Subject 5 - Correlates with Hypnotic Ability

Question 1

What things are NOT correlated with hypnotizability?

Answer 1

1. personality
2. intelligence, gender, age, race
3. agreeableness, gullibility, social desirability

Question 2

Which cognitive styles are positively related to hypnotizability?

Answer 2

1. absorption
2. dissociation
3. imagery and imagic thinking
4. fantasy proneness
5. paranormal experiences
6. dream control

Question 3

What is absorption?

Answer 3

The ability to focus attention (ex. reading a book and not noticing how much time has passed)

Question 4

What is dissociation?

Answer 4

Ability to focus such that your subjective experiences change

Question 5

What is imagic thinking?

Answer 5

The ability to vividly imagine something

• is applicable to all of the senses (ex. some people can see a rose, others can smell it
• the more complex, the more it relates only to highly hypnotizable people

Question 6

What is an anomalous experience?

Answer 6

Normal, but unusual (ex. deja vu)

Question 7

What is fantasy proneness?

Answer 7

How likely you are to jump into fantasy

- is an aspect of storytelling

Question 8

What are paranormal experiences? How are they related to hypnotizability?

Answer 8

Experiencing the out of ordinary

- people who are highly hypnotizable are more likely to experience the paranormal

Question 9

What is hedonia? How is it related to hypnotizability?

Answer 9

The tendency to appreciate pleasure; people who are highly hedonistic are more likely to be hypnotized

Question 10

What is dream control? How is it related to to hypnotizability?

Answer 10

Controlling dreaming; people who can easily control their dreams are highly hypnotizable
- has an element of dissociation to it

Question 11

Is dream control the same thing as lucid dreaming?

Answer 11

No; lucid dreamers know they are dreaming

Question 12

Which anatomical features are linked to high hypnotizability?

Answer 12

• men have fewer connections in the corpus callosum

- anterior corpus callosum is thicker in higher hypnotizable people

Question 13

What are the two ways of examining the attentional system between high and low hypnotizable people?

Answer 13

1. experimental (physical differences)

2. usage of attention system

Question 14

How do highly hypnotizable people differ in their attentional systems?

Answer 14

They seem to process information differently

- they show more automaticity and faster frontal lobe processing (they perform poorer on the Stroop test)

Question 15

What does alerting in the attentional system refer to?

Answer 15

A change in a person’s internal state in preparation to perceive a stimulus

Question 16

What does orienting in the attentional system refer to?

Answer 16

Directs attention to sensory objects

Question 17

What does selecting in the attentional system refer to?

Answer 17

Choosing among conflicting actions

Question 18

What is automaticity?

Answer 18

Attentional processes that are fast and require minimal attentional resources

Question 19

What is the stroop effect?

Answer 19

The inability to name the colour of the word (ex. red but written in blue ink)

Question 20

What are the socio-cognitive correlations with high hypnotizability?

Answer 20

• beliefs
• attitudes
• expectations
• motivation

Question 21

How do socio-cognitive and cognitive factors interact?

Answer 21

They interact to produce a higher hypnotic response, but also interact with everyday situations (ex. psychopathologies and creativity)

Question 22

Can hypnotizability change?

Answer 22

No, it seems to be immune to change

Question 23

Are there genetic links to hypnotizability?

Answer 23

Yes; the COMT gene relates to hypnotizability through its role in the executive functions in prefrontal cortex and working memory