Effects of social-psychological variables on hypnotic amnesia.

Abstract

Three experiments assessed the hypothesis that suggested amnesia for a previously learned word list is a function of subjects' interpretations of the ambigous aspects of the amnesia testing situation. By manipulating preliminary instructions concerning interpretations of this situation, subjects who were unselected with respect to hypnotic susceptibility were induced to show either substantial increments or decrements in amnesia. However, subjects 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 subjects were both replicated and reversed by varying subjects' interpretations of the amnesia task. Analyses on the combined data from the three experiments confirmed earlier findings that partial amnesics tend to recall list items in a relatively disorganized fashion. All of these findings are consistent with an inattention hypothesis of suggested amnesia. Theoretical implications for hypnosis research are discussed.

Temporal sequencing during posthypnotic amnesia: A methodological critique.

“…Partial amnesics showed less clustering (i.e., organization according to taxonomic categories) during an amnesia suggestion than before it or after canceling it. Full recallers (i.e., nonamnesics), on the other hand, showed a high level of clustering across the three recall trials (Radtke-Bodorik, Planas, & Spanos, 1980;Radtke-Bodorik, Spanos, & Haddad, 1979;Spanos & Bodorik, 1977;Spanos, Stam, D'Eon, Pawlak, & Radtke-Bodorik, 1980). The discrepancy between the consistent findings using the word-list paradigm and the inconsistent findings using the susceptibilityscale paradigm may be due to methodological deficiencies in the susceptibility-scale paradigm or to differences in the variables that affect temporal and categorical organization.…”

Role playing versus response expectancy as explanations of hypnotic behavior

“…In his view, hypnotic subjects deploy attention in such a way as to forestall perceptual awareness or memory retrieval; or they claim amnesia or analgesia in order to convince the hypnotist that they are in fact hypnotized. However, at least so far as memory is concerned, it appears that strategic behaviors of the sort he discusses are not highly correlated with positive response to amnesia suggestions (Kihlstrom 1978;1985b;Kihlstrom, Easton & Shor 1983;Spanos & Bodorik 1977;Spanos, Radtke-Bodorik & Stam 1980;Spanos, Stam, D'Eon, Pawlak & Radtke-Bodorik 1980). These findings, which are not discussed by Spanos, would seem to present some problems for the hypothesis that amnesia is mediated by self-distraction.…”

“…For example, several studies (Barber & Calverley 1966;Evans & Thorn 1966;Williamsen, Johnson & Ericksen 1965) found that simulators showed higher levels of amnesia than "reals." Spanos, Radtke-Bodorik, and Stam (1980) reported that simulators rated their amnesia as more involuntary than did "reals" and Spanos, de Groot, Tiller, Weekes, and Bertrand (1985), Spanos, de Groot, and Gwynn (1985), and McConkey and Sheehan (1980) found that simulators "passed" a greater number of suggestions than did "reals." Taken together, these findings indicate that even high suggestible "reals" are more likely than simulators to respond only incompletely to difficult test suggestions.…”

Hypnosis: Towards a rational explanation of irrational behaviour

“…According to the response-strategy view, the clarification of such ambiguous and conflicting demands should substantially influence the amount of amnesia displayed by subjects. Several recent experiments bear directly on these issues (Spanos & de Groh 1984;Spanos, de Groh & de Groot, in press;Spanos, Stam, D'Eon, Pawlak & Radtke-Bodorik 1980). Spanos, Stam et al (1980) used subjects who were unselected with respect to hypnotic suggestibility.…”

“…Several recent experiments bear directly on these issues (Spanos & de Groh 1984;Spanos, de Groh & de Groot, in press;Spanos, Stam, D'Eon, Pawlak & Radtke-Bodorik 1980). Spanos, Stam et al (1980) used subjects who were unselected with respect to hypnotic suggestibility. Half were explicitly instructed to interpret an amnesia suggestion as a request to direct attention away from the target items and to maintain it away from recall cues even when challenged to recall.…”