Hypnotic susceptibility, often regarded as a relatively stable individual characteristic, has been found to be related to the personality dimension of absorption. To test the hypothesis that this relationship is a function of the nature of the sensory response to stimulus events and the development of cognitive models pursuant to the processing of that information, a group of hospitalized, chronic pain patients were assessed on the following dimensions: absorption, clinical hypnotic responsiveness, cognitive resistance to interference, and visual automatization.

Dietary habits which seriously erode health and quality of life are widespread. Effective clinical strategies for overweight, obese and eating disordered individuals are needed. Such treatment options are usually based on constructs generated by theoretical models of causation and maintenance. Underpinning the current enquiry, the Hypno-socio-cultural model hypothesises links between the aetiology of dysfunctional eating behaviours and higher levels of hypnotic susceptibility, fantasy ability and dissociative capacity, as well as acknowledging the social genesis of the self-defeating approach to diet. Empirical evidence has supported the socio-cognitive theory of causation and remediation, on which this research is based. The literature has suggested that hypnotic, imaginative and dissociative strategies have contributed to clinical efficacy, and that aetiology and maintenance of such self-defeating eating might be linked to higher than average hypnotic susceptibility, imaginative ability and dissociative capacity. Generalization of research findings across studies is limited by the uncertainty introduced by the variety of measuring instruments utilized, and gender and age differences which have emerged. As well, possible individual preferences for specificity of hypnotic suggestions, which may affect responsivity levels, could dictate a need for reinterpretation of the results of relevant research. As an initial step in exploration of these issues, a group of University students responded to a number of assessment instruments, designed to tap self-perceptions in relation to weight, shape and size concerns, eating behaviours, and use of imaginative, dissociative and hypnotic capacities, as well as responding to hypnotic suggestions embedded in a formal assessment thereof. In this current research, expected relationships between elements of the Hypno-socio-cultural model were probably affected by a complex array of factors, which are difficult to measure using current instruments. Case studies drawn from the participants in this study have further elucidated the possible connections underlying the proposed Hypno-Socio-Cultural model, as well as highlighting the complexity of the relationships of all the factors involved. The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory, which was used to access the subjective experience of the individual’s responsivity to hypnotic suggestion, and which also tapped imaginative and dissociative experiences in relation to same, appears to have unique potential for further exploration of issues related to the connections highlighted in this study Findings in the current study suggested that some widely used assessments were not measuring the same constructs. Because of such factors, results which suggested links between weight, shape and eating measures, and those assessing hypnotic susceptibility, fantasy-proneness and dissociative capacity, although in the expected direction, were not as strong as was expected. In light of the anecdotal evidence of effective clinical use of imaginative, dissociative and hypnotic techniques with self-defeating eaters, the results were reassessed. It seemed feasible to interpret these results as suggesting that higher reliance on self-protective and defensive modes of using imaginative and dissociative capacities may mark the self-defeating eater. A modified Hypno-Socio-Cultural model, incorporating such a possibility, has been proposed as the basis for further study. It is recommended that such research be undertaken, employing a variety of relevant measures, with a larger group of participants of both genders with DSM-IV criterion diagnosed self-defeating eating. The importance to clincial work of investigating the proposed model as a basis for treatment remains paramount in this field of self-defeating eating.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1993. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

To test the hypothesis that a metaphorical technique would be more effective than a direct technique to induce hypnosis, 60 volunteers from students at North Texas State University were divided into high- and low-susceptible subjects by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. They were randomly assigned to direct and metaphorical induction groups and to a control group, with 10 high- and 10 low-susceptible subjects in each group. After hypnosis they completed the Field Inventory of Hypnotic Depth, and their mean scores were subjected to an analysis of variance and a Newman-Keuls test. Neither method of hypnotic induction was found more effective than the other, although both were effective when compared to a control group. It was also found that subjects who expected to be able to experience hypnosis were no more likely to be hypnotized than those who expected not to be able to experience hypnosis. Finally, it was found that low-susceptible subjects were as likely to respond to a post-hypnotic suggestion as high-susceptible subjects.

