Hypnotic involuntariness: A social cognitive analysis.

The experience of involuntariness is a hallmark of hypnosis. A framework for understanding involuntary experiences that draws from social psychological and cognitive perspectives on hypnotic responding is presented. There are at least 5 reasons to reject the hypothesis that hypnotic responding is automatic and involuntary: (a) Hypnotic responses have all of the properties of behavior that are typically defined as voluntary. That is, they are purposeful, directed toward goals, regulated in terms of subjects' intentions, and can be progressively changed to better achieve subjects' goals. (b) Hypnotizable subjects can resist suggestions when resistance is defined as consistent with the role of a good hypnotized subject. (c) Hypnotic behaviors are neither reflexes nor manifestations of innate stimulus–response connections. (d) Hypnotic performances consume attentional resources in a manner comparable with nonhypnotic performances. (e) Hypnotic subjects' cognitive activities clearly demonstrate their active attempts to fulfill the requirements of hypnotic suggestions, which include experiencing suggestion-related effects as involuntary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further evidence that hypnotically induced color blindness does not mimic congenital defects.

Six undergraduate women, highly skilled in hypnotic techniques, were trained under hypnosis with a color mixer to experience red, green, blue, and total color blindness and were then programmed for the same responses in the posthypnotic state under conditions of amnesia. After awakening they were shown pseudoisochromatic plates as a preliminary check on the efficacy of the prior hypnotic instructions. The experiment consisted of successive administrations of the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue test, initially under normal baseline viewing conditions followed by each of the color-blind conditions in turn. Results indicate that although the observers subjectively experienced the varieties of color blindness as instructed, their responses differed from specimen responses of individuals with congenital defects in color discrimination. Implications for interpreting hypnotic alterations of perception are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical hypnosis: Differential impact on volitional and nonvolitional disorders.

Presents a conceptualization of hypnosis that differentiates the effects of the hypnotic experience from the effects of the hypnotic context. Within this framework, the clinical impact of hypnotic techniques on disorders that are usually not under volitional control (e.g., pain and asthma) as well as on those that are essentially problems of self-control (e.g., smoking and obesity) is examined. Findings generally indicate that whereas the hypnotic experience is responsible for therapeutic gain in the former type of disorder, it is the hypnotic context that affords such gain in the latter type. (French abstract) (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of hypnotizability: A review.

Discusses the domain of hypnotic behavior and presents the controversy between clinical and experimental hypnotists concerning the modification of the ability to be hypnotized. 4 sections deal with the evidence demonstrating that responsiveness to hypnosis can be meaningfully altered. Modification studies are discussed in relation to sensory alterations, hypnotic set and environmental setting situational variations, training experiences in nonhypnotic behavior, and training in hypnotic behavior. Persistent hypnotic performance alterations are differentiated from transitory changes. An attempt is made to synthesize the findings, and possible approaches in future investigation are discussed. (51/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Hypnotist and Manner of Presentation Effects on a Standardized Hypnotic Susceptibility Test": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by D. Eugene Thome and Ernst G. Beier (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1968, 32, No. 5, pp. 610-612). There is a misspelling of J. V. Cabibi's name on page 611 and again in the reference list. The reference should read: Cabibi, J. V., Hughes, H. H., & Butler, J. R. Behavioral effects on the hypnotic process by a change in hypnotist. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1966, 21, 334. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1969-00226-001). Administration of standardized hypnotic susceptibility tests requires, among others, 2 basic assumptions: administration of the test by different hypnotists has no significant effect on Ss' performances, and (2) administration of the test by way of different presentation methods has no significant effect on Ss' performances. 4 groups of 55 Ss each were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility under 4 experimental conditions, i.e., 1 of 2 hypnotists, who either presented the scale in person or presented the scale by way of prerecorded tape. Results weakened the tenability of the basic assumptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expert judgments of hypnosis from subjective state reports.

Suggestibility was assessed in 60 college students after a traditional hypnotic induction, an alert induction, progressive relaxation training, or instruction in goal-directed imagery. Responsiveness to suggestion did not differ between groups. Ss also generated open-ended reports of their states of awareness and of their experience of 3 hypnotic suggestions. A sample of these reports from 24 moderately to highly suggestible Ss were evaluated by 18 experts in the field of hypnosis. Expert ratings of Ss' open-ended reports indicated that (1) traditional hypnotic inductions produce a state of consciousness that is indistinguishable from nonhypnotic relaxation training, (2) the subjective experience of hypnotic suggestions after imagination training is indistinguishable from that after hypnotic inductions, and (3) suggestibility is unrelated to state of consciousness as assessed by experts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Credulous" and "skeptical" views of hypnotic phenomena: Experiments on esthesia, hallucination, and delusion.

The author distinguishes between 2 interpretations of hypnotic phenomena: the credulous (S does or does not experience what the hypnotist suggests) and the skeptical (S reports what is suggested regardless of the "reality" of his experience). 2 groups of Ss (distinguished with respect to the presence or not of genuine hypnotic behavior and posthypnotic amnesia) were placed in a 3 [control (not under hypnotic trance), hypnotic trance, nontrance acting (S asked to act as if conditions were as suggested)] by 2 (stimulus present or not) design involving paraesthesias, hallucinations, and delusional thinking. Evidence (such as GSR, interference in thinking due to feedback, test measures of delusion) suggests that S does not misperceive the real situation, but misreports it. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4II89S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociations and dissociation theory in hypnosis: Comment on Kirsch and Lynn (1998).

I. Kirsch and S. J. Lynn's (1998) critique of the neodissociation theory of divided consciousness fails to consider evidence of dissociations between explicit and implicit memory and perception in hypnosis. Contrary to their conclusions, evidence that the rate of hidden observer response (like other hypnotic responses) varies with the wording of instructions does not contradict neodissociation theory; rather, it underscores the fact that hypnosis entails social interaction as well as alterations in conscious awareness. Neodissociation and sociocognitive theories of hypnosis complement each other: Each draws attention to aspects of the experience of hypnosis that the other neglects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of some hypnotist and subject variables on hypnotic susceptibility.

Randomly assigned 48 21-56 yr. Old females to 1 of 4 groups given different information with regard to a hypnotist's warmth and experience. The 6 male graduate student hypnotists had previously been judged on their objective warmth and competent appearance. Following structuring, all ss underwent individual hypnotic induction. As predicted, ss run by the objectively warmer, more competent appearing es obtained significantly higher susceptibility scores. Structured warmth produced significant differences only in ss run by the objectively less warm es. Both structured warmth and experience affected ss' subjective impressions of whether they thought they had been hypnotized. The complex relationship between antecedent variables and the various objective and subjective dependent indicators of hypnotic phenomena are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive skill and traditional trance hypnotic inductions: A within-subjects comparison.

Comparison of a traditional trance hypnotic induction and a cognitive skill induction in a within-Ss design with 40 undergraduates showed that the cognitive skill induction enhanced subjective responses to suggestions and produced significant increments in behavioral responses when it was preceded by the trance induction. The trance procedure led to greater self-reported alterations in consciousness. Findings suggest that skill induction teaches cognitive strategies that enhance responsivity to suggestions in subsequent hypnotic experiences, independent of alterations in consciousness elicited by trance induction. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic analgesia: Dissociated experience or dissociated control?

18 high-hypnotizable Ss were superior to 18 low-hypnotizable Ss in the extent of pain reduction produced by hypnotic analgesia and by a stress-inoculation procedure. However, stress inoculation but not hypnotic analgesia impaired performance on a cognitively demanding task that competed with pain reduction for cognitive resources. This outcome implies that hypnotic analgesia occurs with little or no cognitive effort to reduce pain and challenges the social psychological model of hypnosis. The findings are also inconsistent with the notion of dissociated experience, which proposes that pain and the cognitive efforts to reduce it are cut off from consciousness by an amnesialike barrier. However, the results do support the notion of dissociated control, which proposes that suggestions for hypnotic analgesia directly activate pain reduction and thereby avert the need for cognitive strategies to reduce pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Transference: Its meaning and function in psychoanalytic therapy.

Reviews the book, Transference: its meaning and function in psychoanalytic therapy by Benjamin Wolstein (see record 1955-01021-000). The book reflects the groping trends of opinion developing from therapeutic experience and from increased awareness of the problems of definition. Many questions related to transference are brought closer to the status of answerable questions. The author sees transference in terms of observable here-and-now behavior. He keeps the focus on present interactions with careful attention to the therapist as an interbehaving organism (countertransference) rather than as a hypnotic authority. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of verbal and experiential expectancy manipulations on hypnotic susceptibility.

The hypothesis that an expectancy manipulation based on direct experience would have a greater effect on hypnotic behavior than one based on verbal persuasion was tested. Consistent with this hypothesis, the experiential expectancy manipulation was more effective than the verbal manipulation in enhancing hypnotizability. A combination of the 2 expectancy manipulations resulted in a sample in which 73% of the Ss scored as highly hypnotizable, 27% as moderately hypnotizable, and none as low hypnotizable on Form C of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. These data support I. Kirsch's (see record 1986-13702-001) response expectancy hypothesis. They also suggest that R. H. Fazio and M. P. Zanna's (1981) contention that attitudes formed via direct experience are more consistent with behavior may hold for expectancy–behavior consistency as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "stuff" of hypnotic performance: A review of psychometric approaches.

Reviews psychometric investigations into the nature of the processes that underlie hypnotic performance and examines issues that underlie psychometric investigations of hypnosis scales, such as the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. The issues addressed are dimensionality and the problem of difficulty factors, the interpretation of factorial dimensions, and componential alternatives to the factor analytic approach. It is argued that hypnotic performances are most likely overdetermined in that they reflect the combined influence of a plurality of processes. The relevance of various componential models, each reflecting a different contemporary theoretical perspective toward hypnosis, and some of the implications of such models for future research are discussed. (77 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of hypnotic susceptibility.

