Does hypnotizing really exist?

Answer

Hypnosis is an intentionally altered state of consciousness characterized by increased suggestibility and deep relaxation. The most important factor that determines whether a person can be hypnotized is his sensitivity to suggestion. For example, a highly hypnotizable person responds to suggestions to move differently, to forget important memories, or to ignore pain stimuli.

Experts have different opinions about which mechanisms play a role in hypnosis.

2) Enhanced motivation and nothing more: people are not put into a trance, but simply motivated to focus their attention and put energy into the suggested activities. People are therefore in a hypnotic state because they want and expect it and therefore concentrate on performing the responses the hypnotist is trying to evoke in them.

3) Social processes, such as role playing: the subject just wants to please the hypnotist

4) A dissociative state (Hilgard’s hidden observer). The hidden observer in the subject’s mind would work simultaneously with normal consciousness. Hilgard made this conclusion based on his research conducted in 1992: Subjects under hypnosis, who reported feeling no pain when placing their hand in ice water, still responded positively to the instruction to raise their right finger if any part of them touched something. felt pain. Hilgard was convinced that attention was turned away from the painful perception to the hidden observer, leaving normal consciousness ‘unconscious’.

Recent theories align these perspectives and argue that hypnosis consists of a range of responses that accommodate all of these possibilities: various dissociative states, enhanced motivation, heightened expectations, and social interactions.