? We all know that changes in consciousness are related to sleep and dreams. Another phenomenon related to the change of consciousness state is hypnosis. Hypnosis is usually regarded as a mysterious process to control people's psychology. Words related to hypnosis such as "addiction" and "lethargy" all imply that hypnosis is a unique state of consciousness different from waking and sleeping. Many psychologists agree with this view to varying degrees. Nicholas Spanos (1942 ~ 1994) holds the opposite opinion. He believes that hypnosis is actually just a state of motivation to perform a certain behavior, which can be completely explained without relying on the change of "sleep state" or consciousness state.
? The earliest hypnosis can be traced back to the middle of18th century, when people attributed mental illness to psychological rather than physical illness for the first time. Franz Anton Mesmer (1733 ~ 18 15) is one of the legendary figures who helped psychology get rid of witchcraft. He believes that "hysteria" is the result of an unbalanced flow of magnetic body fluids throughout the body. He held a special party in the laboratory. The music played slowly and the lights gradually dimmed. Max Mai wears the same clothes as Dumbledore (the character in the series of books and the movie Harry Potter), and takes out sticks stained with various chemicals from the bottle to touch the suffering patients. He believes that this will transfer what he calls "animal magnetism" from those chemicals to patients, thus alleviating their symptoms. Interestingly, many successful cases of this method (possibly the placebo effect) have been recorded in history. The word "hypnosis" comes from Max Mai. Many people think that this therapy contains many techniques related to modern hypnosis.
? Throughout the history of psychology, especially in the field of psychotherapy, hypnosis (named after the Greek sleeping god Hypnos) occupies a very important position, and it is also the main part of Freud's psychoanalytic technology. Some people think that hypnosis is a changed mental state, and Ernest Hilgard (1904 ~200 1) has been in the forefront of researchers who support this view (Hilgard,1978; Kihlstrom, 1998). He and others believe that hypnosis includes the following characteristics: increased sensitivity to hints, unconscious behavior, improved memory, sharp increase in visual representation, split consciousness (conscious of some experiences but unaware of others), pain loss (low sensitivity to pain), and so on. Until the 1970s, there was no doubt that "hypnosis can make people produce thoughts, thoughts and behaviors that are impossible under normal circumstances" and "hypnosis is a different state of consciousness".
? However, scientists must always look at the research status quo critically. Once they see the problem, they may overturn some knowledge. Nicholas Spanos, a social psychologist, suggested questioning the main hypothesis about hypnosis constructed by hilgard and others. Spanos wrote in the article: "It is not only unnecessary to advocate that hypnosis is controlled by special processes, but also a misunderstanding ... hypnosis is basically no different from other social behaviors. Like other social behaviors, hypnosis can be said to be strategic and targeted." (Page 200) In other words, Spanos claims that hypnosis is actually an autonomous behavior to achieve a specific result, and the hypnotized person uses this behavior to achieve the desired result. He further pointed out that if this behavior may be caused by a higher level of motivation, then hypnosis does not involve changes in the state of consciousness.
? Spanos reasoned that those so-called hypnotic behaviors essentially belong to the normal range of human autonomy. He pointed out that the only reason why a person is sure that he is hypnotized is that their behavior under hypnosis is consistent with what they expect to happen in this state. According to Spanos, the process of hypnosis is a ceremony with multiple meanings in western culture. Subjects want to give up control of their behavior. With the deepening of hypnosis, they began to believe that their independent actions began to turn into spontaneous and involuntary activities. Spanos gave an example: at the beginning of hypnosis, the subjects were given some instructions for voluntary activities, such as "relax your leg muscles", but later it became some hints for involuntary activities, such as "your legs feel heavy and weak".
? Before 1982 published his paper, Spanos and his colleagues and assistants studied it for nearly ten years, trying to prove that common hypnosis can be explained in a simple way that is not mysterious.
? This paper does not introduce a specific experiment, but summarizes many research results of Spanos and others before 1982. These achievements support the views of Spanos and others, and refute hilgard's argument (and people's general view) that hypnosis is a unique state of consciousness. In this report, most of the research results come from the 16 study in which Spanos directly participated, giving another explanation for the behavior caused by hypnosis. Therefore, like previous research papers on dreams, the results of the research will be discussed together with the discussion.
