“From the above we can conclude the following main facts.
1) When one sensory stimulus is given to a subject in a drowsy state, images of other objects associated with it often appear.
2) These images sometimes have forms, and sometimes are devoid of forms, only light and color being present. This phenomenon resembles the experience of color-hearing, and is called a new type of synaethesia [sic] by Bachen.
3) These images are sure to disappear when they are observed attentively, a passive attitude being necessary for the image observation.
4) The remarkable character of these images are such that elements of forms and colors of various objects have been disjointed and connected with each other in different relationships which construct new images.
5) The longer and stronger persistence of stimulus, the more easily and clearly conditioned images appear. Conversely if the stimulus is momentary, the recalled images appear also momentarily.
6) Not only the visual images but also the sensory images can be elicited in a similar way” (p. 25).
Summary of Part II
“The chief results of Naruse’s experiments with the various subjects are as follows:
1. When one stimulus (C.S.) is given in the normal waking state after a conditioning procedure in which a conditioned bond is formed between two sensory stimuli in deep hypnotic trance, a mental image corresponding to the other stimulus (U.C.S.) appears with amnesia for the conditioning situation. When the stimulus is removed, the image also disappears.
2. The images attained have various degrees of clearness which may be classified on a continuum from hallucinations to memory images.
3. Such images tend to disappear when subjects try to observe them attentively.
4. Images which are broken into elements of the original figure appear as distinct images.
5. Modifications of images may be made by distortion, vagueness of the image, and by decomposition of the image.
6. When two C.S.’s, which were already conditioned individually to two U.C.S.’s are presented at the same time, the images corresponding to each stimulus appear to overlap. This is the composed image.
7. In image composing, which involves the strong-weak stimulus relationship or the spatial positions of two C.S.’s, the clear-vague or positional relationships of the composed images are changed.
8. In the complex of meaningful images, there are two types, primarily. The one grasps the image as a whole, the other observes it in many mosaic elements. The latter can recall the original figure more correctly in an image form than the former.
9. Some positive and negative reports on sensory conditioning in the normal waking state are reviewed” (p. 36).
NOTES
The investigators do not show that hypnosis enhances imagery, compared with the waking state. They studied sensory-sensory conditioning under hypnosis, with amnesia suggestions, followed by testing for the conditioning effect. This study is relevant to studies of amnesia, “repression.” In some studies they paired sound of a buzzer or metronome (the Conditioned Stimulus) with images (the Unconditioned Stimuli) as in [Oo, X); other studies compared a color patch (CS) with an image (Oo, X). Some studies presented both CS’s together, in different spatial arrangements (in the instance of the color patch CS).
Results (partial) included: “1. When one stimulus (CS.) Is given in the normal waking state after a conditioning procedure in which a conditioned bond is formed between two sensory stimuli in a deep hypnotic trance, a mental image corresponding to the other stimulus (UCS) appears with amnesia for the conditioning situation. When the stimulus is removed, the image also disappears. 2. The images attained have various degrees of clearness which may be classified on a continuum from hallucinations to memory images. 3. Such images tend to disappear when Ss try to observe them attentively. … 5. Modifications of images may be made by distortion, vagueness of the image, and by decomposition of the image. 6. When two CS’s, which are already conditioned individually to two UCS’s, are presented at the same time, the images corresponding to each stimulus appear to overlap. …” (P. 36).
IMAGERY ABILITY.
2000
Eimer, Bruce. N. (2000). Clinical applications of hypnosis for brief and efficient pain management psychotherapy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 43 (1), 17-40. (July)
This paper describes four specific clinical applications of hypnosis that can make psychotherapy for pain management briefer, more goal-oriented, and more efficient: (1) the assessment of hypnotizability; (2) the induction of hypnotic analgesia and development of individualized pain coping strategies;
(3) direct suggestion, cognitive reframing, hypnotic metaphors, and pain relief imagery; and (4) brief psychodynamic reprocessing during the trance state of emtoional factors in the patient”s experience of chonic pain. Important theoretical and clinical issues regarding the relationship between hypnotizability to the induction of hypnotic analgesia are presented, and attempts to individualize pain treatment strategies on the basis of assessed differences in hypnotizability and patients” preferred coping strategies are described. Some ways are also presented of integrating direct hypnotic suggestion, COGNITIVE-EVALUATIVE reframing, hypnotic metaphors, and imagery for alleviating the SENSORY and AFFECTIVE-MOTIVATIONAL components of pain, with an exploratory, insight-oriented, and brief psychodynamic reprocessing approach during trance for resolving unconscious sources of resistance to treatment, and reducing the emotional overlay associated with chronic pain. Some basic assumptions underlying the use of this approach are discussed, and a brief step-by-step protocol is outlined.
1998
Eimer, Bruce; Freeman, Arthur (1998). Pain management psychotherapy: A practical guide. New York NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
NOTES 1:
“Pain Management Psychotherapy” (PMP) provides a clear and methodical look at pain management psychotherapy beginning with the initial consultation and work-up of the patient and continuing through termination of treatment. It is a thoughtful and thorough presentation that covers methods for psychologically assessing the chronic pain patient (structured interviews, pain assessment tests and rating scales, instruments for evaluating beliefs, attitudes, pain behavior, disability, depression, anxiety, anger and alienation), treatment planning, cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, and a range of hypnotic approaches to pain management. The book covers both traditional (cognitive and behavior therapy, biofeedback, assessing hypnotizability, choice of inductions, designing an individualized self-hypnosis exercise) as well as newer innovative techniques (e.g., EMDR, pain-relief imagery, hypno-projective methods, hypno-analytic reprocessing of pain-related negative experiences). An extensive appendix reproduces in their entirety numerous forms, rating scale, inventories, assessment instruments, and scripts.
The senior author, Bruce Eimer, states in his online comments on Amazon.com that “most therapists hold the belief that ‘real’ chronic pain patients are quite impossible to help. This book attempts to dispel these misguided beliefs by providing a body of knowledge, theory, and techniques that have proven value in understanding and relieving chronic physical pain.” He also states that “the challenge for the therapist is to persuade the would-ne patient/client that he or she has something to offer that can help take way pain and bring back more pleasure. This challenge is negotiated through the therapeutic relationship. However, the therapist just can’t be ‘warm, accepting, non-judgmental and empathic’. The therapist must also have knowledge and skills relevant to relieving pain. Only then can the therapist impart such knowledge, and in teaching these skills to the pain patient, help the patient become something of a ‘self-therapist’. . . I dedicate this book to everyone who wants to find ways to make living with pain more comfortable, and to the ongoing search for better ways to relieve pain.”
Kogon, Manuela M.; Jasiukaitis, Paul; Berardi, Annamaria; Gupta, Malkeet; Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Spiegel, David (1998). Imagery and hypnotizability revisited. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 46 (4), 363-370.
The objective of this study was to correlate computer-generated imagery tasks and a self-report measure of imagery ability with hypnotizability, hypothesizing that computer-generated imagery tasks would be better predictors of hypnotizability than will the self-report measure. Hypnotizability of 43 subjects was assessed using the Hypnotic Induction Profile and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. Imagery ability was assessed by the Visual Vividness Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) and by computer-generated imagery tasks measuring the ability to generate, maintain, and transform images. Although there was no correlation between the VVIQ and hypnotizability, the less hypnotizable subjects made twice as many mistakes in the spatial imagery tasks than did the more hypnotizables, but this difference was not statistically significant. The relationships among hypnotic performance, hypnotizability, and imagery functions are complex.
1996
Crawford, Helen J.; Allen, Steven N. (1996). Paired-associate learning and recall of high and low imagery words: Moderating effects of hypnosis, hypnotic susceptibility level, and visualization abilities. American Journal of Psychology, 109 (3), 353-372.
