Baker, Elgan L. (1983). The use of hypnotic dreaming in the treatment of the borderline patient: Some thoughts on resistance and transitional phenomena. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 31 (1), 19-27
This paper examines some phenomena of resistance to learning and utilizing self-hypnosis which may occur in the treatment of patients with borderline level ego organization and pathology. Conflicts around separation, individuation, and the constancy of self/other representations are highlighted as significant dynamic factors central to this resistance. The use of hypnotic dreams and the facilitation of transitional relatedness through dream processes and symbols are suggested and discussed as avenues for the clinical management of resistance ot auto-hypnosis in hypnotherapy with these patients.
Epstein, S. J.; Deyoub, P. L. (1983). Hypnotherapeutic control of exhibitionism: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 31 (2), 63-66.
Hypnotherapy was used to treat a 30-year-old exhibitionist in 8 sessions. Under hypnosis, he explored causes for his behavior, developed tension reducing techniques, and learned a posthypnotic emergency response. If he felt exposure imminent, his fists would clench, precluding the possibility of exposure. At 2-year follow-up, there were no known exposures.
Polk, W. M. (1983). Treatment of exhibitionism in a 38-year-old male by hypnotically assisted covert sensitization. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 31 (3), 132-138.
This case study reports the successful treatment of a 38-year-old male with a 14 year history of exhibitionism. A multifaceted treatment program was used, involving hypnotically assisted covert sensitization and brief marital therapy. Hypnosis was used to develop psychic aversive and reinforcing stimuli from the patient’s past experience. The value of hypnosis in enhancing imagery in cognitive treatment approaches and the need for only experienced clinicians to utilize the present intervention strategy is discussed.
1981
Kellerman, J. (1981). Hypnosis as an adjunct to thought stopping and covert reinforcement in the treatment of homicidal obsessions in a twelve-year-old boy. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 29 (2), 128-135.
A combined cognitive behavioral approach was used to successfully treat matricidal obsessions in an otherwise psychologically well-adjusted 12-year-old boy. The primary problem was conceptualized as anxiety over loss of control. Therapeutic techniques included re-defining of symptoms, thought-stopping, hypnotic enhancement of imagery in order to facilitate cognitive restructuring, covert reinforcement, home practice, and paradoxical instructions to produce the symptom. A decline in obsessions began after 3 sessions and total remission was observed after 6 sessions (10 weeks). 2-year follow-up revealed no recurrence of symptoms. The value of hypnosis as an adjunct to behavior therapy with children is discussed.
Scrignar, C. B. (1981). Rapid treatment of contamination phobia with hand-washing compulsion by flooding with hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 23, 252-257.
Two obsessive-compulsive patients with contamination phobias and hand-washing compulsions are presented. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy had resulted in little change. Behavior therapy techniques of thought-stopping, systematic desensitization, progressive muscle relaxation, cognitive restructuring and self-imposed response prevention were first used, resulting in some subjective improvement, but no change in the hand-washing rate. Hypnosis, emphasizing relaxation, positive suggestion and corrective information provided further temporary subjective improvement but little change in compulsive rituals. Hypnosis, combined with the behavioral technique of flooding, produced rapid improvement. The patients maintained improvement at seven years and two years. Flooding under hypnosis may afford obsessive-compulsive patients a rapid and economical therapeutic procedure.
1979
Bauer, Rudolph (1979). The use of trance in working with the borderline personality. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 16 (4), 371-375.
Describes in detail those aspects of trance that facilitate the ongoing therapy process with the borderline personality and discusses the utilization of trance phenomena to work directly with the borderline person’s experience and particular ego deficits. The discussion is developed from an object relations viewpoint, and 2 representative cases are presented.
1975
Spear, J. E. (1975). The utilization of non-drug induced altered states of consciousness in borderline recidivists. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 18, 111-126.
Utilizing non-drug induced altered states of consciousness, various modes of interior reflection, behavior modification and reprogramming of conscious attitudes and values were utilized with 49 borderline recidivists. Such offenders were so determined by the Department of Corrections, Probation and Parole Office, District II. No coercion was used to induce such individuals to enter the program and there was no reprisal for stopping therapy at any time. Over a two and one-half year period the recidivist rate among this group was less than 5%. It is suggested that non-drug induced altered states of consciousness combined with indirect as well as symbolic techniques may prove to be the most effective means of criminal rehabilitation.
Berderline recidivists were “individuals, who, in the opinion of the P.O. [probation officer] were, in all probability, to be returned to prison within a few months, or less, if there wasn’t a major change in attitude and actions” (p. 111). Therapy employed closed circuit TV with bi-directional audio and induction of altered state of consciousness using an ophthalmology-type rotary prism. Therapy involved (s) recall of relaxed state when under stress, (2) exploration of early conditioning events, (3) self evaluation during the ASC, (4) use of symbolic mental exercises and mental practice for similar circumstances in normal waking state, (5) suggestions for setting goals and ideals, (7) a type of logotherapy, (7) ‘nudging’ the person to examine their relationship with their concept of God. The author noted in the parolees: (1) low levels of self esteem, (2) depression, (3) going into deep levels of altered states once trust was established with the therapist.
1954
Bowers, Margaretta; Berkowitz, Bernard; Brecher, Sylvia (1954). Hypnosis in severely dependent states. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2, 2-12.
[From the Introduction] “The patient with deep dependency needs, usually the schizophrenic or borderline case, presents difficult treatment problems, which make great demands on the personality of the therapist. A good therapeutic result in these cases requires a dependable positive transference. Yet the presence in the patient of ungratified infantile needs occasions severe hostility, which initially impedes the positive transference and continually renders its management difficult. We have found in hypnosis a procedure equal to these difficulties and offering, with reasonable consistency, a means of significantly improving the status of a patient group, until quite recently considered beyond the reach of psychotherapy. We consider in this paper, why and how hypnosis helps these patients, and some of the psychological hazards it presents for the therapist” (p. 2).
[From the section titled “Implications”] “Hypnosis affords real advantages, but it is also hard work, demanding far more from the therapist in skill and activity, especially in the hypnotic training of fragmented, distracted subjects. Consequently, where the patient could be reached by other means, hypnosis was not attempted” (p. 12). “There is evidence that hypnosis provides a respite, a holding operation, which permits the marshalling of positive forces within the patient. There are also indications that through hypnosis the patient is more quickly brought to a point of social remission, although the over-all time required in treatment is not materially lessened” (p. 12).
Personality
1994
Csoli, Karen; Ramsay, Jason T.; Spanos, Nicholas P. (1994, August). Psychological correlates of the out-of-body experiences–a reexamination. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.
12% of population reports an out-of-body experience (OBE) sometime in their lives. They leave their body and can see self from the outside. Awareness is confined to the new point of view, not fragmented; there is unimpaired intellectual ability; feelings of detachment, completeness, well being, and profound relaxation. Can occur under stress or deep relaxation; not while driving a car.
Psychological correlates aren’t known. Studies are inconclusive with respect to belief systems (religious, death anxiety, etc.); measures of absorption, hypnosis, imaginative ability, imagery controls. Recent Carlton study with 87 Ss (33 had OBE) got results we didn’t expect. They completed questionnaires, were tested for hypnotizability, had an interview re OBE experience.
This study found the OBE-experiencing people had higher levels of anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, and panic attacks. They were also higher on magical thinking, perceptual aberration, and Schizophrenia scores. They didn’t differ on mysticism, levels of drug or alcohol use, or level of self esteem.
1993
Council, James R.; Grant, Debora L. (1993, October). Context effects: They’re not just for hypnosis anymore. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Arlington Heights, IL.
Context effects in Absorption research are found in correlations, not in mean differences. Original paper has been replicated and yet results are not always significant. Now we are trying to generalize the effect to other areas: an individually administered measure will influence other measures made in the same session.
Other tests that correlate with hypnosis are studied with 2 x 2 design, enabling order effects and same vs separate contexts to be studied. Or two tests are administered at two points in time, with “bridges” between the two sessions (e.g. same experimenter, same consent forms, etc.) As one adds more and more bridging cues, the correlation of Absorption with other Tellegen MPQ subscales increases.
Same context assessment increases correlation between hypnotizability and 6-8 other scales; with childhood trauma scale when trauma scale is administered first; with beliefs in paranormal phenomena when the measure is related to an adjustment scale. The same inflation of correlations was found in Beck Depression scale research.
These results are of concern because we may have to re-do a lot of personality research that suggested correlation between personality test variables, as the correlations may be inflated by the effects of testing in the same context.
Glisky, Martha L.; Kihlstrom, John F. (1993). Hypnotizability and facets of openness. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 41 (2), 112-123.
Absorption, a correlate of hypnotizability, is related to a broader dimension of openness to experience, one construal of the “Big Five” structure of personality. But openness itself is very heterogeneous, and some of its facets may be unrelated to hypnotizability. A total of 651 subjects completed a questionnaire measuring three different aspects of openness — absorption, intellectance, and liberalism — before receiving the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. The three dimensions were only modestly related to each other, and only absorption was significantly related to hypnotizability. Adding intellectance and liberalism to absorption did not enhance the prediction of hypnotizability. The results indicate that the various facets of openness are rather different from each other and that the “Big Five” structure may need to be expanded. Absorption and hypnosis share a kind of imaginative involvement that is not necessarily part of other kinds of openness, such as intellectance and liberalism.
1992
Barrett, Deidre (1992). Fantasizers and dissociaters: Data on two distinct subgroups of deep trance subjects. Psychological Reports, 71, 1011-1014.
The study delineated two subgroups of highly hypnotizable subjects. The first subgroup (fantasizers) entered trance rapidly, scored high on absorption (mean of 34 on the 37-item Absorption Scale), and described hypnosis as much like their rich, vivid, and very realistic waking fantasy life. None of the fantasizers experienced unsuggested amnesia, and 5/19 failed to produce suggested amnesia. Only 2/19 fantasizers described hypnosis as very different from their other experiences. The earliest memories of fantasizers were all identified as occurring before age 3, and before age 2 for 11 of 19. The second subgroup (dissociaters) took time to achieve a deep trance (unlike Wilson and Barber’s fantasy-prone subjects, but they did achieve as deep a trance as fantasizers), experienced hypnosis as different from any prior experiences, and were more likely to exhibit amnesia for both hypnotic experience and waking fantasies. None of the dissociaters described their waking imagery as entirely realistic, and the earliest memories in this group were all over the age of 3 (mean age – 5). Of the 15 dissociaters, 7 scored below the norm on the Absorption Scale (Mean – 26).
Lynn, Steven Jay; Sivec, Harry (1992). The hypnotizable subject as creative problem-solving agent. In Fromm, Erika; Nash, Michael R. (Ed.), Contemporary hypnosis research (pp. 292-333). Guilford Press.
These notes are taken only from the section of this chapter that deals with Hypnotic Responding, Imaginative Activity, and Expectancies, and they treat of the concept of nonvoluntary responding (pp 315-316). Other topics covered in the chapter include: Imagination, Fantasy, and Hypnosis Theories; The Hypnotizable Subject as Creative Problem-Solving Agent; Hypnosis and Subjects’ Capability for Imaginative Activity; Goal-Directed Fantasy: Patterns of Imaginative Activity during Hypnosis; Hypnosis and Creativity; and a Conclusion.
Several studies manipulated expectancies re the relationship between imagination and involuntariness. When Ss were told that “good” hypnotic subjects could (or could not) resist suggestions, “this information affected their ability to resist the hypnotist and tended to affect subjects’ report of suggestion-related involuntariness … [Lynn, Nash, Rhue, Frauman, & Sweeney, 1984]. Furthermore, subjects who successfully resisted suggestions and subjects who failed to do so reported comparable levels of hypnotic depth and imaginative involvement in suggestions.
“Spanos, Cobb, and Gorassini (1985) conducted a similar experiment in which they found that hypnotizable subjects who were instructed that they could become deeply involved in suggestions and yet resist them successfully resisted 95% of the suggestions and rated themselves as maintaining voluntary control over their behavior. Thus, subjects are able to resist nearly all of the suggestions when resistance is facilitated by situational demands. It is worth noting that subjects in this research who resisted hypnotic suggestions rated themselves as just as deeply involved in the suggestions as Ss who failed to resist suggestions after being informed that deeply hypnotized subjects were incapable of resisting suggestions” (pp. 315-316).
Lynn, Snodgrass, et al. (1987). showed that hypnotizable Ss who were just “imagining” along with suggestions but instructed to resist responding to motoric suggestions acted the way hypnotized Ss did in their earlier countersuggestion research: imagining subjects tended to move in response to suggestion (that “good” Ss responded in certain ways), despite being instructed to resist. In this study, with instructions designed to increase the use of goal directed fantasies (GDFs), low and high hypnotizable subjects reported equivalent GDF absorption and frequency of GDFs. However, highs responded more and reported greater involuntariness than lows, even when their GDFs were equivalent.
“A number of other studies have examined the effects of expectancies on imaginings and hypnotic behavior. Spanos, Weekes, and de Groh (1984) informed subjects that deeply hypnotized individuals could imagine an arm movement in one direction while their unconscious caused the arm to move in the opposite direction. Even though subjects so informed moved in the opposite direction, they imagined suggested effects and described their countersuggestion behavior as involuntary” (p. 317).
1990
Avants, S. Kelly; Margolin, Arthur; Salovey, Peter (1990-91). Stress management techniques: Anxiety reduction, appeal, and individual differences. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 10, 3-23.
Four stress management techniques were evaluated for their general appeal, their immediate benefits, and the subjective experiences they evoke. One hundred undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of five treatment groups: (1) progressive muscle relaxation (PMR); (2) distraction imagery; (3) focused imagery; (4) listening to music; (5) sitting quietly (control). Distraction imagery and listening to music were the only techniques found to reduce anxiety to a greater extent than simply sitting quietly. The techniques differed in the way they made subjects feel, but not in their general appeal. Individuals with a ‘blunting’ coping style were more likely to find all five techniques appealing.
Tests used included the Miller Behavioral Style Scale, Cognitive-Somatic Anxiety Questionnaire of Schwartz, Davidson & Golman, Life Orientation Test of Scheier & Carver, Somatic Perception Questionnaire of Landy and Stern, Body Consciousness Questionnaire of L. C. Miller, Murphy, & Buss, Betts’ Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, Shortened Form, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Technique Evaluation Questionnaire of the authors.
Progressive muscle relaxation was according to Bernstein & Borkovec. Distraction imagery involved successively imagining a walk along a beach, a stroll across a flower filled meadow, sitting by a stream, a walk into the woods, sitting in a cabin in the woods listening to the rain against the windowpane, all including images in a variety of sense modalities. Focused imagery involved creating an image of a stressor, then through symbolic imagery experiences Ss were guided through a typical day’s events that might lead up to the stressor, reinterpreting cues associated with the stressor as signals that they are in control, visualizing encountering the stressor feeling strong and determined, and any physical sensations reinterpreted as ‘energy’ that would help them to cope, visualizing enjoying their success (from Crits-Cristoph & Singer. Music was a 20-min tape (10 min of music used in the distraction imagery tape–Natural Light by Steve Halpern & David Smith) and 10 min of music used in background of the focused imagery tape (Structures of Silence by Michael Lanz). A 5th group, Control, was instructed to sit quietly with eyes closed.
This data can be used in support of imagery-suggestion types of hypnosis (as in surgery study) reducing anxiety. It shows particularly strong effects for people high in cognitive anxiety or low in optimism, pre-treatment.
Discussion: “… we feel confident that our distraction techniques were more effective for the immediate relief of anxiety than was PMR. This conclusion is consistent with the Suls and Fletcher meta-analysis (29) that suggested that ‘avoidance’ is an effective short-term coping strategy. That distraction (positive) imagery may be a more useful clinical technique than focused (active involvement) imagery was concluded in a study comparing these two techniques in the treatment of phobias (24)” (p. 19. [Ref #24 is Crits-Cristoph & Singer (1983) in Imagination, Cognition, and Personality.]
“Pessimism and cognitive anxiety emerged as the only individual difference variables to influence anxiety reduction. Pessimism as measured by the LOT is cognitive in nature, with most of the items relating to expectations of negative outcomes; similarly, cognitive anxiety is characterized by worry and an inability to control negative thoughts and images. That individuals who perceive their world somewhat negatively should have entered the study more anxious than individuals who do not is hardly surprising. What is surprising is that despite an inverse relation between cognitive anxiety and the ability to relax, these individuals were able to benefit from whatever technique they performed to a greater extent than were individuals with a more positive outlook. In fact, after performing the technique, pessimists had reduced their anxiety to the level of optimists” (p. 19).
“The stress management techniques used in the current study did not differ in their appeal” (p. 20). “Our finding that PMR produced more somatic effects than did focused imagery and less cognitive effects than did distraction imagery, listening to music, or sitting quietly is consistent with the model of anxiety proposed by Davidson and Schwartz (17). Our findings are also generally consistent with a conclusion reached by Woolfolk and Lehrer (4): that although various techniques are generally stress reducing, they seem to have highly specific effects. However, we found no support for the hypothesis that individuals who express anxiety cognitively (or somatically) prefer and benefit most from techniques that produce cognitive (or somatic) effects. In fact, the extremely high correlation found between the cognitive and somatic anxiety subscales of the Schwartz et al. measure (5) casts some doubt on the usefulness of a cognitive-somatic distinction, as does the corr between the experience of physical symptoms under stress (the Somatic Perception Questionnaire) with the cognitive, as well as the somatic, anxiety subscale.
-fects. In fact, the extremely high correlation found between the cognitive and somatic anxiety subscales of the Schwartz et al. measure (5) casts some doubt on the usefulness of a cognitive-somatic distinction, as does the corr between the experience of physical symptoms under stress (the Somatic Perception Questionnaire) with the cognitive, as well as the somatic, anxiety subscale.
“The finding that blunters experiences more ‘somatic effects’ regardless of the technique they were assigned may have been the result of a single response–‘how much did mind-wandering interfere with performing the technique’–which was the only Factor 2 item that was highly inversely) related to blunting. Since blunters are more likely to perceive mind wandering as the essence of stress management rather than as ‘interference,’ we do not view this main effect as particularly illuminating” (p. 20). “However, our finding that blunters experienced all techniques as appealing is consistent with the results of Martelli et al. (1) who found that individuals with low information-preference benefitted from what the authors labeled an ’emotion-focused’ intervention, but which, in fact, included many of the quite diverse stress management techniques that we compared in the current study. That ‘avoiders’ failed to benefit from any intervention in the Scott and Clum study (11) may be due to the nature of the stressor [postsurgical pain]. Our undergraduates may have been more like the Martelli dental patients in terms of their level of distress than were the Scott and Clum subjects who were patients undergoing major surgery (hysterectomy or cholecystectomy). Future research needs to examine possible three-way, technique by patient by stressor-type, interactions (cf. 19)” pp 20-21.
Biasutti, M. (1990). Music ability and altered states of consciousness: An experimental study. International Journal of Psychosomatics, 37, 82-85.
