This result has been replicated. It is therefore important to run Ss across an entire quarter or year.
The present study differs from the foregoing study. It addresses the question: Do life events affect scores on the Harvard Scale? Do tension, uncertainty, etc. affect scores? Would they depress scores? Are scores reactive to environmental events?
On January 14 the U.S. issued an ultimative to Iraq; that very day we administered a tape recorded version of the Harvard Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, preceded by the Tellegen Absorption Scale. The hypnotizability tests were self-scored for involvement and involuntariness. Tension throughout the day escalated, culminating with bombing 2 hours before the hypnosis screening. The graduate student announced war had started and told Ss they could leave if they wanted. All 52 Ss stayed!
Control group was 58 Ss tested at same time of the quarter, one year before (10 days into the quarter).
Analysis was by a 3 x 2 ANOVA. There was no main effect for time of testing, sex, or interaction for any measures on hypnotizability, or subjective involvement.
The Tellegen Absorption scale showed a significant timing x sex interaction: males on outbreak of war scored lower than all other groups (15 vs 21 or more for all other groups). Tensions had no effect on subjective or objective scores of hypnotizability. Thus the males were affected on the Absorption Scale by outbreak of war.
The fact the Tellegen Scale was more reactive suggests hypnotizability may be more stable than Absorption. Absorption might have been depressed because males were more upset by images of military services.
Little research has been conducted to examine the possible positive effects on hypnotizability of positive events in real life.
1991
Persinger, M. A.; Makarec, Katherine (1991-92). Interactions between temporal lobe signs, imaginings, beliefs and gender: Their effect upon logical inference. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 11, 149-166.
Rotton’s Paralogic Test, Wilson-Barber’s Inventory of Childhood memories and Imaginings (ICMI) and the PPI (Personal Philosophy Inventory) were administered to 100 male and 100 female university students. Both sexes displayed moderately strong (0.50) correlations between content-selected and factor analyzed clusters of possible temporal lobe signs, exotic beliefs and the numbers of childhood imaginings. Although there were no sex differences between the accuracy of logical statements that contained paranormal or neutral content, males who displayed more temporal lobe signs were more accurate for logical items that contained paranormal content. Females who displayed more imaginings were more accurate for valid than for invalid items. Accuracy for items with paranormal content increased with exotic beliefs but not with conservative religious beliefs for both sexes. The relationship between exotic beliefs and accuracy for items with paranormal content was especially strong for females. These results suggest: 1) gender differences in the neurocognitive processes that contribute to logical problem solving and 2) accuracy may depend upon the degree to which the subject matter is commensurate with the person’s history of enhanced temporal lobe signs, capacity for fantasy and imaginings and beliefs in exotic concepts. NOTES 1:
NOTES
Review of related literature indicates that Personal Philosophy Inventory (PPI) temporal lobe signs are correlated with temporal lobe EEG alpha but not occipital lobe alpha (Makarec & Persinger, 1990), with increased suggestibility (Persinger & DeSano, 1986; Ross & Persinger, 1987), with creativity and proneness towards fantasy (Persinger & DeSano, 1986; Ross & Persinger, 1987; Makarec & Persinger, 1987), and with reports of psi experiences and beliefs in such things as reincarnation and aliens in UFOs (‘exotic themes’) (Persinger & Makarec, 1987; Persinger & Makarec, 1990).
This experiment was designed to answer four questions: ” 1) Do imagery and temporal lobe signs emerge from the same source of variance?; 2) Do males and females differ significantly in their incidence of imaginings and temporal lobe signs?; 3) Do males and females differ in their ability to solve logical problems?; and 4) Is the accuracy of problem solving affected by the subject matter of the problem and the problem solver’s temporal lobe signs and capacity for imagery?” (p. 151).
The PPI consists of 140 true-false items that were selected with a goal of discerning temporal lobe signs within a normal population. One 30-item subscale has items that are similar to experiences reported by patients with verified electrical foci in the temporal lobes, albeit milder (the TLS or temporal lobe sign scale). Of these 30 items, 16 refer to ictal-like experiences (the CPES, or complex partial epileptic signs), and 14 refer to interictal-like behaviors (ILB). CPES items are items like “Sometimes an event will occur that has special significance for me only,’ and ‘While sitting quietly, I have had uplifting sensations as if I were driving over a rolling road.” ILB items are items like “People tell me I blank out sometimes when people are talking,’ and ‘When I lose an argument I spend a lot of time thinking about what I should have said.”
Wilson and Barber’s Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (ICMI) has 52 true-false items that include reports of paranormal experiences (5 items), moderate imaginings (18 items) such as ‘When I was a child I enjoyed fairytales,’ and extreme imaginings (15 items) such as ‘When I was a child or teenager, at times I was afraid my imagining would become so real to me that I would be unable to stop it.’
