Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a psychological state whose existence and effects are strongly debated. Some believe that it is a state under which the subject's mind becomes so suggestible that the hypnotist, the one who induces the state, can establish communication with the subconscious mind of the subject and command behavior that the subject would not choose to perform in a conscious state (even behavior to be performed after the subject has left the hypnotic state, through post-hypnotic suggestion,) or even behavior the subject would be incapable of in a conscious state, such as not feeling pain, manifesting skin blisters as if the subject had been burned, or recalling things the subject's conscious memory does not retain. However, there is strong dispute and skepticism about what behavior and effects hypnosis can induce; some believe that the state does not actually exist, and that all effects of 'hypnotism' that have been observed are in actuality a combination of subjects' expectations (based on their beliefs of hypnotism's effects) and their desire to please the hypnotist (see Hawthorne Effect).

Effects

Focused attention

This school of thought holds that hypnosis as a state is very similar to other states of extreme concentration, where a person becomes oblivious to his or her surroundings while lost in thought. Often suggested as an example is when a driver suddenly finds himself much further down the road without any memory of driving the intervening distance, or when a person is watching television and focuses so intently on the program that he or she ceases to be aware of the sides of the screen.

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The act of hypnotizing, is, in effect, the act of manually inducing a similar state. See, for example, http://www.asch.net/genpubinfo.htm.

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Suggestibility

Psychologists have produced controversial studies that seem to show a strong correlation between the ease of putting someone in a state of hypnosis and their level of suggestibility (see Stanford scales).

Related Topics:
Psychologists - Suggestibility - Stanford scales

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Hypnosis has further been described as "The suspension of the critical factor" which expands on the idea of "increased suggestibility". A person who claims to be hypnotized may accept statements as true that he or she would normally reject.

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For example, when told "you have forgotten your name," the subject in a normal state would react with disbelief, but under hypnosis people have claimed that they have, indeed, forgotten their own names.

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It often appears as if the hypnotized participant accepts the authority of the hypnotist over his or her own experience. When asked after the conclusion of such a session, some participants appear to be genuinely unable to recall the incident, while others say that they had known the hypnotist was wrong but at the time it had seemed easier just to go along with his instructions. (Richard Feynman describes this in his memoir Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! as his own experience under hypnosis.) The mechanism of this effect is however disputed: Some hypnotists would claim that this showed the difference between a deep and a shallow hypnotic trance, while skeptics would question the validity of this conclusion, citing that such effects can be duplicated in other circumstances where an agent holds authority, such as the Milgram experiment, and suggest that unreliability in results discredits a scientific theory of hypnosis.

Related Topics:
Richard Feynman - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! - Trance - Milgram experiment

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Judgement

Some believe that hypnosis can affect the subject's judgement and therefore could potentially cause them harm. In the hand of a "professional" seeking to promote the subject's welfare, those of this opinion believe, hypnosis can produce profound effects and be a compliment to treatment. Some of those who believe in hypnosis believe that in most cases one can resist hypnosis if one is aware of it. However, some of those who hold this belief also believe in brainwashing and/or mind control and believe that when hypnotism takes place in the context of these, resisting hypnosis is far more difficult. These beliefs are not generally based on scientific evidence, as there is not scientific consensus on whether mind control even exists, let alone whether it is more difficult to resist hypnotism in the context of this unverified theoretical construct.

Related Topics:
Brainwashing - Mind control

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