Relationships between recall of low and high imagery paired-associate (P- A) words and hypnotic susceptibility, and the influence of hypnosis on recall as moderated by hypnotic level were examined. Subjects were assessed on 2 hypnotic susceptibility scales [Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility; Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C)’. Forty-one low (0-4 SHSS:C) and 41 highly (9-12 SHSS:C) hypnotizable college students were assigned to 1 of 4 experimental groups: waking- hypnosis, hypnosis-waking, waking-waking, or hypnosis-hypnosis. Recall was significantly better for high than low imagery words. In the more sensitive within-subjects design, high hypnotizables recalled more P-A words during hypnosis than waking, and lows did not differ. In the between-subjects design, hypnotic level was not a moderator of performance during hypnosis. Low hypnotizables recalled more words in the within-subjects design. Visualization ability was a poor moderator of imagery-mediated learning. High imagery recall correlated significantly with Marks’s (1973) Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (25) and Paivio and Harshman’s (1983) Individual Differences Questionnaire (IDQ) Verbal scale (29), but not with the IDQ Imagery scale, the Mental Rotations Test (Vandenberg & Kuse, 1973), or the revised Minnesota Paper Form Board Test (Likert & Quasha, 1941).
Dixon, Mike; Labelle, Louise; Laurence, Jean-Roch (1996). A multivariate approach to the prediction of hypnotic susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 44 (3), 250-264.
The present study examined the relation between various self-report measures and two measures of hypnotizability within a multivariate framework. A group of 748 participants was tested on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A), the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), as well as the Preference for an Imagic Cognitive Style (PICS) questionnaire. One hundred ninety of these participants also completed the Paranormal Experiences Questionnaire (PEQ). Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression equations, and the results of the analyses indicated that both the TAS and PICS accounted for significant amounts of unique variance in each of two 373-member samples of HGSHS:A scores. A further sub-sample of participants (n = 161) was tested on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C) to see if these results would generalize to another measure of hypnotizability. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that although the PEQ predicted significant amounts of unique SHSS:C variance over and above that predicted by the TAS, the PICS failed to do so. This inconsistency in results may be due in part to the generally low intercorrelation between the different hypnotizability scales and points to the need to develop new predictor variables that are orthogonal to each other. – Journal Abstract
Wallace, Benjamin; Allen, Philip A.; Propper, Ruth E. (1996). Hypnotic susceptibility, imaging ability, and anagram-solving activity. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 44 (4), 324-337.
Anagram-solving activity was examined as a function of hypnotic susceptibility level and imaging ability. In Experiment 1, anagrams that were composed of sets of letters that formed actual words (word anagrams), but when unscrambled formed other words, were compared to sets of letters that formed nonwords (nonsense anagrams). Word anagrams required more time to solve than nonsense anagrams. Also, fewer word anagrams were correctly solved compared to nonsense anagrams. Those individuals judged both high in hypnotic susceptibility and vivid in imaging ability demonstrated the best performance. In Experiment 2, anagrams that when unscrambled formed high-imagery words were compared to those that formed low-imagery words. High-imagery-word anagrams were solved more quickly and correctly than low-imagery-word anagrams. Such activity was best demonstrated by individuals who were judged to be both high in hypnotic susceptibility and vivid in imaging ability. These results are discussed in terms of strategies for solving anagrams and the individual differences that appear to be associated with using such strategies.
1995
Dywan, Jane (1995). The illusion of familiarity: An alternative to the report-criterion account of hypnotic recall. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (2), 194-211.
Hypnosis increases the likelihood that participants will report incorrect material at higher levels of confidence. One interpretation of such data is that hypnosis induces individuals to lower the criterion they use to make memory reports. A lowered report criterion could account for the increase in items that participants are willing to report as memories but not for the increase in confidence that typically accompanies hypnotic retrieval. Although some participants may indeed lower their report criterion, this alone should not result in the highly confident confabulation so often observed. An alternative perspective is that for some participants, hypnosis alters the experience of retrieval such that items generated during retrieval attempts are more likely to have the qualities (e.g., perceptual fluency, vividness) usually associated with remembering. This illusion of familiarity would account for the higher levels of confidence that are so frequently observed in hypnotic recall, and adopting this perspective should lead to even greater caution in the use of hypnosis as an aid to retrieval.
Glisky, Martha L.; Tataryn, Douglas J.; Kihlstrom, John F. (1995). Hypnotizability and mental imagery. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (1), 34-54.
