“Hypnosis” as a Causal Variable in Present-Day Psychology: A Critical Analysis

The assertion that hypnosis is necessary or sufficient to elicit positive responses to suggestions of hallucination, analgesia, amnesia, and so on is critically analyzed. The analysis indicates that this assertion either (a) has not been demonstrated to be valid (when hypnosis is denoted by such criteria as passivity, disinclination to talk, and literal-mindedness), or (b) is tautological (when hypnosis is denoted by response to suggestions of the type included in the Davis-Husband Scale or Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale), or (c) tends to be trivial (when the criteria which are used to denote hypnosis are themselves responses to suggestions).