The effect of posthypnotic suggestion, hypnotic suggestibility, and goal intentions on adherence.

The effects of implementation intentions and posthypnotic suggestion were investigated in 2 studies. In Experiment 1, participants with high levels of hypnotic suggestibility were instructed to take placebo pills as part of an investigation of how to best enhance compliance with medical instruction. In Experiment 2, participants with high, medium, and low levels of hypnotic suggestibility were asked to run in place, take their pulse rate before, and send an e-mail report to the experimenter each day. Experiment 1 revealed enhanced adherence as a function of both implementation intentions and posthypnotic suggestion. Experiment 2 failed to find any significant main effects but found a significant interaction between suggestibility and the effects of posthypnotic suggestion. Posthypnotic suggestion enhanced adherence among high suggestible participants but lowered it among low suggestibles.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2008 Apr;56(2):143-55. Carvalho C, Mazzoni G, Kirsch I, Meo M, Santandrea M. Higher Institute of Applied Psychology, Lisbon, Portugal. Claudia.carvalho@ispa.pt