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Base‐Rate Expectancies and Perceptual Alterations in Hypnosis
Author(s) -
SARBIN THEODORE R.,
ANDERSEN MILTON L.
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1963.tb00383.x
Subject(s) - hypnosis , psychology , replication (statistics) , hypnotic , hypnotic susceptibility , perception , criticism , cognitive psychology , clinical psychology , neuroscience , psychiatry , medicine , alternative medicine , art , literature , pathology , virology
Criticism is made of the hypothesis that hypnotic induction or the ‘hypnotic state’ is necessary to elicit many of the behaviours usually regarded as ‘hypnotic phenomena’. Support for this criticism is taken from recent research and reviews in the hypnosis literature. An experiment is reported which was a replication of an experiment in which hypnosis was utilized, where the production of visual hallucinatory behaviour was attributed to the effects of the ‘hypnotic state’. The replication experiment did not involve hypnosis, but demonstrated hallucinatory behaviour similar to that obtained in the original experiment. The similarity of the results of the two experiments is discussed in terms of: (1) Subject selection and base‐rates, and (2) Differences in instructions and motivation given to control subjects and to hypnosis subjects.