Expectancies and hypnotic responsiveness: an experimental-design flaw revealed.

Recent research suggests that expectancies about being hypnotized have a determinant role in the hypnotic experience. The authors analyzed the relationship between expectancies and the phenomenology of hypnosis using the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory and Hypnotic Assessment Procedure. Participants (115) were assigned either to the imagination (hypnosis labeled as imagination) or the hypnosis conditions. Results revealed only a minor influence of expectancies and none on the label "hypnosis" across all variables. These findings indicate that the methodology commonly used to study the influence of expectancies on hypnotic responsiveness and phenomenology might represent a flaw in favor of a causal relationship between expectancies and hypnotic experience.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2015;63(2):129-43. doi: 10.1080/00207144.2014.1002713. Tomé Pires C1, Ludeña MA, Lopes Pires C.