MAY 2006, VOLUME 34, NUMBER 1, Abstract 8
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM ABSTRACTS OF THE 35TH ANNUAL CONGRESS OF THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF HYPNOSIS, NEW SOUTH WALES, SEPTEMBER 2005
Keynote Address
Hypnosis: Expect the Unexpected
Michael R. Nash, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Explaining the genesis of stable individual differences in hypnotic responding is arguably the most fundamental undertaking of any scientific theory of hypnosis. Expectationists contend that the extent to which an individual responds to hypnosis depends mostly, or even entirely, on self-expectations. On the other hand,aptitude-centred theorists posit that stable individual differences in hypnotic performance reflect the direct and substantial operation of a latent cognitive ability. I discuss these literatures in light of a new study that tracked expectations over time and used a structural equation modelling analysis to test the expectationist and aptitude-centred positions. I conclude that, for the most part, first-time hypnotic subjects must expect the unexpected.