Acting%20As%20If%20You%20Are%20Hypnotized

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Acting As If You Are Hypnotized

• Psychology 405-001
• 3-3-03
• By Nick Hahn, Alison Bowen, and Shanell Ryan

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What is Hypnosis?

• The views of what hypnosis is have differentiated
  throughout history and into current times.
• Is it a trance?
• Is it a cure for illnesses?
• Is it related to sleep and dreaming?
• Is it a separate and unique state of awareness?

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Ancient History of Hypnosis

• Hypnosis was used in religious and healing
  ceremonies before any records of hypnosis
  existed.
• The study of ceremonies of primitive people in
  Africa, Australia, and elsewhere performed
  inductions by rhythmic chanting, monotonous
  drumbeats, together with strained fixations of
  the eyes accompanied by catalepsy of the rest of
  the body.

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Religious History of Hypnosis

• In the 18th, Father Gassner, a clergyman, used
  hypnosis to cast out devils that possessed his
  patients.
• He conducted hypnosis with a gold crucifix where
  he told his patients in advance that they would
  fall to the floor and die. During this period
  of death he would cast out the devils from
  their body and then restore them to normal life
  again.

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Almost Modern History of Hypnosis

• Franz Mesmer (1733-1815) was a medical doctor who
  helped bring hypnosis out of the realm of
  witchcraft.
• He thought hysterical disorders resulted from
  imbalances of magnetic fluid present in the body.
• He believed that the metal of the cross that
  Gassner used was responsible for magnetizing the
  patient and hence developed his theory of animal
  magnetism, which he believed would transmit
  chemicals into the patients and provide relief
  from their symptoms.
• Mesmer would suggest to them beforehand that as
  he touched them with his magnetic rod they would
  become magnetized and eventually would go into a
  state of crisis from which they would emerge
  cured.

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Modern Views of Hypnosis

• Sigmund Freud
• Used hypnotic techniques to uncover repressed and
  damaging experiences.
• Although, as a whole Freud did not support the
  use of hypnosis in a therapeutic setting.
• These beliefs pushed hypnosis out of interest of
  medical and psychological fields.
• Toward the beginning of WWII, R. White
  unsatisfied with current understanding of
  hypnosis, brought back interest in researching it
  that influenced those to follow.

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Modern Views of Hypnosis

• Ernest Hilgard, a pioneer in the scientific study
  of hypnosis, supported the position that hypnosis
  is an altered psychological state.
• His descriptions of hypnosis included increased
  susceptibility to suggestion, involuntary
  performance of behavior, improvements in recall,
  increasing intensity of visual imagination,
  dissociation, and analgesia.
• These ideas that hypnosis is an altered state of
  consciousness, different from both waking and
  sleep, have never been questioned.

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Nicholas Spanos

• Nicholas Spanos (1942-1994) Ph.D., professor of
  psychology at Carlten University in Ottawa
  Canada.
• Spanos, a social cognitive psychologist, was not
  convinced by previous views of hypnosis and
  exposed it to scientific scrutiny.
• He theorized that the behaviors during hypnosis
  were actually normal, voluntary abilities of
  humans, and not an altered state of consciousness.

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Spanos 2 Aspects

• Spanos had two aspects as to why people believe
  that hypnosis is an altered state of
  consciousness
• 1. The way the suggestion is worded determines
  whether the behavior is voluntary or involuntary.
• 2.Hypnosis rituals creates expectations in how
  the subjects should behave based on how they
  think they are supposed to behave.

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Class Experiment

• 1. Hold out your arm.
• This is how the hypnotist would start out his
  session, with a voluntary instruction.
• 2. Your arm is getting heavy.
• Then the hypnotist would give an involuntary
  suggestion.
• Because gravity is already weighing down on ones
  arm, the actions are attributed to involuntary
  behavior.
• 3. Your arm is light and rising
• Because this action contradicts gravity it is
  more difficult to be perceived as involuntary
• In the views of hypnosis the direction of the arm
  shouldnt matter it should all be perceived as
  involuntary.

