What is high suggestibility of a person in psychology with examples

Characteristics of suggestibility

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Suggestibility is susceptibility to environmental influences and the willingness to accept someone else’s opinion as one’s own. A suggestible person very quickly adopts the habits of those around him, adapts to their mood and is inclined to imitate.

Children and older people are easily suggestible. During illness, a person can be pushed to do things that he would never have dared to do under normal conditions. A typical example of suggestibility: a conflict occurred in front of several people.

A week later, one of the participants, who has the makings of a leader, described her as serious and very unpleasant, while the rest felt that the quarrel was caused by annoying little things that were not worth discussing. The suggestible person, having listened to the point of view of a more authoritative participant, quickly agrees with him. Another non-obvious but striking example of suggestible behavior is yawning. It is possible that having read up to this point, you yawned.

A suggestible person is easy to persuade into an adventure; he does not notice the manipulations and is used to doing what he is told. He doesn’t ask unnecessary questions and is convinced of the sincerity of his intentions. The degree of suggestibility is different for everyone and depends on situational and personal factors:

Who are Highly Sensitive People?

close environment,
gender and age,
status in society
place of residence (city residents are less trusting than residents of villages),
fears, phobias and triggers.

The higher the intelligence, the more a person analyzes everything that happens, and the more difficult it is to convince him. The degree of suggestibility is not established at birth. At different times in your life you may be more or less inclined to be influenced. Your temperament plays an important role: introverts usually keep a distance between themselves and others and do not allow anyone to quickly gain trust.

Middle-aged men are difficult to suggest because they have quite strong psychological attitudes that cannot be changed instantly. Women have a more mobile psyche, they are easier to convince and deceive. Especially in a situation where her child is in danger.

There is an opinion that people with high suggestibility are more talented. They have a flexible psyche, are able to adapt to circumstances, are non-conflict, quickly perceive and assimilate new information and are easy to train. The disadvantages of suggestible people include the fact that they depend on the assessment of others, do not know how to accept criticism, and can be twisted into ropes with the help of praise. They believe in the selfless intentions of strangers and easily fall into the hands of scammers and charlatans.

A man of extremes. What is borderline disorder and why does it interfere with relationships?

Imagine that you met a nice person and started an affair. The first few dates go well, but for the next meeting you are half an hour late due to a terrible rush at work. You write a warning SMS, they answer you that everything is OK. And when you finally come to the cafe, the person who previously doted on you suddenly declares: “Let’s better break up. I realized that we were not made for each other.” If you start to find out the reasons, the interlocutor will be confused in his testimony, ranging from “this relationship is too suffocating for me, I don’t have time for love” to “you don’t give me as much attention as I need.” If you shrug your shoulders and walk away, they may suddenly catch up with you and ask for forgiveness for unknown reasons. Let’s say that this incident can be somehow resolved, but in the future cases of strange misunderstandings will be repeated.

The above scene is one of the typical manifestations of borderline personality disorder (BPD), a mental illness in which a person looks and behaves quite normally most of the time, but his perception of his “self” is impaired, he is poorly able to work with his own emotions and experiences problems with an objective assessment of other people (especially significant ones). The exact statistics of its prevalence are unknown, but according to individual studies in Europe and the USA, it affects 5–7% of the population. It is believed that it arises due to a combination of various factors: heredity - to a lesser extent - and psychological trauma received at an early age (but this does not mean that “bad” parents will certainly raise a child with BPD).

Here are the main symptoms of the disorder:

A person is very afraid of being abandoned and gives out extreme reactions if this feeling does overtake him: he can fall into violent anger, panic, depression, or even do something desperate. The reason does not have to be objective: perhaps a loved one could not listen to his complaints about a bad day because he was going on a business trip and was late for the plane - this would be quite enough for a Shakespearean drama. Moreover, this is not a game for the audience - a patient with borderline disorder will quite sincerely feel rejected.

Unpredictable contrasts in relationships. Today a friend or lover is an angel in the flesh, and it is unclear how he even deigned such an imperfect “border guard” with his attention. Tomorrow is the disappointment of the century, the most terrible and unreliable person in the world. The tension is aggravated by the fact that people with BPD are afraid of loneliness, so from the beginning of their acquaintance they tend to become heavily immersed in relationships and spend all their free time with friends/loved ones. Not everyone is comfortable with this regime, so newly found “soul mates” usually quickly begin to miss their personal space, and for a person with BPD this is almost tantamount to rejection.

Lack of a coherent picture of one's self - a person with BPD tries to adapt to others, and his opinions, values and tastes are often influenced by them. This is also why breakups are very painful for them - along with the significant person, the settled image of themselves goes away. In a self-sufficient mode, such patients have difficulty living - if they have no one to rely on, they feel internal emptiness and a lack of any coordinates in life. In case of particularly severe stress, a person may experience so-called derealization - a feeling of unreality of what is happening, as if he were in a dream or in a computer game.

Impulsive and risky behavior - such people can waste money, break traffic rules, have problems with alcohol and drugs, and randomly change sexual partners. They are often interested in extreme sports. In a severe condition, suicidal impulses may appear.

What to do about it?

Like all personality disorders, BPD is difficult to correct, but some types of psychotherapy give good results: from the point of view of evidence-based medicine, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and mentalization-based therapy are recognized as the most effective. They are not very common in Russia, so you can try cognitive behavioral therapy (DBT is its “closest relative”). It uses a rational approach: the patient is taught to recognize harmful patterns of behavior and replace them with something more productive, compensating for the most problematic distortions in the psyche - a black-and-white perception of the world, emotional swings, poor self-control and problems with self-identity. Most likely, therapy will require a lot of time and work, but the long-term prognosis is quite optimistic: according to a study by scientists from Harvard University, with proper treatment, symptoms disappear in six years in more than 70% of patients. Medications are not effective for this disorder, but they help combat common side effects of mental instability such as depression, anxiety, or angry outbursts.

The difficulty is that for others, the main symptoms of BPD look like “cockroaches” or simply an inability to build relationships, and the patients themselves are not particularly capable of high-quality reflection. But this disorder greatly reduces the quality of life, so if suspicions arise, it is better to consult a specialist just in case.

What is suggestibility?

The level of suggestibility depends on whether a person is accustomed to receiving information from the outside or is forced to do so under the influence of circumstances. Increased suggestibility is typical for people:

poorly educated,
with mental disorders,
prone to anxiety and hysteria.

Easy suggestibility manifests itself in certain situations:

under the influence of alcohol,

Giphy

under stress
due to fatigue and lack of time.

With an individual, everything is simple and clear, but there is also group suggestibility based on the “crowd effect.” This is how a close-knit group of people behaves under the control of a leader, for example, let’s remember the notorious citizen with a mustache, where each participant is in a similar emotional state and is part of one large mechanism.

Information from the outside is perceived as if the person is under hypnosis. It doesn't sound very positive, but in fact, there's nothing wrong with it. At certain moments in life, everyone is influenced by the crowd:

group in kindergarten,
classroom,
working team,
master classes and sections.

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How susceptible are you to suggestion?

A girl susceptible to suggestion blindly follows the advice of others, even if she initially wanted to do something differently. Sometimes she herself does not notice how quickly her point of view changes, and can look comical: a person who does not have his own opinion does not deserve the trust of others.

The portrait of a suggestible person looks something like this:

timid, trusting;
vulnerable to criticism, eager to please others;
with low self-esteem and a set of complexes;
anxious, nervous, emotional;
unsure of one's own abilities, needing approval;
lacking critical thinking;
suffering from depression, prone to apathy;
needing a mentor;
lacking initiative, doubting the correctness of his actions;
avoiding attention.

Photo by Min An: Pexels
Despite the fact that the list of characteristics paints an image of an unbalanced person with an unstable psyche, some traits are common to everyone, and there is nothing wrong with that. You encounter suggestion more often than you think. For example, imagine a situation: early in the morning you are getting ready for work, your spouse tells you that it is raining outside. What will your actions be?

a) You will take an umbrella and leave the house;

b) You go to the window and check how heavy the rain is and whether there is any point in having an umbrella.

If you chose the first option, it means that your degree of suggestibility is at a high level. In fact, you don't know for sure whether you need an umbrella or not. Of course, you can argue that your spouse has no reason to deceive you, but this is exactly how the system of suggestion works. If you can see from a person that he is lying, it will not even occur to you to listen to his advice. The apparent normality inspires confidence.

Is it worth adjusting to your loved one?

In fact, it’s very difficult for me to write this now... I never thought that I would turn to a psychologist. But I no longer have the strength, I have no patience...

I’ll tell you in order, sorry if there are spelling errors, I just don’t have the mood or desire to even look for errors and correct them in the text….

My name is Natalia, I'm 20 years old. I used to have 4-5 guys, usually these relationships took 3 months or more to simmer... I tried to be patient and make compromises. But why am I doing this... probably to explain some of my traits that arose because of my 1st boyfriend. He always made me to blame for everything, one day I sobbed into the phone, got over myself and apologized - although in fact I didn’t do anything wrong. And then she immediately stopped me, and I answered, “Well, if you don’t want to continue the relationship, well, no need to” - his voice immediately changed, and he already began to give in - “Okay, let’s move on... just don’t do that again.” We met once on Saturday because he worked and lived far away. And then, probably because of sex. I decided to end it, but without saying it over the phone - and I assumed that such things need to be said face to face. So throughout my entire speech, he just smiled sweetly and replied, “Well, no, no. I don’t consider myself to blame, if only you are to blame.” This was the point of our relationship. He walked me home, and when I was riding in the elevator, I assured myself that I would not cry. When I was already at home, he called me and said the phrase “Natasha, what are YOU doing?” Of course I cried a lot. But that was the end of my first sad experience. Probably this situation influenced me so much that I constantly get the impression that my loved one considers me to be to blame...

