self-suggestionn.
/ˌsɛlfsəˈdʒɛstʃ(ə)n/, U.S. /ˌsɛlfsə(ɡ)ˈdʒɛstʃ(ə)n/, /ˌsɛlfsə(ɡ)ˈdʒɛʃtʃ(ə)n/ 1. A suggestion or prompting arising from oneself; now esp. one used to bring about the hypnotic or subconscious adoption of an idea.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > idea, notion, or concept > [noun] > presenting itself
self-suggestion1579
encounter1651
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin xvi. 913 He coulde not but beare dishonour and infamie, to leaue them vnrecouered: Vpon which selfe suggestions and reasons, he tooke occasion bothe in many other sortes affore.
1645 J. Vicars Looking-glasse for Malignants, Enlarged sig. D3v Still hee could not be quiet, but was much molested in his thoughts urging him by selfe-suggestions and inward checkes that he should publish it to others.
1712 R. Bynns Evil Communications 5 There is a Disobedience also, some Faultiness of the Will.., or some Self-suggestion or other, depraving his Understanding.
1830 Atlas 31 Oct. 716/2 Every performer fit to execute his music would have self-suggestions upon the subject.
1892 J. Tait Mind in Matter 247 The idea of substitution by blood-shedding would scarcely come as a self-suggestion.
1913 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 22 Feb. 390/1 To give direct suggestions oneself or to get the patient to give himself such definite self-suggestions as may be advisable.
2009 Victorian Lit. & Culture 37 617 The subliminal mind demonstrates..a readiness to..succumb to its own self-suggestions in the case of hysteria.
2. Suggestion arising from oneself; (Psychology) the hypnotic or subconscious adoption of an idea which one has originated oneself. Cf. autosuggestion n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > psychological study of oneself > suggestion originating from self > [noun]
self-suggestion1808
autosuggestion1885
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > [noun] > presentation > by oneself
self-suggestion1808
1808 National Reg. 2 Oct. 626/1 Whether he acted in obedience to the orders of another, or from self-suggestion, his Convention of Cintra will be long cited as one of the most unaccountable and indefensible acts in our history.
1858 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 14 Aug. 675/2 The discovery, or at least the demonstration, of the influence of ‘self-suggestion’ in favouring, as well as in imitating or obstructing the action of certain remedies.
1893 A. Lang in Folk-Lore IV. 433 I am not my own dupe. Others may be more fortunate or more amenable to self-suggestion.
a1901 F. W. H. Myers Human Personality (1903) I. p. xxi Self-suggestion..means a suggestion conveyed by the subject himself from one stratum of his personality to another, without external intervention.
1951 Proc. Aristotelian Soc. 1950–1 51 335 They were invoking their own subconscious or unconscious invisible powers by a process of self-suggestion.
2006 Jrnl. Hist. Sexuality 15 447 The healing of the allegedly sick mind was aimed at through techniques such as psychoanalysis, phrenology, and the art of self-suggestion.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1579