Two studies investigated the relationship between mental imagery and hypnotizability, with the imagery measures administered in a hypnotic context. The correlation of hypnotizability with vividness of imagery was significant in one study, but not in the other; both correlations were significantly lower than that obtained between hypnotizability and absorption, assessed in the same samples. The correlations with control of visual imagery, and with various measures of the vividness of motor imagery, were even lower and rarely significant. Except for an aggregate index of motor imagery, a search for significant nonlinear relationships with hypnotizability yielded nothing that was consistent across studies. Future studies of imagery and hypnotizability should make use of better measures of vividness of mental imagery and consider the relevance of aspects of imagery other than vividness.
1994
Ray, William J.; Moraga, R.; Faith, M. (1994, October). Psychometric and psychophysiological studies of hypnotizability and dissociation. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, San Francisco.
NOTES 1:
In the last 5-6 years we see a beginning of a consistency in this type of research on EEG and hypnosis. Baseline EEG theta for high and low hypnotizable Ss was higher significantly in frontal and temporal areas; less significantly in parietal and occipital areas. It begins to look like a signature of hypnotizability. Our research will be published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology next year.
In Japan they see theta as sustained attention; some aspects of theta relate to MAO and also to dopamine. Betsy Faith did the same research, replicating almost exactly.
There are no differences between Highs and Lows in alpha or beta; but we find differences in theta (especially frontal, and in 40 Hz more posteriorly). It may not be L-R hemisphere difference as previously thought, but more a rostral-caudal dimension.
The signature to hypnotizability is more frontal theta at baseline. This may also relate to a drop in theta after induction, but those results are not so clear. Highs have a larger drop in theta from pre to post induction than is observed in the Lows.
We did a “chaos analysis” of EEG. There are three main measures, including dimensionality. Dimensionality is a measure of complexity. People demonstrate high dimensionality when asked to do tasks, low dimensionality in anesthesia.
High hypnotizable Ss start an induction with higher dimensionality than the Low hypnotizable Ss, and as we go through the induction they remain the same. So this measure shows individual differences but does not give evidence of a state (because it doesn’t change).
Chaos dimensions for 2 mental math problems show lower dimensions in frontal compared to posterior areas; but for imagery [labeled on slide as positive and negative emotional tasks] the dimension is the same across areas.
For the dimension measures, lows look like they are doing mental math and highs look like they are doing imagery, in baseline.
SECOND PART OF RESEARCH–DISSOCIATION.
For 100 years dissociation and hypnosis have been viewed as similar. Two dissociation scales were used – Putnam’s DES and Reilly’s scale. A factor analysis found four factors: 1. absorption or derealization 2. depersonalization 3. segment amnesia 4. in situ amnesia
(Segment amnesia differs from in situ amnesia because you wake up to it at that moment in the in situ vs the segment case.)
We have 20-30 people who score very high on hypnotizability.
Colin Ross finds the same factors as our factors 1 and 2, but he finds only one amnesia factor where we find two.
The correlation between DES and Harvard ranges .05 to .18. Are the high hypnotizables related to high dissociatives, with others not related? A scatter plot did not reveal that.
FFT EEG bands during baseline for high and low dissociation Ss find no differences for high and low dissociative subjects. We conclude that dissociation and hypnosis are two orthogonal processes.
Now we are beginning to look at the pathways that lead one to become highly hypnotizable or dissociative.
COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE:
Ian Wickramasekera: Have you introduced threat to high or low DES people? Answer: High and Low DES people with happy and unhappy imagery tasks do the opposite, with the dimensionality measure. With emotionality you don’t see stable baseline differences, you see reactivity differences.
A. Barabasz: I think the DES isn’t a good measure of dissociation in hypnosis which is voluntary and not pathological.
D. Spiegel: Sabourin’s study found more theta in left frontal during hypnosis, whereas you found less. Answer: That’s why I don’t know what to do about the state effects.
J. Crawford: Sabourin had Ss doing tasks, so they may have been more active than yours.
Wallace, Benjamin; Allen, Philip A.; Weber, Timothy A. (1994). Hypnotic susceptibility, imaging abiliy, and the detection of embedded words within letters. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 42 (1), 20-38.
