Direct versus indirect suggestions, archaic involvement, and hypnotic experience.

This study examined the effects of direct (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: [{hgshs}:{a}]; Shor & Orne, 1962) versus indirect (Alman-Wexler Indirect Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale [{awihss}]; Pratt, Wood, & Alman, 1984) suggestions on arcahaic involvement (Nash & Spinler, in press) with the hypnotists, objective responding, and subjective involvement and involuntariness ratings, when the scales were administered in all possible combinations (direct/indirect, N?=?61; indirect/direct, N?=?61; direct/direct, N?=?57; indirect/indirect, N?=?95), across two sessions. At the initial testing, subjects who received indirect suggestions reported a greater emotional bond with the hypnotist and increased fear of negative appraisal than subjects who received direct suggestions. Repeated testing resulted in response decrements on measures of objective responding, subjective involvement, and involuntariness that were paralled by diminished involvement with the hypnotist. The most stable relation between scales was evident when scales were defined as direct hypnosis across both sessions. Although direct and indirect suggestions produced comparable effects in the first session, in the second session, direct suggestions fostered greater subjective involvement and feelings of involuntariness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure of hypnotic test suggestions and attributions of responding involuntarily.

48 hypnotic and task-motivated undergraduates were administered 3 suggestions and 3 directives in counterbalanced order. The directives instructed Ss to make a series of motor responses while the suggestions implied that the same responses occurred involuntarily. Ss displayed greater overt response to directives than suggestions but rated their responses to suggestions as more involuntary than responses to directives. Suggested responses associated with incongruent proprioceptive feedback were rated as less involuntary than responses associated with congruent feedback. Goal-directed fantasy (GDF) was elicited more frequently by suggestions than directives, and GDF correlated with rated involuntariness and hypnotic susceptibility. Findings are consistent with the notions that hypnotic responding is strategic action moderated by Ss' construal of the test situation and that ratings of involuntariness reflect a socially cued interpretation of experience. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy versus absorption in the prediction of hypnotic responding.

Administered the absorption scale of the Differential Personality Questionnaire, a measure of imaginative involvement, to 64 undergraduates in the context of a hypnosis experiment and to an additional 64 Ss in a context unrelated to hypnosis. Expectancies of responding to hypnotic suggestions were assessed both before trance induction and after trance induction but before administration of hypnotic test suggestions. Hypnotic depth was assessed on a self-report scale (SRS) before the administration of test suggestions and on an inventory of hypnotic depth (IHD) after the hypnosis session. Absorption was correlated with hypnotic responsivity and expectancy, but only when assessed in the hypnotic context. Completing the Absorption scale in a hypnotic context appeared to affect hypnotic responsiveness by altering Ss' expectancies. Only postinduction expectancies were uniquely predictive of response to hypnotic test suggestions, and all variables except the SRS were predictive of IHD scores. Path analysis supported the hypothesis that trance inductions alter expectancies for responding to hypnotic suggestions and that these altered expectancies determine subsequent hypnotic behavior. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responsiveness to direct versus indirect hypnotic procedures: the role of resistance as a predictor variable

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a potent stimulator of bone resorption which has been demonstrated in a variety of in vivo and in vitro models. We investigated the regulation of IL-6 secretion in primary human osteoblastic cells (HOC) in vitro by cytokines known to play an important role in coupling bone formation to bone resorption. HOC were isolated from healthy adults who underwent selective orthopedic surgery and treated with cytokines released in the bone microenvironment during coupling i.e Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNFalpha), Transforming Growth Factor beta1 and 2 (TGFbeta 1 and 2) and Endothelin-1 (ET-1). Furthermore, we determined whether systemically-acting steroid hormones of gonadal and adrenal origin as well as glucocorticoids affect the local regulation of IL-6 secretion in primary HOC. To examine the effects of different steroid hormones on IL-6 production, HOC were exposed to estradiol (E2), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and dexamethasone (Dexa) with and without a subsequent treatment of the HOC populations with cytokines. We observed that (1) IL-1beta and TNFalpha induced IL-6 in a dose and time-dependent fashion, (2) TGFbeta 1 and 2 enhanced basal and IL-1beta and TNFalpha induced IL-6 expression, (3) ET-1 elicited a dose-dependent stimulatory effect on IL-6 expression. (4) E2, DHT and DHEA alone and in combination with IL-1beta and TNFalpha elicited no reproducible dose-dependent effect on IL-6 production, whereas Dexa inhibited basal and IL-1beta and TNFalpha induced IL-6 expression dose dependently. In conclusion, IL-1beta, TNFalpha, TGFbeta 1 and 2 and ET-1 may participate in the regulation of bone resorption by stimulating IL-6 expression in HOC. Dexa inhibits the constitutive and cytokine stimulated IL-6 expression, whereas there is no in vitro evidence that sex steroids exert a major inhibitory effect on the osteoblastic secretion of IL-6 as demonstrated in a primary human bone cell model.     

Behavioral compliance with direct and indirect body movement suggestions.

Investigated the effectiveness of the 2 types in eliciting body movement behaviors by presenting 96 high-, medium-, and low-susceptible undergraduates, in hypnotic or nonhypnotic conditions, with either of 2 series of body movement suggestions. The indirect suggestions were designed to represent the approach of M. H. Erickson (see PA, Vol 60:11116 and 12262) and resulted in greater compliance in the hypnotic condition. Direct suggestions resulted in greater compliance in the nonhypnotic condition. Susceptibility to hypnosis was related to compliance in the hypnosis condition, but no interactions were found between susceptibility and type of suggestion. Sense of volition in responding was unrelated to the major findings. Discussion of the results includes a call for the accurate reporting of the wording of hypnotic suggestions in future research. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of hypnotic induction and suggestions on nocturnal dreaming and thinking.

Examined the effects of hypnotic induction and types of suggestions on sleep mentation, using 77 Ss in a 2 * 3 factorial experiment. Immediately before going to sleep at night, 1/2 of the Ss were exposed to a hypnotic induction and 1/2 were not, and all Ss were given either authoritative, permissive, or no suggestions to think and dream that night on a specific topic. Ss reported their thoughts and dreams when awakened at sleep onset and during REM and NREM periods. The intricate findings indicate that hypnotic induction and types of suggestions exerted complex effects on nocturnal thinking and dreaming. Contents of the dreams were affected by an interaction between hypnotic induction and types of suggestions, and the hypnotic induction increased the number of nocturnal thoughts which pertained to the specified topic. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Uncancelled hypnotic suggestions: The effects of hypnotic depth and hypnotic skill on their posthypnotic persistence.

Conducted 2 experiments to evaluate the degree to which hypnotic depth and hypnotic skill influence the posthypnotic persistence of an uncancelled suggestion. Each experiment employed 24 college students (8 high susceptible, 8 medium susceptible, and 8 low susceptible, based on Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A, scores). The induction of hypnosis in Exp I was by videotape; in Exp II, an almost identical induction was conducted individually by the experimenter. In both experiments, an arm analgesia item was left uncancelled. Over the 2 experiments, analgesia persisted posthypnotically for 20% of the highly susceptible Ss. These Ss differed from the highly susceptible Ss not manifesting the phenomenon in having significantly better hypnotic analgesia and greater hypnotic depth. Results suggest that posthypnotic persistence of an uncancelled suggestion was confined to a minority of highly hypnotizable Ss. Persistence appears to have affinities with other low-incidence hypnotic phenomena to which only the top 2–3% of Ss in the range of hypnotic susceptibility respond. The majority of highly susceptible Ss either cancelled an uncancelled suggestion themselves, or else the suggestion faded with time. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem and direct versus indirect forms of self-enhancement.

Two studies explored the relation between self-esteem and self-enhancement biases. It was proposed that people with high self-esteem engage in forms of self-enhancement in which the self is directly linked to positive identities and outcomes, whereas people with low self-esteem engage in forms of self-enhancement in which the self is indirectly linked to positive identities and outcomes. To test the hypothesis, we examined group favoritism as a function of self-esteem and group involvement. As expected, high self-esteem subjects were most apt to display favoritism when they were directly involved in group processes, whereas low self-esteem subjects were most apt to display favoritism when they were not directly involved in group processes. Furthermore, consistent with the view that these tendencies reflect a motivated desire to enhance self-worth, these effects were less evident after subjects had received positive feedback than after they had received negative feedback. The discussion centers on the nature of high and low self-esteem and the influence of self-enhancement and self-consistency motives in social behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response expectancies and interpretations as determinants of hypnotic responding.

Ss rated the extent to which they expected to respond to each of the suggestions on a hypnotizability scale both before and after the administration of the preliminary hypnotic induction procedure. After the induction, Ss also rated the extent to which they planned to respond actively and passively to each suggestion. Contrary to strong versions of response-expectancy theory, the extent to which Ss planned to adopt an active interpretation predicted behavioral and subjective indexes of hypnotizability even after controlling for the effects of postinduction expectations. In addition, an active interpretation significantly predicted response to suggestion for which Ss held weak and uncertain expectations. The relationship between expectation and hypnotizability was found to be fan-shaped rather than linear. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects on recall of hypnotic induction, motivational suggestions, and suggested regression: A methodological and experimental analysis.

90 Ss were assessed for recall of syllables (learned 2 mo. previously) under 1 of 9 experimental conditions in a 3 X 3 factorial design. The 3 levels of the 1st independent variable were: hypnotic induction, eyes closed; no induction, eyes closed; and no induction, eyes open. The 3 levels of the 2nd independent variable were: recall without suggestions; recall with motivational suggestions; and recall with suggestions to regress to the time of original learning. Recall was not affected by the independent variables or their interaction. A comparable number of Ss in each of the 9 experimental groups testified postexperimentally that, during the experiment, they had imagined, felt, and believed they were back in the original learning situation. (30 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Item content versus item wording: Disentangling role conflict and role ambiguity.

The Role Ambiguity Scale and Role Conflict Scales (J. R. Rizzo et al [1970]) assess ambiguity with 6 negatively worded items and conflict with 8 positively worded items, respectively. This methodological confound between item wording and content precludes unambiguous interpretation. In the present study, confirmatory factor analysis of these 2 scales and the Role Overload Scale (T. A. Beehr et al; see record 1976-11156-001) which has positively and negatively worded items was used to disentangle this confound. Across 2 independent samples (N?=?767 and N?=?363), a 3-factor model consistent with conceptual definitions of role ambiguity, conflict, and overload fit the data better than models with (a) one general role-stress factor, (b) a general role-stress and a method (item wording) factor, or (c) two method (positive and negative wording) factors. These results support the construct validity of Rizzo's scales; the consistency of the results across 2 independent samples suggests their generalizability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotizability and automaticity: Toward a parallel distributed processing model of hypnotic responding.

Tested a hypothesis from parallel distributed processing theory that highly hypnotizable Ss have greater connection strengths along verbal pathways and would show greater Stroop effects than low hypnotizable Ss. Using the paradigm from J. Cheesman and P. M. Merikle (see record 1989-03722-001) which varied cue visibility and probability, automatic and strategic effects on Stroop performance were assessed. Compared with 9 low and 9 moderately hypnotizable Ss, 9 highly hypnotizable ones showed significantly greater Stroop effects for both visible- and degraded-word trials. No strategic differences emerged for the 3 hypnotizability groups. These findings support the contention that highly hypnotizable persons have stronger verbal connection strengths than their moderately and low susceptible counterparts, and they may account for highly hypnotizable persons' propensity to disregard personal attributions and label their responses in hypnosis as being involuntary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intentional and spontaneous imagery in hypnosis: the phenomenology of hypnotic responding

Students were given 1 of 2 versions of the Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale (CURSS): (a) the original version, which contains instructions to intentionally imagine goal-directed fantasies, and (b) a modified version, in which instructions for suggestion-related imagery were deleted. Participants were asked to report their goal-directed fantasies and to indicate whether these occurred spontaneously or were generated intentionally. They were also asked whether they had tried intentionally to generate the suggested experience and to indicate whether they had believed that the suggested states of affairs were real (e.g., whether they thought a hallucinated cat really existed). The deletion of instructions for goal-related imagery significantly increased responsiveness to CURSS suggestions. Spontaneous goal-directed imagery was significantly correlated with behavioral response, but intentional imagery was not. Most successful responders tried to generate suggested experiences intentionally, indicated that they could have resisted challenge suggestions if they really wanted to, and reported believing in the reality of suggested ideomotor and challenge experiences but not of cognitive suggestions. Voluntary attempts to generate suggested experiences were correlated with subjective responding.     

A reexamination of the role of nonhypnotic suggestibility in hypnotic responding.

An alcohol-placebo paradigm was used to measure individual differences in the tendency to have directly suggested, as well as unsuggested, alterations in experience. Using the spectral analytic technique of C. G. Balthazard and E. Z. Woody (see record 1992-22396-001), such alterations in experience were found to be differentially correlated with the easiest items of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. The results indicated that easy hypnotic performances depend on some kind of social suggestibility not unique to hypnosis, and this factor becomes less important as the difficulty of the hypnotic performances increases. The results may also shed light on hypnotic sequelae, context effects, and two-component models of hypnotic performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of hypnotic behavior: Effects on suggestibility of defining the situation as hypnosis and defining response to suggestions as easy.

96 Ss participated in a 2 X 2 factorial experiment which was designed to assess the effects on suggestibility of: defining the situation as hypnosis or as control, and defining response to suggestions as easy or as difficult. The dependent variables consisted of responses to 8 standardized test suggestions (Barber Suggestibility Scale). Ss told "You are in the hypnosis group" were more responsive to suggestions than Ss told "You are in the control group." Ss told that it was easy to respond to test suggestions were more suggestible than Ss told that it was difficult. The suggestibility-enhancing effects of the independent variables were additive: the level of suggestibility was highest when the situation was defined as hypnosis and the test suggestions as easy; next highest when either the situation was defined as hypnosis or the suggestions as easy; and lowest when the situation was defined as control and the suggestions as difficult. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social-psychological variables on hypnotic amnesia.

Three experiments with 196 undergraduates assessed the hypothesis that suggested amnesia for a previously learned word list is a function of Ss' interpretations of the ambiguous aspects of the amnesia testing situation. By manipulating preliminary instructions concerning interpretations of this situation, Ss who were unselected with respect to hypnotic susceptibility (measured by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A) were induced to show either substantial increments or decrements in amnesia. However, Ss high on hypnotic susceptibility ignored preliminary instructions and therefore could not be induced to show decrements in amnesia. Previous findings of more amnesia in hypnotic than in task-motivated Ss were both replicated and reversed by varying their interpretations of the amnesia task. Analyses of the data confirmed earlier findings that partial amnesics tend to recall list items in a relatively disorganized fashion. Findings are consistent with an inattention hypothesis of suggested amnesia. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surreptitiously observed hypnotic responding in simulators and in skill-trained and untrained high hypnotizables.

Low-hypnotizable Ss (LHs) administered cognitive skill training exhibited substantially higher posttest hypnotizability than LHs administered no treatment. Next, the Ss in these 2 conditions as well as Ss who attained high hypnotizability without training and LHs instructed to fake hypnosis (i.e., simulators) were individually tested for hypnotizability twice while their responses were recorded by a hidden camera. In the individual session, Ss were first tested for hypnotizability while alone and then tested again in the presence of an experimenter. The skill-trained Ss and high-hypnotizable controls attained equivalent (high) hypnotizability scores with the experimenter both absent and present. However, when the experimenter was absent, the simulators exhibited lowered hypnotizability and apparently failed to adopt the hypnotic role. These findings contradict the hypothesis that high hypnotizability in skill-trained Ss reflects compliant responding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of experimenter modeling, demands for honesty, and initial level of suggestibility on response to "hypnotic" suggestions.

Pretested 180 college students on behavioral (objective) and experiential (subjective) responses to the test suggestions of the Barber Suggestibility Scale. After being exposed to 1 of 3 treatments--E modeling, hypnotic induction, or control--each S was retested on the same scale. Strong demands to give honest experiential reports were administered to 1/2 of the Ss under each treatment. Ss who were exposed to E modeling manifested a greater enhancement in objective responsiveness to test suggestions than control Ss and as much enhancement as Ss who were exposed to hypnotic induction. E modeling was as effective as hypnotic induction in enhancing sujective responsiveness to test suggestions with and without demands for honest reports. Under both the E modeling and hypnotic induction treatments, Ss who had initially manifested a high level of suggestibility (pretest) showed as much enhancement in subjective responsiveness to test suggestions as medium- or low-suggestible Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child abuse reporting decisions: Effects of statutory wording of reporting requirements.

Surveyed 297 licensed psychologists from Illinois and Washington to investigate the impact of statutory wording of reporting requirements on clinicians' decisions of whether or not to report child abuse. Participants each read a vignette of either a child showing signs of abuse or of an adult client showing signs of being abusive and indicated their initial likelihood of reporting and then their likelihood of reporting after reading either a law with broad reporting requirements or a law with narrow reporting requirements. Reading either law increased decisions to report the child case; however, reporting of the adult case decreased under the narrow law, which required observation of the abused child. Results support and extend earlier studies that demonstrate the direct effects of statutory wording on clinicians' reporting of suspected child abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)