Abstract

Abstract For more than 200 years, the phenomena of hypnosis have intrigued the scientific com- munity and the general public. During hypnosis, many people appear to lose control over normally voluntary behaviour; some exhibit temporary, selective amnesia; they report seeing and hearing things that are not present and not seeing or hearing things that are present. Additionally, suggested responses often have an involuntary or automatic quality. Behaviour and reported experiences of this sort seem so extraordinary that it is not surprising that both laypersons and workers in the field of hypnosis have assumed they were due to an altered state of consciousness or ‘trance ‘ (e.g. Hilgard 1965; Spiegel and Spiegel 1978; Erickson 1980; Edmonston 1981; Spiegel 1998). According to Kallio and Revonsuo (2003), the central question regarding hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness (ASC) is whether a special hypnotic state gives rise to altered experiences produced by suggestion. Many altered state proponents also believe that enhanced suggestibility is one of the features of trance.

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