? Spanos claims that there are two key factors in hypnosis, which make people believe that hypnosis is a "change of consciousness": first, the subjects interpret their behaviors as being caused by other things, not themselves, which will make some behaviors seem involuntary; Secondly, as mentioned before, the hypnotic ceremony produces an expectation for the subjects, which urges the subjects to act in a way consistent with the expectation. In this paper, Spanos focuses his research on how to question the frequently cited hypnotic viewpoint.
? When subjects are hypnotized, examiners often ask them to do various tests to determine whether they are hypnotized or not. Spanos said that these tests often use some special methods to induce subjects to believe that something unusual is happening. Hypnosis test includes the following tips: "Your arm is too heavy to lift"; "Your hands are pulled together by some force, and you can't separate them"; "Your arms will be as stiff as iron bars and cannot be bent"; Or "Your body is too heavy for you to stand up". Spanos explained that the hints in these tests contain two related requirements: one is to ask the subjects to do certain actions, and the other is to ask them to interpret these actions as involuntary behaviors. These tips don't work at all for some subjects. Spanos said that these subjects didn't know that they had to do something at will to trigger the suggestive behavior, instead of just waiting for their arms or bodies to start moving by themselves. Although other subjects responded to hints, they found that these behaviors were random. Finally, there are some subjects that meet these two requirements. They react to hints and think they are out of their control.
? Spanos believes that whether subjects interpret their behavior as random or involuntary mainly depends on the wording of suggestive instructions. In another study, Spanos induced two groups of subjects into hypnosis. For one group, the examiner gave various behavioral hints, for example, "Your arm is very light and you are holding it up". For another group of subjects, they were directly instructed to do the same action, such as "raising your arm". Afterwards, the subjects were asked whether their behavior was random. Compared with the group receiving direct guidance, the subjects who received suggestions were more inclined to think that their behavior was random.
? After reading this, please straighten your left arm forward immediately and keep it for a few minutes. You will find that it begins to sink gradually. This change is not caused by hypnosis, but by gravity! So, if you are hypnotized, suggesting that your straight arm begins to sink, you will easily attribute it to some unconscious force (you want to put your arm down yourself anyway). But what if you are hinted that your arm is light and you are holding it up? If you raise your arm, it is difficult for you to interpret that action as unconscious, because you can't ignore the contradictory feedback of gravity. Spanos tested the idea and found it difficult to explain it. Subjects who believe that they are hypnotized are obviously more inclined to think that the action of lowering their arms is not arbitrary when compared with the action of raising their arms. According to the traditional hypnosis theory, the direction of arm movement in hypnosis suggestion is not affected, and arm movement is always considered involuntary.
? Hypnotizing subjects with hints often requires them to imagine a specific situation, so that they can produce the behavior that the examiner wants. If you are the subject, you may accept the hint: "Your arm is stiff and can't bend." To reinforce this hint, the examiner may add "Your arm is as heavy as a plaster". Spanos believes that some people are more influenced by these techniques than others, so they think their reactions (the immobility of their arms) are unconscious. His reason is that if you concentrate on this, you can't notice other information, only those information will remind you that these hallucinations are not true. The more vividly you imagine the plaster on your arm, the more accurate its texture and hardness, how it sticks to your arm, and so on, the less you will think that this is just your imagination at work. If you concentrate on the details of these imaginary events, you are more likely to believe that rigid arm movements are unconscious, although this is not the case. To support this view, Spanos found that when subjects were asked to evaluate their concentration on imaginary situations, the higher the concentration, the easier it was for them to think that their behavior was not random. Spanos also noticed that a person who is sensitive to hypnosis is closely related to his or her tendency to indulge in reading, listening to music or daydreaming. So these people are more willing to accept hints in hypnosis.
? Spanos claims that most people who believe in hypnosis are also prone to typical hypnotic behaviors. He further suggested that the methods used to induce and study hypnosis can strengthen this belief. He cited three research examples, all of which proved that people do certain behaviors under hypnosis because they believe that hypnosis should be like that, not because hypnosis changes their state of consciousness.
