Role of expectancy, amnesia, and hypnotic induction in the performance of posthypnotic behavior.

Studied posthypnotic behavior in 54 female undergraduates. Except for controls, Ss were instructed to resist a posthypnotic suggestion along with either a positive or negative expectation that they would be successful. Ss were given the suggestion either immediately before or after a hypnotic induction. Ss' responses to the suggestion were significantly (p     

Suggested ("hypnotic") visual hallucinations: Experimental and phenomenological data.

Tested 74 female student nurses' responses to a pretreatment hallucination suggestion to see an object that was not present. Each S was then exposed to either hypnotic induction procedure or task motivational instructions, and was again tested on response to an equivalent posttreatment hallucination suggestion. Next, each S was assessed on the Barber Suggestibility Scale (BSS) and on a self-rating of hypnotic depth measure. Finally, Ss were interviewed individually by a "blind" E to determine their phenomenological experiences during the posttreatment hallucination suggestion. There were significant positive correlations between scores on the posttreatment hallucination suggestion and scores on the BSS, self-ratings of hypnotic depth, and pretreatment hallucination suggestion. Similar phenomenological experiences were reported by Ss tested under the hypnotic induction and task motivational treatments, and by Ss who reported that they "saw" and those who reported that they "vividly imagined" the suggested object. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classroom seating and hypnotic susceptibility.

Conducted 2 experiments to investigate the relations among hypnotic susceptibility (Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale), lateralization of actual seating behavior, and seating preference. In Exp I, it was found that females who sat on the right side of a classroom were more hypnotically susceptible than females who sat on the left. Males who preferred right-side seating were more susceptible than males with left-side preferences. In Exp II, 55 Ss were randomly assigned to seats to determine whether seating location itself affected responsiveness to hypnosis. No association between lateralization of actual seating and hypnotic susceptibility was found. Replicating Exp I, males who preferred right-side seating were more hypnotically susceptible than males with left-side preferences. Lateralization of seating behavior has been found previously to be a function of hemisphericity. The results of both experiments indicate that lateralization of seating behavior may be used to investigate the relation between hemisphericity and hypnotic susceptibility. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improved obstetric outcomes using hypnotic analgesia and skill mastery combined with childbirth education.

The benefits of hypnotic analgesia as an adjunct to childbirth education were studied in 60 nulliparous women. Subjects were divided into high and low hypnotic susceptibility groups before receiving 6 sessions of childbirth education and skill mastery using an ischemic pain task. Half of the Ss in each group received a hypnotic induction at the beginning of each session; the remaining control Ss received relaxation and breathing exercises typically used in childbirth education. Both hypnotic Ss and highly susceptible Ss reported reduced pain. Hypnotically prepared births had shorter Stage 1 labors, less medication, higher Apgar scores, and more frequent spontaneous deliveries than control Ss' births. Highly susceptible, hypnotically treated women had lower depression scores after birth than women in the other 3 groups. We propose that repeated skill mastery facilitated the effectiveness of hypnosis in our study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of conflicting communications on response to hypnotic suggestion.

Two experiments with 182 Australian undergraduates examined how hypnotized Ss respond when information is presented that conflicts with hypnotic suggestions. Three hypnotic suggestions (hand lowering, finger lock, and hallucination) and 3 levels of conflict communication (low, medium, or high) were used, and real and simulating Ss (as determined by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility) were tested in each experiment. In Exp I, the hypnotist presented the suggestion and then the conflicting communication. Increased conflict appreciably lessened the responding of Ss; an appreciable behavioral difference occurred between real and simulating Ss on the hallucination item. In Exp II, the hypnotist presented the conflicting communication and then the suggestion. Increased conflict did not appreciably lessen the responding of Ss on any item. Findings are discussed in terms of the apparent tendency of Ss to respond to the more recent message of the hypnotist. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of active-alert hypnotic induction with traditional relaxation induction.

Describes the testing of an active-alert induction procedure which sufficiently controlled conditions to permit a comparison between the alterations produced by that procedure and those produced by the traditional relaxation induction technique. Ss were 50 university students. In the active-alert induction the S rode a bicycle ergometer under load, keeping eyes open while exercising and receiving suggestions of alertness. The alternate form, used in random alternation with the same Ss, consisted of the standard eye-fixation and relaxation induction of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form B (SHSS-B). Within each session on 2 days during which each S served, the induction procedure was followed by 8 tests of responses to suggestion, from the SHSS-A and SHSS-B. The mean measured hypnotic responsiveness was independent of the type of induction. The active-alert condition was characterized by an acceleration of the rate of pedaling for the more responsive Ss. Although the subjective alterations differed between the 2 kinds of induction, the highly susceptible reported that in both cases altered states were achieved. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic elimination of prism-induced aftereffects: Perceptual effect or responses to experimental demands?

Two experiments assessed adaptation to displacing prisms in hypnotically limb-anesthetized Ss. Exp I with 18 college students disconfirmed the hypothesis that the displacement aftereffect is eliminated in limb-anesthetized hypnotic Ss who adapt to prisms in the absence of a visual target. Such Ss showed as large a displacement aftereffect as control Ss who received neither a hypnotic induction procedure nor an anesthesia suggestion. Exp II with 30 undergraduates demonstrated that under some testing conditions hypnotic Ss complied with experimental demands and eliminated the behavioral but not the perceptual component of the aftereffect. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pseudomemory effects over time in the hypnotic setting.

Highly (n?=?36), moderately (n?=?26), and low (n?=?48) susceptible Ss were administered either hypnosis or waking instruction to examine the hypothesis that pseudomemory will occur for hypnotic Ss as long as 2 wks after suggestions are given for accepting false events. Accuracy and confidence of memory were measured for all Ss, and memory was examined for free recall, structured recall, and recognition. Results indicated persistence of pseudomemory for the 2-wk period for both highly and moderately susceptible Ss. Data highlighted the multifaceted operation of skill, contextual, and state instruction factors, and a hypothesis that ambiguity of communication when suggestion is delivered plays a part in the maintenance of pseudomemory over time is offered for further testing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of active alert and relaxation hypnotic inductions on cold pressor pain.

Contrasted relaxation and active alert hypnotic inductions with or without a specific suggestion for cold pressor pain analgesia. Groups of high (n?=?38) and low (n?=?27) hypnotizable Ss were tested; hypnotizability had been determined from results of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. Cold pressor pain data were obtained after counterbalanced exposure to relaxation and active alert inductions. Highly hypnotizable Ss demonstrated lower pain scores than did low hypnotizable ones. Pain reports did not differ between induction conditions. Highly hypnotizable Ss given an analgesic suggestion showed lower pain scores than did those exposed only to hypnosis. The findings, conceptualized within E. R. Hilgard's (1977) neodissociation theory, show that relaxation is not necessary for hypnotic analgesia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of hypnotic analgesia on verbal report and cardiovascular responses to ischemic pain.

A slowly mounting form of ischemic pain produced substantial increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), and pain state (PS) in 8 highly susceptible hypnotic Ss on an unhypnotized control day, when ischemia was extended to a median duration of 19 min. On a 2nd day, after hypnotically suggested analgesia, a repetition of the ischemic stimulus produced significantly lower SBP, HR, and PS at a median 19 min., and in 6 Ss, PS reports of 0 and neglibible changes in SBP and HR, even though ischemia was extended to a median duration of 30.2 min. It is concluded that: (a) hypnotic analgesia is effective, in selected Ss, in reducing reported pain of ischemia; (b) reductions in SBP and HR accompany the reduction in reported pain, thus validating the subjective reports; and (c) evidence answers possible criticisms of a design calling for repeated measures on the same Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Artificial induction of posthypnotic conflict.

Employed the real-simulating model of hypnosis to study the effectiveness of conflict suggestion on S's behavior in the posthypnotic period when amnesia was present for the source of the conflict. Blind to S's true identity, E gave anxiety-toned paramnesia suggestion to 17 hypnotic Ss and 14 insusceptible Ss who were motivated by another E to fake hypnotic performance. Comparison of pre- and postcomplex performance on a battery of personality tests showed that both simulators and hypnotic Ss behaved in a similar fashion following the induction of conflict. Differences which did exist between the 2 groups suggested that the induced conflict inhibited the spontaneity of the hypnotic S. In the case of hypnotic performance, awareness of the source of the conflict made little difference to the occurrence of the painful emotional state. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fate of an uncompleted posthypnotic suggestion.

Used 50 male undergraduates to test the possibility that Ss who resist completing a posthypnotic suggestion may, at a later time, in a situation which is not seen as related to the hypnotic session, carry out the earlier suggested behavior. Such Ss were found to fall within the medium range of hypnotizability as evaluated over 3 sessions by the Stanford Scales of Hypnotizability. Ss with low hypnotizability failed to complete the posthypnotic suggestion and did not demonstrate a subsequent tendency toward the earlier suggested behavior. Ss with high hypnotizability tended to complete the posthypnotic suggestion and, in about 1/2 of the cases, demonstrated a subsequent tendency toward the earlier suggested behavior. Within the medium range of hypnotizability were found those Ss who did not complete the posthypnotic suggestion, but subsequently, in the extrahypnotic setting, behaved in accordance with the earlier suggestion. Hypnotizability as an overall characteristic was clearly related to the demonstration of this action tendency. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disorganized recall during suggested amnesia: Fact not artifact.

In 3 experiments and a reanalysis of previous data, hypnotic and nonhypnotic Ss learned a 9-item categorized word list and were then given an amnesia suggestion for the list. Clustering of recall was measured on the recall trials immediately before the suggestion, during it, and after it was cancelled. In Exp I with 173 undergraduates, hypnotic Ss showed more amnesia than task-motivated Ss. However, partial nonrecallers in both of these treatments showed disorganized (i.e., less clustered) recall during the suggestion as compared to before it or after cancelling it. Exp II, with 100 university students, disconfirmed the hypothesis that the greater amnesia of hypnotic as compared to task-motivated Ss, was due to high levels of relaxation in the hypnotic Ss. Disorganization was again found in partial nonrecallers. The reanalysis of clustering data from previous experiments with 196 Ss demonstrated that the disorganization effect was not an artifact produced by reduced recall during the suggestion period, and Exp III (with 166 18–42 yr old Ss) indicated that Ss who followed instructions and faked partial amnesia when explicitly asked to do so (simulators) showed no disorganization effect. An inattention–encoding specificity hypothesis was developed to account for these findings. (23 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)     

Moderating effects of contextual variables on the relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and suggested analgesia.

Assessed 75 undergraduates high, medium, or low on hypnotic susceptibility (the Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale) on the cold pressor task before and after 1 of 3 instructional treatments. The treatments were (a) brief instructions to try to reduce pain, (b) the same analgesia instructions preceded by a hypnotic induction procedure, and (c) no hypnotic induction or instructions. In the hypnotic treatment, susceptibility correlated significantly with reductions in reported pain, and high-susceptible Ss reported significantly larger pain reductions than did control Ss. In the instruction-alone treatment, there was no significant relationship between susceptibility and pain reduction, and Ss at all 3 susceptibility levels reduced reported pain significantly more than did controls and as much as did high-susceptible hypnotic Ss. Findings suggest that the correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and hypnotic analgesia is moderated by Ss' attitudes and expectancies concerning their own performance in situations defined as related to hypnosis. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic dissociation, dichotic listening, and active versus passive modes of attention.

