Does Hypnosis really work?

[Sam]

Okay, so at this past school event we hired a hypnosis guy. He had like 10 volunteers and made them do weird things (like dancing like michael jackson, pretending to be in a body building contest, etc) and supposedly afterwards they don't remember any of it. I've seen these things before and I've never believed it; I think they're just people who want to be complete hams in front of everyone and use 'hypnosis' as a cover for the ridiculous things they're doing so they don't have to hold back. Admittedly, some of them are really good at acting as if they're confused and don't realize what's going on, but I think there are some things that expose the entire thing as fake. Like when kids snicker at something they're doing that they were not supposed to remember, or when they aren't paying attention and do something different than the hypo guy says, or when they over-act and you can tell it's very fake.
anyway, this is the kind of hypnosis I'm talking about:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFYBUAo8pKI[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpLMrYGDJS4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq2CB49lUlE[/youtube]

however, I think hypnosis is a possibility. But it's all pychcological and whatnot, I really do not see how anyone would get it to work in anything other than a 1-on-1 session. I don't know all that much about it though so I'm not going to pretend like I do. What do you guys think?

[YPrrrr]

I think it may exist to a limited extent, but I don't really have much faith in it making people do such ridiculous things at a simple command

[Socks]

No. In that you cannot control someone against their will.

Yes. In that you can place a willing participant, and one open to suggestion, in a relaxed state of mind. From there the participant may follow and be aware of suggested notions.

[Det in F♯ Major]

Watch Sybil. 

[superclucky]

Watch Sybil. 

I hated that movie.

Also hypnosis is to make you go into a state of relaxation where you're susceptible towards suggestion, therefore making it a bit easier to overcome some shitty problem. <3

[l a c e y]

We have a guy come to our school and do this almost every year.
Idk what I think about it.

[jerk1]

i think  some people fake it   and some dont.   I also hear it can fudge your brain up if the hypnotist does something wrong..mmm

[superclucky]

i think  some people fake it   and some dont.   I also hear it can fudge your brain up if the hypnotist does something wrong..mmm

False memories. <3

[burzumfan420]

You can hypnotize people, but they won't do things they don't want to do, says my psychology teacher.

[Sam]

yeah, I understand and agree with what you're all saying in that in a way the man is persuading him to do what he says, but that's not proof of hypnosis. At these things it usually ends with the volunteers supposedly not being aware of what just went on, as if they were actually asleep the whole time. real or fake?

[Hiro]

yeah, I understand and agree with what you're all saying in that in a way the man is persuading him to do what he says, but that's not proof of hypnosis. At these things it usually ends with the volunteers supposedly not being aware of what just went on, as if they were actually asleep the whole time. real or fake?

fake
I can see if they were maybe half-asleep while doing it, but I'm pretty sure most of them remember what they did.

[burzumfan420]

Being hypnotized is in between sleep and awake. I think it is has some name like alpha stage(?)