? Spanos first mentioned a study in which two groups of students received hypnosis lectures. In the lecture, except for telling a group of students that the feeling of stiff arms is an involuntary phenomenon during hypnosis, the rest of the content is exactly the same. Subsequently, both groups of students were hypnotized. In the student group who heard the information about arm stiffness in the lecture, some people showed this behavior involuntarily without giving any guidance. However, in another group of subjects, no one became stiff. Spanos believes that this shows that under hypnosis, people act according to their own imagination.
? The second study supported Spanos' view and found that subjects claimed that their visual images under hypnosis were more intense, vivid and real than those without hypnosis. In essence, the answer can be obtained from the implementation of these studies. Let the subjects imagine that they are completing a specific action in a certain background or situation, and then hypnotize the same subject, so that they can imagine the same or similar scene again (the order of hypnotic and non-hypnotic experiments is optional). These subjects generally reported that the images produced under hypnosis were stronger. However, Spanos and his assistant found that if two groups of subjects were used, one group was hypnotized and the other group was not hypnotized, the average intensity of their visual representations was almost equal. Why is there such a difference? This phenomenon can be explained by the latter method which makes the subjects have no comparison. However, if we use the same subject under two test conditions, then we can compare the feelings under two conditions and evaluate the other according to one. So, since the subjects almost always rate the appearance under hypnosis as more intense, does this mean that hypnosis is really a "change of consciousness"? If you ask Spanos, he will say, "No!" According to his point of view, the subjects who participated in the two conditional tests expected that the hypnosis process would bring more intense appearance, so they made an evaluation according to their own expectations.
? The third study cited by Spanos may be the most interesting explanation for hypnosis, that is, hypnosis can make people insensitive to pain (anodynia effect). Through the "cold pressure test", the pain of the subject can be detected in the laboratory, but it will not cause any harm to the subject. If you are the subject of this study, the examiner will let you immerse your arm in ice water (zero degrees Celsius) until you can't stand it. After about 10 seconds, the pain in the arm is obviously enhanced, and most subjects will move their arms within 1 to 2 minutes. Hilgard (1978) pointed out that the subjects who received anodynia training in two states reported that they felt cold pressure pain significantly less in hypnotic state than in awake state. His explanation is that under hypnosis, people may separate pain from consciousness. Hilgard emphasized that part of people's consciousness experiences pain, but the "forgetting obstacle" hides this consciousness.
? Spanos once again refuted the hypnotic explanation of pain loss, and provided evidence to prove that the relief of pain during hypnosis was the result of their motivation and expectation. All subjects used in hypnosis research are people who get high scores in the sensitivity measurement influenced by hypnosis. Spanos believes that these people are "very devoted and want to be good subjects in hypnosis experiments" (page 208). These subjects know that they are awake and hypnotized, and they want to prove that hypnosis is really effective. Spanos completed a similar cold compression pain study, but it was very different from the previous study: the main subjects told all the subjects that they would use pain relief techniques (such as self-distraction) when they were awake, and then told some subjects that they would also take pain relief tests under hypnosis, but other subjects were not told this.
? Figure 2-7 summarizes the research results of Stamespanos. When the subjects are full of expectations for the hypnotic test, their evaluation of the pain relief effect will be lower after the awake test is completed. As Spanos said, they are trying to "leave room" for improving the test effect under hypnosis. Spanos pointed out that this proves that the hypnotic behavior insensitive to pain may be due to the subject's need to respond to situational requirements, rather than a state of automatic separation of consciousness.
? The most important question surrounding the experimental results reported by Spanos is whether we should reevaluate the so-called "hypnosis" phenomenon. If we confirm that hypnosis is not the powerful psychological change force described by ordinary people and many psychologists, what will it mean?
? When evaluating Spanos' research, we must remember that his purpose is not to prove that hypnosis does not exist, but to prove that the behavior influenced by hypnosis is a social behavior driven by higher motives and goals, rather than a change of consciousness or hypnosis is a unique consciousness. It has been accepted by most behavioral scientists that people should not be hypnotized against their will. Moreover, under hypnosis, subjects will not do what they think is anti-social behavior, and it is impossible to show superhuman strength or endurance. Spanos proved in his paper that many subtle contents of hypnosis can be explained in a less mysterious or more direct way, rather than in the state of consciousness after hypnosis.