Describes 2 experiments with 75 high and low hypnotically susceptible Ss (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility). Detecting left-channel targets interfered less with the shadowing of right-channel prose when performance of the former task was posthypnotically dissociated from consciousness. However, this superiority over an ordinary divided-attention condition was not due to unconscious target detection by Ss. Rather, the suggestions for posthypnotic responsiveness with amnesia apparently engendered a passive mode of attention to the left-channel task, such that Ss did not actively listen for targets in order to hear them. In Exp II, explicit instructions to adopt a strategy of attentional passivity to the target-detection task proved to be far more effective in producing the reduced-interference effect than the posthypnotic suggestions had been. The posthypnotic suggestions seemed to induce attentional passivity as an indirect effect of amnesia for the posthypnotic suggestions and for previously detected targets. Study findings are interpreted in terms of E. R. Hilgard's (1973) neodissociation theory. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy of recall by hypnotically age-regressed subjects.

Investigated the accuracy of the factual recall of highly hypnotically susceptible undergraduates both during and after the hypnotic procedure. Third-party verification (parent report) of the accuracy of recall was obtained for 2 S groups: 14 hypnotized Ss and 10 postsimulation control Ss. Results indicate that, despite the similarity to children in their way of relating to transitional objects, hypnotic Ss were significantly less able than control Ss to correctly identify the specific transitional objects actually used. Furthermore, all recollections obtained during hypnosis were incorporated into posthypnotic recollections, regardless of accuracy. Clinical implications are discussed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective and categorical organization of recall during posthypnotic amnesia.

Conducted 2 experiments to determine the fate of organization of recall during posthypnotic amnesia. In both studies, amnesia suggestions were administered to undergraduate Ss of low, medium, and high hypnotic susceptibility who had learned a word list by the method of free recall while they were hypnotized. In Exp I (n?=?44), words were unrelated to each other, and subjective organization was measured by raw and adjusted pair frequency. In Exp II (n?=–&59), words were drawn from various taxonomic categories, and category clustering was measured by repetition ratio, modified repetition ratio, and adjusted ratio of clustering. Results indicate that, compared to baseline levels, subjective organization and category clustering did not decrease reliably during the time the amnesia suggestion was in effect. Moreover, these aspects of strategic organization were not significantly correlated with the number of items recalled during amnesia. Both findings contrast with previous results concerning temporal organization of a word list memorized by the method of serial learning. Findings suggest that the disruption of retrieval processes in posthypnotic amnesia may be limited to certain organizational schemes. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of hypnotically suggested analgesia on physiological and subjective responses to cold stress.

Evaluated relative effects of suggested analgesia and hypnotic induction regarding reduction of stress responses (self-report, heart rate, pulse volume) to the physical application of ice-water stress. 4 groups (N = 16 each) of undergraduate female Ss, equated on hypnotic susceptibility, were run individually, receiving (a) hypnotic induction plus analgesic suggestion, (b) hypnotic induction alone, (c) waking self-relaxation plus analgesic suggestion, or (d) waking self-relaxation alone. The major findings were that suggestion, not hypnotic induction procedures, produced reductions in the self-report of distress, and that the degree of reduction was related to hypnotic susceptibility in both hypnotic and waking conditions. Neither suggestion nor hypnotic induction procedures resulted in reduction of the physiological stress responses monitored. Several methodological issues are discussed. Although findings add to the bulk of evidence supporting the skeptical view of hypnotic phenomena, results are related to other literature, suggesting that an adequate clinical evaluation of hypnotic analgesia has not yet been undertaken. (37 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnosis, reporting bias, and suggested negative hallucinations.

Examined the role of reporting bias in hypnotic negative hallucinations by using a paradigm in which reporting bias was assessed independently of perceptual change. In Exp 1, highly hypnotizable Ss reported significant loudness reductions when tested for hypnotic deafness. Later, however, these Ss biased their reported loudness reductions in the absence of perceptual change, and their reporting bias scores were almost as large as their hypnotic deafness reports. Ss also biased their ratings of strategy use. In Exp 2, ratings of blindness given in response to a hypnotic negative visual hallucination suggestion were significantly correlated with reporting bias scores obtained in this paradigm. Although hypnotic blindness and hypnotic deafness correlated significantly, the partial correlation between these variables was nonsignificant when reporting bias scores were statistically controlled. Theoretical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)