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Experiment 1 Behavior is Involuntary

• 2 Groups
• Group 1 was given a direct instruction to raise
  your arm
• Group 2 was given a behavior suggestion your arm
  is light and rising
• They were then asked whether they believed their
  behavior was involuntary or not.
• Group 1 believed that their behavior was
  voluntary
• Group 2 believed that their behavior was
  involuntary
• The behavior suggestion group was more likely to
  see their behavior as involuntary compared to the
  group that received the direct instruction.

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Experiment 2 Creation of Expectations

• 2 groups of students were given a lecture as to
  what to expect during hypnosis.
• Group 1 was told that during hypnosis some
  subjects experience spontaneous arm rigidity.
• Group 2 were told nothing about arm rigidity.
• During Hypnosis
• Group 1 showed spontaneous arm rigidity.
• Group 2 not one arm became rigid.
• Conclusion This experiment shows that
  expectations influenced behavior during hypnosis.

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Higards Research

• It was believed that hypnosis caused people to
  become insensitive to pain.
• Hilgard, testing these beliefs, gave subjects
  hypnotic and waking training in analgesia (pain
  reduction).
• Subjects knew they were going to be tested for
  pain in a waking state first, and then again in
  the hypnotic state.
• The subjects reported significantly less cold
  pressure pain during hypnosis.
• Conclusion Hilgard believed that during hypnosis
  people could dissociate pain from awareness.

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Spanos Rejecting Hilgard

• Spanos believed that these subjects, have a
  strong investment in presenting themselves in the
  experimental setting as good hypnotic subjects.

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Experiment 3 Creation of Expectations

• Spanos conducted the same experiment as Hilgard
  concerning pain EXCEPT for one major difference
• Group 1. subjects were told that they would use
  waking analgesia techniques before being tested
  using hypnotic painreduction methods.
• Group2. subjects were NOT told of the later
  hypnotic test.
• Results
• Group 1. reported more pain during the waking
  state than the hypnotic state.
• Group 2. maintained a constant threshold for
  pain.
• Conclusion The group that expected hypnosis,
  according to Spanos, left room for improvement.

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Key Points

• Spanoss goal wasnt to prove that hypnosis does
  not exist.
• He wanted to prove that hypnotic behaviors are
  the result of highly motivated, goal-directed
  social behavior, not an altered state of
  consciousness.
• Spanos demonstrated that many of the key aspects
  of hypnosis can be explained in less mysterious
  and more straightforward ways than being under a
  hypnotic trance.
• However, it is still unknown whether or not
  hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness.
• It is still used and seen as no more effective
  than other methods of treatment for smoking,
  abusing alcohol, improving memory, and losing
  weight.

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Spanoss Influence on Psychology

• Spanos challenged views of hypnosis that had been
  undisputed for nearly 200 years.
• He was the first person to question the validity
  of hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness
  by scientifically conducting experiments.
• His cognitive behavioral approach to the
  phenomena of hypnosis has opened the door to
  further research.

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References

• Bryan, William J. (1963). A History of Hypnosis.
  Retrieved February 26, 2003, from
  http//www.infinityinst.com/articles/nartic.html
• Chaves, John F. Jones, Bill. (1995) Nicholas
  Peter Spanos American Psychologist, Vol. 50 6,
  pg. 449. Retrieved February 28, 2003 from the
  EBSCO database.
• Hock, R. R. (2002). Forty Studies that Changed
  Psychology Explorations Into the History of
  Psychological Research, 4th Edition (pg. 54-62)
• Ramachandran, V. S. (Ed). (1994). Encyclopedia of
  Human Behavior (Vol. 2 Cop-I) San Diego
  Academic Press Inc.
• Stanford University, Retrieved February 24, 2003
  from
• http//www.standford.edu/dept/news/report/news/oc
  tober31/hilgardobit-1031.html