25 VOLUME 7 |ISSUE 1 |2016
ICSA 2015 Annual Conference -Stockholm, Sweden
This paper is based on a presentation at ICSA’s 2015 Annual Conference in Stockholm.
The Theory That Won’t Go Away:
An Updated Review of the Role
Hypnosis Plays in Mind Control
By Steve K. D. Eichel
Over the years, hypnosis has been a central feature in
descriptions of the process of behavior and attitude change
that occurs in high-demand groups (HDGs, or cults). Cult
specialist and mental-health counselor Steven Hassan (1989,
2000, 2014) has talked and written extensively about this
process. In August 2000, Dr. Arthur Dole chaired a symposium
at the annual meeting of the American Psychological
Association (APA) entitled Can Hypnosis Explain Cult Conversion?
Evidence From Science and Practice, which included a number
of experts in the field (Dole et al., 2000). In contrast to the
premise suggested by these references, Spanish psychologist
Jose Fernández Aguado (2015), in a provocative article entitled
“Psychological Manipulation, Hypnosis, and Suggestion,”
questioned the ability of hypnosis to induce people to engage
in behaviors in ways they would not otherwise execute “out of”
hypnosis.
What Is Hypnosis?
Very recently, APA’s Society for Psychological Hypnosis modified
its official definition of hypnosis to include the following:
Hypnosis: A state of consciousness involving focused
attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized
by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion.
Hypnotic induction: A procedure designed to induce
hypnosis.
Hypnotizability: An individual’s ability to experience
suggested alterations in physiology, sensations, emotions,
thoughts or behavior during hypnosis.
Hypnotherapy: The use of hypnosis in the treatment of a
medical or psychological disorder or concern. (APA Division
30, 2015)
There remains significant disagreement. As far back as 1959,
renowned hypnosis expert Dr. Martin Orne stated that hypnosis
is an unnecessary construct. He famously noted that increased
suggestibility, the defining characteristic of hypnosis, “may be
viewed as an increase in motivation to conform to the wishes of
the hypnotist” rather than a phenomenon itself (1959,
p. 277). He and others since have noted that in the
laboratory almost every hypnotic phenomenon created when
a subject is supposedly in a hypnotic trance can be recreated
when subjects are given suggestions without a formal hypnotic
induction.
Definitions of hypnosis seem inextricably related to whether
or not being hypnotized results in a discrete, altered state of
consciousness that can be measured, objectively quantified,
and distinguished from other states of consciousness. This
question may eventually be answered by research that involves
neuroimaging. According to neuroscientists Giuliana Mazzoni
and colleagues (Mazzoni et al., 2013), the preliminary answer
is “Yes.” Phenomenological psychologist Ronald Pekala (2015)
agrees multicultural research using his revised and well-
validated Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI)
consistently shows correlations between depth of hypnosis and
measures of altered states of awareness. Cleveland (2015) and
his associates concur, and have found convincing evidence that
hypnosis and dissociation are intricately related.
The question of hypnotizability
is another confounding factor in
hypnosis research.
ICSA 2015 Annual Conference -Stockholm, Sweden
This paper is based on a presentation at ICSA’s 2015 Annual Conference in Stockholm.
The Theory That Won’t Go Away:
An Updated Review of the Role
Hypnosis Plays in Mind Control
By Steve K. D. Eichel
Over the years, hypnosis has been a central feature in
descriptions of the process of behavior and attitude change
that occurs in high-demand groups (HDGs, or cults). Cult
specialist and mental-health counselor Steven Hassan (1989,
2000, 2014) has talked and written extensively about this
process. In August 2000, Dr. Arthur Dole chaired a symposium
at the annual meeting of the American Psychological
Association (APA) entitled Can Hypnosis Explain Cult Conversion?
Evidence From Science and Practice, which included a number
of experts in the field (Dole et al., 2000). In contrast to the
premise suggested by these references, Spanish psychologist
Jose Fernández Aguado (2015), in a provocative article entitled
“Psychological Manipulation, Hypnosis, and Suggestion,”
questioned the ability of hypnosis to induce people to engage
in behaviors in ways they would not otherwise execute “out of”
hypnosis.
What Is Hypnosis?
Very recently, APA’s Society for Psychological Hypnosis modified
its official definition of hypnosis to include the following:
Hypnosis: A state of consciousness involving focused
attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized
by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion.
Hypnotic induction: A procedure designed to induce
hypnosis.
Hypnotizability: An individual’s ability to experience
suggested alterations in physiology, sensations, emotions,
thoughts or behavior during hypnosis.
Hypnotherapy: The use of hypnosis in the treatment of a
medical or psychological disorder or concern. (APA Division
30, 2015)
There remains significant disagreement. As far back as 1959,
renowned hypnosis expert Dr. Martin Orne stated that hypnosis
is an unnecessary construct. He famously noted that increased
suggestibility, the defining characteristic of hypnosis, “may be
viewed as an increase in motivation to conform to the wishes of
the hypnotist” rather than a phenomenon itself (1959,
p. 277). He and others since have noted that in the
laboratory almost every hypnotic phenomenon created when
a subject is supposedly in a hypnotic trance can be recreated
when subjects are given suggestions without a formal hypnotic
induction.
Definitions of hypnosis seem inextricably related to whether
or not being hypnotized results in a discrete, altered state of
consciousness that can be measured, objectively quantified,
and distinguished from other states of consciousness. This
question may eventually be answered by research that involves
neuroimaging. According to neuroscientists Giuliana Mazzoni
and colleagues (Mazzoni et al., 2013), the preliminary answer
is “Yes.” Phenomenological psychologist Ronald Pekala (2015)
agrees multicultural research using his revised and well-
validated Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI)
consistently shows correlations between depth of hypnosis and
measures of altered states of awareness. Cleveland (2015) and
his associates concur, and have found convincing evidence that
hypnosis and dissociation are intricately related.
The question of hypnotizability
is another confounding factor in
hypnosis research.
