HYPNOSIS Altered Consciousness or RolePlaying https www youtube

HYPNOSIS Altered Consciousness or Role-Playing? https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=zz 9 b. FHlr__g https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=k. PVSTKuyb. U

STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS (24%) AP students in psychology should be able to do the following: • Describe various states of consciousness and their impact on behavior. • Discuss aspects of sleep and dreaming: — stages and characteristics of the sleep cycle; — theories of sleep and dreaming; — symptoms and treatments of sleep disorders. • Describe historic and contemporary uses of hypnosis (e. g. , pain control, psychotherapy). • Explain hypnotic phenomena (e. g. , suggestibility, dissociation). • Identify the major psychoactive drug categories (e. g. , depressants, stimulants) and classify specific drugs, including their psychological and physiological effects. • Discuss drug dependence, addiction, tolerance, and withdrawal. • Identify the major figures in consciousness research (e. g. , William James, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Hilgard).

CONSCIOUSNESS Awareness of ourselves and our environments Dual processing: conscious and unconscious Some states occur spontaneously Daydreaming Drowsiness Dreaming Some are physiologically induced Hallucinations Orgasm Food or Oxygen intake Some are psychologically induced Sensory Deprivation Hypnosis Meditation

HYPNOSIS Hypnotism (coined in 1843) from the Greek word for sleep James Braid believed it could be used as a form of anesthesia

HYPNOTIC INDUCTION AND SUSCEPTIBILITY Hypnosis: a social interaction in which one person (the subject) responds to another person’s (hypnotist) suggestions that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur Hypnotic induction- relies on the person’s sggestability

SUSCEPTIBILITY People vary in their response to hypnotic induction Recent studies show about 20% of people are highly succeptable Typically people who can become deeply absorbed in imaginative activities

MEMORY We do NOT encode everything around us We permanently store only some of our experiences, and sometimes we can’t retrieve those Courts (US) have banned the use of testimony provided under hypnosis

Hypnotized people have been induced to do apparently dangerous activities Post-therapeutic suggestions- a suggestion made during ahypnsosi session to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotize; used by some clinicians to help control undersized symptoms and behaviors Helps with headaches, asthma, and stress-related skin disorders

WHY? Two general correlations (weak) Absorption and imaginativeness People who are more susceptible usually can become more deeply absorbed in an intense experience and a vivid imagination New research: exceptional sensory and perceptual gating abilities that permit them to block certain stimuli from awareness

HYPNOTIC PHENOMENA

1) ANESTHESIA Some people can handle considerable pain Some physicians and dentists have used hypnosis as a substitute for anesthetic drugs Drugs are more reliable Still used for some acute and chronic pain

2) SENSORY DISTORTIONS AND HALLUCINATIONS People can be led to believe auditory and visual hallucinations Can also work with tastes

3) DISINHIBITION Can sometimes reduce inhibitions May occur because individuals may feel that they cannot be held responsible for their actions

4) POSTHYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS AND AMNESIA Influence on someone’s later behavior Remember nothing…

5) HYPNOTHERAPY Hypnotherapists try and have their patients harness their own healing powers Postyhypnotic suggestions have helped alleviate headaches, asthma, and stress-related skin disorders 18 studies Therapy supplemented with hypnosis shows greater improvement than 70% of the otherapy patients obesity

THEORIES OF HYPNOSIS

It is a popular view that participants are put into a special, altered, state of consciousness called a hypnotic trance EEG patterns are not irregular Leads some people to believe that it is a normal state that is simply characterized by dramatic role playing

HYPNOSIS AS ROLE PLAYING Social theory of hypnosis Subjects “role expectations” produce hypnotic effects, rather than a special state of consciousness 1) many of the “fancy” tricks people can do in hypnotized states can be reproduced in people in regular conscious states, or have simply been exaggerated http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=zj. U-d 0 LHArs https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=z. Iby-Bof. ARo Hypnosis doesn’t enhance memory either, even though patients feel more confident 2) Hypnotized patients are often simply “acting” out a role Memory recalls are often incorrect or exaggerated

HYPNOSIS AS AN ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Despite these things, some people maintain that hypnotic effects are attributable to special altered states of consciousness Role play cannot explain all aspects Sometimes patients continue to display these hypnotic responses even when they are alone and unobserved Hypnotized subjects experience changes in brain activity that appear consistent with their reports of hypnosis-induced hallucinations

DISSOCIATION Dissociation- is a splitting off of mental processes into two separate, simultaneous streams of awareness 1) one stream is in communication with the hypnotist and the external world 2) one stream is a difficult to detect hidden observer ==== a divided consciousness Very appealing-> highway hypnosis

MEDITATION

MEDITATION A family of practices that train attention to heighten awareness and bring mental processes under greater voluntary control Yoga, Zen and transcendental meditation (TM) Meditation is practiced throughout history with religious beliefs

Most meditation is deceptively simple Sit in a comfortable position with eyes closed and silently focus attention on mantra- assigned Sanskrit word Twice daily for 20 minutes

PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES Alpha and Theta waves become more prominent in EEG recordings Heart rate, skin conductance, respiration rate, and oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide elimination decline Potentially beneficial physiological state characterized by suppression of bodily arousal However, this also comes through with relaxation techniques….

LONG-TERM BENEFITS Reduces the effects of stress Lowers stress hormones Enhanced immune response Reduces anxiety and drug abuse Blood pressure Sense of control Increased creativity and intelligence in high school students Seem too good to be true? Many mediation studies are not done with rigorous research design SO- mediation is a potentially worthwhile relaxation strategies but with a healthy amount of skepticism