3

Chris Jones styles himself as a comedy hypnotist. In this video on his official website, he puts a man to sleep within seconds by waving the person's finger in front of his face.

Recently, this official video claims to show Howie Mandel being hypnotized on America's Got Talent by hypnotist Chris Jones. Mandel was put to sleep instantaneously, and shook hands with Jones, apparently believing that he had gloves on (as he's a well-known germaphobe).

Mandel claims he was hypnotized as well, and has been been quoted in a video interview on Today.com as saying that he went for therapy:

I was upset about it, and it's hard for me to watch... I didn't know. I was not prepared for that to happen. ... I was open to be hypnotized... I just didn't know what he was going to ask me to do...
For those that - I've been reading online in social media, you know, there are people that don't believe it, you know, you know what you're doing but it's kinda like you're at a party and you had drinks or xanax and you don't care... As soon as [the hypnotist] snapped me out of it, my guard is back up

Are these effects possible with hypnosis?

Related question on John Morgan

Howie Mandel (currently a judge on America's Got Talent) is well known for being a germaphobe; due to his OCD he refused to shake hands with any of the contestants on "Deal or No Deal" and opted for fist-bumps instead. He has also penned a book titled "Don't Touch Me" about his OCD.

Community
  • 1
Twilight Sparkle
  • 2,253
  • 21
  • 29
  • +10 for reminding me that America's Got Talent 2015 has started. As for your question, I don't think we can answer it... – George Chalhoub May 31 '15 at 15:34
  • @georgechalhoub Hmm I was thinking that if the hypnotist has been shown to have been a fraud in other cases, it would constitute a sufficient disproof. You're certainly right that it's a hard question though. – Twilight Sparkle May 31 '15 at 15:38
  • It could be a trick from the producers; I can recall in the last season that a magician transformed Mandel into someone who can't read any words; so I think you're right to be skeptical about this - it could be staged and it could not be. One way to answer this is to search for a video showing Mandel shaking hands... – George Chalhoub May 31 '15 at 15:46
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's inherently a question about motivation. It boils down to asking whether Chris Jones suggestion motivated Mandels actions or whether Mandel just played along to provide viewers a fun show. – Christian May 31 '15 at 15:58
  • 1
    Is there any way that this question could be structured to be on topic? e.g. change the emphasis to "Is Chris Jones able to hypnotize people?" – Twilight Sparkle May 31 '15 at 16:12
  • Ok, I've changed the question to focus on his alleged powers, in a similar way to [this other question](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/7936/can-john-morgan-use-hypnosis-to-cause-people-to-quit-smoking-or-lose-weight). This should make the claim easier to examine, e.g. "XXX study demonstrates that this is possible/impossible" – Twilight Sparkle May 31 '15 at 17:02
  • Hypnosis is possible. I suggested rolling back to your previous question I don't think it is off-topic. – George Chalhoub May 31 '15 at 17:03
  • Accordings to his website Chris Jones is a member of the National Council for Hypnotherapy in the UK. Would this convince you that he can hypnotize people? Otherwise what kind of evidence do you seeking? - If you want to ask a question that's not about Jones but about hypnosis in general, than you have to be a lot more precise about the effect that you care about. Weight loss makes a good question because it's easily measurable and we largely agree what the term means. Most of the issues with hypnosis arise from the fact that the general public doesn't understand it and what the word means. – Christian May 31 '15 at 23:49
  • I think that the question is already as specific as is reasonable; I've mentioned the exact effect (putting people to sleep), and I've given 2 specific examples where this claim has been made. Of course, if you have any recommendations, please propose them and we can discuss it further. – Twilight Sparkle Jun 01 '15 at 00:06
  • @georgechalhoub Thank you for your feedback, I was thinking of rolling back, but was concerned that that would revert it to an unanswerable question again. I've edited it to focus on two main effects, do you feel that it's OK at the moment? – Twilight Sparkle Jun 01 '15 at 00:26
  • I've put it on hold while we get agreement on the question, so we don't get someone answering the wrong version. – Oddthinking Jun 01 '15 at 02:38
  • I am tempted to close as duplicate of many existing questions: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1417/are-participants-in-stage-hypnosis-part-of-the-show http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/504/can-an-average-person-be-involuntarily-hypnotised – Oddthinking Jun 01 '15 at 02:40
  • @TwilightSparkle: I feel it is okay; especially that you narrow it down to "putting people to sleep through the power of hypnosis". – George Chalhoub Jun 01 '15 at 07:40

0 Answers0