Hypnotic responding: A cognitive–behavioral analysis of self-deception.

Abstract

The concept of self-deception is important for the psychotherapist and research-oriented psychologist alike. In psychoanalytic therapy, the most significant problems of life are thought to stem from the ego's attempts to repress and disguise the individual's true motives (Freud, 1917(Freud, /1961. The concept of self-deception may also be helpful for understanding cognitive-behavioral therapies. One frequently used method of therapy within this framework has clients rehearse adaptive thoughts and behaviors (Ellis & Grieger, 1977;Meichenbaum, 1977). At first, the thoughts and actions feel artificial and do not appear to be believable aspects of the self. However, with time and practice, the responses become part of the personality. In effect, the clients seem to deceive themselves into new personalities by role playing. Research-oriented psychologists also routinely use concepts that imply self-deception. In processes such as self-verification (Swann, 1987), symbolic self-completion (Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 1982), positive illusions (Taylor, 1989)' and self-evaluation maintenance (Tesser & Moore, 1986), individuals ate construed as deceiving themselves about 73

Using Magic as a Vehicle to Elucidate Attention

“…For example, self-deception is crucial in creating the reality defined by hypnotic responding. The respondent may produce evidence indicative of a hypnotic episode or immerse themselves in the perspective appropriate for experiencing certain actions and perceptions as involuntary (Gorassini, 1999). Similar to some social psychologists, magicians capitalize on exploring the limits of human processing and triumph in commanding ways to tap these pliable behavioural perimeters.…”

Clinical applications of ‘waking’ hypnosis from a cognitive‐behavioural perspective: from efficacy to efficiency

“…In this sense, what occurs in hypnosis is a controlled but automatic process. Finally, the introduction that we propose is also based on the dramaturgical theory of hypnosis and Sarbin's concept self-deception (Coe and Sarbin, 1991;Gorassini, 1999) and on the theories of goal directed and rule governed behaviour as well as on the misattribution theory proposed by Spanos (Spanos and Coe, 1992;Spanos, 1996).…”

Hypnosis and the Law

“…Indeed, this has been construed by some as one of the defining features of hypnosis (Bowers, 1983;Orne, 1966). However, as many commentators have emphasized, the fact that hypnotic behaviors may sometimes be experienced as involuntary does not mean that the participants have lost control of these behaviors (see, for example, Gorassini, 1999;Kihlstrom, 2004;Lynn, Rhue, & Weekes, 1990;Wagstaff, 2004). For instance, in response to an ideomotor suggestion such as arm lowering ("your arm is getting heavy"), good hypnotic participants may become absorbed in imagery designed to make their arms feel heavy, or when moving their arms, they may focus attention away from thoughts such as "I am moving my arm."…”