Dominant Laws of Suggestibility

There are five basic laws of suggestibility, the proper application of which will allow the hypnotist to utilize man's natural suggestibility to its fullest. It is man's propensity toward the emotions of fear and greed that make him so susceptible to the influence of these laws.

Fear suppressed our ability to make a decision. As a result any decision made for us during the fear reaction becomes the road of least resistance and is readily accepted by the subconscious mind. Greed brings about a state of urgency and causes us to react without logical thinking.

Keep these two emotions in mind when referring to the Laws of Suggestibility. The Laws are:

• The Law of Reverse Action:
  The most common law is the Law of Reverse Action, sometimes referred to as the Reverse Psychology. A subject will respond to the stronger part of a suggestion, if the alternative presented is considerably weaker.
• The Law of Repetition:
  The Law of Repetition is represented in the fact that the more we do something, the better we become at it. By repeating suggestions in hypnosis, the suggestive idea becomes stronger.
• The Law of Dominance:
  An example of the Law of Dominance is the suggestion of deep sleep. These words spoken in an authoritative tone represent a command to the subject, who is apt to accept a suggestion from an authority figure (e.g., the hypnotist).
• The Law of Delayed Action:
  The Law of Delayed Action is when a suggestive idea is inferred, the subject will react to it whenever a jogging condition or situation that has been used in the original suggestive idea presents itself.
• The Law of Association:
  The Law of Association simply put is, whenever we repeatedly respond to a particular stimulus in the presence of another, we will soon begin to associate one with the other. Whenever either stimulus is present, the other is recalled. The post-suggestion to re-hypnosis works under this law.