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Toward a scientifically based understanding of Milton H. Erickson's strategies and tactics: Hypnosis, response sets and common factors in psychotherapy
Abstract
This article updates and extends earlier efforts (e.g. Sherman and Lynn, 1990; Lynn and Sherman, 2000) to characterize Erickson's work on the basis of the scientific literature and Kirsch and Lynn's (see Kirsch and Lynn, 1998) response set theory. It identifies therapeutic mechanisms and learning processes inherent in Erickson's work that constitute ‘common factors’ potentially responsible for the effectiveness of diverse psychotherapeutic and hypnotherapeutic approaches. We argue that many of Erickson's creative techniques were effective in establishing a strong therapeutic alliance and engendering, fortifying and maintaining positive response sets while removing impediments to the automatic activation of positive response sets and altering or deautomatizing maladaptive response sets. Copyright © 2004 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis
... While clearly there has been debate and conjecture on an Ericksonian model or theory of treatment (Mathews, Lankton, & Lankton, 1993) and much conceptual speculation, there is also a more formal research or scientifically based understanding regarding Ericksonian treatment (Lynn & Hallquist, 2004;Lynn & Sherman, 2000;Kirsch, 1999;Sherman & Lynn, 1990). This research has emphasized more general psychological principles that can be seen as the forbearers to the concept of evidence-based practice generally (Norcross, Beutler, & Levant, 2006) and strategic eclecticism in particular. ...
... Kirsch (1999), in fact, outlines 10 research-established actions or behaviors by a therapist that not only enhance outcome, but also reflect what most would accept as Ericksonian principles. Finally, in direct support of the concept of strategic eclecticism in hypnosis, Lynn and Hallquist (2004) reiterate the link between Erickson and the sociocognitive literature on response and expectancy. They suggest that Ericksonian practice represents a clinical posture both rising from and focused upon the common factors inherent in any effective psychotherapeutic or hypnotherapeutic treatment (creating a positive response set, lowering resistance, raising hope, etc.). ...
... Erikson's action has much less to do with the dubious status of indirect suggestion (Lynn et al., 1993) than it does with directional intention. We can return to Kirsch (1999) and others (Lynn & Hallquist, 2004) to ground Ericksonian or strategic eclectic treatment in sound research-based principles of change. The issues of response set (Kirsch & Lynn 1998), therapeutic alliance (Norcross, 2002), simplicity (Gollwitzer, 1999), altering expectancy (Lynn & Sherman, 2000), and direct, collaborative engagement (Beutler & Hardwood, 2000) can all be inferred in this vignette, and others of similar kind. ...
Hypnosis is attempting to come to grips with the EST (Empirically Supported Therapy) revolution in mental health practice. However, there are ways to account for outcome outside of simple empirical validation of treatment models. In this light, strategic eclecticism as a broader research-based consideration is used to illustrate empirical principles within Eriksonian hypnotherapeutic approaches.
... Virtually the entire academic fraternity and research community do not adhere to the notion of hypnosis being trance or the unconscious mind as being a vast storehouse of memories and wisdom. 1,2,3 These non-evidence-based statements are not a valid explanation of what is going on in hypnosis. They create a barrier of misunderstanding that prevents dental professionals from utilising the very valuable tool of hypnosis to manage anxiety and stress not only in clinical situations, but for themselves in the very physical and mental demanding profession that is dentistry. ...
... This mental state enhances openness to the input of suggestions to use the imagination in order to experience changes in emotions, beliefs, physical sensations, attitudes and behaviours. 2 People routinely enter conditions of experiential absorption, focus, and dissociated hypnosis can enable the patient's 'The dental practitioner utilising therapeutic influence to take place.' subjective experience to be altered and hypnosis is essentially a way of organising therapeutic communications to best fit the patient's individual needs, using words and gestures selectively in order to arrive at a positive outcome for the patient -which is a positive outcome for any dental professional. Good dental practice is communication and interpersonal influence, and that is precisely where hypnosis comes in. ...