Two experiments were conducted to determine the role of hypnotic susceptibility level (high or low) and imaging ability (vivid or poor) in the performance of a visual search for words embedded within matrices of letters. In Experiment 1, subjects searched for target words from a list; however, distractor words were also embedded in the matrices. Results indicated that subjects judged both high in hypnotic susceptibility and vivid in imaging ability demonstrated the fastest search speed with a greater percentage of target words found. These subjects also made fewer false alarm errors (locating distractor words not on the target list). The poorest performance was exhibited by subjects judged both low in hypnotic susceptibilty and poor in imaging ability. The amount of variance accounted for by hypnotic susceptibilty and imaging ability was approximately equal for each dependent measure. In Experiment 2, when subjects searched for target words from a list without distractor words embedded in matrices, similar results to those reported for Experiment 1 were produced, except that the percentage of words found was equivalent across groups. This was attributed to the elimination of potential false alarm errors. The results are explained in terms of the use of either a holistic or a detail strategy in the performance of a visual search.
1993
Wallace, Benjamin; Kokoszka, Andrzej (1993, October). Within-subject variability in hypnotic susceptibility and imaging ability: Same or different?. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Arlington Heights, IL.
Subjects were given the Harvard scale of hypnotizability and an imagery questionnaire (VVIQ) repeatedly. They had been asked, “when are you the most alert during the day?” and classified as Day People and Night People. People had higher scores on the Harvard for Day People at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., for Night People at 1 p.m. and at 6, 7, 8, and 9 .m. This replicates my 1993 study.
VVIQ scores do not show that pattern; they are zig-zag. What is the relationship between peaks on the two scales? They don’t peak at the same time. This may be why in the literature we don’t find a strong relationship between hypnotizability and imagery ability. VVIQ scores peak before hypnotizability scores on the same people. This might mean an ultradian cycle for imaging ability.
So these abilities are not stable throughout 24 hours, despite the fact that hypnotizability scores are stable over 25 years!
Wallace, Benjamin (1993, October). The importance of considering imagery in hypnosis research. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Arlington Heights, IL.
NOTES
We looked at both hypnotizability (Harvard Scale) and imagery (Vividness of Imagery – Marks) ability in an embedded words task (like the letter matrices in newspapers). Ss were grouped on both variables, forming four groups: high-high, high- low, low-high, and low-low.
Search time in the embedded figures task was greatest for low-lows and least for high-Highs, whether the words are easy, average, or difficult. A list of the possible words was also provided.
Strategies the subjects in different groups used are different. High-high’s use holistic (Crawford) or efficient (Wallace) strategies–studying the list of possible solutions as if storing the words in long-term memory. Low-low’s seem to use the list as a check-off list.
Embedded in the matrix were false alarm words, that weren’t on the list. The low- lows were also prone to more of these errors. Getting rid of those false alarm trials, when presented with matrices with no false alarms, we still get a differences in search time with the same relationship as before.
CONCLUSION
It’s insufficient to simply look at hypnotic susceptibility as there’s an imaging component, a memory or a storage component that we should examine. The percent of variance associated with the embedded figures task success was the same– 20%–for each ability. The correlation between the two (imaging ability and hypnotizability) was significant at .26.
1991
Van Dyck, Richard; Zitman, Frans G.; Linssen, A. Corry G.; Spinhoven, Philip (1991). Autogenic training and future oriented hypnotic imagery in the treatment of tension headache: Outcome and process. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 39, 6-23.
The aim of the present study was (a) to investigate the relative efficacy of autogenic training and future oriented hypnotic imagery in the treatment of tension headache and (b) to explore the extent to which therapy factors such as relaxation, imagery skills, and hypnotizability mediate therapy outcome. Patients were randomly assigned to the 2 therapy conditions and therapists. 55 patients (28 in autogenic therapy and 27 in future oriented hypnotic imagery condition) completed the 4 therapy sessions and 2 assessment sessions. Patients were to practice at home. No significant main effect or interaction effects for treatment condition or therapist was revealed. A significant effect for time in analyzing scores for headache pain, pain medication usage, depression, and state anxiety was found. In the self-hypnosis condition, pain reduction proved to be associated with depth of relaxation during home practice (as assessed with diaries) and capacity to involve in imagery (as assessed with the Dutch version of the Creative Imagination Scale). After statistically controlling for relaxation and imagery, hypnotizability scores (assessed by Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale) were significantly correlated with ratings of pain reduction. Results are discussed in the context of the neo- dissociation and social-cognitive models of hypnoanalgesia. The clinical relevance and the methodological shortcomings of the present study are also critically assessed.
NOTES 1:
Unexpectedly, pain reduction occurring in AT [autogenic training] appears to be brought about by different means than in hypnotic treatment. Not only imagery skills and hypnotizability, but also level of relaxation were unrelated to pain reduction achieved during AT. Since the first two therapy sessions of AT and hypnosis were identical and in both treatment conditions patients are explicitly instructed to relax, the absence of a relationship between depth of relaxation and pain reduction in AT cannot be easily explained” (p. 19).
1990
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.
Nilsson, Kayla Mae (1990). The effect of subject expectations of ‘hypnosis’ upon vividness of visual imagery. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 38, 17-24.
This study explored how the expectation of hypnosis and the expectation of relaxation affected the vividness of visual imagery. 63 Ss who volunteered for a visual imagination study were randomly assigned to 4 groups. Ss were administered the vividness subscale (VS) of the Vividness and Control of Imagery Scale twice. In the 3 experimental groups, expectations were varied during the 2 VS administrations. All 3 groups were presented with a relaxation exercise between VS administrations. In 2 groups, it was labeled “hypnosis,” and in the third group it was correctly labeled “relaxation.” A control group listened to a neutral tape between their VSs. All groups were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. C. Orne, 1962) after the 2 imagery tests. The results indicated that the vividness of visual imagery was significantly enhanced (equally) in the experimental groups but not in the control group.
Spanos, Nicholas P.; Williams, Victoria; Gwynn, Maxwell I. (1990). Effects of hypnotic, placebo, and salicylic acid treatments on wart regression. Psychosomatic Medicine, 52, 109-114.
Subjects with warts on their hands and/or feet were randomly assigned to a hypnotic suggestion, topical salicylic acid, placebo, or no treatment control condition. Subjects in the three treated groups developed equivalent expectations of treatment success. Nevertheless, at the six-week follow-up interval only the hypnotic subjects had lost significantly more warts than the no treatment controls. Theoretical implications are discussed.
NOTES 1:
Study involved 15 females, 25 males (18-35 yrs old) with warts on at least one hand or foot, recruited through posters and newspaper ads; N = 10 in each condition. Hypnotic treatment consisted of 10 minute induction (modified from T. X. Barber’s 1969 book) and a suggestion for wart regression that was 2 minutes in duration (the skin around warts was ‘beginning to tingle and grow warm’; ‘vividly imagine the warts shrinking and dissolving away’; 30 second break; repeated the suggestions). For Ss with warts on more than one limb the complete suggestion procedure was repeated for each wart-infected limb.
Results indicate psychological factors can influence course of some virally produced disorders; that self-medicating with over-the-counter products doesn’t explain suggestion-induced wart regression; that expectation of treatment success is the most important variable in psychologically induced wart regression. “Hypnotic subjects attained significantly higher CURSS:S scores than did control subjects. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that between group differences in hypnotizability accounted for the group differences in wart regression. Two previous experiments (3) that used the CURSS found that hypnotizability failed to predict wart loss in either hypnotic suggestion, nonhypnotic suggestion, or placebo treatments, and even in the present study the hypnotic treatment failed to differ from either the real or placebo treatment on CURSS:S scores, and none of the treatments differed significantly on the CURSS:O scores. Our finding and earlier findings that hypnotic subjects reported more intense suggested sensations than placebo subjects is consistent with the hypothesis that vivid suggested imagery facilitates wart loss (7, 8) .
“An alternative hypothesis emphasizes that only our hypnotic suggestion treatment encouraged subjects to see themselves as developing cognitive control over their own wart regression. This hypothesis suggests that subjects’ subjective sense of cognitive involvement in and control over treatment outcome (as opposed to the vividness of their suggested imagery) may have been the important psychological factor in wart regression. It would be of interest in a future study to manipulate subjects’ sense of cognitive involvement in their treatment independently of suggested imagery in order to assess the relative contributions of these variables to wart regression” (pp. 113-114).
Wallace, Benjamin (1990). Imagery vividness, hypnotic susceptibility, and the perception of fragmented stimuli. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 354-359.
Two experiments were conducted to determine the role of hypnotic susceptibility level (high or low) and imaging ability (vivid or poor) in the performance of gestalt closure tasks. In Experiment 1, subjects were required to identify fragmented stimuli in the Closure Speed Test and in the Street Test. In Experiment 2, subjects reported on fragmented stimuli that were projected to the right eye and subsequently produced an afterimage. Individuals were asked to identify the composite if possible and to report on the duration of the afterimage. In both experiments, hypnotic susceptibility level and imaging ability affected reports of gestalt closure. The greatest number of correct closures was reported by those who were both high in hypnotic susceptibility and vivid in imaging ability. In addition, in the second experiment, this group also reported the longest enduring afterimage. These results are discussed in terms of the processes required to perform in a gestalt closure task.
1989
Kahn, Stephen P.; Fromm, Erika; Lombard, Lisa S.; Sossi, Michael (1989). The relation of self-reports of hypnotic depth in self-hypnosis to hypnotizability and imagery production. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 290-304.
Studied multidimensional nature of self-hypnotic depth in 22 high hypnotizables who volunteered for self hypnosis research. On personality scales, they were distinguished from the population at large by: strong theoretical orientation, high level of curiosity, disregard for opinions of others, and high Mf scale on the MMPI. Used the Stanford Profile Scale, SHSS:C and HGSHS:A, which measure the entire range of phenomena ordinarily used in experimental studies of hypnosis, including ideomotor phenomena, hypnotic fantasy and dreams, hypermnesias and age regressions, analgesias, negative and positive hallucinations, amnesias, posthypnotic phenomena, and cognitive and affective distortions. They asked Subjects to experience self hypnosis for 60 minutes/day for 4 weeks. Journals were coded for imagery production by scoring for both reality-oriented and primary process imagery. Subject had been taught to monitor their hypnotic depth using a slightly revised version of the Extended North Carolina Scale (ENCS) of Tart (1979). Previously, ENCS has been used only with hetero-hypnotic Subjects. The self- reports of depth using ENCS correlated highly with hypnotizability as measured by the Revised Stanford Profile Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility… and with imagery production. Results demonstrate that ENCS scores are also a valid indicator of self-hypnotic depth among highly hypnotizable Subjects. Furthermore, they indicate that both hetero- hypnotizability and imagery production are related to self-hypnotic depth, but that the association between imagery and hypnotizability is due to their individual relationships to self-hypnotic depth.
Kihlstrom, John F.; Register, Patricia A.; Hoyt, Irene P.; Albright, Jeanne Sumi; Grigorian, Ellen M.; Heindel, William C.; Morrison, Charles R. (1989). Dispositional correlates of hypnosis: A phenomenological approach. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 249-263.
Attempted to construct and validate a questionnaire measure of hypnotic- like experiences based on Shor’s (1979) 8-dimension phenomenological analysis of hypnosis. Separate item pools were developed to measure each disposition: Trance, Nonconscious Involvement, Archaic Involvement, Drowsiness, Relaxation, Vividness of Imagery, Absorption, and Access to the Unconscious. Based on preliminary testing (total Number – 856), a final questionnaire was produced containing 5 items measuring normal, everyday experiences in each domain. Results from a standardization sample (Number – 468) showed that each of the subscales, except for Archaic Involvement, possessed satisfactory levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Factor analysis indicated that 6 subscales loaded highly on a common factor similar to the absorption construct (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), while items pertaining to Relaxation and Archaic Involvement formed separate factors. Validation testing on 4 samples receiving the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) of Shor and E. Orne (1962) (total Number = 1855) showed that the Absorption and Trance dimensions correlated most strongly with HGSHS:A; the correlations with Drowsiness, Relaxation, and Nonconscious Involvement approached 0. The scales derived form Shor’s analysis, however, did not improve the prediction of hypnotizability over that obtained with the absorption scale (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974).
Van den Bergh, Omer; Eelen, Paul; Baeyens, Frank (1989). Brief exposure to fear stimuli: Imagery ability as a condition of fear enhancement and fear decrease. Behavior Therapy, 20, 563-572.
