PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5.2: Prefrontal Cortex, Amygdala, Brainstem
Document Summary
Hypnosis a procedure of including a heightened state of suggestibility. According to this definition, hypnosis is not a trance, as is often portrayed in the popular media. The word hypnosis comes from the greek hypno, meaning sleep . Dissociation theory explains hypnosis as a unique state in which consciousness is divided into two parts: an observer and hidden observer. There is, however, a hidden observer paying attention to the task. During hypnosis, a similar split occurs between automatic (observer and executive (hidden observer) processing. Social-cognitive theory explains hypnosis by emphasizing the degree to which beliefs and expectations contribute to increased suggestibility. This perspective is supported by experiments in which individuals are told either they will be able to resist. Ideomotor suggestions or that they will not to be able resist them. In these studies, people tend to conform to what they have been told to expect a result that cannot be easily explained by dissociation theory.