Rotton’s Paralogic Test [unpublished, at Florida International University, Miami] has 16 syllogisms, each with major premise, minor premise, and conclusion. “The person must decide if the argument is valid (n = 8) or invalid (n = 8). Half of each of the valid and invalid arguments refer to mundane material while the other half of the arguments refer to paranormal-related material. An example of the former is ‘If a president is a crook, he would be impeached; Congress did not impeach Nixon. Therefore Nixon is not a crook’ and ‘If flying saucers really existed, somebody would have photographed one. Nobody has ever photographed a flying saucer. Therefore, flying saucers do not exist'” (p. 153).
Correlations were computed separately for males and females. Both groups increased in accuracy for paranormal items as their belief in things like reincarnation and UFOs (‘exotic concepts’) increased. Males with a higher number of temporal lobe signs demonstrated more accuracy for logic test items with paranormal (psi) content than logic test items with mundane content.
“The single most important correlation was between exotic beliefs and the interaction term for the Rotton scale; the coefficient was unusually strong (0.54) and highly statistically significant (p<0.001) for females only. Because of the manner in which the interaction term was calculated, this correlation meant that females who reported more exotic beliefs were also more accurate for valid items that contained paranormal content only" (p. 159).
In their Discussion, the authors write, "The significant positive correlations between exotic beliefs and the clusters of CPES items and extreme Wilson-Barber imagining items are expected associations according to Bear's concept of sensory-limbic hyperconnectionism [Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Syndrome of Sensory-Limbic Hyperconnectionism, Cortex, 15, pp. 357-384. It would predict that concepts (or word trains) that are unusual, strange or infrequent would be charged with emotional significance and personal value. Ideas that generate substantial imagery, such as time- travel, reincarnation and alien intelligence, would be particularly prone to this affective infusion from limbic sources.
Induction of such unique or intensified affective states, especially during childhood, would facilitate the development of more frequent or more extreme periods of dissociation in the adult. We have collected (unpublished) clinical evidence to suggest that the emergence of this pattern is found in the propensity for creative thinkers, including writers, poets, musicians, artists and scientists, to have had developmental histories that could have promoted temporal lobe lability without overt seizure activity; clusters of such "promoters" include mild physical abuse, febrile episodes, minor head injuries and likely hypoxic periods during extreme physical exertion (competitive athletics)" (pp. 161-162).
Another conclusion of the study is that males and females do not differ in their accuracy in solving syllogisms, but "the neurocognitive processes, as inferred from inventories of temporal lobe signs or childhood imaginings, by which the two sexes arrive at solutions may be quite different" (p. 162).
Loewenstein, R. J.; Putnam, F. W. (1990). The clinical phenomenology of males with multiple personality disorder: A report of 21 cases. Dissociation, 3, 135-143.
NOTES
There are striking similarities between male and female MPD patients, but males tend to have more alcoholism and antisocial behavior and have more subtle clinical presentations.
Lombard, Lisa S.; Kahn, Stephen P.; Fromm, Erika (1990). The role of imagery in self-hypnosis: Its relationship to personality characteristics and gender. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 38 (1), 25-38.
30 volunteer Ss practiced self-hypnosis for approximately 4 weeks and wrote a record of their experiences in a diary following each session. Imagery produced during self-hypnosis was coded in 2 ways: the imagery was either reality oriented or it was fantastic and had primary process qualities. Levels of imagery production remained virtually the same over a 4-week period. Self-hypnotic imagery was significantly greater for the female Ss than for the male Ss, particularly primary process imagery. Verbal expressivity (measured as the average number of words per page of each S diary) was calculated to control for the effects of verbal production on Ss' imagery scores. When imagery scores were standardized based on verbal expressivity, female Ss still produced significantly more primary process imagery than male Ss. Personality characteristics (assessed by standardized personality inventories) were examined in relation to self- hypnotic imagery. "Impulse Expression" was positively related to primary process imagery for the female Ss. "Outgoingness" was positively related to primary process imagery for the entire sample, but especially for the female Ss.
Weekes, John R.; Lynn, Steven Jay (1990). Hypnotic suggestion type, and subjective experience - the order-effects hypothesis revisited: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 38, 95-100.
In a replication and extension of Field, Evans, and Orne's (1965) research, no support was found for the hypothesis that suggestion order is related to hypnotic responding. Confirming earlier findings, subjects were no more responsive to suggestions ordered from easy-to-difficult than they were to suggestions ordered from difficult-to- easy. Measures of subjective involvement in suggestions, involuntariness, and archaic involvement with the hypnotist were no more sensitive to order effects, nor were order effects more apparent with subjects who received direct versus indirect suggestions. Confirming earlier research, direct suggestions did facilitate suggestion-related involuntariness and response to the hypnotic amnesia item after cancellation, whereas indirect suggestions enhanced fears of negative appraisal by the hypnotist. Thus, authoritative suggestions enhance responding to a cognitive-delusional item relative to more permissive suggestions. Finally, female subjects were more involved in suggestions than were males, particularly in response to more difficult tests items.
1988
Barrett, D. (1988). Trance-related pseudocyesis in a male. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36 (4), 256-261.
