makaren@alberta.UUCP (Darrell Makarenko) (11/26/84)
Is Reveen, the theatrical hypnotist, a fake?
I saw Reveen put on his show about ten years ago. It was
pretty much identical to the show that he is doing now (as others
have told me). So if he has been touring across North America
for ~ 10 years with the same show then there must be a large group
of people scattered out there who have either
a) been hypnotized at the show or
b) been asked to pretend to be hypnotized
So which is it? Lets find out. Ask your friends and relatives.
Find people who have "performed" in the show. Ask them if they
were faking or really hypnotized and report back to the net.
Surely with all the people in this newgroup we can come to some conclusions.
There is always the possibility that the people who are faking will
lie and say that they were truly hypnotized. However it seems unlikely
that over ten years Reveen could convince all of the fakers to lie.
(Actually there is also a possibility that people who have really been
hypnotized will lie and say that they were faking as some think being
hypnotized is a sign of a weak will)
So let's find all these people and get them to confess on the net as to
what is really happening.
As a final note there is the possibility that the show is a combination
of "really" hypnotized people and actors (just in case the hypnotized
people are not as exciting as they should be.
Looking forward to answering this question once and for all.
Darrell Makarenkommt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (11/27/84)
I can't speak as to Reveen or any other particular hypnotist, but
it doesn't really matter about the performer so long as he has a
good stage presence. The skill of hypnosis is in the subject, not
the hypnotist. People vary in suggestibility (talent for being
hypnotized) and in hypnotizability (developed with practice).
Any reasonably competent person can perform the hypnosis with a
little training. Only about 1% of the population is sufficiently
suggestible to be able to do all the tricks a hypnotist demands
on stage. One thing a stage hypnotist must therefore do is to
find out which volunteers are able to perform (which doesn't mean act).
If you see the same people return to the stage, there are two non-faking
reasons at least. One is that they are highly suggestible and the manner
in which people are called is such as to "collect" suggestible people.
The other is as mentioned by Derek Keeping: maybe having been hypnotized
once leads them to volunteer again.
Reference: Hypnosis for the seriously curious. Kenneth S. Bowers,
Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1976.
--
Martin Taylor
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