We are suggestible no less than our primitive ancestors, and logic is powerless here.
Russian psychologist Yevgeny Subbotsky conducted a series of studies at Lancaster University (UK) in which he tried to understand how suggestion affects a person’s fate. Two suggested: a “witch”, supposedly capable of casting good or evil spells, and the experimenter himself, who convinced that by manipulating the numbers on a computer screen, he could add or subtract problems in a person’s life.
When the participants in the study were asked if they believed the words of the “witch” or the actions of the scientist would affect their lives, they all responded in the negative. At the same time, more than 80% refused to experiment with fate when they were promised misfortunes, and more than 40% – when they promised good things – just in case.
Suggestion – both in the magical version (witch woman) and in the modern one (numbers on the screen) – worked the same way. The scientist concludes that the differences between archaic and logical thinking are exaggerated, and the suggestion techniques used today in advertising or politics have not changed much since ancient times.