Intentionality during hypnosis: An ironic process analysis

Abstract

Two studies were completed to test whether responding to hypnotic suggestions requires intentional effort. Hypnotic suggestions for amnesia were used as an analog of thought suppression, and Wegner's model of ironic processing was applied to hypnotic responding. In the first study, participants were required to maintain suggested amnesia while performing a cancellation task with and without a cognitive load. The second study required suppression of thoughts of a favorite car, once with “blank-mind” instructions and then with a suggestion for amnesia. The results of these studies indicate that dissociated control theory provides the best explanation for hypnotic responding in one subset of highly hypnotizable participants, whereas more intentional responding provides the best explanation for others.