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Slipping into trance
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 17:54 authored by Irving Kirsch, Giulana Mazzoni, Kathrine Roberts, Zoltan DienesZoltan Dienes, Michael N Hallquist, John Williams, Steven Jay LynnIt has been hypothesized that highly hypnotizable people spontaneously slip into trance when given imaginative suggestions without prior induction of hypnosis. We tested this in two studies. In Study 1, we examined state reports from ten highly suggestible students following the administration of a suggestion for altered colour perception. The suggestion was administered twice, once with and once without prior induction of hypnosis. Students reported equivalent perceptual changes with and without the induction of hypnosis, but reported being in a hypnotic state only when a hypnotic induction had been administered. In Study 2, participants received either a hypnotic induction or specific suggestions to not slip into hypnosis. Even under these circumstances, subjective responding was equivalent in both conditions and behavioural responding was only slightly higher in the 'hypnosis' condition. These data disconfirm the slipping-into-hypnosis hypothesis. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Contemporary HypnosisISSN
0960-5290External DOI
Issue
3-4Volume
25Page range
202-209Pages
8.0Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes