Transcript Hypnosis - UCSD Cognitive Science

Hypnosis
Qualities of Hypnosis
May or may not feel sleepy
Usually feel more relaxed
Increased susceptibility to suggestions
Enhanced imagery and imagination
Loss of Initiative
Qualities of Hypnosis (continued)
Availability of visual memories from the
past, though possibly distorted
Lack of desire to make and carry out
plans
Retains ability to initiate or terminate
actions
Qualities of Hypnosis (continued)
Reduction in Reality Testing
 Change in personality
 Accept falsified memories
 Modify the rate which they process time
 Experience the presence of an object that
isn’t there or visa versa
Standardized Tests for Hypnotic
Susceptibility
Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale
 Three forms:
 A and B: Emphasize compliance with motor
related suggestions
 Are parallel, permitting test-retest reliability
 C: Emphasizes Cognitive components of
hypnotic susceptibility
Standardized Tests for Hypnotic
Susceptibility
Barber Suggestibility Scale:
 Like the Stanford test, performed on an
individual basis, rated by the examiner
 Consists of Only 8 Tasks
Standardized Tests for Hypnotic
Susceptibility
Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic
Susceptibility
 Administered in a group setting
 Subjects score themselves
 Less accurate
Different Hypnotic
Susceptibility Tests
Eye Closure
Hand
Postural Sway
Lowering
Finger Lock
Arm Rigidity
Verbal
Inhibition
Posthypnotic
Suggestion
Extreme Thirst
Suggestion
Selective
Amnesia
Arm
Immobilization
Fly Hallucination
Eye Roll Test
Physiological Changes
Greater advantage of left body parts
Tendency to go towards the right
Increased Respiration Rates
Decreased Heart Rate
Changes in Cortical ERPs
Hypnotherapy: Habit Control
Obesity
 Direct Suggestion
 Ego - Enhancing Suggestions
 Mental Imagery
 Self Hypnosis
 Audiotapes
Hypnotherapy: Habit Control
Smoking:
 Concentrate on three ideas:
 Cigarettes are poison to the body
 Life is not possible without the body
 Life is possible only if one respects and
protect’s one’s body
 Success Rates:
 One Treatment: 20%
 Five Treatment: 63%
Hypnotherapy: Phobias
 Used along with systematic
sensitization
 Uses imagery of being around a snake
 Very successful in reducing phobias
both in and outside of laboratory settings
Hypnosis and Pain Control
Analgesia: The removal of existing pain
Anesthesia: The prevention of the pain
that is not currently present
Today, primarily used in conjunction with
chemical anesthesia
Hypnosis and Memory
Amnesia: The loss of memory
Hyperamnesia: Improving an individual’s
memory for events experienced in the
past
 Reports of witnesses providing new
evidence while hypnotized
 Many reports of inaccurate recollection or
confabulation
Hypnosis and Memory
Hypnotic Age Regression: Taking
subjects back n time to recall events that
happened to them
 In the news recently about hypnosis being
used to recall childhood sexual abuse. Is
this accurate?
Hypnosis and Perception
Hypnotic suggestions lead to
improvement in visual acuity in myopic
(nearsighted) subjects
Hypnotic Deafness can affect auditory
sensitivity on Visual Choice Reaction
Time
Increased performance on the Stroop
Test
Contemporary Theories of
Hypnosis
Trance Theory: Hypnosis involves a
trance during which the subject is in a
heightened state of susceptibility to
suggestion
 Hidden Observer: When asked to write
down information, will often reveal info
against what he/she has already said
 Changes in cognition
Contemporary Theories of
Hypnosis
Sociological Role Theory: Hypnotized
individuals behave as they do because
they are striving to enact the role of a
hypnotized subject as it is defined by the
hypnotist and society in general
 There is no significant cognitive change
Contemporary Theories of
Hypnosis
Task-Motivation Theory: Hypnosis is not
an altered state of consciousness, rather
it is a predisposition in a normal state of
awareness to attend to commands and
suggestions from a hypnotist.