Altered States
Hypnosis
• Some states of consciousness don’t
occur naturally and must be induced
(brought about) in some way.
• These include
– hypnotic states
– meditative states
– and drug-induced states
Hypnosis
• A state of heightened
suggestibility
– Could produce increased
responsiveness to suggestion that
could in turn lead to changes in
behavior and thinking
– An interaction in which one person
makes suggestions about
perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or
behaviors, and another person
follows those suggestions
• Often will go into a trance like,
relaxed state
Hypnotic Induction
• The process in which
someone creates a state of
hypnosis
– possibly using a soft voice and
a series of suggestions
• Not everyone can be hypnotized,
and some people are more
hypnotizable than others.
• Stanford Hypnotic
Susceptibility Scale
– test used to see who is a good
subject for hypnosis
What Should We Believe??
Hypnosis – Fact or Fiction?
Hypnosis Can
Vs.
Hypnosis Can’t
Hypnosis Can
• Relax people and help with focus
Hypnosis Can’t
• Work equally effectively for
everyone
Hypnosis Can
• Produce a type of anesthesia
and treat a range of
psychological and medical
problems
• Analgesia
– (pain control)
• If you don’t think you are in pain you may
not be – placebo effect
– Try putting your hand in a bucket of ice –are
you cold? Or in pain?
Hypnosis Can’t
• Force people to do things
against their will
• Hypnotic Suggestions
– hypnosis works best when making
suggestions that the subject will follow
– so sometimes hypnosis can lead people do
things they otherwise wouldn’t
– but so too can powerful suggestions of any
kind
Hypnosis Can
• Cause hallucinations and distortions in
sensory perception
Hypnosis Can’t
• Make people act in ways
that would normally be
beyond their physical or
mental abilities
No it can’t make you smarter
or stronger
Hypnosis Can
• Reduce
Inhibitions
Hypnosis Can’t
• Reliably increase the accuracy of
memories
• Psychologists are skeptical of hypnotically
enhanced memories
– often misinformation
– many courts will not allow testimony from
hypnotized witnesses
– forensic hypnosis
Hypnosis Can
• Cause changes in behavior
after the hypnosis has
ended
• Posthypnotic Suggestions
– a suggestion that is made during
hypnosis and is carried out when
the person is no longer
hypnotized
– “planting suggestions”
• often used to stop smoking or
to lose weight
Hypnosis Can’t
• Allow people to actually
experience past events or lives
Posthypnotic Amnesia
• People cannot recall what took place
during the hypnotic session
• When hypnotized, people are
instructed to forget what happened
during hypnosis, and later claim to
have no memory of the hypnotic
episode
Why Does Hypnosis Seem to Work?
Social Influence Theory
–
•
–
–
powerful social influences can
lead to a state of hypnosis
A suggestion leads to a response
Someone important says you look
and sound sick and you then start
to feel sick
–
Sometimes called the role and
belief expectancy theory
In hypnosis, people want to be
influenced and therefore
simply behave as they think
they are expected to
Why Does Hypnosis Seem to Work?
Divided Consciousness Theory
– during hypnosis, our consciousness splits or
divides (dissociation of consciousness)
– one part responds to the outside
world and the other part
observes but doesn’t participate
• Hidden Observer
• example – one part feels pain and one
part communicates with the outside world
– therefore no outwardly reaction to pain
Hypnotic Techniques
• Fixed-gaze induction or eye fixation
– the method you often see in movies,
– the hypnotist waves a pocket watch in front
of the subject
– Basic idea is to get subject to focus on an
object so intently that he or she tunes out
any other stimuli.
– As the subject focuses, the hypnotist talks to
him or her in a low tone, lulling the subject
into relaxation.
Rapid
• The idea of this method is to overload the
mind with sudden, firm commands.
– If the commands are forceful, and the
hypnotist is convincing enough, the subject will
surrender his or her conscious control over the
situation
• the type used in stage shows
• often works because of social
pressure or influence
Progressive relaxation and
imagery
• This is the hypnosis method most
commonly employed by psychiatrists.
• By speaking to the subject in a slow,
soothing voice, the hypnotist gradually
brings on complete relaxation and focus,
easing the subject into full hypnosis.
Loss of balance
• This method creates a loss of
equilibrium using slow, rhythmic rocking.
• When a mother rocks a baby to sleep
Can you be hypnotized?