The effect of subject expectations of "hypnosis" upon the vividness of visual imagery

Abstract

There is no consensus of how hypnosis works. The two major theorists in hypnosis research, the Phenomenologists and the Behaviorists, disagree on this issue. ThePhenomenologists consider individual talent and change of the state of consciousness the key to how hypnosis works.The Behaviorists consider the social situation and the roles taken by the experimenter and subject, especially the 2 subject's expectations of hypnosis, the mainspring of the hypnotic process. These results are discussed in relation to the Behavioral and Phenomenological theories, especially the specific studies this experiment was based on (Coe et al., 1980;Lazarus, 1973). Some suggestions for further research are also made.