Pseudocyesis has been linked in previous literature to trance phenomena. The present paper presents a case in which pseudocyesis was accidentally induced by hypnotic suggestion, continued by an autohypnotic process, and reversed by informal suggestion. This case has important implications for the role autohypnosis may play in maintaining the phenomenon and for the usefulness of hypnotic techniques in reversing the symptoms.
Spinhoven, Philip; Baak, Diana; Van Dyck, Richard; Vermeulen, Peter (1988). The effectiveness of an authoritative versus permissive style of hypnotic communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36, 182-191.
The differential effectiveness of an authoritative versus permissive style of hypnotic communication was investigated, with locus of control as a moderator variable. 44 Ss received in counterbalanced order both the more authoritatively worded Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A and the Wexler-Alman Indirect Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (WAIHS), which is a more permissive scale with the same item content as HGSHS:A. Permissively worded suggestions did not enhance the level of hypnotic responsiveness. Locus of control did not predict the response level on one of the scales. Unexpectedly, significantly more female Ss preferred the WAIHS, and more male Ss preferred HGSHS:A. It is concluded that Ss' characteristics (i.e., hypnotizability) are more important for hypnotic responsiveness than variations in style of hypnotic communication or scale preference."
1986
Zilbergeld, Bernie; Edelstien, M. Gerald; Araoz, Daniel L. (1986). Hypnosis - Questions & Answers. New York NY: Penguin Books.
The editors requested experts in hypnosis to answer common questions that resulted from qustionnaires given to over 600 health professionals who had taken a course in hypnosis during the previous three years, as well as a few questions suggested by colleagues. "We do not view this book as providing right answers, but instead as something clinicians can turn to when they have questions or want to learn how a recognized authority handles a particular issue. There are, in fact, no right answers, no one-and-only best way" (p. xviii).
1987
De Sano, Christine F.; Persinger, M. A. (1987). Geophysical variables and behavior: XXXIX. Alterations in imaginings and suggestibility during brief magnetic field exposures. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64, 968-970.
12 male and 12 female volunteers were evaluated for their suggestibility before and after an approximately 15-min. exposure to either sham, 1-Hz or 4-Hz magnetic fields that were applied across their mid-superior temporal lobes. During the field application subjects were instructed to view a green light that was pulsating at the same frequency as the field and to imagine countering an alien situation. Results were commensurate with the hypothesis that weak brain-frequency fields may influence certain aspects of imaginings and alter suggestibility. NOTES 1:
NOTES: "Subjects who had been exposed to the 4-Hz fields showed a significant decrease ... in heart rate compared to those who had been exposed to either the 1 Hz or sham-field conditions. A significant ... interaction of sex by field ... was noted for the change in HIP [Hypnotic Induction Profile] scales. Whereas both men and women in the sham-field condition tended to show less induction (~ 1 unit) on the second occasion ... women showed much greater (8.4 + 1.1) induction (= 3 units) if they had been exposed to the 1-Hz field while men showed much greater (8.0 + 1.5) induction (= 3 units) if they had been exposed to the 4-Hz fields. On the protocols, women reported significantly more fear responses than men. In addition, subjects who were exposed during the imaginings to the 4-Hz field showed more imaginings ... and more references to vestibular experiences (e.g., self or entity rising or floating) ... than those exposed to the other conditions" (p. 969).
"Dissociation scores on the HIP were correlated significantly ... with vestibular (0.44), imagery (0.43), and fear (-0.45) scores from the transcripts. Floating responses on the HIP were correlated with the amount of imagery. (0.46). There was a significant positive Pearson correlation between the compliance measure and the amount of arm levitation during the second induction only. These results suggest that hypnotic susceptibility may be increased following magnetic-field exposure but that the effective frequency is not the same for each sex. In addition, the amount of the imagery (particular vestibular experiences) increased if the person observed a light that was flashing at the same frequency as a 4-Hz applied magnetic field" (p. 969).
Lynn, Steven Jay; Neufeld, Victor; Matyi, Cindy L. (1987). Inductions versus suggestions: Effects of direct and indirect wording on hypnotic responding and experience. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96 (1), 76-79.
This study examined the effects of direct wording (authoritative language, specific responses) versus indirect wording (permissive language, choice of responses) of hypnotic inductions and suggestions in measures of behavioral and subjective responding. Subjects experienced suggestion-related involuntariness and suggested effects to a greater degree in response to direct-word suggestions (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility; Form A; Shor & Orne, 1962) than in response to indirect-worded suggestions (Alman-Wexler Indirect Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale; Pratt, Wood, & Alman, 1984). No difference in behavioral responding was observed. Furthermore, induction wording did not have an effect on these measures, nor did the wording of the induction and the wording of the suggestion types interact with each other. Female subjects attributed less of their responsiveness to their own efforts when they received direct suggestions, and male subjects were less likely to attribute their responsivity to the hypnotist's ability when they received indirect suggestions. Rapport with the hypnotist did not vary as a function of induction or suggestion wording.
