Abstract
It has long been argued that hypnosis cannot promote behaviors that people will not otherwise engage in. Oxytocin can enhance trust in others, and may promote the extent to which a hypnotized person complies with the suggestion of a hypnotist. This double-blind placebo study administered oxytocin or placebo to high hypnotizable participants (N = 28), who were then administered hypnotic suggestions for socially unorthodox behaviors, including swearing during the experiment, singing out loud, and dancing in response to a posthypnotic cue. Participants who received oxytocin were significantly more likely to swear and dance than those who received the placebo. This finding may be interpreted in terms of oxytocin increasing social compliance in response as a function of (a) increased trust in the hypnotist, (b) reduced social anxiety, or (c) enhanced sensitivity to cues to respond to experimental expectations. These results point to the potential role of oxytocin in social persuasion.
Highlights
Hypnotized people are able to respond in ways that are highly incongruent with normal patterns of perception, cognition, and behavior
Hypnotizability is normally distributed in the population, with approximately 15% being low hypnotizable, 70% being medium hypnotizable, and 15% being high hypnotizable [3]
It has traditionally been argued that hypnotized people will not respond to hypnotic suggestions that are contrary to behaviors they would ordinarily engage in [5]
Summary
Hypnotized people are able to respond in ways that are highly incongruent with normal patterns of perception, cognition, and behavior. Prompted by cases of people allegedly performing criminal acts during hypnotic suggestion [6], earlier research studied the capacity of hypnosis to prompt an individual to engage in antisocial or undesirable behavior. Some earlier work suggested that hypnotized people would engage in undesirable or dangerous acts [7], subsequent studies suggested that these effects could be attributed to social compliance factors that were independent of hypnosis [8].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
