"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)     

Trance logic as incomplete responding.

Two experiments tested predictions derived from the logical incongruity and differential demands hypotheses of trance logic responding. In Exp I, Ss that were highly susceptible to hypnosis showed higher levels of responding on 3 trance logic indexes (i.e., transparent hallucinating, duality, incongruous writing in age regression) than did Ss low in susceptibility to hypnosis who were instructed to fake hypnosis (i.e., simulators). In line with the differential demands hypothesis, hypnotic "reals" were less likely than simulators to report believing in the reality of the suggested situations and were less likely to report fine details in their hallucinations. Rate of trance logic responding correlated negatively with the degree to which hypnotic reals rated themselves as subjectively experiencing suggested effects, and as becoming absorbed in suggestions. Exp II found that highly susceptible hypnotic and nonhypnotic Ss (collectively called "reals") responded equivalently on all suggestions. High- and low-susceptible simulators also performed equivalently on all suggestions. Consistent with the differential demands hypothesis, (a) trance logic indexes differentiated reals from simulators when these indexes also measured incomplete subjective responding, and (b) trance logic indexes that failed to measure incomplete responding also failed to differentiate reals from simulators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Significant factors in hypnotic behavior.

This study was structured so as to be able to test 2 hypotheses derived from previous work on hypnosis (Wells, 1924), viz., that suggestions involving typical behavior under hypnosis, e.g., loss of voluntary control over muscles and speech, can be effective without the induction of a formal trance state, and that such a condition is as effective in producing the desired behavior as when the situation includes utilization of a preparatory set-inducing trance state. The 1st hypothesis was confirmed; the 2nd was not. The "trance" facilitated the presence and degree of hypnotic behavior. Personality characteristics of the more suggestible Ss were: (a) more willing to form new interpersonal relationship and (b) prone to imaginative activities, daydreaming, and fantasy. (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)     

Literalism as a marker of hypnotic "trance": Disconfirming evidence.

The responses given by highly hypnotizable, hypnotic subjects and those of unhypnotizable subjects who simulated hypnosis to questions of the type, "Do you mind telling me your name?" and "Do you mind standing up?" were contrasted. The purpose was to examine M. H. Erickson's (1980) assertion that literalism (answering "yes" or "no" verbally or nonverbally without any cognitive elaboration) is a marker of hypnotic "trance." Simulators exhibited a greater rate of literalism than hypnotic "virtuosos" (i.e., extreme scorers on both group and individual hypnotizability measures). Hypnotized subjects and nonhypnotized subjects approached in the campus library responded comparably. Because less than a third of hypnotic virtuosos responded literally, our results strongly refuted Erickson's assertion that literalism is a cognitive feature of hypnosis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward an explanation of stage hypnosis.

Explains stage hypnosis by 8 principles which do not utilize the concept of hypnotic state or trance. To produce an amazing performance, stage hypnotists rely primarily on (a) the high base rate of waking suggestibility, (b) a highly selective procedure for screening Ss, (c) the heightened suggestibility that is produced when the situation is defined to Ss as hypnosis, and (d) important social-psychological variables that are present in the stage situation. In addition, some stage hypnotists at times use (e) the "stage whispers" technique (in which Ss are told privately, in whispers, to help make the demonstration a success); (f) the "failure to challenge" technique, where the audience is misled; (g) trained Ss to carry out the difficult stunts, and (h) 1 or more tricks, e.g., pressure on the carotid baroreceptors which produces stupor. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Trance" versus "skill" hypnotic inductions: The effects of credibility, expectancy, and experimenter modeling.

Compared a hypnotic induction procedure based on social learning principles (skill induction) with a traditional eye-fixation/relaxation trance induction, a highly credible placebo induction, and a no-induction base-rate control. Before inductions were administered, 100 undergraduates completed Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale, the Rotter Trust Scale, and an absorption scale. The trance induction surpassed the skill induction only on the Hypnosis Inventory. Experimenter modeling did not enhance the effectiveness of the skill induction. Skill and trance inductions elicited slightly higher behavioral scores on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C than did the placebo induction. However, this difference was not obtained on other measures of hypnotic responsivity and depth. Significant correlations were found between expectancy, absorption, and responsiveness on all dependent measures. Multiple regression analyses indicated that the relationship between absorption and responsivity was mediated by expectancy. Results support the hypotheses that hypnotic responses are elicited by the expectancy for their occurrence and that induction procedures are a means of increasing Ss' expectancies for hypnotic responses. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aptitude for trance, task generalizability, and incongruity response in hypnosis.

Current theorizing about the process of "tolerance of logical incongruity" in hypnosis suggests that (a) aptitude for trance will be postively related to its occurrence, and (b) paradoxical behavior will manifest itself relatively consistently across different kinds of tasks presumed to measure the process. In a test of these predictions, 6 independent sets of 12 college students preselected for susceptibility to hypnosis (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A), were allocated to a 3 by 2 (Aptitude for Hypnosis by Instruction) factorial design. High-, medium-, and low-aptitude Ss were given either standard hypnotic or motivated waking imagination instructions, Ss being tested on 5 neutral (no incongruity) and 7 experimental items measuring incongruity. Results show that aptitude for trance determined incongruity response among both waking and hypnotic Ss, but that tolerance of incongruity could not reasonably be represented on currently accepted tests as a cognitive trait that exerts stable, enduring effects. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tension induction and the hyperalert trance.

The traditional methods of inducing the hypnotic trance are questioned. A new induction technique was devised which radically differed from classical induction methods in its utilization of increased tension and alertness. As a result of the tension-induction methods, a "hyperalert" trance state was produced, the hypersuggestibility of which compared favorably with that produced by typical hypnotic-induction methods and was significantly greater than that produced under waking conditions. The use of these new methods may have important implications for the understanding of "natural" forms of trance as wel as for the "hypersuggestible" states supposedly produced by interrogation or brainwashing. (42 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative efficacy of behavioral training, training plus relaxation, and a sleep/trance hypnotic induction in increasing hypnotic susceptibility.

A social-learning-based behavioral training procedure and the same procedure with the addition of progressive relaxation instructions were compared with a traditional sleep/trance eye-fixation hypnotic induction; Ss were 45 adult volunteers who had completed the Standard Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. As predicted, the hypothesis that a social-learning training procedure would be more effective than a sleep/trance induction was supported. The hypothesis that the addition of relaxation instructions would further potentiate the social-learning treatment was not supported. Results suggest that for Ss of low and medium hypnotic susceptibility, social-learning procedures are a more effective way of increasing suggestibility than a sleep/trance induction. Changes in Ss' conceptions of hypnosis, particularly in terms of moving toward a self-control viewpoint, are hypothesized to be an intervening variable. (48 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)     

Countering preconceptions about hypnosis: An objective index of involvement with the hypnotist.

Applied the real-simulating model of hypnosis in a program of research testing the hypothesis that hypnotic ss will stop responding when they perceive that the hypnotist is about to remove a suggestion while simulators will not, even though both groups of ss have been led to believe outside the trance setting that a good hypnotic s continues to respond compulsively until the moment suggestions are actually removed. 5 studies are described with a total of 355 undergraduates serving as ss. 2 plausible preconceptions about hypnosis (1 designed to conflict with experience in trance and 1 not) were implanted in ss by an e demonstrating hypnotic responsiveness in a peer model during a lecture demonstration. Results support predictions. When tested on the conflicting suggestion, ss susceptible to hypnosis countered their preconception in favor of their subjective involvement with trance events and stopped responding while simulators did not. Experiments in the program tested the durability of the phenomenon and analyzed the distinct patterns of interpersonal orientation which differentiated susceptible ss who contravened their expectation from those who did not. Collectively, results indicate susceptible ss' (a) unique involvement in trance events, and (b) the importance of their relationship with the hypnotist. (45 ref.) (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)     

The hypnotic dream: Its relation to nocturnal dreams and waking fantasies.

A review of the literature in the area of hypnotic dreams suggests that physiological correlates of hypnotic dreams are better established than content characteristics. A study is also reported that examined the content of hypnotic dreams in relation to that of nocturnal dreams and daydreams from the same Ss. Ss were 16 undergraduates divided into deep-trance and medium-trance groups. Deep trance Ss' hypnotic dreams were similar to their nocturnal dreams and different from daydreams on a wide variety of characteristics including length, emotional themes, characters, setting, and amount of distortion. Medium trance Ss' hypnotic dreams were found to fall between their nocturnal dreams and daydreams on most of these measures. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy versus absorption in the prediction of hypnotic responding.

Administered the absorption scale of the Differential Personality Questionnaire, a measure of imaginative involvement, to 64 undergraduates in the context of a hypnosis experiment and to an additional 64 Ss in a context unrelated to hypnosis. Expectancies of responding to hypnotic suggestions were assessed both before trance induction and after trance induction but before administration of hypnotic test suggestions. Hypnotic depth was assessed on a self-report scale (SRS) before the administration of test suggestions and on an inventory of hypnotic depth (IHD) after the hypnosis session. Absorption was correlated with hypnotic responsivity and expectancy, but only when assessed in the hypnotic context. Completing the Absorption scale in a hypnotic context appeared to affect hypnotic responsiveness by altering Ss' expectancies. Only postinduction expectancies were uniquely predictive of response to hypnotic test suggestions, and all variables except the SRS were predictive of IHD scores. Path analysis supported the hypothesis that trance inductions alter expectancies for responding to hypnotic suggestions and that these altered expectancies determine subsequent hypnotic behavior. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Common and specific features of childhood psychopathology.

This article describes a conceptual and data-analytic model for characterizing different levels of common and specific features of child psychopathology: common features, which differentiate psychopathology from normality; broadband-specific features, which differentiate internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, somatization) from externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, hyperactivity); and narrowband-specific features, which differentiate different narrowband syndromes (e.g., anxiety from somatization, hyperactivity from aggression) within each of the broadband syndromes. As an illustration of the model, data for 6 cognitive variables (e.g., global self-worth, causal attributions) are related to 6 psychopathology domains (e.g., aggression, depression) in a sample of 204 children. It is suggested that common features may be related to severity of psychopathology, whereas specific features may be more related to differentiation of psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental designs, expectancy effects, and hypnotic analgesia.

40 undergraduates who scored high on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups. Each group received 3 60-sec immersions of cold-pressor pain stimulation. Immersions were associated with either hypnotic, waking, or no analgesia (control) instructions. The treatments and their order were varied across groups to induce different expectations about the efficacy of hypnotic and waking analgesia. Magnitude estimates and category scale ratings of pain indicated that hypnotic analgesia was more, less, or equally as effective as waking analgesia, depending on the expectations induced by varying treatment order. Pain ratings were also related to the type of cognitive activity (e.g., imaginative coping) engaged in during an immersion. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a convergence in hypnosis research.

Theory construction and research in the area of hypnosis centers around 2 alternative paradigms. One paradigm employs hypothetical constructs such as "hypnotic state" and "trance" to organize the data, while the alternative paradigm rejects these constructs and employs others more closely tied to contemporary social psychology. Recent theoretical formulations proffered by major proponents of both paradigms are reviewed. It is concluded that the 2 paradigms appear to be moving toward a rapproachment on 2 broad generalizations: (a) A willingness to cooperate with the hypnotist constitutes an important but not sufficient condition for hypnotic performance. (b) Ss respond overtly and experientially to hypnotic suggestions when they become involved in suggestion-related imaginings. The empirical evidence supporting both generalizations is summarized, and future research directions are indicated. (96 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The validity of hypnotically induced visual hallucinations.

Varying degrees of visual distortion were found to be related to varying degrees of hypnotic trance. In general, hypnotically induced perceptual distortion was not as effective as the "real thing." (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)