Trance logic duality and hidden observer responding in hypnotic, imagination control, and simulating subjects: A social psychological analysis.

Tested the hypothesis that a tolerance for logical incongruity characterizes hypnotic responding and is related to reports of duality experiences during age regression and hidden-observer responding during suggested analgesia. 30 undergraduates (the "reals") with high scores on a responsiveness-to-suggestion scale were randomly assigned to hypnotic or imagination control treatments, while 15 undergraduates with low scores were assigned to a simulation treatment in which they were instructed to fake hypnosis. Ss were assessed on 6 indicators of logical incongruity, given age-regression suggestions and perception tasks, administered a suggestion for analgesia and hidden observer instructions, and interviewed. Results do not support the hypothesis. The differences in responding that did emerge between reals and simulators were accounted for by the different task demands to which Ss were exposed. These behavioral differences, which have been previously interpreted in terms of intrinsic characteristics of hypnosis, may instead reflect a combination of between-treatments differences in demands and between-Ss differences in the interpretation of those demands and in the ability to fulfill them. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trance logic, susceptibility screening, and the transparency response.

Two groups of hypnotizable ("real") Ss were screened on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and the individually administered Revised Stanford Profile Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility or on the Group Scale alone. These 26 Ss were compared with 15 simulating Ss (who were group and individually screened) on 5 measures of trance logic (TL). As predicted, the stringently screened Ss passed more of the criterion hallucinations used in the tests of TL than group-screened-alone Ss, whereas simulators passed all the criterion hallucinations. However, the 2 groups of reals were indistinguishable on measures of TL, and only the transparency response differentiated reals and simulators. In their guesses of group assignment, hypnotists were better able to differentiate less stringently screened than stringently screened reals from simulators. Although experimenter blindness may be compromised by the use of less stringently screened Ss in TL research, bias was not associated with differential responding on TL tasks. The finding that reals who reported transparency also reported weakened or imperfect hallucinations supports the hypothesis that less than compelling hypnotic experience, not contralogical responding, is at the heart of transparency reports. (33 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)     

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)     

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)     

Trance logic in hypnosis and imagination.

Investigated, in 2 experiments, trance logic, or the tolerance of logical incongruity, in age regression and hallucination. Exp 1 tested 21 hypnotizable and 19 unhypnotizable Ss in an application of the real-simulating model of hypnosis. Exp 2 tested 26 high and 19 low imagery ability Ss in an adaptation of the model to the imagination context. Ss' experiences were investigated through the experimenal analysis technique. More real than simulating Ss displayed trance logic during age regression, but they did not differ on the major measures of trance logic during hallucination. This pattern of responding occurred in both the hypnosis and the imagination contexts. Ss' comments suggested that completeness of and belief in age regression or hallucination may play some role in trance logic. The importance of understanding trance logic from the S's point of view is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reality of hypnotic analgesia: A comparison of highly hypnotizables with simulators.

Used the real–simulator design to investigate the reality of hypnotic analgesia when normally painful stress was induced by immersing a hand and forearm in circulating ice water (cold pressor response). 2 groups of Ss (12 14–22 yr old selected highly hypnotizable "reals" and 12 13–27 yr old insusceptible "simulators"), determined by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (Form A) and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (Form C), participated in a single session during which suggestions for pain reduction were given in both the waking and hypnotic conditions. The simulators proved remarkably successful in predicting and imitating the responses of the reals, except for a tendency to overreact and exaggerate compliance with suggestions. The genuineness of hypnotic analgesia was attested, however, by the differences between the honesty reports of the reals and those of the simulators who attempted to behave as hypnotized Ss are expected to do. (17 ref) (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)     

Surreptitiously observed hypnotic responding in simulators and in skill-trained and untrained high hypnotizables.

Low-hypnotizable Ss (LHs) administered cognitive skill training exhibited substantially higher posttest hypnotizability than LHs administered no treatment. Next, the Ss in these 2 conditions as well as Ss who attained high hypnotizability without training and LHs instructed to fake hypnosis (i.e., simulators) were individually tested for hypnotizability twice while their responses were recorded by a hidden camera. In the individual session, Ss were first tested for hypnotizability while alone and then tested again in the presence of an experimenter. The skill-trained Ss and high-hypnotizable controls attained equivalent (high) hypnotizability scores with the experimenter both absent and present. However, when the experimenter was absent, the simulators exhibited lowered hypnotizability and apparently failed to adopt the hypnotic role. These findings contradict the hypothesis that high hypnotizability in skill-trained Ss reflects compliant responding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic amnesia as a strategic enactment: Breaching amnesia in highly susceptible subjects.

Proposes that hypnotically amnesic Ss maintain control over their memory processes but often fail to breach amnesia because to do so would conflict with their self-presentation as deeply hypnotized. Two experiments, with 16 undergraduates, demonstrated that highly susceptible hypnotically amnesic Ss could be easily induced to recall all of the "forgotten" target items by defining successful recall as supportive of rather than as inconsistent with a self-presentation as deeply hypnotized. In the 1st part of Exp I, all Ss showed amnesia despite repeated demands to recall honestly. In the 2nd part of Exp I, Ss were led to believe that they possessed a "hidden part" to their mind that remained aware of the target items covered by the amnesia suggestion. Each S recalled all of the forgotten items when the experimenter contacted their hidden part. Exp II replicated this effect and also demonstrated that the characteristics of Ss' hidden reports were a function of the instructions they received and did not reflect the operation of a dissociated cognitive subsystem that subconsciously held the forgotten items. Findings are inconsistent with traditional theorizing about hypnosis, but offer strong support for the hypothesis that hypnotic amnesia is a strategic enactment under the S's voluntary control. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic age regression and the occurrence of transitional object relationships.

Object relations theory and subsequent empirical investigations have established the characteristic ways in which children aged 2–6 yrs utilize transitional objects (e.g., teddy bears or blankets). Three of these characteristics—spontaneity, specificity, and intensity—were used as the primary criteria to investigate the genuineness of hypnotic age regression when Ss were regressed to age 3 and placed in emotional situations typical of those reported clinically. Two groups of college students (16 highly susceptible, as "reals," and 15 low susceptible, as simulators; Ss were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and a version of the Stanford Profile Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility) behaved differentially on all 3 measures, with reals behaving in a generally more childlike manner, thus suggesting an effect attributable to the hypnotic condition. Further, the behavior of these Ss was compared to that of 77 children aged 1–6 yrs; reals and children were statistically indistinguishable on the 2 criteria on which they were compared, but simulators differed significantly from both groups. This pattern of results, along with real–simulator differences, suggests a more complete reproduction of an earlier affective process as a function of meaningful hypnotic age regression. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Uncancelled hypnotic suggestions: The effects of hypnotic depth and hypnotic skill on their posthypnotic persistence.

Conducted 2 experiments to evaluate the degree to which hypnotic depth and hypnotic skill influence the posthypnotic persistence of an uncancelled suggestion. Each experiment employed 24 college students (8 high susceptible, 8 medium susceptible, and 8 low susceptible, based on Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A, scores). The induction of hypnosis in Exp I was by videotape; in Exp II, an almost identical induction was conducted individually by the experimenter. In both experiments, an arm analgesia item was left uncancelled. Over the 2 experiments, analgesia persisted posthypnotically for 20% of the highly susceptible Ss. These Ss differed from the highly susceptible Ss not manifesting the phenomenon in having significantly better hypnotic analgesia and greater hypnotic depth. Results suggest that posthypnotic persistence of an uncancelled suggestion was confined to a minority of highly hypnotizable Ss. Persistence appears to have affinities with other low-incidence hypnotic phenomena to which only the top 2–3% of Ss in the range of hypnotic susceptibility respond. The majority of highly susceptible Ss either cancelled an uncancelled suggestion themselves, or else the suggestion faded with time. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trance logic and cue structure as supplied by the hypnotist

Logically incongruous behavior was elicited in contexts that varied appreciably in the extent to which they cued Ss as to appropriate trance logic response. Independent sets of hypnotically responsive and unresponsive Ss were assigned to a real or simulating condition in application of the real-simulating model of hypnosis and tested under 1 of 2 cue conditions (high and low). These conditions either clearly communicated the hypnotist's intent regarding trance logic response (high cue) or did not (low cue). It was hypothesized that real and simulating Ss would be differentiated when optimal conditions for testing were maintained, that is, under the low-cue condition where intent was not communicated obviously. Data for 107 highly selected undergraduates challenge the validity of the double hallucination index as an adequate measure of trance logic but show high discriminative value for the transparency index. Detailed analysis of the behavior of both groups of Ss indicated distinctive properties of experience that highlighted the complex nature of hypnotic Ss' cognitive controls. (34 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)     

Is the hypnotized subject lying?

Do the verbal reports of deeply hypnotized Ss truthfully reflect their subjective experiences of hypnotic suggestions? Exp 1 established that the electrodermal skin conductance response (SCR) provides an effective method for detecting deception in the laboratory equally well in hypnotized and nonhypnotized Ss. In Exp 2, deeply hypnotized and simulating Ss were administered a number of hypnotic suggestions in a typical hypnotic session, without mention of deception, and were questioned about their experiences while SCR measures were recorded concurrently. Results indicate that 89% of the hypnotized Ss' reports met the criterion for truthfulness, whereas only 35% of the simulators' reports met this criterion. Implications for the theory of hypnosis are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of the treatment effects of simulation instructions in the application of the real simulating model of hypnosis.

385 Ss were given a sentence completion and a word association test. Later, 12 high- and low-susceptible Ss were asked before and after the induction to hypnosis to complete a test battery containing the 2 tests. Insusceptible Ss simulated hypnosis for an E who was blind as to S's susceptibility to trance. Critical comparison was between initial testing and testing before hypnotic induction was attempted. Results support the hypothesis. Simulators differed in their performance on the sentence completion test, showing less evidence of conflict after receiving instructuions to role play. Hypnotic Ss showed no difference between the 2 testings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnosis and the influence of most recently perceived events.

Tested the hypothesis that the expectancy of the hypnotist is especially significant in determining the nature of the response of susceptible Ss. Three studies were conducted, using a total of 126 undergraduates. Using E. G. Boring's ambiguous Wife/Mother-in-Law figure and procedures first isolated by W. Epstein and I. Rock (1960), unique waking conditions were established under which the events most recently seen, rather than what was expected, reliably influenced subsequent perception. The effects of these same conditions were then studied for task-motivated, hypnotized, and waking (imagination only) Ss in formal application of T. X. Barber's (1969) model of hypnosis. Results support the hypothesis showing that susceptible hypnotic Ss exclusively demonstrated expectancy rather than recency behavior in the trance test setting; however, Barber's task-motivation instructions were ineffective in reproducing the suggested response. (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)     

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)     

Cognitive skill-training enhancement of hypnotizability: Generalization effects and trance logic responding.

Compared low-hypnotizable Ss who simulated hypnosis, underwent cognitive skill training, or served as no-treatment controls to Ss who scored as high hypnotizables without training (natural highs) on response to analgesia, age-regression, visual hallucination, selective amnesia, and posthypnotic suggestions. Ss who attained high hypnotizability following skill training (created highs) did not differ from natural highs on any response index. Natural and created highs scored lower than simulators but higher than controls on the behavioral and subjective aspects of test suggestions. Simulators, however, were significantly less likely than natural highs or skill-trained Ss to exhibit duality responding or incongruous writing during age regression or transparent hallucinating. Results suggest that the hypnotic responses of natural and created highs are mediated by the same cognitive variables and that enhancements in hypnotizability produced by skill training cannot be adequately explained in terms of compliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)