SUGGESTION IN THINKING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 198, 23 July 1931, Page 10

SUGGESTION IN THINKING.

UNCONSCIOUS EFFECT. Tc~ leiponact pa— played by saggenic n is is2si~;iss p-r-:pie’s acr.oss. att-d the fact that ail ciaase-s of people were aitected by it. were etretsed hr Professor J. SEeEey : n tb-e cccrse of as ! address os_' "Tbe Nature of Sargesdos" ;a: a isee:iss is Chiistcimrch recently. ! His pnrpcxse. be said. to srre sots :-iea of_ tha sat ore of the mental pro- : cess caiZ-ed suggestion. and to snow tnem | tcrw important it was its effects. ; "Ttl mast r.:: he thoozfc: that only a person of low intelligence can be affected by saggesrion.’-' said Professor She Ley. ' 'lt works ;nst as strongly in I the highly intelligent as in the mentaily ■ dedtent. and in fact there are many -types cf suggestion which will not i aSect the cereient thcagh ether peopie wf3 be led astray.” Illustrating the point the Professor performed an experiment. He arranged a series of blocks, ail cf the same sire, jbtrt cf graded weights, before him on "the table. Then, gjring one cf the members a nnch larger block he asked him to pick on: one of the graded blocks equal in weight to it. This was repeated 'with a smaller block, and the results i were noted. The subject of the experiment was permitted absolute freedom in coming to his decision. When the i results were announced it was ictmd | that although the large and the small [block were really equal in weight, the , weights selected as equivalent were both wrong—the larger one being nnder-esti- ’ mated, and the smaller much over-es-timated. Professor Shelley pointed out ; that the eroneons result was due to the j subject’s reaction to the suggestion that ' the size of the blocks was contrived to deceive him about their weights. Conse’quently there had been a tendency to Itake a low weigh: as equivalent for the : large block, and a greater weigh: for 1 the small one. •■An article wa; exposed for sale in a shop window in Cashel Street re- • cently. marked at 25.” lie went on. ■'There were almost no buyers, and it was taken inside the shop. There it j was marked at about 9s. and it has sold so well that row supplies have had !to be ordered. There are suggestions that no sensible person can resist. I have tried this test with the blocks on : all classes of people, and no: once has ; a correct result being obtained. It " should be clear that suggestion is by : r.o means an unusual occurrence.” After demonstrating how it was possible unconsciously to affect the ■ swing of a pendulum. Professor .Shei--1 iy went on to state that such uncon- . scions movements were much more ac- ; curate than any conscious effort could make them. The same unconscious control was exercised in keeping one’s ■ balance on a bicycle or in driving a • car. A common example of the way in j which suggestion entered into our imj pressioa of any event was to be found ; :n the statements made by witnesses ! following a street accident. In the coarse of a lecture he had conducted an experiment in which two people had run on to the stage: one of them! had fired a pistol, and had then run out again. Those present had been; asked to write down those statements; about the incident which they would j be prepared to swear to in a Court j of law. Of these sworn statements — by people- accustomed to academic procedure—oyer 50 per cent, had been wrong. So when in a Court of law a witness was made to refute his own statements it might have nothing to do with his integrity—he might be teliing what he thought was the truth. The unconscious process must have been going on in the human mind a long time before any conscious intellectual development. Suggestion worked in a sheep, for example, when it felt something urging it suddenly to join the flock, but it exerciser! no criticism to decide whether it needed to go or not. To act on suggestion meant really to accept a statement, or to act without criticism —without bringing up memories to place beside the present circumstances to see whe- - ther they had points in common. Under hypnosis a man was most liable to suggestion, because the critical .stratum of his mind was put to sleep. Man’s unconscious life was more widespread than he realised. "While listening to him, for example, those present were seeing a great number of things, and hearing a great number of sounds, but their conscious process consisted in eliminating p/racticallv everything, and concentrating on his voice. Yet though the conscious mind was dealing with onlv a small part of the whole mental content, all these other impressions—given the right conditions—could be remembered. Summing up, the Professor said that suggestion was a process to which every person was liable. They could , not be educated out of that susceptibilitv. and it was far more important ' in the make-up of society than any ( conscious process. i : _ - i