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Hypnosis, as defined by the American Psychological Association Division of
Psychological Hypnosis, is "a procedure during which a health professional or researcher suggests that a client, patient, or
experimental participant experience changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts, or behavior." Any definition is necessarily
vague, as the underlying mechanism is little understood. Some theories view hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness, others as a type of focused attention. Psychologists have recently researched
hypnosis and found a strong correlation between the ease of putting someone in a state of 'hypnosis' and their level of suggestibility. Generally, under hypnosis people become more susceptible to
suggestion, causing changes in the way they feel, think, and behave, although contrary to popular belief they do still remain
theoretically in control of their actions. This suggestibility has led some psychologists to believe that hypnosis does not
actually correspond to any underlying mechanism of the human mind, but is merely a social construct so well-known that strong
social expectations are played out by the person who believes that they are in a state of hypnosis, with people behaving in a way
that they think a hypnotized person would behave, placing the phenomenon in a purely social aspect.
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