion may be delivered directly, indirectly, consciously or unconsciously and has the effect of changing or altering a person’s normal behavioural patterns. A suggestion is any process whereby a person accepts a command, a plea, a proposition, a thought, idea, belief or any direction to be acted upon in the absence of any critical or reflective thoughts which would normally occur. A suggestion can also be defined as any process which causes one group or one person to have a subtle or direct influence on another’s behaviour in any state, whether it be conscious, unconscious or hypnotic state.

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Suggestions come to us in a variety of ways, influencing your daily life since birth. Let’s consider a few examples:

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Direct Suggestions are any verbal statement or non-verbal physical action that are direct, to the point and bear no camouflage as to their intent. They are often delivered in a very authoritarian and persuasive manner. Here are some examples of direct suggestions:

• Everybody stand up. (Authoritarian)

• Everybody stand up, please. (Persuasive)

• Pass the sugar.

• Come here.

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As you can see, direct suggestions are heard day in, day out and you respond accordingly, without much in the way of critical thought.

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Prestige suggestions are those that you accept and act upon as your own without a second thought or contradiction. This happens because the suggestion was given by a person of prestige whom you like, trust, respect or have a measure of confidence in. There is a perception, rightly or wrongly, that accepting a prestige suggestion will enhance your life in a very positive way and so you accept it uncritically. An example of Prestige Suggestion in action is the phenomenon that is often referred to a ‘White Coat Syndrome’. If a person is wearing a white laboratory coat, it suggests that they are a person of science and knowledge and so what they say is often believed and acted upon.

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Conditioned Reflex Suggestions cause a person to form a habitual pattern or way of life based on a continuous, constant, repetitious learning process. This type of learning process is known as reflex conditioning and it can be both a conscious and unconscious process that can alter a person’s pattern of behaviour with or without their awareness. These types of suggestions affect all 5 of our processing senses (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory) and can be both self-induced or externally induced. Here are some examples of Conditioned Reflex Suggestions:

• A jolly man rings a bell and you automatically buy their ice cream.

• Parades, mob violence, political rallies may all stimulate both physical and emotional responses.

• During religious ceremonies we accept dogmas and doctrines without question.

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As you accept suggestions during your daily life, in the waking state, the door to volitional use of suggestion is wide open to those who would study suggestion in more detail. There are clear business applications of using suggestive language to influence and inspire others, ecologically with a win-win target of course. The use of the language that comes from hypnosis has traversed the Hypnotherapy/Business border and is now roaming freely in the business world with great effect. You hear more hypnotic phraseology during your working day than you would care to imagine. I hope that you are making full use of suggestion in your business life?

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If you would like to study the psychology of suggestion in more detail, then our Enhanced NLP Coach Practitioner Certification Training is your key learning point.

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