ÿþ <head> <title>Experiments on Suggestion</title> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='tab-interval:.5in'> <table bgcolor="#FFF8C6" width="100%" class="navbar"> <tr> <td> <a href="http://reverent.org/" title="Reverent Entertainment">Reverent Entertainment</a> &rarr; <a href="http://ecclesiastes911.net/">Ecclesiastes 9:11</a> &rarr; Experiments on Suggestion </td> </tr> </table> <br><br> <div class=Section1> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. </p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:Arial'>Ecclesiastes 9:11 <o:p></o:p></span></p> <hr size=2 width="100%" align=center> <br> <br> <h1 align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Black is White: Experiments on Suggestion<o:p></o:p></span></h1> <p align=center><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Two fragments from 1971 documentary directed by Felix Sobolev. The psychological experiments were conducted by Dr. Valeria Mukhina.</span></p> <center> <p align=center><span style='font-size:20.0pt'>A Criminal Scientist (<a href="http://ecclesiastes911.net/suggestion/criminal_scientist.html">view the video</a>)</span></p> <table border="0" cellspacing="10" width=900> <tr> <td><img src="criminal_or_scientist.jpg"> </td> <td> <p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph'>Different people are shown the same portrait. Some are told that this is a famous scientist, others - that this is a dangerous criminal (the true profession of the photographed man is an actor). In every case they are asked to describe his character based on the photo. Here is what people say depending on the suggestion <table border="0" cellspacing="10"> <tr> <td> <p align=center><span style='font-size:15.0pt'>A Scientist</span> <ul><li>His eyes are squinted kindly</li> <li>A penetrating gaze, like an X-ray.</li> <li>He should like kids</li> <li>When he talks to people he can make them like him</li> </ul></p> </td> <td> <p align=center><span style='font-size:15.0pt'>A Criminal</span> <ul><li>His eyes are impudently squinted</li> <li>Inhuman gaze</li> <li> He is a sadist</li> <li>He is dissatisfied with people and despises them</li></ul></p> </td> </tr> </table> </p> </td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellspacing="10" width=900><tr><td> <p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph'>In a related experiment <A HREF="http://ecclesiastes911.net/doctor_fox.html">an actor was presented to a highly educated audience as a great scientist</A>. He went on to read a lecture, which was a complete nonsense. Nobody noticed anything wrong.</p> </td></tr></table> <p align=center><span style='font-size:20.0pt'>Black is white (<a href="http://ecclesiastes911.net/suggestion/black_is_white.html">view the video</a>)</span></p> <table border="0" cellspacing="10" width=900> <tr> <td><img src="black_is_white.jpg"> </td> <td> <p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph'>A group of seven people are shown two pyramides one black and one white. The experimemter asks each member of the group what color are the pyramides. Six members of the group are experimenter's accomplices (like in Asch's experiment) and say that both pyramides are white. Some test subjects yield to group suggestion and also says that both are white. In another experiment the group is shown five photos of five different people. Experimenter asks the members of the group if among these photos are portraits of the same person. Experimenter's accomplices are instructed to say that certain two photos show the same person and to find common facial features to convince the test subject. Often they succeed. One test subject explains why he was taken in <blockquote> I felt embarrassed before my comrades. Because they were so knowledgeable, could emphasize things so competently, could notice every small detail, compare and link everything together. </blockquote> </p> </td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellspacing="10" width=900><tr><td> <p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph'>Could it be that the high status of the masterpices of modern art is not challenged because people feel ambarrassed before the knowledgeable art critics who can emphasize things so competently, can notice every small detail, compare and link everything together? Could the same be true for modern literature and poetry? Check out the <A HREF="http://reverent.org/quizzes.html">Reverent Quizzes</A> to see if you can tell the work of a recognized genius when his name is separated from it, that is when you are free from suggestion. </p> <p align=left style='text-align:left'><em><span style='font-family:Arial; font-style:normal'>Mikhail Simkin<br>January 29, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> </td></tr></table> <br> <p> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9822912153881634"; //728x90, created 11/24/07 painting text_image google_ad_slot = "1172688619"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; //--></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </p> </center> <p align=center> <a href="mailto:sim@reverent.org?subject=Feedback"><IMG SRC="http://reverent.org/Icons/mailbox.jpg" BORDER="0"></a> <a href="mailto:sim@reverent.org?subject=Feedback"><font size="4"><font size="4">Feedback</a></font> &nbsp; <a href="http://reverent.org/forum/index.php?board=1.0"><IMG SRC="http://reverent.org/Icons/forum.jpg" BORDER="0"></A> <a href="http://reverent.org/forum/index.php?board=1.0">Discuss</A> &nbsp; <a href="http://reverent.org/rss.xml"><IMG SRC="http://reverent.org/Icons/rss.png" BORDER="0"></A> <a href="http://reverent.org/rss.xml">RSS</A> &nbsp; <A HREF="http://ecclesiastes911.net/mailman/listinfo/reverent_ecclesiastes911.net" rel="nofollow"> <IMG SRC="http://reverent.org/Icons/newspaper.gif" BORDER="0"></A> <A HREF="http://ecclesiastes911.net/mailman/listinfo/reverent_ecclesiastes911.net" rel="nofollow"> Newsletter</A> </p> </body> </html>