States of Consciousness

HYPNOSIS

Discuss• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prMvP9ustN0• What different states of consciousness do you think

there are?• Of the time that you are awake , how much time do

you think you are consciously thinking about the world around you?

• What do you think Hypnosis is ?• What do you think happens to people who are

hypnotised?

Hypnosis is a state of heightened suggestibility in which people experience imagined situations as if they were real.

Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815)

• Mesmer developed a technique called ‘animal magnetism’ (later renamed mesmerism).

• Mesmer noticed that patients would often enter a trance-like state. Apparent ‘miracle cures’ also resulted.

• Eventually Mesmer realised the magnets were unnecessary .

Hypnosis

• In 1841 Scottish surgeon James Braid witnessed a demonstration of mesmerism and began to develop his own technique.

• Braid held a bright object in front of patients’ eyes while also making verbal suggestions.

• He argued mesmerism was a state of “nervous sleep” produced by concentrated attention.

• He renamed it hypnosis after Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep.

Hypnotic Induction Procedures

• Hypnotic induction is the process by which one person leads another into hypnosis.

• It is not necessary to swing a watch in front of the eyes or say “you are feeling sleepy”!

• Moss (1965) reported being able to sometimes induce a trance simply by saying “Please sit in that chair and go into hypnosis”!

• The goal of most induction procedures is to relax the subject and increase his or her attention.

• The only essential feature of any induction procedure is that the subject must realise that they are being hypnotised.

• In addition, it is not possible for someone to be hypnotised against their will.

• People differ in how susceptible they are to hypnotic suggestions. This can be measured by hypnotic susceptibility scales.

Sample test items from the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C

Item Suggested Behaviour

Criterion for Passing

Arm lowering Right arm will become heavy

Arm lowered by at least 6 inches

Moving hands apart

Force is pushing hands apart

Hands are 6 or more inches apart

Mosquito hallucination

Mosquito is buzzing nearby

Any grimace or acknowledgement

Posthypnotic amnesia

Will not remember suggestions

Three or fewer items recalled

Hypnotic Susceptibility

• According to Hilgard (1977), in an average testing session 10% of subjects will be completely nonresponsive, 10% will pass all or nearly all items, and the rest will fall in between. This is a stable characteristic when tested 25 years later people scored the same !

• However susceptibility can be enhanced by increasing people’s expectations (Spanos et al., 1991; Vickery & Kirsch, 1991).

Activity

• From the second page of your handout identify a key argument for and against the phenomenon of hypnosis.

• Describe some practical applications of Hypnosis.

Plenary

• What is hypnosis?• How can we be sure that hypnosis is real?• What is a key argument against hypnosis

being a real phenomenon?• Why do you think people vary in their

susceptibility to hypnosis?• Why is hypnosis useful?

Why does hypnosis work?

• There are two main competing explanations for how hypnosis works:

• Dissociation (state hypothesis) theories.• Social Cognitive (non-state hypothesis)

theories.

Behaviour under Hypnosis• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_SMPGs874

Q• Hypnotised people are very suggestible and their

behaviour will conform with what the hypnotist tells them. Typical behaviour that can be induced include:

• Acting out imaginary scenes.• Pretending to be an animal.• Believing a limb cannot move or is insensitive to pain.• Positive and negative hallucinations – seeing things that

are not really there, or not seeing objects that really are present.

• Posthypnotic suggestibility – a subject is given instructions under hypnosis and follows them after returning to a non-hypnotised state.

• Posthypnotic amnesia – the subject is instructed to not remember any of the suggested behaviour after leaving the hypnotic state.

• Enhanced memory ? Lynn et al 2001 found that some studies showed better recall under hypnosis but that others did not !

• Burgess and Kirsch found that extra recall gained through hypnosis is inaccurate. Memories could also be ‘false’ memories implanted during hypnosis.

Hypnosis and Involuntary Control

• When under hypnosis people subjectively experience their actions to be involuntary.

• Can people be made to perform acts that are harmful to themselves or others?

• Evans & Orne (1965) told hypnotized subjects that a cup of foaming liquid was ‘acid’.