And now, I have already been dating a guy for 3 years. During this time, a lot happened... According to the horoscope, he is an Aries (I am a Pisces), and as they say, a ram - he is a ram. I mean, so stubborn and proud - that it’s simply unbearable... And he keeps all his problems and dissatisfaction to himself, and probably unconsciously in other phrases, but this dissatisfaction with me is palpable.

The first year was very successful - we were in love, we made compromises... And then he wanted me to quit smoking... I think every person doesn’t like being forced or forced to do anything, even if it only brings him benefit. At first, of course, I smoked, but then I quit under pressure... At that time, this was his only condition - that is, I was almost “ideal,” but I had to quit smoking. Then, of course, other dissatisfaction began - for example, losing weight. This is not easy for every woman, and probably first a woman needs to love herself. But my self-esteem began to fall...

There were arguments, especially when we drank a little - I’m more sensitive and it’s easy to offend me - but it’s not very easy to make peace. Although we had disagreements without drinking, he only noticed those that happened after alcohol. I don’t think that I drink heavily, but in good company on a Friday evening, I can afford it... Okay, I can’t drink - I won’t...

And last night, of course, he came tired... after work... I just wanted a little initiative from him... and not receiving it, I was very upset... I lay and cried - he lay next to me and pretended to be asleep, although in fact he heard it all ... And the more he ignored me, the more sobs choked me. I wanted to feel desired by a woman - and when he got tired of my sobs, he just yelled at me... with the question “What do you want me to do?”

He is 27 years old, he is a grown man... but when a fight happens, he does not answer questions, turning the arrows on me. But he himself is waiting for me to answer, and I didn’t answer with a question like “A loved one is crying next to you, whom you hurt, what do you think needs to be done?” This answer only makes him angrier...

He drove me into a hysterical state... Sometimes I want to hit him really hard and shout “I’m here!!! Well, finally pay attention to me! After all, I'm nearby!!! Hear me please!!!" But neither knocking nor screaming would help... I know....

I tried to be patient, talk to him - but he keeps everything to himself... he can listen to me - but he himself is unlikely to say anything sensible...

Is it worth further adapting to it?? Perhaps this is the end of our relationship? He says he loves me, but in reality I don’t see it. I try my best, I cook for him and I’m very pleased when he says thank you to me... It brings me joy to do something nice for him... but that’s where the nice thing ends... and he emanates some kind of passivity and indifference... after every argument, I come first and apologize - despite who is right and who is wrong... and only after me - he squeezes out his apology. He’s a cool guy and a good person, he doesn’t drink much, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t party...

I’m only 20 years old, maybe I’m not experienced, and I don’t understand much about this life... but it’s very difficult for me to even write about it... I understand that it’s stupid to say something like that - but sometimes I don’t even want to live... and now I’m sitting and trying to wipe away my tears so that my family didn’t notice that I was unwell...

Probably it all came together... I still can’t find a job, and on the personal front these are the problems... But I really want this all to be a nightmare, and in the morning I woke up and thought with relief that a new day had come, and it certainly was will be 100 times better than the previous ones!

But he doesn’t come, I don’t know what to do... Adapt to him and try to improve relations... Spit on everything and return home to my family...

What if things don't get better? What if things don’t work out with the next person? Will love and passion pass and everything will start all over again? I just don’t have the strength, I don’t have the desire... I have nothing at all....

Please advise something! I understand that it’s very easy to give advice, but to do it is completely different... But maybe I’ll at least stop crying... Thanks in advance!

How to deal with suggestibility

Increased suggestibility will not allow you to become the mistress of your life. It is unlikely that you will be able to build a good career if you rely on the opinions of your colleagues and humbly wait for your turn to speak in the corner of the meeting room. A strong, happy marriage can also be at risk.

A suggestible person is a favorite victim of manipulators and abusers. You can be kind, sweet and friendly, but what good is that if you are used for personal gain? How you can help yourself:

Photo by Mikhail Nilov: Pexels

develop critical thinking;
Before you make a promise, especially if it concerns financial issues, take time to think;
fact checking is your friend, don’t be lazy to check information;
focus on facts, not on feelings and assumptions;
Be wary of new people in your environment.

A suggestible person is receptive to any information from the outside and looks like a potential victim. Sometimes, when placed in a supportive environment, increased sensitivity can lead to improved self-esteem and behavior, but a good outcome is unlikely. Suggestible people are more likely than others to find themselves in unfavorable conditions, succumbing to negative influences.