Monteiro, Kenneth P.; Zimbardo, Philip G. (1987). The path from classroom seating to hypnotizability--a dead end: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 35, 83-86.
It has been proposed that classroom seating behavior predicts brain functioning involved in hypnotizability and in other cognitive processes. The present authors attempted to test this hypothesis and to replicate some earlier findings. The relationships between classroom seating preference, actual seating location, and hypnotizability in male and female students were investigated. No relationship was found between any of the seating measures and hypnotizability. These findings lend no support for the hypothesis that classroom seating predicts hypnotizability. This failure to replicate is discussed in relationship to the lack of theoretical grounding for the seating-hypnosis connection. NOTES 1:
NOTES
The authors review the literature, then present and test specific hypotheses that right-side seating preferences would be correlated with hypnotizability for males, while actual seating on the right side of the class would be associated with higher hypnotizability scores for females. This pattern should be more robust for right-handed than for left- handed students. They found no support for these hypotheses. They suggest that other measures of cognitive processing may correlate with a social behavior such as classroom seating. Monteiro & Zimbardo (unpublished ms.) found that the variables of field independence and field sensitivity predicted actual seating behavior in males and seating preference in females.
1985
Bliss, Eugene L.; Larson, Esther M. (1985). Sexual criminality and hypnotizability. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 173, 522-526.
Investigated 33 17-35 yr old sexual offenders, 18 of whom had been convicted of rape, 9 of pedophilia, and 6 of incest. Ss completed a questionnaire containing a list of 15 factors that might have contributed to their crime, a self-report containing 305 items that are symptoms characteristic of 11 major psychiatric syndromes, and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. Controls for the self-report were 48 individuals taken from a church group, nurses, technicians, and graduate students. Controls for the hypnotizability scale were cigarette smokers who smoked 1 1/2 pack/day and S data taken from the literature. Results show that two-thirds of the Ss had histories of spontaneous self-hypnotic experiences (dissociations); 7 of these were DSM-III multiples and 6 were probable multiples. This group had very high hypnotizability scores. The other one-third without histories of spontaneous self-hypnosis had normal scores. It is concluded that spontaneous self-hypnosis contributed to the perpetration of the crimes in many of tehse cases, although other factors also directed the antisocial behaviors. (22 ref).
1983
Johnson, Lynn S.; Dawson, Steven L.; Clark, Janet Lee; Sikorsky, Catherine (1983). Self-hypnosis versus hetero-hypnosis: Order effects and sex differences in behavioral and experiential impact. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 31, 139-154.
Recent studies (Fromm, Brown, Hurt, Oberlander, Boxer, & Pfeifer, 1981; Johnson, 1979, 1981; Johnson & Weight, 1976; Ruch, 1975) of self-hypnosis versus hetero-hypnosis are compared. A study is reported addressing unresolved questions about interactions between order of presentation and sex with the 2 types of hypnosis. 90 male and 149 female volunteer college students were proportionally assigned to 1 of 4 groups, each of which received 1 of the following hypnosis-order combinations on successive days: self hypnosis, then hetero-hypnosis; hetero-hypnosis, then self-hypnosis; self- hypnosis, then another self-hypnosis; or hetero-hypnosis, then another hetero-hypnosis. Half of each group of Ss had a male hypnotist; half had a female hypnotist. Analysis of variance of total scores for behavioral and experiential impact showed: (a) a general order effect, a decrease from first to second experience; (b) initial self-hypnosis to facilitate either subsequent experience, mitigating the general decrement; (c) switching modes to also reduce the decrement; (d) a clarification of certain order and sex interactions from earlier studies; (e) self-hypnosis to be behaviorally superior to hetero-hypnosis on later presentations; and (f) crossed-sex training to be experientially facilitory. Conclusions are drawn about unresolved issues in self hypnosis research, including the limits of comparability of self-hypnosis versus hetero-hypnosis, which depend on definitional assumptions of the self-hypnosis state and the allowance for order effects in the design. NOTES 1:
NOTES
In their Discussion, the authors note that self hypnosis and heterohypnosis yield similar results, and that although clinical hypnosis effects may increase with practice, such would probably not be true for hypnosis in the experimental setting. They speculate that "self-hypnosis triggers an 'active involvement' which provides more continuity in responsiveness across experiences, while hetero- hypnosis encourages a more passive mode which is more susceptible to external events (like order effects)" (p. 150).
1981
Yanchar, R. J.; Johnson, H. J. (1981). Absorption and attitude toward hypnosis: A moderator analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 29 (4), 375-382.
2 factors which have been found to correlate to a small degree with susceptibility are (a) an individual's attitude toward being hypnotized and (b) an individual's capacity for subjective involvement in an experience (absorption). The present study was an attempt to replicate previous findings by Spanos and McPeake (1975) and to extend these findings to determine if there was a significant interaction between these 2 factors in their relationship to susceptibility. 99 Ss (65 females and 34 males) completed the absorption questionnaire of Tellegen (1979) and the attitude questionnaire of Barber and Calverley (1966). Their hypnotic susceptibility was assessed with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962). Attitude and absorption were found to have small positive correlations with susceptibility, results which corroborate previous research. The multiple regression analyses indicated that there were no significant interactions between the factors of attitude, absorption, and sex.
1978
Nichols, Michael P.; Bierenbaum, Howard (1978). Success of cathartic therapy as a function of patient variables. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 34 (3), 726-8.
Treated sample of 42 patients with cathartic psychotherapy and evaluated differential effectiveness on types of patients. Patients without mental disorders experienced more emotional catharsis than all others, and those with obsessive compulsive personality disorders improved more than all others as a result of emotive treatment. Contrary to popular notions, neither women nor hysterics experienced more catharsis or improved more in cathartic therapy. Although women and hysterics may cry more easily in daily life, obsessives are apparently more able to maintain focus on unhappy experiences and are therefore able to express more emotion in cathartic therapy. Furthermore, it seems that cathartic treatment is beneficial by disrupting long-standing defenses against emotional experience, rather than by releasing stored-up affects.
1976
Coe, William C. (1976). Effects of hypnotist susceptibility and sex on the administration of standard hypnotic susceptibility scales. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 24, 281-286.
Hypnotists' susceptibility and sex were examined for their effects on the administration of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (Weitzenhoffer & Hilgard, 1962). Neither resulted in different hypnotic responsiveness from Ss. Comparatively inexperienced hypnotists obtained data similar to the normative sample for the Stanford scale. The results suggest that inexperienced hypnotists are capable of administering standardized scales validly, and that characteristics of the hypnotist are relatively ineffective in distorting Ss' responses to these scales.
1975
Aletky, Patricia J.; Carlin, Albert S. (1975). Sex differences and placebo effects: Motivation as an intervening variable. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43 (2), 278.
NOTES
The present findings would suggest that future studies of placebo effects should take into account the nature of the dependent variable and the pertinent differential sex-role expectations" (p. 278). The performance measure was a dynamometer pull task. The placebo was a jelly applied to the forearm "and alleged to relieve muscular fatigue" (p. 278). The motivational instructions were telling Subjects that "individuals in good health and with normal muscle tonus would be expected to show improved performance on the posttreatment trial" (p. 278).
1970
Fromm, Erika; Oberlander, Mark I.; Gruenewald, Doris (1970). Perceptual and cognitive processes in different states of consciousness: The waking state and hypnosis. Journal of Projective Techniques and Personality Assessment, 34, 375-387.
Hypnosis was assumed to influence perceptual and cognitive functioning in the direction of increased primary process ideation and adaptive regression. The Rorschach test was administered to 32 Ss in the waking state and under hypnosis in counterbalanced order. Hypnosis was induced by a standardized procedure. Ss received identical instructions for the Rorschach in both conditions. Protocols were scored according to Holt's system for manifestations and control of primary process. Hypnotic Rorschachs showed an increase in primary process manifestations, but no changes in defensive and coping functioning, and no overall changes in the Adaptive Regression Score. However, the nature of the data was found to be influenced by Ss' sex and level of adjustment. NOTES 1:
NOTES: The authors used High hypnotizables (SHSS>9) in this investigation.
1966
Cooper, Leslie M.; London, Perry (1966). Sex and hypnotic susceptibility in children. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 14, 55-60.
Sex differences in hypnotic susceptibility were investigated in a sample of 240 children. The Children”s Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale was administered to 10 boys and 10 girls at each age level for 5-16 yr. There were no differences between the means of the boys and girls at any age for the 3 scores yielded by the measure. The percentage passing each item at each age for each sex was also computed. Of the resulting 264 comparisons only 1 (Item 10, Eye Catalepsy) was found to be significantly different at 1 age level (7 yr. of age) and was attributed to chance. It was concluded that there were no sex differences for the various items at the ages tested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1965
Beigel, Hugo G. (1965). Three transvestites under hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 13 (2), 71-82.
The literature on transvestism is reviewed. Most authorities agree that it is rarely, if ever, treated successfully. A therapeutic approach is outlined which combines conventional analytically-oriented psychotherapy with appropriate hypnotherapeutic techniques. 3 illustrative cases are presented. Clinical study in the manner described has been proved effective in less than 50 sessions in 10 of the 24 cases seen. It has helped to clarify the etiology of this condition. The widely accepted belief that transvestism cannot be treated successfully appears unwarranted in the light of the findings presented. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1964
Melei, Janet P.; Hilgard, Ernest R. (1964). Attitudes toward hypnosis, self-predictions, and hypnotic susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 12, 99-108.