The relationship between music and altered states of consciousness was studied with 30 subjects divided into hypnosis and control groups. The “Test di abilita musicale” was applied. The hypnosis group did the retest after posthypnotic suggestions and the second in waking conditions. The hypnosis group had better results than the control group, especially in the rhythm test (p < 0.0001). Council, James R.; Huff, Kenneth D. (1990). Hypnosis, fantasy activity, and reports of paranormal experiences in high, medium and low fantasizers. British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, 7 (3), 9-15 The personality construct "fantasy-proneness" (Wilson and Barber, 1983a) has important implications for theories of hypnosis, imagination, and paranormal phenomena. The present study compared characteristics of persons who received high, medium or low scores on a self-report measure of fantasy-proneness. Results revealed that the three groups differed significantly on measures of absorption, daydreaming styles, and reports of paranormal experiences. However, although high fantasizers were significantly more hypnotizable than low fantasizers, they did not differ from the middle group. These results are used to further characterize fantasy-prone persons, and implications of extremely low fantasy-proneness are discussed. 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. 1989 Buss, A. H. (1989). Personality as traits. American Psychologist, 44, 1378-1388. Personality traits have been challenged as unimportant determinants of behavior, but evidence suggests that traits may carry as much variance as experimental manipulations. Asking whether traits or manipulations control more variance is useless because researchers can plan paradigms that favor one or the other. When traits and manipulations complement each other there are several major kinds of interaction. The trait-manipulation dichotomy is analogous to the person-environment dichotomy, and both are related to active versus passive models of behavior. Trait variance is increased by aggregating across responses, situations, and time. Underlying aggregation are the issues of units and classes of behavior. Individual responses are on a continuum of breadth that extends successively upward to response classes, personality traits, and higher order traits. Broad and narrow traits each have advantages and disadvantages. Recent research has led to novel personality traits and to knowledge about the origin and maintenance of traits. If there is to be a specialty called personality, its unique and therefore defining characteristic is traits. Friswell, Rena; McConkey, Kevin M. (1989). Hypnotically induced mood. Cognition and Emotion, 3 (1), 1-26 This article addresses theoretical and methodological issues that are central to an understanding of hypnotically induced mood. Initially, the hypnotic procedures that are typically used to induce moods are examined. Then the empirical research that has employed hypnotic moods is reviewed; specifically, the impact of hypnotic moods on physiological responses, behavioural performance, perceptual and cognitive responses, and personality, and clinical processes is examined. Finally, major theoretical and methodological issues are highlighted, and the research directions that will lead to a greater understanding of hypnotic mood are specified. Hoyt, Irene P.; Nadon, Robert; Register, Patricia A.; Chorny, Joseph; Fleeson, William; Grigorian, Ellen M.; Otto, Laura; Kihlstrom, John F. (1989). Daydreaming, absorption and hypnotizability. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 332-342. It appears that the consistent correlation between hypnotizability and positive-constructive daydreaming is carried largely by three subscales--Acceptance of Daydreaming, Positive Reactions to Daydreaming, and Problem-Solving. Number other subscales consistently correlated with hypnotizability. When absorption was taken into account, daydreaming activity made no independent contribution to the prediction of hypnotizability. "The present results differ from Crawford's (1982) somewhat, however, in terms of the specific aspects of daydreaming activity that are associated with hypnosis. Crawford found that hypnotizability correlated consistently (i.e., in both men and women) with three subscales tapping imagery variables: the presence of visual and auditory imagery in daydreams and the hallucinatory vividness of daydream imagery. In the present study, the imagery subscale, including both visual and auditory items, did not correlate significantly with hypnotizability; unfortunately, the hallucinatory vividness subscale is not represented on the short form (SIPI) of the daydreaming questionnaire used in this study. Crawford (1982) did not find consistent correlations between hypnotizability and scales measuring acceptance, positive reactions, and problem solving--the subscales that consistently yielded significant correlations in the present study. Not too much interpretive weight should be given to any of the correlations between hypnotizability and daydreaming subscales, until a full replication with reliable subscale measurements (such as those provided by the long, original IPI) has been completed. The important point made by Crawford (1982), and confirmed in the present study, is that hypnotizability is related to positive-constructive rather than guilty-dysphoric daydreaming" (p. 338). The two studies agree that absorption and hypnosis are not correlated with daydreaming scales reflecting poor attentional control. Given the theoretical emphasis in both domains on the narrowing of attention and exclusion of potentially distracting input, negative correlations with this aspect of daydreaming might have been expected. 