The present study investigated the effects of suggested analgesia and level of hypnotic susceptibility (high vs. low) on acute radiant heat pain using a signal detection theory model. A signal detection paradigm was used in order to differentiate between sensitivity (sensory-discriminative) and respose bias (motivational-affective) components of pain. Treatments consisted of: (1) a suggested analgesia group, and (2) an expectancy control group. Both groups had equal numbers of high and low scorers on a scale of hypnotic susceptibility. Subjects were 32 male and female undergraduate volunteers assigned equally to each of the two treatment groups and counterbalanced for level of hypnotic susceptibility. Five levels of radiant heat (including zero) were presented. Each subject received 30 stimulus presentations per level and rated each stimulus on a scale from zero to six, with seven being a withdrawal. Self-report inventories of trait and state anxiety were also taken. Subjects participated in pre- and posttreatment sessions of radiant heat stimulation and were given three training sessions in the interim. Results were that sensitivity measures showed a significant decrease for the suggested analgesia group for all but the highest stimulus level paired comparison. There was also a decrease in sensitivity for the expectancy control group for the lowest stimulus pair. Measures of response bias for a report of pain or higher changed nondifferentially across groups and levels, except for the highest stimulus pair, for which the experimental group showed a significant hesitancy to respond relative to the control group. There were no significant difference in terms of treatment effects for high vs. low hypnotic susceptibility. Mean pain ratings decreased for both groups. Trait anxiety did not but state anxiety did decrease significantly after treatment. Results were taken as supporting Gate Control Theory and a figure-ground realignment model of pain. Suggestions were made for directions in future research. / Doctor of Philosophy

A total of 60 male and female subjects scoring between 0-5 and 8-12 on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Form A underwent hypnosis procedures, hypnosis and age regression procedures to age 10, or were read an article about hypnosis. All subjects then listened to 20 minutes of directed imagery for warming and cooling the hands. Skin temperature was monitored on both index fingers. Dependent measures were the difference between each subject's highest temperature and baseline temperature, the difference between each subject's baseline temperature and lowest temperature, and the latency of change from baseline to highest temperature, and the latency of change from the beginning of cooling imagery to lowest temperature. Results indicated that the age regression group achieved significantly warmer temperatures than the control group and that the age regression group remained significantly warmer than the two other groups during the cooling imagery. Results also indicated that these skin temperature responses generalized to the nondominant hand. The data were interpreted as suggesting that those subjects exposed to the age regression procedures may have been more relaxed than the other groups. Another interpretation suggested the cooling imagery may not have been accessing common or pleasant experiences of the subjects.

Dans le présent travail, nous proposons qu'un aperçu plus clair de l'interaction entre la suggestion hypnotique et l'attention aiderait à établir le point précis du chronogramme perceptif auquel les effets de l'hypnose interviennent, comment modulent-ils exactement le contrôle cognitif et dans quelle mesure la réponse hypnotique dépend-elle des ressources attentionnelles. Afin de répondre à ces questions expérimentales, nous avons développé trois projets de recherche: (1) les données normatives sur notre traduction en français pour l'Échelle de Susceptibilité Hypnotique de Groupe Harvard, (2) une évaluation des effets de la suggestion posthypnotique sur l'attention visuo-spatiale et (3) une évaluation sur la capacité de la suggestion hypnotique de moduler l'allocation automatique de l'attention accordée par le Anger Superiority Effect. Les résultats de notre première étude nous ont permis de noter avec fiabilité la susceptibilité hypnotique de plus de 500 participants pour les études qui ont suivi. Les résultats de notre deuxième étude indiquent que, pour les participants hautement susceptibles, la suggestion posthypnotique a perturbé avec succès les mécanismes d'attention précoce nécessaires à la stimulation de l'amorçage, ainsi que des jugements de visibilité subjectifs tardifs. Notre troisième étude a révélé que, grâce à une suggestion hypnotique, les participants hautement hypnotizables ont pu empêcher l'allocation automatique de l'attention vers des expressions de colère par un découplage stratégique du contrôle cognitif, mais seulement lorsque les ressources attentionnelles n'avaient pas été cooptées par des processus concurrents. Ensemble, nos résultats appuient les idées selon lesquelles l'hypnose émet ses effets grâce au contrôle cognitif, qui peut perturber les mécanismes attentionnels précoces et tardifs de manières distinctes et que la disponibilité des ressources attentionnelles détermine l'éventail d'action de l'induction et de la suggestion hypnotiques / In the present work, we posit that a clearer outline of the interaction between hypnotic suggestion and attention would help establishing the precise point in the perceptual timeline at which hypnosis effects intervene, how exactly do they modulate cognitive control, and to what extent is hypnotic responding dependent on attentional resources. In order to tend to these experimental questions, we developed three research projects: (1) the normative data on our French translation for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, (2) an evaluation of the effects of posthypnotic suggestion on visuospatial attention, and (3) an evaluation on the capability of hypnotic suggestion to modulate the automatic attention allocation granted by the anger-saliency effect. The results from our first study allowed us to reliably score the hypnotic susceptibility of over 500 participants for the studies that ensued. Results from our second study indicated that for highly susceptible participants, posthypnotic suggestion successfully disrupted the early attentional mechanisms necessary for the fostering of priming, as well as late subjective visual awareness judgments. Our third study revealed that, through hypnotic suggestion, highly susceptible participants were able to deflect automatic attention allocation towards targets’ task-irrelevant angry features through strategic decoupling of cognitive control, but only when attentional resources were not coopted by competing processes. Pooled together, our findings support the ideas that hypnosis enacts its effects through cognitive control, that these can disrupt both early and late attentional mechanisms in distinct manners, and that the availability of attentional resources determines the range of action of hypnotic induction and suggestion

People have always been fascinated by the extent to which belief or will may influence<p>behavior. Proverbs, like “we tend to get what we expect,” and concepts, such as optimistic<p>thinking or self-fulfilling prophecy, reflect this intuition of an important link between one’s<p>dispositions and subsequent behavior. In other words, one’s predictions directly or<p>indirectly cause them to become true. In a similar manner, every culture, country or<p>religion has their own words for ‘expectation,’ ‘belief,’ ‘disappointment,’ ‘surprise,’ and<p>generally all have the same meaning: under uncertainty, what one expects or believes is the<p>most likely to happen. This relation between what caused a reaction in the past will<p>probably cause it again in the future might not be realistic. If the expected outcome is not<p>confirmed, it may result in a personal ‘disappointment’, and if the outcome fits no<p>expectations, it will be a ‘surprise’. Our brain is hardwired with this heuristic capacity of<p>learning the cause-effect relationship and to project its probability as the basis for much of<p>our behavior, as well as cognitions. This experience-based expectation is a form of<p>learning that helps the brain to bypass an exhaustive search in finding a satisfactory<p>solution. Expectations may thus be considered an innate theory of causality; that is, a set of<p>factors (causes) generating a given phenomenon (effects) influence the way we treat<p>incoming information but also the way we retrieve the stored information. These<p>expectancy templates may well represent one of the basic rules of how the brain processes<p>information, affecting the way we perceive the world, direct our attention and deal with<p>conflicting information. In fact, expectations have been shown to influence our judgments<p>and social interactions, along with our volition to individually decide and commit to a<p>particular course of action. However, people’s expectations may elicit the anticipation of<p>their own automatic reactions to various situations and behaviors cues, and can explain that<p>expecting to feel an increase in alertness after coffee consumption leads to experiencing<p>the consequent physiologic and behavioral states. We call this behavior-response<p>expectancy. This non-volitional form of expectation has been shown to influence<p>cognitions such as memory, pain, visual awareness, implicit learning and attention, through<p>the mediation of phenomena like placebo effects and hypnotic behaviors. Importantly,when talking about expectations, placebo and hypnosis, it is important to note that we are<p>also talking about suggestion and its modulating capability. In other words, suggestion has<p>the power to create response expectancies that activate automatic responses, which will, in<p>turn, influence cognition and behavior so as to shape them congruently with the expected<p>outcome. Accordingly, hypnotic inductions are a systematic manipulation of expectancy,<p>similar to placebo, and therefore they both work in a similar way. Considering such<p>assumptions, the major question we address in this PhD thesis is to know if these<p>expectancy-based mechanisms are capable of modulating more high-level information<p>processing such as cognitive conflict resolution, as is present in the well-known Stroop<p>task. In fact, in a recent series of studies, reduction or elimination of Stroop congruency<p>effects was obtained through suggestion and hypnotic induction. In this PhD thesis, it is<p>asked whether a suggestion reinforced by placebos, operating through response-expectancy<p>mechanisms, is able to induce a top-down cognitive modulation to overcome cognitive<p>conflict in the Stroop task, similar to those results found using suggestion and hypnosis<p>manipulation. / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished