Physiological effects of relaxation training and hypnotic suggestion.

Evaluated the comparative effects of hypnotic suggestion and brief relaxation training with regard to reduction of subjective tension and distress(anxiety differential) and physiological arousal (heart rate, respiratory rate, tonic muscle tension, skin conductance). 3 groups (N = 20 each) of undergraduate females participated individually for 2 sessions, 1 wk. apart, receiving: (1) abbreviated progressive relaxation training as used in systematic desensitization therapy; (2) a hypnotic induction emphasizing direct suggestions of relaxation, heaviness, warmth, drowsiness, and sleep; or (3) a self-relaxation control procedure, included to evaluate the effects of merely resting quietly for an equal period of time with instructions to relax. Both relaxation training and hypnotic suggestion produced significantly greater effects than controls, and relaxation training resulted in significantly greater effects than hypnotic suggestion. The superiority of relaxation training was most pronounced in response systems not under direct voluntary control. (37 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rorschach correlates of response to suggestion.

"The purpose of the present study was to discover Rorschach measures associated with change of autokinetic judgments under the influence of planted judgment given by a confederate, and to generalize about personality correlates of response to suggestion." Change of judgment was found to relate highly to the eleven Rorschach measures chosen. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of videotape playback of hypnotic events on posthypnotic amnesia.

Examined the breakdown of amnesia by showing 48 hypnotic and nonhypnotic undergraduates (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility) a videotape of the hypnotic events they had experienced. The extent of the amnesia for these events was defined precisely, and simulating procedures were employed to analyze the cues in the overall test situation. Videotape display of the hypnotic events was presented via the Experiential Analysis Technique and served to optimize conditions for breakdown. Some hypnotic Ss' amnesia could not be broken down even though they were exposed via videotape playback to the events to be recalled and when suggestions for the period of amnesia were quite explicit. Simulators showed breaching of amnesia but attributed their recall to the videotape rather than to the hypnotic session. Hypnotic Ss were distinctive in their inability to recall experiential aspects of their performance even though they could recall behavioral aspects. The data are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that dissociative cognitive mechanisms underlie posthypnotic amnesia. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of suggestion and distraction on reported pain in subjects high and low on hypnotic susceptibility.

84 18–30 yr old undergraduates high or low in hypnotic susceptibility (the Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale) immersed an arm in ice water on 2 separate trials. Within susceptibility levels, Ss were randomly assigned to 3 groups, with an equal number in each group. Between trials, Ss in 1 group were administered a suggestion to imagine their hand as numb and insensitive, those in a 2nd group practiced a distraction task to be used during the 2nd trial (shadowing words), and those in a 3rd group (controls) received no special instructions. The suggestion significantly lowered rated pain in high but not in low susceptibles. Contrary to dissociation accounts of hypnotic susceptibility and suggested analgesia, low-susceptible shadowers showed as much reduction in rated pain as high susceptibles given suggestion. The social psychology of the experimental pain assessment situation is discussed. (27 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)     

The impact of intervening tasks on response preparation.

Response preparation usually facilitates performance, but it may also interfere with other concurrent tasks. In this article, the authors used event-related brain potentials to study how intervening tasks affect response preparation. In 3 experiments, participants performed intervening tasks during the preparation of a precued hand choice response. Intervening tasks were simple or choice foot responses to tones with different probabilities or at different times during the preparation period. The contingent negative variation component indicated that the intervening task led to an increased recruitment of processing resources, whereas behavioral data and the lateralized readiness potential indicated a deliberately reduced level of preparedness. Two factors seem to be responsible for this result pattern, a bottleneck-like postponement of the prepared response and a reluctance of participants to prepare prior to expected interference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Types of hypnotic dreams and their relation to hypnotic depth.

Several types of experiences in response to suggestions to have a dream are described, namely: (1) simply thinking about something; (2) daydreaming; (3) vivid hallucinations, like watching a film; and (4) feeling "bodily located in" a "dream world." In 2 experiments, only a minority of Ss rated their experiences as dreamlike, even when hypnotized. Significant positive relationships were found between the extent to which the experiences were rated as vivid and dreamlike, and 2 measures of hypnotic depth. The variable of whether or not Ss had gone through a hypnotic-induction procedure did not discriminate among types of response. These results illustrate the danger of pseudo-operational definitions of hypnosis that ignore Ss' subjective responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of observationally presented information to modify hypnotic susceptibility.

Examined the extent to which hypnotic susceptibility could be modified by means of various types of information modeled on a videotape. Of particular interest was the extent to which hypnotizability could be altered for the initially less susceptible S. 2 major informational components were compared: (a) behavioral modeling cues, in which Ss observed a model acquiesce to 7 hypnotic suggestions; and (b) verbal modeling cues, in which information was presented designed to correct misconceptions concerning hypnosis as well as provide concrete methods for experiencing hypnosis. 70 undergraduates completed the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (SHSS) Form B. After the manipulation period, Ss completed the SHSS Form C. Several days later, Ss completed M. Diamond's CP Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. Verbal modeling cues (in combination with motivational encouragement) were significantly more effective than the other cues, even for the initially less susceptible Ss. Results are discussed in relation to social learning and cognitive approaches to behavior change. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experiential response to auditory and visual hallucination suggestions in hypnotic subjects

55 male and 36 female community college students participated in a group hypnosis experiment. The effects of several attitudinal, cognitive skill, and personality variables in response to auditory and visual hallucination suggestions were assessed. Cooperative attitudes toward hypnosis and involvement in everyday imaginative activities (absorption) correlated with response to auditory and visual hallucination suggestions in both sexes. Males and females did not differ in response to hallucination suggestions, and the visual hallucination suggestion was more difficult to respond to than the auditory hallucination suggestion. The large majority of Ss described the imagery generated by both suggestions as being of relatively short duration and less vivid than a "real" object. The large majority also described their experiences as imagined rather than as heard or seen. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of vulnerability to and severity of a health risk on processing and acceptance of fear-arousing communications: A meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis of studies of the persuasive impact of fear appeals evaluated the contribution of our stage model of the processing of fear-arousing communications relative to other fear appeal theories. In contrast to other theories, our stage model (a) specifies the cognitive processes underlying persuasion through fear-arousing communications, (b) proposes that threat-induced defensive processing does not interfere with the effectiveness of fear-arousing communications but actually contributes to it, and (c) predicts that vulnerability and severity manipulations have differential effects on measures of attitude as compared with intention and behavior. To evaluate these predictions, the authors expanded on previous meta-analyses by assessing the independent as well as joint effects of vulnerability to and severity of a risk, both on information processing and on measures of persuasion (attitude, intention, behavior). Overall, findings were consistent with the stage model. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of stimulus and response variability on S-R correspondence effects.

Six experiments investigated how variability on irrelevant stimulus dimensions and variability on response dimensions contribute to spatial and nonspatial stimulus-response (S-R) correspondence effects. Experiments 1-3 showed that, when stimuli varied in location and number, S-R correspondence effects for location or numerosity occurred when responses varied on these dimensions but not when responses were invariant on these dimensions. These results are consistent with the response-discrimination account, according to which S-R correspondence effects should only arise for a dimension that is used for discriminating between responses in working memory. Experiments 4-6 showed that, when responses varied in location and number, both invariant and variable stimulus number produced correspondence effects in S-R numerosity. In summary, the present results indicate that the usefulness of a particular dimension for response discrimination can be sufficient for producing S-R correspondence effects, whereas variability of a stimulus dimension is not sufficient for producing such effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The heritability of hypnotic susceptibility in twins.

Tested 140 pairs of twins (mean age = 9 yrs) and their families on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form A. A significant heritability index for the scores of the twin pairs and a significant correlation between the midparent score (i.e., the average of the mother's and father's score) and the mean child score were obtained, supporting a genetic component in hypnotizability. However, a statistically significant interaction between parent hypnotizability and the child's hypnotizability, conditional upon the resemblance of the child to the like-sexed parent in personality, was interpreted as a consequence of environmental influence, either through social learning or identification. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Defensive communications in normal and delinquent families: The impact of context and family role.

Investigated the effect of standardized attributions on the behavior of 16 families with a youth (14–17 yrs old) referred to juvenile court and 16 control families. Delinquent and nondelinquent families (DFs and NDFs, respectively) were audiotaped during competitive and cooperative experimental situations. As predicted, DFs expressed significantly lower rates of negative communication in the cooperative set condition than in the competitive condition. In addition, DFs expressed significantly lower rates of adaptive communication than NDFs in the cooperative set. Results argue that although attribution manipulation alone can reduce maladaptive interaction patterns in DFs, additional skill training is necessary for them to match the adaptive communication patterns of NDFs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of response distortion on preemployment personality testing and hiring decisions.

Response distortion (RD), or faking, among job applicants completing personality inventories has been a concern for selection specialists. In a field study using the NEO Personality Inventory, Revised, the authors show that RD is significantly greater among job applicants than among job incumbents, that there are significant individual differences in RD, and that RD among job applicants can have a significant effect on who is hired. These results are discussed in the context of recent studies suggesting that RD has little effect on the predictive validity of personality inventories. The authors conclude that future research, rather than focusing on predictive validity, should focus instead on the effect of RD on construct validity and hiring decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of need-oriented communications on attitude change.

"Several hypotheses concerning attitude change… derived from a cognitive theory of attitude structure were tested experimentally… . changes in attitude were demonstrated. An index based upon need strength and change in perceived instrumentality for the need engaged in the communication was found to be only slightly related to change in attitude for the… groups. Similar indexes based on other needs and over all needs measured were found not to be related to shifts in attitude." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On resistance to persuasive communications.

3 separate experiments were done at different universities to test the hypothesis that a persuasive communication that argues strongly against an opinion to which the audience is committed will be more effective if the audience is somewhat distracted from the communication so that they cannot adequately counterargue while listening. 2 films were prepared, each containing the same communication arguing strongly against fraternities. One was a normal film of the speaker making a speech. The other film, with the same track, had an utterly irrelevant and highly distracting visual presentation. Fraternity men were more influenced by the distracting presentation of the persuasive communication than by the ordinary version. There was no difference between the 2 for nonfraternity men. In general, the hypothesis concerning the effect of distraction was supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persuasive communications to change actions: An analysis of behavioral and cognitive impact in HIV prevention.

This meta-analysis examined the validity of various theoretical assumptions about cognitive and behavioral change following a communication recommending condom use. The synthesis comprised 82 treatment and 29 control groups included in 46 longitudinal reports with measures of perceived severity and susceptibility, attitudes and expectancies, norms, perceptions of control, intentions, knowledge, behavioral skills, or condom use. Results indicated that across the sample of studies, communications taught recipients about facts related to HIV and also induced favorable attitudes and expectancies, greater control perceptions, and stronger intentions to use condoms in the future. Moreover, messages that presented attitudinal information and modeled behavioral skills led to increased condom use. Results are discussed in the context of theories of human behavior and change and in reference to HIV-prevention interventions. (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)     

Effects of social-psychological variables on hypnotic amnesia.

Three experiments with 196 undergraduates assessed the hypothesis that suggested amnesia for a previously learned word list is a function of Ss' interpretations of the ambiguous aspects of the amnesia testing situation. By manipulating preliminary instructions concerning interpretations of this situation, Ss who were unselected with respect to hypnotic susceptibility (measured by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A) were induced to show either substantial increments or decrements in amnesia. However, Ss high on hypnotic susceptibility ignored preliminary instructions and therefore could not be induced to show decrements in amnesia. Previous findings of more amnesia in hypnotic than in task-motivated Ss were both replicated and reversed by varying their interpretations of the amnesia task. Analyses of the data confirmed earlier findings that partial amnesics tend to recall list items in a relatively disorganized fashion. Findings are consistent with an inattention hypothesis of suggested amnesia. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of subliminal and supraliminal suggestion on verbal productivity.

"Two experiments were performed to study the effect of subliminal and supraliminal suggestion on productivity… in describing a picture… . [A control] group was given a task of describing in writing a TAT picture presented tachistoscopically 10 times at increasing exposure levels. In the second condition a subliminal stimulus, the words WRITE MORE overlapped with the TAT picture for .02 seconds. In the third condition the subliminal suggestion was DON'T WRITE… . A second experiment was performed to see the effect on productivity of the same suggestions at supraliminal levels… . subliminal suggestion may produce some effect in the region just below threshold. When the suggestion becomes supraliminal its distracting effects causes a contrasuggestive response in some Ss." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)