? What does it mean to accept Spanos' view that hypnosis does not exist? The answer to this question is: "Maybe it doesn't mean anything." Whether the effect of hypnosis is produced by the change of consciousness or the improvement of motivation level, it will not change the fact that hypnosis is often an effective way to help people improve some aspects of their lives. There is no doubt that the role of hypnosis has been widely accepted by people. One of the reasons is that if other ways to improve life fail, it is the last way for people to solve problems-it is so powerful that people can make changes in response to their resistance to this change.
? The debate about whether hypnosis is a "change of state of consciousness" continues. But no matter what hypnosis is, it is not a panacea that most people are willing to look for. Many studies have shown that hypnosis is not particularly effective in helping people quit smoking, drinking, improving memory or losing weight compared with other treatments (see Lazar &; Dempster, 198 1).
? Would you rather be hypnotized or refuse to be hypnotized if given the chance? Some people (Capafons et al., 2005) have studied those who are skeptical about hypnosis on the basis of Spanos' research. As you will see, the findings of this study can be used both to refute Spanos' point of view and to support his point of view. For these hesitant subjects, once they agree to participate in hypnosis experiments, they will be divided into three groups: the first group of subjects will hardly provide any information about what they will experience in the subsequent hypnosis process (as a control group); The second group will provide "cognitive-behavioral" information in the subsequent hypnosis process, that is, how to think and act in the subsequent hypnosis process; The third group is the conscious trance group, which tells the subjects that hypnosis is a change of consciousness state caused by cognitive separation (independent consciousness state relative to normal consciousness state).
? In the early stage of hypnosis, which of these subjects are more prone to avoidance reactions? Some people may think that the cognitive-behavioral group and the conscious trance group are more likely to resist the hypnotic process, and the hypnotic results will be less obvious (or unable to be hypnotized). Surprisingly, however, the result is contrary to some people's guess. Both the cognitive behavior group and the conscious trance group showed higher hints of hypnosis than the control group. What do these results show? The meaning of the result may not be clear. This may confirm the old saying that "knowledge is power", and you can experience a stronger sense of control and "control" yourself during hypnosis.
? Another study quoted Spanos' hypnosis theory and criticized the behavior of some psychotherapists in counseling practice. These therapists often induce visitors to recall their seemingly "repressed" memories of past sexual abuse (Lynn et al., 2003). The author believes that hypnosis and other controversial treatment techniques may distort memory and even produce abused memory. In fact, these things in memory may never happen, especially in the early childhood experience (for more information, please read Chapter 4, Elizabeth loftus, about memory recovery). The researcher pointed out that according to Spanos' research, "adults' memories of things before the age of two or earlier may represent the fiction, condensation and construction of early events, as well as their current concerns and stories they heard about early events" (Lynn et al., 2003, P.42). In other words, it is misleading to think that hypnosis technology can enable visitors to extract accurate memories of their early traumatic experiences, which will be as wrong as those in non-hypnotic state. In the author's opinion, this may lead to false memories and allegations of abuse that have never happened. Spanos's book Multiple Identity and False Memory: A View of Social Cognition (multiple identity &; Real memory: a social cognitive perspective. ) expounds his views on the abuse of the subconscious mind in hypnosis.
? Obviously, the debate continues. Spanos died young in a plane crash in June 1994. Before that, he has been continuing his research (see Maconchy &; Shane, 1995). In his book Hypnosis: A Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective (1988), we can find a summary of his early hypnosis research. Nicholas Spanos is a fruitful and respectable behavioral scientist, and his colleagues and those who benefit from his research will deeply miss him (see Baker, 1994, in memory of Nicholas Spanos). Obviously, people will inherit his legacy and his precious legacy. His research on hypnosis changed psychology, because in nearly 200 years, the understanding of human consciousness and behavior has never been substantially challenged, and Spanos proposed a new explanation based on experiments.
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