I recently had a conversation about hypnosis with a friend. He kept saying, "But how can hypnosis change (such and such) a situation that is hardwired into the brain?"

I found interesting his consistent return to the term "hardwired".

Very little is hardwired in the brain. The brain's plasticity is a key feature to its evolutionary success. Chomsky and his followers argue that grammar is hardwired. Perhaps what Daniel Dennett calls the "four f's" -- responses to external stimulus (flee, fight, feed, mate) are hardwired into what is sometimes called our "reptilian" brain.

But for most of the work you and I might do together, everything is on the table. Even if the four f's are hardwired, hypnosis can re-channel the way we respond emotionally to the stimulus.