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. and hypnotizability is due to their individual relationships to self-hypnotic depth. Malott, James M.; Bourg, Audrey L.; Crawford, Helen J. (1989). The effects of hypnosis upon cognitive responses to persuasive communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 31-40. Several writers have suggested that hypnotic responsiveness is directly related to the content of S's covert self-statements. To test this notion, low and high hypnotizable subjects in either hypnosis or waking conditions were exposed to a recorded message advocating that college seniors be required to pass a comprehensive exam in order to graduate. Following message presentation, subjects listed all of the thoughts which occurred to them while listening to the message; these thoughts were later coded as counterarguments, favorable thoughts, or neutral thoughts. Hypnotized subjects generated significantly fewer counterarguments and agreed more with the message than waking subjects. In addition, high hypnotizable subjects (in both waking and hypnosis conditions) produced significantly more favorable thoughts and agreed more with the message than low hypnotizability subjects. Results, therefore, provided a demonstration of the differential impact of context (induction) and trait (hypnotizability level) upon different cognitive phenomena. Implications for the occurrence of hypersuggestible behavior are discussed. N = 48 (24 highs, 24 lows, blocked on sex and hypnotizability level, then randomly assigned to one of two conditions). Hypnosis subjects generated significantly fewer counterarguments than waking subjects (12% vs 45%). Main effect for hypnotizability level was nonsignificant, as was the condition x hypnotizability interaction. High hypnotizable subjects generated significantly more favorable thoughts than low hypnotizable subjects (28% vs 12%). The main effect for condition was nonsignificant, as was the condition x hypnotizability interaction. Unexpectedly, hypnosis subjects produced a significantly greater number of neutral thoughts. The main effect for hypnotizability level did not reach significance, nor did the condition x hypnotizability interaction. "Thus, as suggested by McConkey (1984), it may be the hypnotic _context_, rather than a hypnotic "state" which is responsible for reduced levels of counterarguing. ... the data indicate that an induction decreases counterarguing among high and low hypnotizable subjects alike; on the other hand, the incidence of favorable thoughts is related only to hypnotizability level and not to the hypnosis context. ... the present findings suggest that _both_ context and trait play a role in the occurrence of hypnotic behavior, although each may do so by impacting upon _different_ cognitive responses. There appears to be a relationship between counterarguing and acceptance of the persuasive communication in the present study. First, there was a significant negative correlation between those two measures (collapsing across conditions), indicating that higher levels of counterarguing were associated with _lower_ levels of communication acceptance. Second, subjects in the hypnosis condition who counterargued less than waking subjects, also indicated significantly higher levels of communication acceptance than waking subjects. In a similar fashion, there appears to be a relationship between favorable thought production and communication acceptance. There was a significant positive correlation between the two measures, and high hypnotizable subjects who generated significantly more favorable thoughts than low hypnotizables, also produced higher scores on the attitude measure. measures, and high hypnotizable subjects who generated significantly more favorable thoughts than low hypnotizables, also produced higher scores on the attitude measure. They attribute the greater number of neutral thoughts for hypnosis subjects to minor differences in the instructions (p. 38). 1988 Council, James R.; Greyson, Bruce; Huff, Kenneth D. (1988, November). Reports of paranormal experiences as a function of imaginative and hypnotic ability. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Asheville, NC. Wilson and Barber (1983) have suggested that some excellent hypnotic subjects ("fantasy prone" persons) may be more likely to report paranormal experiences than the rest of the population. Council and Greyson (1985), studying a sample of subjects who had reported near-death experiences (NDEs), found a significant relationship between fantasy-proneness and NDEs, and a much stronger relationship between fantasy- proneness and reports of paranormal experiences in general. This paper presents new data from the study of NDE reporters and a replication and extension of those findings with a sample not selected for NDEs. These data indicate a strong association between fantasy- proneness and reports of paranormal experiences. Hypnotic susceptibility bears a weaker relationship with such reports that appears dependent upon variance shared with measures of fantasy-proneness. Other data from these studies suggests that both imaginative ability and reports of paranormal experiences may be related to a history of stressful or traumatic childhood experiences. Gudjonsson, Gisli (1988). Interrogative suggestibility: Its relationship with assertiveness, social-evaluative anxiety, state anxiety and method of coping. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27 (2), 159-166. Investigated in 30 adults some of the theoretical components related to individual differences thought by the present author and R. Clark (1986) to mediate interrogative suggestibility as measured by a scale developed by the present author (1984). The variables studied were assertiveness, social-evaluative anxiety, state anxiety, and the coping methods generated and implemented during interrogation. Low assertiveness and high evaluative anxiety correlated moderately with suggestibility, but no significant correlations emerged for social avoidance and distress. State anxiety correlated significantly with suggestibility, particularly after negative feedback had been administered. Coping methods (active-cognitive/behavioral vs. avoidance) significantly predicted suggestibility scores. The findings give strong support to the present author's theoretical model. Hines, Larry; Handler, Leonard (1988, November). Hypnotizability and ego functions. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Asheville, NC. Researchers employed Bellak's Ego Functions Test (based on the clinical interview). Ss were 47 students and 1 non-student, some of whom had previously experienced hypnosis. They were all volunteers. Studied 12 ego functions. Used plateau hypnotizability which was defined as no improvement in Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale Form C after two hypnotic inductions; if they did not reach a plateau by Session 4, the highest score was used. Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale scores ranged 4-12. High 10-12, Medium 6-9, Low 4-5. x=9.04, SD=2.21. On the Bellak Test, High 12-13, Medium 10-11 (average functioning.), Low 1-9. Range 5-13; widest range was in Adaptive Regression in Service of Ego Highest Mean = reality testing Lowest Mean = ARISE Majority fell into the medium range on all 12 ego functions measured. A significant difference was found between High and Low hypnotizables on the following ego functions. [N.B. There may be transcription errors in the figures that follow.] 1. ARISE p<.02 r = .31 Highs have greater ability to experience pleasure in regression. 2. Stimulus Barrier p<.003 Highs are more flexible in their ability to separate from stimuli in their environment, Lows experienced stimulus overload. 3. Autonomous Functioning p<.01 Primary acct./ in attention, learning, memory, motor function. 4. Objective Relativity p<.07 5. Regulating control of drive p<.06 Multiple regression accounted for 33% of variance in 12 ego functions. Stimulus Barrier alone accounted for 14% (p<.005); ARISE accounted for 5% (p<.01). 47% of Ss were High hypnotizables, 42% were in the Medium range. LeBaron, Samuel; Zeltzer, Lonnie K. (1988). Imaginative involvement and hypnotizability in childhood. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36, 284-295. 2 pilot studies assessed the relationship between hypnotizability in children and extent of involvement in fantasy-related activities during early childhood. The Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale for Children and a structured interview questionnaire regarding fantasy activities based on previous work by Singer (1973) were given to 30 medical patients aged 6-18 years in the first study and to 37 healthy children aged 6-12 years from a school population in the second study. In both studies, hypnotizability correlated moderately (.42 and .39, respectively) with extent of involvement in fantasy- related activities. Results support Hilgard's (1979) findings that hypnotizability is related in part to the development of imaginative involvement in childhood. Lynn, Steven Jay; Rhue, Judith W. (1988). Fantasy proneness: Hypnosis, developmental antecedents, and psychopathology. American Psychologist, 43 (1), 35-44. This article presents a summary of the findings of our ongoing research program on the fantasy-prone person. In seven studies, nearly 6,000 college students were screened in order to obtain five samples of 156 fantasy-prone subjects. Fantasy- prone subjects (fantasizers) were selected from the upper 2%-4% of the college population on a measure of imaginative involvement and contrasted with nonfantasizers (lower 2%-4%), and medium fantasy-prone subjects (middle range). General support was secured for Wilson and Barber's construct of fantasy proneness: Fantasizers were found to differ from nonfantasizers, and in many cases also from medium-range subjects, on measures of hypnotizability, imagination, waking suggestibility, hallucinatory ability, creativity, psychopathology, and childhood experiences. Differences in hypnotizability were most reliable when subjects participated in a multisession study and were screened not only with the screening inventory, but also with an interview that substantiated their fantasy-prone status. However, our findings indicated that less correspondence between fantasy proneness and hypnotizability exists than Wilson and Barber suggested. Hypnotic responsiveness is possible even in the absence of well-developed imaginative abilities, and not all fantasizers were highly hypnotizable. Fantasizers recollected being physically abused and punished to a greater degree than other subjects did and reported experiencing greater loneliness and isolation as children. Many fantasizers appeared to be relatively well-adjusted; however, a subset of fantasizers were clearly maladjusted based on self- report, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and Rorschach test data. Because of the diversity inherent in the fantasy-prone population, it is misleading to think of individuals at the extreme end of the fantasy-proneness continuum as conforming to a unitary personality type. -sizers were highly hypnotizable. Fantasizers recollected being physically abused and punished to a greater degree than other subjects did and reported experiencing greater loneliness and isolation as children. Many fantasizers appeared to be relatively well-adjusted; however, a subset of fantasizers were clearly maladjusted based on self- report, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and Rorschach test data. Because of the diversity inherent in the fantasy-prone population, it is misleading to think of individuals at the extreme end of the fantasy-proneness continuum as conforming to a unitary personality type. Lytle, Richard A.; Lundy, Richard M. (1988). Hypnosis and the recall of visually presented material: A failure to replicate Stager and Lundy. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36, 327-335. Stager and Lundy (1985) found hypnotic hypermnesia without increased memory errors. The present study, an attempted partial replication of Stager and Lundy (1985), presented Ss with free recall and multiple choice questions about a short movie they had seen a week earlier. The experimental Ss, who were hypnotized, given hypermnesia suggestions, and retested, did not generally increase their accurate memory scores on posttest; the Stager and Lundy (1985) findings were thus not confirmed. An increase in memory scores did occur, however, but only with high hypnotizable Ss, whether they were hypnotized or not, and only with multiple choice questions. The high hypnotizable Ss had the greatest increase in inaccurate memory scores on the free recall questions. This study provides data on response tendencies by using two forms of question: recall (as in Stager & Lundy (1985) and recognition, from a 4-choice multiple choice format. 120 Ss were screened with Harvard Scale to yield 24 high (10-12) and 24 low (0- 4) hypnotizable Ss. They were randomly assigned to four groups (two recall conditions and two test form conditions). Ss saw a 15-minute movie, "Posters," and a week later were tested: oral presentation of questions (on audiotape), alternating multiple-choice and recall formats, ABBA for 50% and BAAB for 50% of Ss. After 40 pretest questions they were hypnotized (or given attention-focusing awake instructions to count randomly occurring clicks barely audible over white noise for 15 minutes--described as a very important task). Then all Ss were told they would again hear 40 questions about the movie, that they would find the answers "coming more easily" than before, and that they should give the best answers that they could. They received the same test form as before (post-test). RESULTS. Total Scores were analyzed with a 4-way ANOVA (hypnotizability; recall condition = hypnosis or attention control; question format = multiple choice or free recall; and pretest-posttest). The ANOVA yielded 3 main effects: 1. Posttest scores were greater than pretest scores. 