Hi Athena,
Why not have negative associations with hypnosis?
We can define hypnosis as 'unconscious communication', that is, communicating with your unconscious mind.
(
Your unconscious simply means the parts of your mind you're aren't aware of right not...like how it keeps your heart beating without you breaking a sweat!)
There are insidious ways of using unconscious communications out there, like how advertising and the mass media want you to buy their stuff, or the methods certain cult-like groups use to influence people to join them.
The more conscious you can be of unconscious communication, the more aware you'll be of these techniques and go, 'aha, I see what they're doing now, but they're not getting me-suckers!'
(Btw, if you're not trained in hypnosis, don't be scared that you won't be able to detect these hypnotic cues, as long as you keep yourself fairly aware and 'live consciously'
you'll be able to sense something wrong from far away.)
Now, the other part of insidious unconscious communication is directed unconscious communication. Can you communicate to the unconscious parts of you to do what you want them to do more of and less of what you want?
That's what a lot of PD is working on, really, things like using intentions to drop a signal into the unconscious and let it work on it. So does hypnosis.
Subliminals aren't counted in the field of hypnosis, as they aim to go below the radar and influence your mind directly, personally I don't believe they work. But Steve's recommended Subliminals are, because they use a method of hypnosis known as the 'double induction', where one voice says something to you in one ear while another says another thing in the other ear.
You can read even more about hypnosis to sooth your mind here:
The Dilbert Blog: Who Can’t Be Hypnotized?