A popular point of view about hypnosis is that the subject surrenders his will to the hypnotist in the midst of being hypnotized
. Similarly, many are convinced that once the topic is hypnotized, the hypnotist has total control of the subject and the subject is defenseless to fight suggestion. Both principles are erroneous. I think the first myth comes from seeing techniques where the hypnotist requests the subject to have a look into his eyes. The hypnotist endorses to the topic that as he continues to look into his eyes he is going to fall into a deep hypnotic state. This, then, becomes a matter of who can outstare whom. The topic generally begins to blink his eyes and the hypnotist follows this up with rapid suggestions that the subject's eyes are becoming watery and heavy and that the subject will fall into a deep hypnotic sleep just as fast as he ( the topic ) closes his eyes. This procedure gives the impression to the observer the subject is "willed" to go under hypnosis. It appears that once the hypnotist concentrates or wills adequately, the subject succumbs. In fact the hypnotist in this technique isn't looking into the eyes of the subject. [16] He fixes his attention on the bridge of the nose of the topic.