Examined fear enhancement and fear decrease during brief exposure to fear stimuli. 140 good and poor imagery Subjects (aged 14-18 years) with medium fear levels toward spiders were exposed to a live spider, either by looking at it or by thinking of an invisible, but present spider during either 60, 180, or 360 sec. Control Subjects were given a distraction task. Subjective fear and behavioral approach were measured. Brief exposure hindered fear decrease compared to the control condition. Good imagers showed more fear decrease and were less affected by the mode of exposure. Fear enhancement occurred only in poor imagers at the longer exposure duration (360 sec) during thinking. In that condition, good imagers showed their greatest fear decrease.
de Groh, Margaret (1989). Correlates of hypnotic susceptibility. In Spanos, Nicholas P.; Chaves, John F. (Ed.), Hypnosis: The cognitive-behavioral perspective (pp. 32-63). Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
NOTES 1:
The author describes a non-linear relationship between imagery and hypnotizability and between absorption and hypnotizability. People good at imagery may be high or low on hypnotizability scales; the same is true for people high on absorption trait. However, people low on those traits generally are low on measured hypnotizability.
1988
Cross, W. P.; Spanos, Nicholas P. (1988-89). The effects of imagery vividness and receptivity on skill training induced enhancements in hypnotic susceptibility. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 8, 89-103.
NOTES 1:
This article is cited by Spanos & Flynn (1989) as indicating that high hypnotizability requires imaginative skills that some people do not possess in sufficient degrees.
Dougherty, John E.; Payne, Paul A. (1988). The use of breathing rhythm to enhance the vividness of mental imagery. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 8 (2), 175-179.
The study assessed Jencks’ claim that responses to certain suggestions are enhanced by being paced with different phases of the breathing cycle. Following hypnotic induction, twenty-four subjects were given four treatments in counterbalanced order: 1) exhalation-enhanced suggestions paced to exhalation, 2) inhalation-enhanced suggestions paced to inhalation, 3) inhalation-enhanced suggestions counterpaced to exhalation, and 4) exhalation-enhanced suggestions counterpaced to inhalation. Subjects’ reports of imagery vividness provided marginal support (p < .06) for Jencks' hypothesis. Post-experimental inquiry indicated subjects were unaware of the breathing contingency. Results suggest that appropriate pacing may make a greater difference for the energy-confidence group of suggestions (inhalation-paced) than for the calm-relaxation group (exhalation-paced). Katsanis, Joanna; Barnard, Joanna; Spanos, Nicholas P. (1988). Self-predictions, interpretational set and imagery vividness as determinants of hypnotic responding. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 8 (1), 63-77. Two studies assessed the effects of self-predictions and interpretations of suggested demands on hypnotizability. Subjects overestimated their responsiveness to suggestions. Those who believed that they would fail all or almost all suggestions invariably attained low hypnotizability scores. However, those who believed that they would be highly responsive exhibited wide variability in their actual hypnotizability. Among subjects who self-predicted high responsiveness, those who adopted a passive "wait and see" interpretation toward suggestions scored significantly lower in hypnotizability than those who believed that they should actively bring about suggested effects. Study 2 also found that the relationship between adopting an active interpretation and hypnotizability was moderated by subjects' level of imagery vividness. Theoretical implications are discussed. 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 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. In their Discussion, the authors note that "The three hypotheses were supported by the results. Several of the absorption group comparisons obtained in previous research (Pekala et al., 1985) involving alterations in subjective experience (body image, perception, meaning); state of awareness; and volitional control were replicated in the present research" (p. 85). Spanos, Nicholas P.; Stenstrom, Robert J.; Johnston, Joseph C. (1988). Hypnosis, placebo, and suggestion in the treatment of warts. Psychosomatic Medicine, 50, 245-260. Two experiments assessed the effects of psychological variables on wart regression. In Experiment 1, subjects given hypnotic suggestion exhibited more wart regression than those given either a placebo treatment or no treatment. In Experiment 2, hypnotic and nonhypnotic subjects given the same suggestions were equally likely to exhibit wart regression and more likely to show this effect than no treatment controls. In both experiments, treated subjects who lost warts reported more vivid suggested imagery than treated subjects who did not lose warts. However, hypnotizability and attribute measures of imagery propensity were unrelated to wart loss. Subjects given the suggestion that they would lose warts on only one side of the body did not show evidence of a side-specific treatment effect.