The Suggestible Brain: From Magic to Science

Suggestions can make cheap wine taste like Château Margaux, warp our perception of time, and alter our memories—and in an age where disinformation has impacted our personal lives and our politics, the power of suggestion is worth even more attention.

We typically study suggestion in social psychology, therapeutic treatments such as hypnosis, which is almost entirely based on suggestion, psychoanalytic interventions, and other forms of suggestive therapy, including contemplative practice. More recently, with technological advances in imaging of the living human brain, neural science has been shining a steady and illuminating light on our discoveries, especially when it comes to elucidating the underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

Suggestion is not just a tool for magicians or hypnotists but a fundamental aspect of human neuropsychology that operates in all areas of life. Understanding how suggestion works allows us to harness its power to improve well-being, resist manipulation, and better navigate our personal realities. Ultimately, suggestibility is not a sign of weakness, but a complex and deeply rooted aspect of the human mind that we can leverage to our advantage—from mental health and performance sports all the way to self-regulation and resilience training. Our mindsets and the functionality of our brain states is as trainable and as pliable as aspects of our anatomy and physical characteristics. We should take advantage of the science and research findings that unravel how we can better tap this mind-body domain.

After attending this intermediate-level program, participants will be able to:

• Explain how suggestion influences behavior, perception, and decision-making by exploring the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie suggestibility.
• Critically analyze the ways in which suggestion can be harnessed for therapeutic purposes, such as pain management, treatment of mental health disorders, and placebo effects.
• Assess the ethical dimensions of using suggestion in areas like marketing, politics, and therapy, and consider the societal implications of mass suggestibility, manipulation, and misinformation.

This program meets APA’s continuing education STANDARD 1.1: Program content focuses on application of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach.

This program meets APA’s continuing education GOAL 1: Program is relevant to psychological practice, education, and/or science.

General Admission: $65.00

SCEH Members: $55.00*

Students: $15.00*

(*Please email [email protected] for coupon code)

Refund Policy: 100% of tuition is refundable up to 48 hours before the program. Within 48 hours of the program, and at any point in Homestudy format, tuition is nonrefundable.

Amir Raz, PhD, ABPH; Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention, Department of Psychiatry at McGill University and SMBD Jewish General Hospital

Amir Raz, PhD, ABPH, is Canada Research Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention at both the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University and the SMBD Jewish General Hospital. He received his PhD in computation and information processing in the brain from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He went on to be a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Michael I. Posner at the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He was then appointed to the position of Assistant Professor at Cornell University and subsequently at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including the 2006 Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders and the 2005 Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association (Division 30).

Professor Raz is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychological Hypnosis. Having examined the safety and efficacy of psychiatric drugs across development, his active research interests span the neural and psychological substrates of attention, self-regulation, expectation, placebo, and consciousness. He is also conducting research into developmental psychopathology, the cognitive neuroscience of culture, authorship processes and atypical cognition. Using neuroimaging and other state-of-the-art techniques, his research elucidates the relationship between disparate attention networks and attentional planes such as hypnosis.

Kaypak, A. C., & Raz, A. (2022). Macrodosing to microdosing with psychedelics: Clinical, social, and cultural perspectives. Transcultural Psychiatry, 59 (5), 665-674.
https://doi.org/10.1177/13634615221119386

Landry, M., Da Silva Castanheira, J., Milton, D., & Raz, A. (2022). Suggestion alters Stroop automaticity: Hypnotic alexia through a proactive lens. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 9 (2), 159–171. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000268

Landry, M., Da Silva Castanheira, J., Sackur, J., & Raz, A. (2021). Investigating how the modularity of visuospatial attention shapes conscious perception using type I and type II signal detection theory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 47 (3), 402–422. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000810

Landry, M., Da Silva Castanheira, J., Sackur, J., & Raz, A. (2021). Difficult turned easy: Suggestion renders a challenging visual task simple. Psychological Science, 32 (1), 39-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620954856

Olson, J. A., Lifshitz, M., Raz, A., & Veissière, S. P. L. (2021). Super placebos: A feasibility study combining contextual factors to promote placebo effects. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 644825. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.644825

Thibault, R. T., Veissière, S., Olson, J. A., & Raz, A. (2018). Treating ADHD with suggestion: Neurofeedback and placebo therapeutics. Journal of Attention Disorders, 22 (8), 707-711. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054718770012

Target Audience: Healthcare professionals, mental health professionals, hypnosis practitioners, teachers, researchers, students.

Psychologists. This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 1.5 continuing education credits. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology maintains responsibility for this program and its content. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is also committed to conducting all activities in conformity with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles for Psychologists. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods.

Counselors/Clinical Counselors. This program, when attended in its entirety, is available 1.5 hours of continuing education. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to provide continuing education programming for counselors and clinical counselors. License Number: 197.000159

Social Workers. This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 1.5 hours of continuing education. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to provide continuing education programming for social workers. License Number: 159.001036

MFTs, LPCCs, and LCSWs. Course meets the qualifications for 1.5 hour of continuing education credit for MFTs, LPCCs, and/or LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. If you are licensed outside of California please check with your local licensing agency to to determine if they will accept these CEUs. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) to offer continuing education programming for MFTs, LPCCs, LEPs, and/or LCSWs. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is an accredited or approved postsecondary institution that meets the requirements set forth in Sections 4980.54(f)(1), 4989.34, 4996.22(d)(1), or 4999.76(d) of the Code.

Non-Psychologists. Most licensing boards accept Continuing Education Credits sponsored by the American Psychological Association but non-psychologists are recommended to consult with their specific state-licensing board to ensure that APA-sponsored CE is acceptable.

*Participants must attend 100% of the program in order to obtain a Certificate of Attendance.

If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them. Please address questions, concerns and any complaints to [email protected]. There is no commercial support for this program nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants, or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest.