HYPNOSIS What? A social interaction in which the subject responds to another person’s (the hypnotist’s) suggestions regarding certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, and/or behaviors (a heightened state of suggestibility)

HYPNOSIS How? A hypnotic induction can proceed in various ways and may involve the soft-spoken, repetitive, suggestion that the subject is relaxing, feeling tired or drowsy, breathing is deep, and the eyelids/limbs are growing heavy

HYPNOSIS Who? People vary in their hypnotic susceptibility, which can be measured using standardized susceptibility scales, but about 10-20% are highly hypnotizable and the same %s are not

CAN HYPNOSIS RELIEVE PAIN? Yes! Hypnosis is used effectively by physicians and dentists as an alternative for anesthesia (10% of hypnotizable people can have surgery w/o any anesthetic drugs) → typical explanations for reduced pain such as relaxation, placebos and endorphins appear to play no part

CAN HYPNOSIS ENHANCE MEMORY RECALL? Hypnotically recalled memories generally combine fact and fiction (remember, not all memories are permanently encoded); pseudomemories can be ‘planted’ by the hypnotist → hypnosis-induced evidence is not allowed in court

CAN HYPNOSIS LEAD PEOPLE TO DO THINGS AGAINST THEIR WILL/BECOME DISINHIBITED? Hypnotized people have indeed been coerced into doing dangerous/otherwise unacceptable things (throwing ‘acid’ into the hypnotist’s face) → unhypnotized control groups in lab settings have perform the same acts as the hypnotized experimental group

CAN POSTHYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS WORK? Subjects told that they will forget that they were hypnotized – posthypnotic amnesia – admit to remembering → posthypnotic suggestions have been successful in treating headaches, stress-related skin disorders, and obesity, but causal relationships haven’t been established

IS HYPNOSIS ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS?: TWO THEORIES NO says the social influence/role-playing theory: there is no measurable change in brain-wave activity involved with hypnosis → subjects play their roles like actors according to social expectations as long as they like and trust the hypnotist → this is supported by nonhypnotized subjects performing similar acts

IS HYPNOSIS ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS?: TWO THEORIES YES says the divided-consciousness theory: certain distinctive brain activities may accompany hypnosis → hypnotized subjects sometimes carry out suggested behaviors when they think noone is watching…and then there is that bit about pain…

IS HYPNOSIS ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS?: TWO THEORIES → Ernest Hilgard proposed the idea of disassociation, a split in consciousness allowing different layers to occur simultaneously, to explain pain-tolerance specifically and hypnosis in general

MEDITATION Meditation involves a deliberate effort to alter consciousness using a variety of techniques that may or may not have religious significance → open monitoring meditation involves remaining open and attentive to whatever arises in your consciousness from moment to moment w/o latching on to it

MEDITATION → focused attention meditation involves concentrating on something specific (your breath, a mantra, etc.) in order to remove the ‘clutter’ in the mind

MEDITATION Meditation does involve changes in brain wave activity as well as both short-term (decreased state of arousal) and long-term (reduced stress, blood pressure, etc.; increased self-esteem, awareness, etc.) benefits → the verdict is out if these results are meditation-specific or common to any type of relaxation technique

DRUGS People want to alter their consciousness and imbibing the chemical substances in psychoactive drugs are a commonly used and abused method → drug use and effect are based on a multitude of factors that vary from person to person, situation to situation, and culture to culture

DRUGS Drug effect are based on both multifactorial causation and subjectivity of experience: age, mood, experience, body weight, dosage, potency, environment, expectations all contribute to the impact of drug use → different drugs also vary in the rate in which tolerance – diminishing effect of a drug, thus requiring larger doses – is produced

DRUGS In general, psychoactive drugs work by manipulating specific neurotransmitter action in the synaptic clefts in the brain → the increased release of dopamine in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway - the so-called “reward pathway” – is consistent with most drug use and abuse

DRUG DEPENDENCE AND RISK People can and do become addicted to drugs physically – avoid withdrawal symptoms - and/or psychologically to satisfy cravings → like most aspects of drug use, withdrawal symptoms from physical and psychological addiction vary, but for both they can be intense and powerful

DRUG DEPENDENCE AND RISK Drug use comes with the risks of long-term physiological effects, indirect behavior-related problems, and the potential for overdose → overdose risk is greatest among sedatives, narcotics and alcohol; in particular, combinations of these and/or other drugs