Correlation of questionnaire results from a sample of 1326 students with hypnotic susceptibility scores of 340 of these later hypnotized showed (a) that those volunteering for hypnosis were more favorable in attitude than those who did not volunteer; (b) attitudes toward hypnosis were predictive of susceptibility for females, not for males; and (c) self-predictions yielded significant low positive correlations with actual susceptibility for both sexes. Other findings concern differences between those having prior experience with hypnosis and those without such experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
Rosenhan, D. L.; Tomkins, S. S. (1964). On preference for hypnosis and hypnotizability. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 109-114.
44 male and 44 female coerced volunteers, who either preferred or did not prefer to participate in hypnosis experiments, were compared with regard to (a) scores on the EPPS, (b) birth order, and (c) performance on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. Sex-specific personality differences were obtained between Ss who preferred and did not prefer hypnosis, but these personality differences were not apparently relevant to hypnotizability. However, for females, preference for hypnosis correlated .41 with hypnotizability; for males no relationship was obtained. Some theoretical and methodological implications of these data are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1963
Deckert, G. H.; West, L. J. (1963). The problem of hypnotizability: A review. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 11, 205-235.
This paper summarizes the relatively unsuccessful effort to relate hypnotizability to sex, age, psychiatric diagnoses, suggestibility, and various personality traits. The problems of measurement, subject selection, controls, and experimenter bias are reviewed. Comparison of data is difficult and replication of studies infrequent. This might be attributed to incomplete reporting of methodology, defects in experimental design, and various conceptual problems. Concepts which view hypnotizability as “something” universal, “something” unique, or “nothing” are briefly appraised. Finally, hypnotizability is seen as a “term” describing a relationship between a “route” and a “state”–each identifiable by measurable criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
Levitt, Eugene E.; Hershman, Seymour (1963). The clinical practice of hypnosis in the United States: A preliminary survey. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 11 (1), 55-65.
A preliminary survey of 301 clinical practitioners of hypnosis who responded to a questionnaire suggests that reported success in inducing hypnosis is unrelated to claimed experience with hypnosis. Children and adolescents are reported to be more susceptible than adults, but there is no sex difference reported. Type of training is generally unrelated to reported success as a hypnotist. Reported percentages of patients who attain various levels of hypnotic depth are generally in keeping with earlier reports. Unexpected reactions to being hypnotized were reported by one out of four respondents.
Levitt, Eugene E.; Lubin, B. (1963). TAT card ’12MF’ and hypnosis themes in females. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 11, 241-244.
Modification of TAT Card 12M, so that the supine figure was a female, did not increase the frequency of hypnosis themes among sophomore student nurses. The hypothesis that difficulty in identifying with a male figure accounted for the card”s inability to predict attitudes towards hypnosis in females was, therefore, not supported. The modified card did elicit significantly more identifications of the standing figure as a professional person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
Levitt, Eugene E.; Lubin, Bernard; Brady, J. P. (1962). On the use of TAT Card 12M as an indicator of attitude toward hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 10 (3), 145-150. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts, 63: 5233)
This investigation indicates that responses to TAT Card 12M do not predict attitude toward hypnosis in female Ss, though such predictiveness has been reported for male respondents. The basis for this differential predictiveness may be that the latter give a significantly greater proportion of themes involving hypnosis. An explanatory hypothesis, based on perceptual theory and the stimulus properties of the card, is advanced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1961
McCartney, James L. (1961). A half century of personal experience with hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 9, 23-33.
NOTES
(Author”s Summary and Conclusions). “After fifty years of experience with hypnosis, it is evident that it is not a superficial and careless technic but should be utilized only by capable, trained physicians, as are the other complex and difficult medical technics. … In order to induce hypnosis, the patient must be perfectly willing to be hypnotized, he must have confidence in the practitioner, and he must concentrate on doing exactly as he is told. In selected cases, drugs or electrical impulses may be used for the initial induction of hypnotic sleep, but if hypnotherapy is to be continued, the physician must keep in contact with the patient by repeated suggestions. The technic used should fit the individual patient, but in most cases, verbal suggestions are all that is necessary to bring about dissociation. Hypnosis may be used to facilitate the beginning of mental catharsis, the establishment of transference, and may be easily instituted following narcosynthesis, electroshock therapy, minimum stimulus, or Sedac. Suggested activity under hypnosis may be carried out at a designated time, place, and manner after awakening. This is a result of autosuggestion and may be mistaken for psychopathic behavior. Such suggestions may be instituted by television, movies, radio, telephone, or recorded or written instruction. Hypnosis may be used to plant suggestions; if misused, it may create an obsessive-compulsive neurosis, while when properly used, it may overcome many functional symptoms and may be used to supplement other forms of psychotherapy” (p. 32).
1961
London, Perry (1961). Subject characteristics in hypnosis research: Part I. A survey of experience, interest, and opinion. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 151-161.
