Classical Conditioning of “Hypnotic” Arm Movement

Abstract

According to a classical conditioning view of hypnosis, responses used as criteria of hypnosis should develop via classical conditioning without the necessity for hypnotic induction. This hypothesis was tested by having experimental subjects first experience one trigram (e.g., “bex”) in conjunction with heavy objects and another trigram (e.g., “pob”) in conjunction with light objects. Control subjects had the trigrams associated with rough and smooth tactual stimuli in a random manner. The test for conditioning was an adaptation of standard arm lowering and levitation procedures. During the test, the subject was instructed to imagine one trigram in the left hand and the other trigram in the right hand. Objective bilateral arm movement in the conditioned direction, subjective reports of feelings of heaviness and lightness, and qualitative characteristics of experimental subjects’ behavior led to the conclusion that hypnotic behavior was conditioned to the trigram.