Reality monitoring in hypnosis: A real-simulating analysis

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Jul 2005  by Wickramsekera, Ian II

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Bryant, R. & Mallard, D. (2005). Reality monitoring in hypnosis: A real-simulating analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 53 (1), 13-25. In this study the authors addressed the question of whether hypnotic suggestions are perceived as phenomenologically "real" or valid as other perceptual stimuli.

The study compared the responses of high hypnotizable subjects with those of simulators to visual hypnotic suggestions and actual visual images that were meant to resemble the hypnotic visual hallucinations. The participants were first administered the visual hypnotic hallucination to imagine a blue circle and later an actual projected image of the circle was introduced. The participants were asked to provide a rating of the vividness and felt reality of the two stimuli during the hypnotic experiment. The hypnotic session was followed up with a close phenomenological inquiry into the participants' experiences utilizing the Experiential Analysis Technique. The simulators responses could be distinguished from the highs by their tendency to inflate their vividness and reality ratings during the projected image segment. The highs also reported that it took more effort to maintain belief in the hallucination during the condition where the projected image was absent compared to simulators. The authors interpret the findings to indicate that the reality ascribed by highs to experimental hypnotic hallucinations appears to transcend the basic demand characteristics inherent in these experiments. Address for reprints: Richard A. Bryant, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052 Australia. Email: r.bryant@unsw.edu.au

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