Setting the Record Straight (Again)

There is currently agreement that, in addition to the changes in external behaviour, suggestions presented in a hypnotic context may give rise to changes in subjective experience. Ye t, there is no general agreement about the theoretical framework within which these changes in experience should be explained. Though different theories about hypnosis overlap in many respects, there is still disagreement on whether reference to a specific internal state of the individual is necessary in order to explain these changes. We place the explanatory task in the context of a multilevel framework of explanation, which reveals that the disagreement between the 'state' and 'nonstate' view is about the level of description at which the phenomenon 'hypnosis' should be conceptualized. We propose a novel approach using the multilevel explanation which helps to formulate empirically testable hypotheses about the nature of hypnosis. We will outline the basic elements of such an approach and hope that our proposition will help hypnosis research to integrate with the multidisciplinary research on other phenomena of consciousness.

Section: The Central Issues That Divide the Theoretical Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Hypnotic phenomena and altered states of consciousness: a multilevel framework of description and explanation

Kallio

Revonsuo

2003

Hypnotic susceptibility is positively related to a subset of schizotypy items

Jamieson

Gruzelier

2001

A multidimensional measure of schizotypal personality, the Personality Syndrome Questionnaire (PSQ) was completed by 83 undergraduate medical students. It was predicted that perceptual and cognitive reality distortions would be positively associated with hypnotic susceptibility. Fifteen of 84 items showed the predicted association. When combined into a preliminary scale, a correlation of 0.43 was found for the total scale score and susceptibility. Cronbach's alpha for this scale was acceptable at 0.77. These preliminary results are potentially vulnerable to type I error. Replication on a larger sample and factorial analysis of the proposed scales structure are required and underway. Copyright © 2001 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis

Conceptual issues in hypnosis research: explanations, definitions and the state/non‐state debate

Hasegawa

Jamieson

2002

The present paper aims to integrate existing streams of hypnosis research and theory into a broader context. A conceptual framework is presented that illustrates the range of explanatory approaches that are available to describe psychological phenomena in general, and this is applied to the discussion of hypnosis. In doing so, various approaches to hypnosis research are categorized and the scope and limitations of the theories derived from them are considered. The definition of hypnosis is also explored within this framework. The state/non‐state debate is reconsidered in the context of the systems approach to states of consciousness described by Tart (1983/2000). Research agendas for hypnosis are clarified, and methodologies and directions for future research are suggested. Copyright © 2002 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis