In 1974, Phillip Kunz and his family got a record number of Christmas cards. In the weeks before Christmas they came daily, sometimes by the dozen. Kunz still has them in his home, collected in an old photo album. “Dear Phil, Joyce and family,” a typical card reads, “we received your holiday greeting with much…
Influence
Animations, Influence
The Infinite Corridor Illusion
by Brian David Phillips •
Now, here’s a nice example of perception. Take your hand or a business card and cover the center part of the image above and the image seems to speed up. However, if you cover the sides so you only see the center, it seems to slow down. No change in the actual speed, just your…
** Special Student Series, Influence, Interactive Drama
Pretending to be a Superhero could make You more Altruistic in Real Life
by Brian David Phillips •
Can pretending to fly around like Superman inspire you to save the day? Does great power truly encourage great responsibility? A new study suggests that stepping into the role of a superhero in the virtual world could spark more helpful behavior in reality, at least briefly. The study, conducted at Stanford University and published this…
** Special Student Series, Animations, Experiential Trance, Hyperempiria, Hyperacuity, and Suggested Amplified Sensory Association, Hypnosis, Trance, Meditation, and The Rest, Influence, Special Features
Puppies on Fire when Guided Imagery goes Wrong
by Brian David Phillips •
When I teach experiential hypnosis with guided imagery, I stress an approach that is based upon consensual imagery and positive rider suggestions with an aim toward keeping the trance partner in a positive frame and emotional state. Some folks don’t think things through and cause all sorts of cognitive dissonance and worse. I would say…
Influence
Resistance is Futile . . .
by Brian David Phillips •
You know you want to give it a go . . . click on the image to get to the larger version . . . sit comfortably, breathing in and out and relaxing with each breath . . . just sit and stare at the image for three to five minutes . . . see…
** Special Student Series, Hypnosis in the News, Influence, Special Features
“Street Hypnotists” in Hawaii conning Elderly out of Life Savings
by Brian David Phillips •
Evidently, a gang of female street hypnotists are roaming Chinatown in Honolulu and bilking elderly women out of their life savings . . . or at least that’s how some of their victims are describing it. I’m going to go ahead and call BS on this one right off the bat. While the crimes are…
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Hypnotic D/s Webinar Audio Recording
by Brian David Phillips •
On 2 September 2012, Brian David Phillips conducted an online workshop on HYPNOTIC D/S: Erotic eXperiential Hypnosis and Consensual Power eXchange via online webinar chat. The HYPNOTIC D/S online webinar session is an introduction to concepts related to hypnotically creating states of surrender, desire, love, belonging, service, and more in one trance partner to another…
** Special Student Series, Influence
Words Change Your Brain
by Brian David Phillips •
Recent fMRI studies verify that words not only affect one’s emotions they have a genuine effect upon the very structure of the brain, in many cases causing one’s emotional responses to situations to create shortcuts to negative (or, positive) emotional states. Negative words and negative thoughts can and do fuck you up. See an excellent…
Eroticatrance, Influence, Special Features
The Eyes may be the Window into Your Sexual Orientation
by Brian David Phillips •
Well, the Eyes may not be the Window into Your Soul, but they may be an indication of your sexual orientation so now you may have a new tool in your sexual orientation sleuth kit or at least a bit of an adjustment to your gaydar. A number of news outlets have picked upon a…
Eroticatrance, Experiential Trance, eXperiential Trance Dance, Hyperempiria, Hyperacuity, and Suggested Amplified Sensory Association, Hypnosis Videos, Influence, Intuitionist: Psychic Intuitionism, Magic, Metaphysical Hypnosis, Special Features
Ecstatic Evangelical Ecstasy
by Brian David Phillips •
This post is based upon an earlier one but since Todd Bentley is in the news again, this time in a very negative light, it’s worth reposting this again with a bit of a revision. Faith is a very powerful thing . . . when properly ignited it can lead to incredibly powerful experiences .…
** Special Student Series, Eroticatrance, Influence, Special Features
Fake Love Real Love . . . Acting as if You’re in Love leads to Actual Love
by Brian David Phillips •
How’s this for a bit of fascinating research? If you pretend to be in love, you can actually fall in love for real! In Neurolinguistic Programming and Hypnosis training circles there’s an adage that is often used, “fake it ’til you make it” which is essentially based upon the idea that if you are unable…
** Special Student Series, Celebrity Hypnosis, Hypnosis in the News, Influence, Intuitionist: Psychic Intuitionism, Special Features, Trance-Acting: Actors, Directors, Dancers, and Musical Performers
Marina Abramović – The Artist Is Present
by Brian David Phillips •
During the Soul Gazing webinar on Seeing into the Eyes of the Spirit (eXperiential Soul Gazing for Lovers and Beyond) (see here), part of the discussion came around to whether or not one needed to signpost the act of soul gazing or if the methods could be used without overt suggestion. In that discussion, I…
Influence, Metaphysical Hypnosis, Special Features
Exorcise the Gay Away
by Brian David Phillips •
I’ve discussed exorcists and exorcism here before, most recently in reference to the Teen Exorcists who you can hire. Recently, several news sites have picked up on a form of Gay Conversation Therapy that is built upon the assumption that homosexuality is something that can be exorcised from a person’s spirit. The underlying assumption being…
Influence
Hot Girls get more Online Action according to new Study . . . duh
by Brian David Phillips •
Britney Fitzgerald of the Huffington Post reports on a new study which compared contacts, messages, and date queries of male and female profiles that had identical content with only differences in profile photo attractiveness differentiating them. The study found that women received far more contacts than men and that attractive females received much more contacts…
Influence
Strippers and Political Conventions: GOP Biggest Spenders
by Brian David Phillips •
Harry Bradford reports on illicit recreational spending at political conventions (here), particularly looking at recent research that demonstrates conservative conventions spend much more on illicit recreation than liberal conventions. In particular, research has shown that in the United States, Republicans spend more on strippers and prostitutes than their Democratic counterparts. Since Republicans typically campaign on…
** Special Student Series, Influence
Culturally Based Psychological Optical Illusions
by Brian David Phillips •
The following Psychological Optical Illusion is a neat optical illusion, that will be seen differently by different cultures. The perception of the scene in the photo is largely determined by your culture and what part of the world you live in. So what did you see happening in the above picture? Tests were done with…
Influence, Special Features
Pheromone Parties
by Brian David Phillips •
Amy Taxin has discovered a new trend in dating parties . . . nope, not speed dating . . . nope, not key parties . . . smell parties . . . that is, pheromone parties, to be specific. Students in my social communication course this year may recall our discussion of studies that looked…
Eroticatrance, Influence
Women Heat Up when Touched by a Male Stranger
by Brian David Phillips •
Found at Huffington Post, recent study finds that when a woman is touched by a male stranger, her body actually heats up. Women get hotter when they feel a stranger’s touch – especially when the person making contact is a man, a study has shown. Scientists measured a small but significant increase in the facial…
Influence, Intuitionist: Psychic Intuitionism
Study verifies Gaydar . . . duh, no surprise
by Brian David Phillips •
Joshua A. Tabak and Vivian Zayas have published their study confirming GAYDAR in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE, causing a bit of a controversy. Their can be found at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0036671 and the abstract reads: Research has shown that people are able to judge sexual orientation from faces with above-chance accuracy, but little is known about…
Influence
Are Women more likely to Cheat on their Husbands when it’s Raining?
by Brian David Phillips •
According to some research, bad weather increases the chances of folks cheating on their spouses. Evidently this is especially true of women, particularly when it’s raining. Sarah O’Meara writes of studies with illicit dating sites (websites dedicated to helping cheaters find partners to cheat with) that found bad weather has been directly correlated to increased…
Influence
Free Will is an Illusion
by Brian David Phillips •
Victor Stenger discusses how current research in neuroscience has revealed a startling fact that revolutionizes much of what we humans have previously taken for granted about our interactions with the world outside our heads: Our consciousness is really not in charge of our behavior. Laboratory experiments show that before we become aware of making a…
** Special Student Series, Celebrity Hypnosis, Hypnosis Videos, Influence, Intuitionist: Psychic Intuitionism, Special Features
World’s Quickest Personality Test
by Brian David Phillips •
Now, here’s something fun. Richard Wiseman, of Quirkology fame conducts the world’s quickest personality test. Follow Wiseman’s directions to discover what sort of person you are . . . personality wise, that is. Yes, it works; yes, it has genuine results; no, some few folks may have contrary results so it’s not one hundred percent…
Influence, Science Fiction
The Code is Hacking the DNA of Mind Control
by Brian David Phillips •
As my Social Influence and Communication students know, for decades and decades advertisers have been looking for a magick bullet or holy grail of persuasion that allows them to maximize their effectiveness in controlling consumer behaviors while governments have been looking even longer. Well, what it someone . . . someone nefarious had stumbled across…
** Special Student Series, Hypnosis in the News, Influence
Exposure Therapy Makes Things Less Scary — by altering your brain
by Brian David Phillips •
Tim Barribeau takes a look at exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is the practice of exposing people to things they fear in small doses, and it has helped vast numbers of people get over their phobias. But why? Now, a new study has shown that as little as a single session with a tarantula permanently alters…
Influence
The Apparition pretends Supernatural Entities are a Matter of Belief
by Brian David Phillips •
In the no-duh department, the upcoming film The Apparition slips into the realm of belief as what empowers supernatural entities . . . essentially, if you believe in the big bad thyng then it can kill you. We’ve seen this sort of thing before, done well and done not so well, but those of us…