• However, a control group who were asked to simply pretend that they were hypnotised behaved in the same way.

• This behaviour can be explained in terms of “destructive obedience”; i.e., psychological compliance with an authority figure (Milgram, 1974).

Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

Do we need to be hypnotised to do things against our will?

Milgram experiment in obedience (1961/62)

I observed a mature and initially poised businessman enter the laboratory smiling and confident. Within 20 minutes he was reduced to a twitching, stuttering wreck, who was rapidly approaching nervous collapse. He constantly pulled on his ear lobe, and twisted his hands. At one point he pushed his fist into his forehead and muttered “Oh God lets stop it”. And yet he continued to respond to every word of the experimenter, and obeyed to the end.

Milgram, Behavioral Study of Obedience

Activity

• What powerful evidence is there to suggest that hypnotism is real?

• What alternative explanation could be used ?• What does this evidence suggest about

hypnosis ?• Why do you think the person experiences

their actions as being involuntary?

Dissociation theories of hypnosis

• Dissociation theories view hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness.

• Best known example is the neo-dissociation theory proposed by Ernst Hilgard (1978, 1991).

• Hilgard argued that cognition involves multiple systems of control which are not all conscious at the same time.

• These systems are controlled and motivated by a central ‘executive ego’.

Neo-dissociation Theory 

• Hilgard argued that during hypnosis the hypnotist gains control of the executive ego, and therefore has access to the various subsidiary control systems.

• Hypnosis creates a division of awareness in which a person simultaneously experiences two streams of consciousness that are cut off from one another.

• One stream responds to the hypnotist’s suggestions, while the second stream remains a hidden observer of everything that occurs.

‘Hidden Observer’ Phenomenon

• In one study Hilgard (1977) hypnotised subjects and suggested that they would not feel pain.

• Then placed arm in ice-cold water for 45 seconds and reported level of pain experienced.

• For another group Hilgard said “Perhaps there is another part of you that is more aware than your hypnotised part. If so, would that part of you report the amount of pain”.

‘Hidden Observer’ Study (Hilgard, 1977)

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Normal PainHidden ObserverHypnotized Subject

• Hilgard argued that dissociation between streams of consciousness accounts for why hypnotism appears to produce involuntary actions.

• The subject intentionally carries out the actions, but only the ‘hidden observer’ is aware of this.

• The primary consciousness stream is cut off from this awareness and therefore the action appears involuntary to the subject.

Plenary

• Can you describe Hilgard’s theory?• What is the ‘hidden observer’?• Use handout to identify criticisms of State

theories of hypnosis.• Discuss

Social Cognitive theories of hypnosis

• Social cognitive theories deny that hypnosis produces an altered state of consciousness.

• Instead argue that hypnotic experiences result from expectations of people motivated to take on the role of being “hypnotised”.

• Subjects develop a perceptual set – a readiness to respond to suggestions and to perceive hypnotic experiences as real and involuntary.

• In a study by Orne (1959) subjects were told prior to being hypnotised that a common feature of a trance is stiffening of the muscles in the dominant hand.

• This information was fictitious.• When the subjects were hypnotised, 55%

spontaneously displayed hand stiffening.• No subjects in a control group showed this

behaviour.• Social Cognitive theories do not claim that

hypnotised people are ‘pretending’. Expectations can influence behaviour without conscious awareness (e.g., placebo effects etc.)

Summary

• Hypnosis produces an increased receptiveness to suggestions.

• Hypnotised people subjectively experience their actions to be involuntary.

• Dissociation theories attribute this to divided streams of consciousness.

• Social Cognitive theories attribute this to subject’s expectation as to what effect hypnosis will have on them.

Plenary

• Answer questions on handout• Identify strengths and weaknesses of the

two explanations of Hypnosis using the evaluation section of the handout.

• Discuss each point.• Complete the cloze activity

Essay plan• Describe what hypnosis is and how it affects

behaviour.• Outline and evaluate state theory including research

evidence• Outline and evaluate non-state theory including

research evidence• Conclusion should discuss the usefulness of

hypnosis despite the inability of science to explain the phenomenon completely.