<p>In <a href="http://blog.dilbert.com/post/126675024361/can-we-call-a-trump-puppet-a-trumpet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">one</a> of his endless Blogs about Trump and hypnotism, Scott Adams, creator of the comic Dilbert, claims that by showing an image of Trump's book and his own book side-by-side he can hypnotise you into thinking his book is important.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/qLKdt.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/qLKdt.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Trump is a business tycoon/president/mysogynistic-dinosaur/fork-and-spoon-operator. Whether you love him or hate him the view is widespread that Trump is an important guy. When I see Adam's book next to Trump's my hindbrain says, 'Oh, this Scott Adams guy must be as important as Trump to have their books side-by-side'</p>

<p>I believe that is true to some nonzero extent. It might be huge; it might be tiny. I am not interested in debating the exact size. My question is why does this trick not have the opposite effect? </p>

<p>Scott Adams is best known for drawing cartoons for cripe's sake? Unlike Trump, Scott Adams is not a household name. Why doesn't the hindbrain see both books and say, 'Trump's book next to Adam's? That nobody!? Gosh I guess Trump was not as important s I thought.'</p>

<p>If the association goes one way, what's to stop it going the other?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-24T23:56:44.703Z
"...the image of my book next to Trump’s book is a visual you are likely to remember even though it has no impact on your life..." Maybe I'm being dumb, but isn't this an example of [associative learning](http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2005/02/suzuki.aspx)? That seems to be what his blog post is about... Is your question why, for you, this is a positive (instead of negative) association?
mflo-ByeSE
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-25T00:41:50.377Z
I don't think this is an example of what people usually mean by hypnosis. It's not clear what umbrella to group this under, but it's not hypnosis.
Josh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-25T10:36:21.340Z
I wanted to add a 'persuasion' tag but none exists. I'm sure Adams using the buzzword hypnosis rathern than persuasion is part of his whole persuasion/hypnosis strategy.
Daron
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-01T03:48:08.817Z
I would expect this to have both effects - ie, to both slightly improve Adams' image and slightly reduce Trump's.  This is all else held equal - in reality, the additional view of Trump's book would raise his status more than Adams' proximity decreases it, but - in a controlled experiment, it would be compared to viewing Adams' or Trump's books beside equal-status books.
Arnon Weinberg
<hypnosis>
What stops this (one weird) hypnotic trick having the reverse effect to intended?
Daron
# What stops this (one weird) hypnotic trick having the reverse effect to intended?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-05-24)

In [one](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/126675024361/can-we-call-a-trump-puppet-a-trumpet) of his endless Blogs about Trump and hypnotism, Scott Adams, creator of the comic Dilbert, claims that by showing an image of Trump's book and his own book side-by-side he can hypnotise you into thinking his book is important.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/qLKdt.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/qLKdt.jpg)

Trump is a business tycoon/president/mysogynistic-dinosaur/fork-and-spoon-operator. Whether you love him or hate him the view is widespread that Trump is an important guy. When I see Adam's book next to Trump's my hindbrain says, 'Oh, this Scott Adams guy must be as important as Trump to have their books side-by-side'

I believe that is true to some nonzero extent. It might be huge; it might be tiny. I am not interested in debating the exact size. My question is why does this trick not have the opposite effect?

Scott Adams is best known for drawing cartoons for cripe's sake? Unlike Trump, Scott Adams is not a household name. Why doesn't the hindbrain see both books and say, 'Trump's book next to Adam's? That nobody!? Gosh I guess Trump was not as important s I thought.'

If the association goes one way, what's to stop it going the other?

**Tags:** hypnosis

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: "...the image of my book next to Trump’s book is a visual you are likely to remember even though it has no impact on your life..." Maybe I'm being dumb, but isn't this an example of [associative learning](http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2005/02/suzuki.aspx)? That seems to be what his blog post is about... Is your question why, for you, this is a positive (instead of negative) association?  
> **username_2**: I don't think this is an example of what people usually mean by hypnosis. It's not clear what umbrella to group this under, but it's not hypnosis.  
> **username_0**: I wanted to add a 'persuasion' tag but none exists. I'm sure Adams using the buzzword hypnosis rathern than persuasion is part of his whole persuasion/hypnosis strategy.  
> **username_3**: I would expect this to have both effects - ie, to both slightly improve Adams' image and slightly reduce Trump's.  This is all else held equal - in reality, the additional view of Trump's book would raise his status more than Adams' proximity decreases it, but - in a controlled experiment, it would be compared to viewing Adams' or Trump's books beside equal-status books.  

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## 0 answers