An attempt was made to relate hypnotic susceptibility to the following: an inventory of subjective nonhypnotic personal experiences, attitudes and opinions toward and interest in hypnosis, environmental and social perceptions, 5 Guilford-Martin personality scales, and measures of response styles. The Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility was administered to 80 male and 97 female college students who had previously taken the questionnaires. The results and conclusions were generally negative. Judging from the present results and those in previous studies, hypnotic susceptibility is not closely related to available personality inventories or measures of "social and environmental perceptions" and probably not to measures of subjective nonhypnotic personal experiences. An S's previous hypnotic experience, attitude toward hypnosis, and expectations regarding his own hypnotizability do appear to influence his susceptibility. (40 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Artifact in the "essence of hypnosis": An evaluation of trance logic.

Assigned 70 female student nurses to 1 of 3 treatment conditions: hypnotic induction, instructions to simulate hypnosis, or imagination control. All Ss were assessed on M. Orne's (see record 1960-05341-001) 2 indexes of trance logic (the transparent and the double hallucination). The imagination controls consistently showed trance logic as often as the hypnotic Ss. Depending upon the stringency of the criterion for hallucination, the simulating Ss showed trance logic less often, as often, or more often than the hypnotic Ss and the imagination controls. In the 2nd phase of the investigation, 6 simulating Ss consistently manifested trance logic as often as 5 highly selected "somnambulistic" hypnotic Ss. Since trance logic was not found to be a discriminating characteristic of hypnotic Ss, investigators who seek the "essence of hypnosis" must now search elsewhere. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Covert pain in hypnotic analgesia: Its reality as tested by the real-simulator design.

Simulation of covert pain, as reported by the hidden observer method, proved very successful for 12 simulator Ss known to be unable to reduce overtly reported pain through hypnotic analgesia procedures, as compared with 12 highly hypnotizable Ss whose pain had been shown to be reduced by at least one third through hypnotic analgesia suggestions. Preliminary practice in dissociation (and in simulated dissociation) through amnesia for a word list and through attempted automatic writing also demonstrated successful simulation. However, in an honesty inquiry by a staff member not participating as a hypnotist-experimenter, no simulator claimed to have been amnesic, to have performed automatic writing, or to have reduced pain beyond the reduction that could be achieved through waking suggestion. The methods by which the successful simulation was achieved were explored in subsequent interviews. In contrast with the simulators, no highly hypnotizable S modified any earlier report on the basis of the honesty inquiry. Results confirm the importance of postexperimental honesty interrogation when the real–simulator design is used. Results also lend support to the reality of the covert experience of pain in the absence of its overt experience in hypnotic analgesia. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure of hypnotic test suggestions and attributions of responding involuntarily.

48 hypnotic and task-motivated undergraduates were administered 3 suggestions and 3 directives in counterbalanced order. The directives instructed Ss to make a series of motor responses while the suggestions implied that the same responses occurred involuntarily. Ss displayed greater overt response to directives than suggestions but rated their responses to suggestions as more involuntary than responses to directives. Suggested responses associated with incongruent proprioceptive feedback were rated as less involuntary than responses associated with congruent feedback. Goal-directed fantasy (GDF) was elicited more frequently by suggestions than directives, and GDF correlated with rated involuntariness and hypnotic susceptibility. Findings are consistent with the notions that hypnotic responding is strategic action moderated by Ss' construal of the test situation and that ratings of involuntariness reflect a socially cued interpretation of experience. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cortical event-related potentials show the structure of hypnotic suggestions is crucial

Electroencephalographic cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) are affected by information processing strategies and are particularly appropriate for the examination of hypnotic alterations in perception. The effects of positive obstructive and negative obliterating instructions on visual and auditory P300 ERPs were tested. Twenty participants, stringently selected for hypnotizability, were requested to perform identical tasks during waking and alert hypnotic conditions. High hypnotizables showed greater ERP amplitudes while experiencing negative hallucinations and lower ERP amplitudes while experiencing positive obstructive hallucinations, in contrast to low hypnotizables and their own waking imagination-only conditions. The data show that when participants are carefully selected for hypnotizability and responses are time locked to events, rather robust physiological markers of hypnosis emerge. These reflect alterations in consciousness that correspond to participants' subjective experiences of perceptual alteration. Accounting for suggestion type reveals remarkable consistency of findings among dozens of researchers.     

Mediation and moderation of psychological pain treatments: Response expectancies and hypnotic suggestibility.

The mediator role of response expectancies and the moderator role of hypnotic suggestibility were evaluated in the analogue treatment of pain. Approximately 1,000 participants were assessed for hypnotic suggestibility. Later, as part of a seemingly unrelated experiment, 188 of these individuals were randomly assigned to distraction, cognitive-behavioral package, hypnotic cognitive-behavioral package, hypnotic analgesia suggestion, placebo control, or no-treatment control conditions. Response expectancies partially mediated the effects of treatment on pain. Hypnotic suggestibility moderated treatment and was associated with the relief produced only by the hypnotic interventions. The results suggest that response expectancies are an important mechanism of hypnotic and cognitive-behavioral pain treatments and that hypnotic suggestibility is a trait variable that predicts hypnotic responding across situations, including hypnosis-based pain interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)