Literalism and Hypnosis: Hypnotic versus Task-Motivated Subjects

Abstract

To extend previous literalism research with hypnotized and simulating subjects, we compared literalism rates of hypnotized, highly hypnotizable subjects (N = 12) with nonhypnotized, task-motivated subjects (N = 12) who were also highly hypnotizable. Six questions of the type used by Erickson (e.g., “Do you mind telling me your name?”) constituted tests of literalism (scored if response is “Yes” or “No,” either verbally or nonverbally). Whereas Erickson claimed that 97% of his “deep trance” subjects and 90% of his “medium trance” subjects exhibited literal responses, we found that 87.5% of hypnotized, high-hypnotizable subjects' responses were nonliteral. Hypnotized and task-motivated subjects did not differ in their literal responding to the individual questions or when their scores were summed across questions. No support was secured for Erickson's assertion that literalism is a cardinal feature of hypnosis.