2. Multiple choice scores were greater than free recall scores. 3. High hypnotizable scores were greater than low hypnotizable scores. Also they found a 2-way interaction between hypnotizability and pre- vs. postadministration. There was an increase from pretest to posttest for the high hypnotizable Ss and the highs had greater scores relative to the lows in the posttest administration. Correct Scores analysis showed two main effects: 1. Posttest scores were greater than pretest scores. 2. Multiple choice scores were greater than free recall scores. Also there was a two-way interaction between hypnotizability and pre- postadministration, such that the scores of highs relative to the scores of lows increased more from pre- to posttest. Also there was a three-way interaction for hypnotizability, question format, and pre-postadministration was significant. There was an increase from pre- to posttest in the scores of the high hypnotizable Ss on the multiple choice format, with no increase for the low hypnotizables or on the free recall format. that the scores of highs relative to the scores of lows increased more from pre- to posttest. Also there was a three-way interaction for hypnotizability, question format, and pre-postadministration was significant. There was an increase from pre- to posttest in the scores of the high hypnotizable Ss on the multiple choice format, with no increase for the low hypnotizables or on the free recall format. Incorrect Scores showed three main effects: 1. Posttest scores were greater than pretest scores. 2. Free recall scores were greater than multiple choice scores. 3. High hypnotizable scores were greater than low hypnotizable scores. A three-way interaction also was found: the pretest to posttest increase was only for the free recall questions with high hypnotizable Ss, and free recall posttest scores for highs was greater than those same scores for lows. Pretest differences between hypnotizability groups and pre- postdifferences for the low hypnotizable Ss were not found. In the Discussion, the authors note that this study did not confirm Stager and Lundy. "Although the high hypnotizable Ss in the hypnosis condition did increase their free recall correct scores, this increase was not significant or different from the general increase made by all Ss. Further, the increase of the incorrect scores in free recall ...[was] greater, though not significantly, for the high hypnotizable Ss in the hypnosis condition than for any other group" (p. 331). The differences in results may be due to different question format. On the other hand, reviews such as those by Shields and Knox (1986) usually find little, or at best modest, improvement of memory with hypnosis. In the present study, as with Stager and Lundy (1985) the memory increase observed was with the highly hypnotizable Ss. But those Ss are also the ones who increase their incorrect scores. "When the correct response is available to Ss (the multiple choice format), the high hypnotizables increase their correct scores. When the correct response, or any other alternative, is unavailable to Ss (the free recall format), the high hypnotizables increase their incorrect scores" (p. 332). "The high hypnotizable Ss gave more incorrect responses than the low hypnotizables on both pre- and posttest and in both test formats. Although this tendency to respond incorrectly is most apparent in the posttest free recall condition, Table 3 also shows that even in the multiple choice form, the high hypnotizable Ss appear to be responding more incorrectly. Thus, the high hypnotizables not only incorporate more incorrect information presented to them, as found by Sheehan (1985, 1988), but they also make more errors in test situations which supply them with no information and which supply them with the correct information. Also, high hypnotizable Ss have been found by Laurence, Nadon, Nogrady, and Perry (1986) to believe that hypnotically suggested pseudomemories are in fact veridical" (pp. 332-333). The authors suggest that the increase in both correct and incorrect scores (for both question formats) may be due to a decrease in the 'don't know' or no response category. This suggests that high hypnotizable Ss may be more willing to guess in the posttest. Perhaps it is a criterion shift. If so, the shift occurs whether or not they are hypnotized, and it leads to increased accuracy sometimes but also decreased accuracy sometimes. "When the correct answer is available, as in the multiple choice format, the high hypnotizable Ss can increase their correct responses significantly, but when the correct response is not available, as in free recall, they increase their incorrect responses significantly" (p. 333). The authors present a cautionary note. "Although the statistical analysis confirms hypnotizability as a significant effect, it must be remembered that this study, and the others reported above, took place in a hypnotic context. ... The results suggest, however, that the personality characteristics underlying measured hypnotizability may be important factors in memory enhancement and memory distortion and that studies directed toward tapping those characteristics will be fruitful in future research efforts" (pp. 333-334). Re forensic application, "changes in memory that occur in the hypnotic context probably occur as a result of witnesses' decreased reticence, that is, as a result of their belief that they can now answer questions that they previously could not answer" (p. 334). 1987 Lynn, Steven Jay; Rhue, Judith W. (1987). Hypnosis, imagination, and fantasy. Journal of Mental Imagery, 11, 101-112. Considers three questions pertaining to the relationship between hypnotic responsiveness and imaginative processes: Are subjects' nonhypnotic imaginative involvements related to hypnotic susceptibility? Do some fantasy prone subjects share a unique constellation of personality attributes and experiences, including an ability to respond to hypnotic suggestions? What are the childhood developmental antecedents of persons who score at the extremes of hypnotic ability and measures of fantasy and imagination? Reviews literature.