Questionnaire measuring (a) direct and observational experience with hypnosis, and (b) stereotyped attitudes towards hypnosis was administered to 645 undergraduate students of psychology. Results indicate hypnosis considered in generally favorable light. Girls were less willing than boys to be hypnotic Ss. Items regarding the nature of hypnosis reflected a rather sophisticated attitude. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3II51L. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1956
Sears, Alden B.; Beatty, Jeanne M. (1956). A comparison of galvanic skin response in the hypnotic and waking state. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 4 (2), 49-60.
NOTES
“Summary. In this experiment an attempt was made to determine whether or not there was a difference in the galvanic skin response between waking and hypnotic questioning. The 24 subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups, each group following a different sequence of experimental conditions. During the first session, each subject observed a table top setup for 30 seconds and then wrote out what he could remember in both the waking and hypnotic states. During the second session, which followed seven or eight days after the first, each subject was asked a series of 14 questions concerning the table top setup. Half of the subjects answered the questions first in the waking and then in the hypnotic state; for the remaining 12 subjects hypnotic questioning preceeded waking questioning. The galvanic skin response was recorded for both the waking and hypnotic questioning of all subjects, and the amount of deviation was measured in millimeters. Because the subjects tended to respond more slowly during the hypnotic questioning than during the waking questioning, a direct comparison of the amount of deviation in the two states could not be made. Consequently, two indicators of amount of deviation were considered necessary: mean deviation per second (D/T) and the mean average deviation (D/ND). No significant differences were found between the waking and hypnotic questioning in a comparison of the mean deviation per second for the group and for the males alone. However, there was a difference between waking and hypnotic questioning in the mean deviation per second for females, significant at the .01 level of confidence. The difference between the waking and hypnotic measures of the mean average deviation were also not significant for either the total group or for the males. For females, this difference was significant at the .001 level of confidence. No attempt was made to explain this apparent sex difference in the behavior of the galvanic skin response. It was suggested that further research be done to confirm and account for these results. The differences between the results of male and female subjects in this experiment, where procedures were the same for both, may account for the conflicting reports found in the literature. In many of the reported experiments the sex of the subjects has not been noted” (pp. 57-58).
The questions were factual in nature, e.g. “What object is in the lower right hand corner.”
GENERLIZED REALITY ORIENTATION.
1991
Sheehan, Peter W. (1991). Hypnosis, context, and commitment. In Lynn, S. J.; Rhue, J. W. (Ed.), Theories of hypnosis: Current models and perspectives (pp. 520-541). New York: Guilford Press.
NOTES 1:
“There are several different ways to classify the model that is expounded in this chapter. One may view it … as an individual-differences model of hypnosis, because it emphasizes the significance of intragroup differences in the pattern of hypnotic performance. Alternatively, one may view it as a phenomenologically based model…. Invariably, however, single categories fail to do justice to the nature of theories, and hence it is perhaps wisest to view this theory as a means of exploring particular hypotheses about hypnotic phenomena that focus primarily on the meaning of suggestion as perceived by susceptible subjects. This model focuses, in a way that most other theories do not, on the motivational implications of the cognitive involvement of the susceptible subject in the events of the hypnotic setting. It offers a variant of contextual theories of psychological functioning, but is experiential in its emphasis rather than simply behavioral” (p. 537).
1989
Bryant, Richard A.; McConkey, Kevin M. (1989). Visual conversion disorder: A case analysis of the influence of visual information. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98, 326-329.
NOTES 1:
“examined the influence of visual information on a decision task that was administered to an individual with monocular visual conversion disorder. Findings indicated that his performance was influenced by the visual information and by motivation instructions. The findings are discussed in terms of a model of hysterical blindness that recognizes the interplay of cognitive and motivational processes” (p. 326).
Gabel, Stewart (1989). Dreams as a possible reflection of a dissociated self-monitoring system. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177 (9), 560-568.
Argues that dreams may be thought of as dissociative phenomena of a particular type that reflect a monitoring of and reaction to internal and external conditions within the dreamer. Under conditions of sleep, memories, emotions, information processing, and judgments about internal and external events may occur independently of the usual waking conscious system’s information processing. Experimental and/or clinical work, related to hypnosis, REM phenomena, dreams, and hemispheric specialization are discussed to support this view. Dreams are described within the context of dissociation- based theories of personality organization.
1988
Kumar, V. K.; Pekala, Ronald J. (1988). Hypnotizability, absorption, and individual differences in phenomenological experience. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36, 80-88.
The phenomenological effects associated with a baseline condition of eyes- closed and a hypnotic induction condition were compared across individuals of differing absorption capacity and hypnotizability. The results indicated that individuals of differing absorption capacity and hypnotizability reported different intensities of phenomenological experience during the baseline eyes-closed condition. The induction further augmented intensity differences for low, medium, and high absorption and hypnotizable Ss, but more so for high (and medium) than low hypnotizable Ss. The results support both a trait and state interpretation of hypnotizability, and highlight the importance of the interaction between these factors on the resulting hypnotic experience of S. NOTES 1:
NOTES:
Based on a review of relevant literature, the authors predicted that (1) during hypnosis and a baseline condition (eyes-closed), high absorption and high hypnotizable Ss will report the phenomenological effects at greater intensity relative to low absorption and low hypnotizable Ss, respectively; (2) hypnotic induction will be associated with increased absorption; greater alterations in awareness and experience; and decreased volitional control, rationality, and memory; (3) phenomenological intensity differences (hypnosis compared to eyes-closed) will be significantly greater for high than for low hypnotizable Ss.
