Suggestibility


 * Suggestibility is the susceptibility or responsiveness to suggestion. In relation to this page it will be applied to college students and how implicit and explicit things make them more likely to participate in illicit activities.
 * Why this topic is important to college students- Suggestibility is important to us because as college students we are at a fairly vulnerable time in our lives. We are at full exposure to alcohol and many drugs. In a way suggestibility can be like peer pressure or even seeing commercials that depict alcohol. Your friends can offer you something and you take it not thinking of the consequences. You could see a commercial for beer and ,since alcohol is so easy to acquire, go to purchase some even though you are underage. This is an important topic that collegiate students encounter every weekend (or even everyday) and should be discussed. Suggestibility is also slightly related to hypnosis in that if suggested you are open to do many things. Similar to how a college student, if suggested, might partake in activities that he or she normally wouldn't partake in.
 * Content within the wiki- Within my wiki I will define suggestibility, show some media examples of suggestibility on college campuses, talk about why it occurs, how it can be decreased or transferred in a way that it is more positive and where instances of suggestibility occur most frequently.
 * [|suggestibility video 1]
 * [|suggestibility video 2]
 * Formal Question- is suggestibility important to college students and is it more important for us than any other group of people?
 * I chose this topic because I was once hypnotized. This was an experience that I wanted to share with others and discuss but it isn't as easy to relate to the college experience. I decided to substitute it with suggestibility. This topic is similar because it relates to peer pressure in a way and that is abundant in college settings.
 * I have gathered six different articles to prove my point and that show some experiments that have been conducted to prove some hypothesis and some points that various psychologists that I share. I think that suggestibility is important for all people especially college students in our environment full of poisons.
 * [] This article speaks of how important suggestibility is. More importantly it speaks about how subtle it is and how there could be little cues that prompt us to do things and we don't even know. This goes back to what I was saying to the party scene in college. If little cues can make us walk slower or faster what cues can make us take a drink we wouldn't usually take or drink more even though we usually stop at a certain point. These are important things to think about in college.


 * [] In relation to the last article this speaks about the importance of suggestibility. More importantly this article speaks about unintentional suggestion. This further proves my point that a lot of this suggestibility is implicit. We are reacting to stimuli that aren't even active intentionally. Imagine how many implicit stimuli are active at a party not to mention the amounts of explicit stimuli tempting someone to drink or smoke.
 * [] In this article the massive amounts of factors that can attribute to someone's suggestibility are broken down. From race, personality, age, mental state, physical state, species (which isn't useful for us but still interesting) and gender. Think about all of these factors in terms of a collegiate setting. A black male that hasn't eaten all day and is stressed out is much more prone to negative suggestibility than he would be if he was white, full and/or relaxed. This broadens that likelihood of suggestibility occurring by large amounts.
 * [] This article takes a different path than the others and focuses on a more systematic view of suggestibility. However it still illustrates the fact that even the smallest amounts of stimuli can influence a person. As previously stated, small stimuli are everywhere in college especially at a party. A girl could see a poster of an attractive woman drinking beer and think that she must do the same to also be attractive.

[] Suggestibility can also be linked with the recall of information. This is a bit harder to relate to the college scene but it can still be done. If a college student is put in a situation where they need to recall information the same stimuli that caused them to drink could be the same stimuli to cause them to have an altered memory. Instead of remembering that you threw up everywhere after you took that shot of vodka, the shot glass could remind you of the girl you kissed before the vomit. Although one is much more important, and disgusting, the other memory takes precedence because of the openness to suggestibility by college students.
 * INTERACTIVE FUN PART!-Using the readings answer these questions to determine whether you think someone is more prone to suggestion or less prone to suggestion:
 * 1) A black teen in college that has just been hypnotized in front of a crowd of his peers.
 * 2) A white female that has self esteem issues, is slightly intoxicated and looking to make friends.
 * 3) An older black woman that took part in the Civil rights movement and has never participated in any illicit activities in her 50+ years of life.
 * 4) A white male that has just gotten to college but is an experienced drinker and is well aware of his limits.
 * 5) A white male that has never had a drink before and thinks that if he drinks he will become invincible and get laid.
 * 6) A Latina that is very religious and has only been in the country for a few months but is very wary of our customs.
 * In conclusion, not only is suggestibility very prevalent for humans, especially my peers, it comes in many forms. It can be implicit or explicit but either way it is extremely effective in getting someone to do something or molding their actions in a certain way. You can't stop suggestibility so the only thing that can be done is building up your defenses. Increase your willpower and know that you will get in situations that require you to say no and be on the look out for subtleties that might influence you otherwise. Suggestibility is significant because it can alter your mood or how you feel about something. Anything that can alter a persons' actions or mood is something that should be taken into consideration.