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experimental laboratory. Leo Katz, Bad Acts and Guilty Minds, 1987,
University of Chicago Press, pp. 128-133, describes cases of crimes
committed by patients of unethical hypnotists. The Fortean Times, #58, July
1991,reports in an article "The Eyes Have It," by Michael Gross, the
prosecution of a man who sexually assaulted at least 113 women, preceded by
hypnosis, and there vocation of the medical license of a psychiatrist in 1982
for abusing women under hypnosis.
Similar allegations and sometimes prosecutions of cases of misconduct or
rapewith the aid of hypnosis by therapists have been reported in the media
inrecent years as well.
The actual role of hypnosis in each of these cases is unknown. It is likely that
it provided the abusing therapists assistance in the seduction of the women in
question, but that again, it was a matter of using the hypnotic induction to
abuse their already elevated trust in the therapist at least asmuch as any loss
of their 'will to resist' at the time of the abuse.
For contrast, compare the case of a victim being drugged into
: Hypnosis, volition, and mind control. by Todd I. Stark
helplessness.There is no evidence that hypnotic procedures ever 'drug'
individuals into helplessness, or that they are in any sense actively resisting
things thatthey do or allow under hypnosis. There is, however, good reason to
believethat the relaxation and vivid imagery of the hypnotic situation makes
iteasier to 'trick' an individual in some sense into doing something that
theywouldn't 'ordinarily' do in that particular situation with that
particularperson at that time. Thus the justifiable sense of remorse and
violation whenthey realize what they've been led to do. Not dissimilar from
the also controversial situation with abuse or alleged abuse by parents, where
the child's implicit trust in the parent's interest in their welfare often
complicates the evaluation and treatment of the situation after the fact.
5.2. Voluntary vs. Involuntary
Who or what is in control when a hypnotist gives a suggestion, and their
subject apparently responds, but reports that they had no awareness of
responding? Is it the same mechanism in some ways as that in control during
biofeedback experiments when the subject has no direct awareness of altering
markers of their physiological functions? Or is it closer to the mechanism that
permits the well known 'automatisms' or behaviors performed by habitoutside
our awareness? Or are these all aspects of the the same mechanism insome
way?
These behaviors have all long been called 'involuntary' responses, and this
iswhat provides the impression that the hypnotist is directly controlling the
subject. Weitzenhoffer in 1974 called this the "Classical Suggestion
Effect,"the "transformation of the essential, manifest, ideational content of
acommunication" into behavior that appears involuntary.
What exactly does it mean for a behavior to appear to be involuntary?In their
1991 Theories of Hypnosis, Lynn and Rhue identify three distinct views of
involuntariness in hypnnosis:
1. The experience of diminished or absent control over a behavior
2. The inability to resist a suggestion
3. An automatic response, experienced as effortless and uncaused by
thesubject, but with a capacity in reserve to resist if desired.
#1 above, apparently a blocking of awareness of feedback about a behavior,
isa common experience in hypnosis. Some theorists contend that this kind of
experience is actually the defining characteristic of hypnosis.
#2 above has very few supporters today. Most modern hypnosis experts agree
that their subject can and does resist undesireable suggestions. Even the neo-
dissociation viewpoint, which holds that cognitive function can split into
differing factions, never admits to a complete relinquishing of control of the
'will,' more a removal from a usual high level executive planning function.
#3 above is the most controversial of the three views. The subjective
perception of non-volition in hypnosis is widely agreed upon, and the idea
ofat least a latent capacity to resist suggestions in some way is also pretty
much agreed upon by experts. But the notion of effortless reponse with
: Hypnosis, volition, and mind control. by Todd I. Stark
noactive involvement by the individual is controversial. Thesocial-
psychological view holds that the individual is actively carrying outthe
suggestion, the neo-dissociative view holds that the individual's volitionis
'split' and that they are actively carrying out the suggestion with onepart, and
accurately reporting a lack of volition with another part. Theolder ideomotor
theory held that the response was a direct result of thesuggestion, presumably
some automated language-behavior response mechanism('the unconscious')
that they believed a hypnotist could tap in to.
The final details of what aspects of the social psychological view,
whataspects of the neo-dissociative cognitive view, and what aspects of
variousothers are actually the best description for various hypnotic
phenomena arelargely up to future research to determine.
5.3. Conscious vs. Unconscious
Is there actually an 'unconscious mind' in some sense? And if so, does
itexplain certain kinds of response to hypnotic suggestion?
First, it is very likely that information is actually processed, at least under
certain conditions, outside of conscious awareness, and that it can influence
behavior. A modern look at this old topic can be found inKihlstrom's 1987
Science article, "The Cognitive Unconscious," 237,1445-1452. This is not to
say that any particular 'subliminal learning'claims have support from this
notion, only that it is possible for perceptionof a sort to occur without
apparent conscious awareness.
One study demonstrating a subliminal influence on subsequent behavior was
Borgeat & Goulet, 1983, "Psychophysiological changes following auditory
subliminal suggestions for activation and deactivation," appearing
inPerceptual & Motor Skills. 56(3):759-66, 1983 Jun.
This study was to measure eventual psychophysiological changes resulting
from auditory subliminal activation or deactivation suggestions. 18 subjects
were alternately exposed to a control situation and to 25-dB activating and
deactivating suggestions masked by a 40-dB white noise. Physiological
measures(EMG, heart rate, skin-conductance levels and responses, and skin
temperature)were recorded while subjects listened passively to the
suggestions, during astressing task that followed and after that task.
Multivariate analysis ofvariance showed a significant effect of the activation
subliminal suggestions during and following the stressing task. This result is
discussed asindicating effects of consciously unrecognized perceptions on
psychophysiological responses.
A hypnotic subject clearly also takes an active and voluntary role in
somesense as well when carrying out suggestions, as pointed out by Spanos
and thesocial-psychological theorists.
Perhaps the data showing this contrast most strikingly is from the study
of'hypnotic blindness.' One example is Bryant and McConkey's 1989
"HypnoticBlindness: A Behavioral and Experimental Analysis," Journal of
Abnormal Psychology, 98, 71-77, and also p. 443-447, "Hypnotic
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