They used the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) developed by Pekala (1982), which is a 53 item self-report instrument that is completed retrospectively in reference to a preceding stimulus condition. The PCI measures the following dimensions and subdimensions: internal dialogue; self-awareness; state of awareness; imagery (amount, vividness); positive affect (joy, sexual excitement, love); negative affect (anger, fear, sadness); altered experience (time sense, body image, perception, unusual meanings); attention (absorption, direction); memory; rationality; volitional control; and arousal.
The 217 Ss were administered the Tellegen Absorption Scale, then sat quietly with eyes closed for four minutes, then completed the PCI, Form 1, relative to that 4-minute period. They were administered a slightly shortened version of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A); before the posthypnotic suggestion and amnesia suggestion they experienced another 4-minute silent period during which they were told to ‘continue to experience the state you are in right now.’ After the HGSHS:A they completed PCI, Form 2, in reference to the silent period during the HGSHS:A, before they completed the 11-point questionnaire on the HGSHS:A.
Subjects who did not have reliable PCI response forms were removed from the sample, leaving 173 Ss who were divided into high, medium, and low Absorption groups, and high, medium, and low hypnotizability groups. The statistical analysis employed MANOVA on intensity scores for first the major PCI dimensions and then the 14 subdimensions using Conditions (eyes closed, hypnosis) and Groups. There were significant main and interaction effects. Subsequent ANOVAs for each (sub)dimension, Conditions by Hypnotizability Groups (2 x 3) were then performed.
Hypnosis “was associated with significantly less positive affect (joy, sexual excitement, love); negative affect (anger, sadness); visual imagery (amount, vividness); self-awareness, internal dialogue, rationality, volitional control, and memory; and significantly more altered experience (time sense, perception) and altered state of awareness.
“Significant main effects for Hypnotizability Groups were found for positive affect (joy, love); altered experience (body image, time sense, perception, meaning); attention (direction, absorption); self-awareness; altered state of awareness; rationality; volitional control; and memory.
“Post-hoc comparisons for the eyes-closed condition revealed that high relative to low, hypnotizables reported significantly greater alterations in body image, time sense, meaning, and altered state of awareness. Medium hypnotizable Ss, compared to low hypnotizables, reported significantly increased alterations in body image and state of awareness.
“Post-hoc comparisons for the hypnotic induction condition revealed that high, viz-a-viz low, hypnotizables reported significantly increased absorbed attention; greater altered experience (body image, time sense, perception, meaning); and increased alterations in state of awareness. High hypnotizables also reported significantly less imagery vividness, self-awareness, rationality, volitional control, and memory. Medium hypnotizable Ss, vis-a-vis low hypnotizables, reported significantly more altered experience (body image, time sense, perception, meaning); absorbed attention; and altered state of awareness; and significantly less imagery vividness, self-awareness, rationality, volitional control, and memory. High hypnotizable Ss, relative to medium hypnotizables, reported significantly more altered experience (perception, meaning) and absorption, and significantly less rationality, volitional control, and memory.
“Concerning the significant interactions (alpha = .01), graphs of the means indicated significant ordinal interactions between Conditions and Hypnotizability Groups for altered experience (perception), imagery (vividness), self-awareness, altered state of awareness, rationality, volitional control, and memory. For all of the PCI (sub)dimensions, the hypnotic induction condition (compared to eyes-closed) was associated with a significantly greater increase in altered experience (perception), and altered state of awareness; and a significantly greater decrease in imagery (vividness), rationality, volitional control, and memory for the high (and medium) hypnotizable groups relative to the low hypnotizable group.
“Significant disordinal interactions were found for absorption and unusual meanings. Whereas high hypnotizable Ss reported a more absorbed attentional focus and more unusual meaning during hypnosis, low hypnotizable Ss reported being less absorbed (or more distracted) during the induction than eyes-closed. Low hypnotizables reported more unusual meanings in reference to eyes closed” (pp. 84-85).
Correlations among the major PCI dimensions, absorption, and hypnotizability differ between the two conditions. In hypnosis, the hypnotizability correlations that reached the .001 level were: –Self Awareness -.55 –State of Awareness .60 –Altered Experience .56 –Inward Absorbed Attention .44 –Rationality -.41 –Volitional control -.65 –Memory -.41 –Arousal -.28
In the eyes closed condition, the only PCI variables that Hypnotizability correlated with, at the .001 level, were: –Positive Affect .26 –Altered Experience .32
MANOVAs and ANOVAs were computed for Absorption groups in a similar fashion. Main effects but not interaction effects were significant. Results are not abstracted here.