... · ¿Cómo imaginarías que sería tu vida si el problema que sos enes hace tantos años dejara de exis r, que cosas nuevas harías o podrías hacer? Preguntas de imaginación: se basan en la intervención u lizada por Milton Erickson en la cual por medio de preguntas colocaba al paciente en la situación de maximizar el problema o de correrlo e imaginar la situación deseada o de minimizarlo (Erickson, 1980;Lynn & Hallquist, 2004). Podría tanto aumentar o incrementar el problema o hasta hacerlo desaparecer y preguntar que imagine como sería su vida de las dos maneras, ya que la única que conoce es la actual. ...
... Preguntas priming: Erickson u lizaba el priming para acvar el cambio generando interpretaciones al introducir ideas y ejemplos en un momento temprano en la sesión de psicoterapia para lo cual le pedía al paciente que más tarde pensará en ello (Lynn & Hallquist, 2004). Solía realizar algunas preguntas en los primeros minutos de la sesión solicitando que no la respondiera hasta más tarde. ...
p class="BodyAA"> Antecedentes: la pregunta es un instrumento esencial de la comunicación humana. No solamente porque las respuestas introducen información en los sistemas, sino porque constituyen un verdadero gatillo estratégico en la psicoterapia. Método: estudio teórico. Resultados y conclusiones: el artículo explora la teoría del arte de preguntar y la técnica del hablar el lenguaje del paciente como maniobra que sostiene la forma en que se ejecuta la pregunta. Intenta, además, reunir una tipología de preguntas que fueron recabadas en la práctica clínica de diferentes terapeutas. De ninguna manera son todos los tipos de preguntas que se clasificaron, sino que es un trabajo original, pensado desde el paradigma sistémico y el modelo sistémico estratégico en psicoterapia, que posibilita sistematizar numerosas preguntas que se encuentran solamente a merced de la creatividad y la espontaneidad del terapeuta.</p
... In addition, the hypnotherapist's ability to appropriately tie suggestions to feedback of observed responses has an effect on patient confidence in the hypnosis methods. Patient consent is essential to the process, as is their commitment to change and their resolve to work on their skills between sessions [4]. In-office hypnotherapy was performed by a nurse practitioner trained through basic and advanced courses through the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, Education and Research Foundation. ...
... Control groups are usually lacking in published studies on 1. Therapist introduces self to child and parent 2. Assessment of the problem 3. Assessment of motivation and verbal agreement to attend several follow-up sessions and to practice selfhypnosis techniques at home. 4. Explanation and performance of the induction and relaxation phases using deep breathing techniques and visual imagery. ...
... Tak hipnotični spekter je možno utemeljiti tudi s pomočjo teorije t. i. »skupnih dejavnikov« (Messer in Wampold, 2006;Amundson, Alladin in Gil, 2003;Lynn in Hallquist, 2004;Amundson in Nuttgens, 2008;Možina, 2020a) in »kontekstualnega modela« (Wampold in Imel, 2015), ki poudarjata, kako je za uporabo katerekoli psihoterapevtske metode ali tehnike (ki sama prispeva k izidu terapije relativno malo v primerjavi z drugimi skupnimi dejavniki) ključno, kdo jo izvaja. Načinov uporabe hipnoze je toliko, kolikor je psihoterapevtov, saj jo lahko tako v praktičnem kot teoretičnem smislu vsak prilagodi svoji usmeritvi, pa naj bo psihoanalitična, KVT, sistemska, integrativna itn., predvsem pa potrebam vsakega klienta. ...
Vsak človek je enkraten. Zato moramo psihoterapijo prikrojiti enkratnosti posameznikovih potreb, ne pa ga skušati stlačiti v Prokrustovo posteljo hipotetičnih teorij o človeškem vedenju.« Milton H. Erickson (v Zeig in Gilligan, 1990, str. xix) 1 UVOD: OD HIPNOZE PREKO HIPNOTERAPIJE DO HIPNOPSIHOTERAPIJE 1.1. »Nočem. da bi me bolelo«: primer hipnopsihoterapije Miltona H. Ericksona Ker je bil psihiater in psihoterapevt Milton Hyland Erickson (1901-1980) najpomembnejši inovator na področju uporabe hipnoze v terapevtske namene v njeni celotni zgodovini (Haley, 2022; Možina, 2022), začenjam s kratkim prikazom primera iz njegove prakse. Ericksona so prosili, naj pomaga ženski, ki je zbolela za rakom in trpela skrajno hude bolečine. Metastaze so se razširile v pljuča ter po kolkih in medenici. Tudi morfij in drugi narkotiki niso zalegli, da bi ji ublažili neznosne bolečine. Ko je Erickson skupaj z lečečim zdravnikom vstopil v Cathyjino sobo, je začela s trpečim glasom ponavljati dva stavka: »Nočem, da bi me bolelo. Nočem, da me preplašite. Nočem, da bi me bolelo. Nočem, da me preplašite…« Stara je bila samo šestintrideset let in je imela tri otroke, najstarejši je dopolnil sedem let. Vedela je, da ji ostaja samo še par mesecev življenja. Erickson je takoj pritegnil njeno pozornost: »Ampak moralo vas bo boleti. Moral vas bom preplašiti. Moralo vas bo boleti. Moral vas bom preplašiti. Vendar samo malo.« Nato je Erickson Cathy sugeriral, naj ostane budna od vratu navzgor, medtem ko naj njeno telo zaspi. S prizvokom nujnosti v glasu ji je rekel: »Ne vem, zakaj. Ne vem, kaj to pomeni. Vendar vas mora začeti srbeti na podplatu.« Cathy, ki si je obupno želela olajšanje bolečine, se je sugestiji uprla: »Mi je žal, ampak ne morem razviti srbenja. Vse, kar lahko čutim, je odrevenelost pete.« Erickson je na vljuden način izrazil svoje obžalovanje, da ji ni uspelo razviti srbenja in ji nato sugeriral, naj se odrevenelost postopno razširi po celem stopalu, nogah, medenici in po možnosti do vratu. Ko se je občutek odrevenelosti povzpel do prsnega koša, je Erickson opazil: »Na mestu, kjer so vas operirali, je še vedno sveža rana. Mi je žal, ampak te bolečine ne morem odstraniti.« Cathy je sprejela njegovo obžalovanje in mu oprostila njegov »neuspeh«. Oba sta se strinjala, da je preostala bolečina dovolj majhna, da jo bo lahko prenašala. To srečanje je bilo konec februarja in do konca avgusta istega leta, ko je padla v komo in kmalu nato umrla, je bila večinoma brez bolečin. (Short, Erickson in Erickson, 2006, str. 63) 1 Tekst je bil objavljen kot poglavje v knjigi Možina, M. (2022). Hipnopsihoterapija. V N. Podgornik Pulec (ur.), Sodobne metode v psihoterapiji in energijski psihologiji (str. 127-191). Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodus in Trnava. 2 Mag. Miran Možina, dr. med., spec. psihiater in psihoterapevt, supervizor in učni terapevt, je direktor ter vodja izobraževanja iz sistemske psihoterapije in hipnopsihoterapije na ljubljanski podružnici Univerze Sigmunda Freuda z Dunaja (SFU Ljubljana). Je tudi strokovni vodja ambulante za otroke in mladostnike v okviru Psihoterapevtske ambulante SFU Ljubljana. Pri svojem kliničnem delu že 35 let uporablja hipnozo.
... In his work, Erickson assigned homework to patients requiring a great deal of effort. The homework should enhance commitment to therapeutic goals, but also show the patient that they have the skills to achieve what is expected (Lynn & Hallquist, 2004). This intervention focused on general therapeutic goals related to hypnosis, self-hypnosis learning, and risk factors for obesity (e.g., impulsive eating, stress). ...
The usefulness of hypnosis in patients with obesity needs to be better understood in terms of various outcomes, in addition to weight loss. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of hypnosis and self-hypnosis in combination with nutrition education for patients with obesity, as opposed to nutrition education alone, on the secondary outcomes of quality of life (QoL), coping strategies, and self-esteem within a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Eighty-two participants were included in this study (84.3% were women), with 41 in each group. Further, 70 participants had completed treatment. The intervention consisted of eight group sessions (about one every two weeks). Participants completed self-reported questionnaires assessing their QoL, coping strategies, and self-esteem (SF-36, CISS, SEI) before and after the intervention. Non-parametric analyses were performed. Both groups had comparable characteristics at inclusion (sociodemographic information, clinical information, and scores for the self-reported scales). At eight months (i.e. two months after intervention completion), patients from the hypnosis group used more task-oriented coping (p < .001), less emotion-oriented coping (p < .01) and distraction (p < .05), and had more energy/less fatigue (p < .001) compared to the group who did not undergo hypnosis. Other improvements were observed in the hypnosis group, but there were no significant differences compared with the non-hypnosis group in terms of QoL dimensions and general self-esteem. In conclusion, hypnosis and self-hypnosis in combination with nutrition education seem to be promising interventions to help patients deal with obesity, especially by improving their coping strategies.
... 58). Additionally, the authors claimed that the most effective aspect of any suggestion is that which stirs the listener's own associations and mental processes into automatic action and appreciated the fact that many everyday thoughts and actions are experienced as involuntary (Lynn & Hallquist, 2004). Conversely, Spanos (1986) claimed that an oppositional response set, and one to "just wait" passively for a response to occur are generally antithetical to successful responding. ...
Researchers and clinicians typically divide hypnosis into two distinct parts: the induction and the suggestions that follow. We suggest that this distinction is arbitrary and artificial. Different definitions of hypnosis ascribe different roles to the hypnotic induction, yet none clearly specifies the mechanisms that mediate or moderate subjective and behavioral responses to hypnotic suggestions. Researchers have identified few if any differences in responding across diverse hypnotic inductions, and surprisingly little research has focused on the specific ingredients that optimize responsiveness. From a sociocognitive perspective, we consider the role of inductions in the broader scheme of hypnosis and suggest that there is no clear line of demarcation between prehypnotic information, the induction, suggestions, and other constituents of the hypnotic context. We describe research efforts to maximize responses to hypnotic suggestions, which encompass the induction and other aspects of the broader hypnotic framework, and conclude with a call for more research on inductions and suggestions to better understand their role within hypnotic interventions in research and clinical contexts.
... Because the psychometric is also feeding back to the client their own reality, use of a psychometric quite early on in an intervention is an excellent way of establishing rapport and a strong therapeutic alliance. This would be especially relevant given that Wampold (as cited in Jay Lynn & Hallquist, 2004) believed such an alliance 'accounts for the largest proportion of systematic variance in psychotherapy outcome.' ...
Kanellakis, P. (2004) Guest Editorial: Introduction to the Special Edition. Special Edition on Counselling Psychology and Psychological Testing. Counselling Psychology Review, 19 (4), pp. 4-5
... Because the psychometric is also feeding back to the client their own reality, use of a psychometric quite early on in an intervention is an excellent way of establishing rapport and a strong therapeutic alliance. This would be especially relevant given that Wampold (as cited in Jay Lynn & Hallquist, 2004) believed such an alliance 'accounts for the largest proportion of systematic variance in psychotherapy outcome.' ...
This is a Special Edition of The Journal of The British Psychological Society, which is related to counselling psychology and psychology testing. This issue was published in 2004.
... Culturally based ideas about hypnosis as involving automatic or involuntary responses promote the inference that goal-directed occurrences are involuntary happenings (Lynn et al., 1990). According to response set theory (Kirsch & Lynn, 1997Lynn, 1997;Lynn & Hallquist, 2004), many actions apart from the hypnotic context, like those that emerge during hypnosis, flow effortlessly from response expectancies. Response expectancies elicit automatic responses in the form of self-fulfilling prophecies that are carried out efficiently with little conscious awareness. ...
... Culturally based ideas about hypnosis as involving automatic or involuntary responses promote the inference that goal-directed occurrences are involuntary happenings (Lynn et al., 1990). According to response set theory (Kirsch & Lynn, 1997Lynn, 1997;Lynn & Hallquist, 2004), many actions apart from the hypnotic context, like those that emerge during hypnosis, flow effortlessly from response expectancies. Response expectancies elicit automatic responses in the form of self-fulfilling prophecies that are carried out efficiently with little conscious awareness. ...
This article elucidates an integrative model of hypnosis that integrates social, cultural, cognitive, and neurophysiological variables at play both in and out of hypnosis and considers their dynamic interaction as determinants of the multifaceted experience of hypnosis. The roles of these variables are examined in the induction and suggestion stages of hypnosis, including how they are related to the experience of involuntariness, one of the hallmarks of hypnosis. It is suggested that studies of the modification of hypnotic suggestibility; cognitive flexibility; response sets and expectancies; the default-mode network; and the search for the neurophysiological correlates of hypnosis, more
broadly, in conjunction with research on social psychological variables, hold much promise to further understanding of hypnosis.
Keywords: attention, cognitive, core and process variables in hypnosis, expectancy, hypnosis, hypnotic suggestibility, induction, response set theory, socio-cognitive models, suggestion
... Culturally based ideas about hypnosis as involving automatic or involuntary responses promote the inference that goal-directed occurrences are involuntary happenings (Lynn et al., 1990). According to response set theory (Kirsch & Lynn, 1997Lynn, 1997;Lynn & Hallquist, 2004), many actions apart from the hypnotic context, like those that emerge during hypnosis, flow effortlessly from response expectancies. Response expectancies elicit automatic responses in the form of self-fulfilling prophecies that are carried out efficiently with little conscious awareness. ...
This article elucidates an integrative model of hypnosis that integrates social, cultural, cognitive, and neurophysiological variables at play both in and out of hypnosis and considers their dynamic interaction as determinants of the multifaceted experience of hypnosis. The roles of these variables are examined in the induction and suggestion stages of hypnosis, including how they are related to the experience of involuntariness, one of the hallmarks of hypnosis. It is suggested that studies of the modification of hypnotic suggestibility; cognitive flexibility; response sets and expectancies; the default-mode network; and the search for the neurophysiological correlates of hypnosis, more broadly, in conjunction with research on social psychological variables, hold much promise to further understanding of hypnosis.
Psychometrics are constructs within which we explain behaviour. Rather than being used in a prescriptive way, when they can become self-fulfilling prophesies, and seal clients into single loop learning, they can more effectively be used in an exploratory way to assist the client create their own language to explain their response set when norm referenced. Psychometrics are a useful tool, but can never replace the skill and art of being a good coach/counsellor. They can usefully be regarded as an entry point into the client’s phenomenal world, creating an effective counselling alliance, where the coach can then work with the client to move towards and eventually obtain agreed outcomes.
In this book leading scholars, researchers, and practitioners of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and other cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBTs) share their perspectives and empirical findings on the nature of rational and irrational beliefs, the role of beliefs as mediators of functional and dysfunctional emotions and behaviors, and clinical approaches to modifying irrational beliefs, enhancing rational beliefs, and adaptive coping in the face of stressful life events. Offering a cohesive approach to understanding REBT/CBT and its central constructs of rational and irrational beliefs, contributors review a steadily accumulating empirical literature indicating that irrational beliefs are associated with a wide range of problems in living and that exposure to rational self-statements can decrease anxiety and other psychological symptoms, and play a valuable role in health promotion and disease prevention. Contributors also identify new frontiers of research and theory, including the link between irrational beliefs and other cognitive processes such as memory, psychophysiological responses, and evolutionary and cultural determinants of rational and irrational beliefs.
The integration of principles and processes of the internal martial art of Tai Chi with mind-body hypnotherapy can facilitate expanded trust, deeper levels of safety, and new forms of comfort in the treatment of a variety of symptoms. This integration is facilitated by the utilization of creativity, the implied directive, and the principle of correspondence utilized in the set theory of Cantor. The main areas the integration incorporates are the utilization of time, space, motion, position, and the containment and transformation of resistance. The main areas in which trust is expanded include additional subsets of physiological resources and a trust in the capacity to reduce pressure. A number of Tai Chi principles and processes are discussed in terms of their relevance and application in the areas of containment, temporal dynamics, the expansion of trust in resources, the healing effects of refocusing, and the treatment of resistance.
Hypnosis: A Brief History crosses disciplinary boundaries to explain current advances and controversies surrounding the use of hypnosis through an exploration of the history of its development. examines the social and cultural contexts of the theories, development, and practice of hypnosis crosses disciplinary boundaries to explain current advances and controversies in hypnosis explores shifting beliefs about the nature of hypnosis investigates references to the apparent power of hypnosis over memory and personal identity.
Calls for the abandonment of manipulative and controlling marketing communication practices have become increasingly common in relationship- and service-orientated marketing theories. Scholars supporting such calls agree that the pursuit of communicative control should be replaced by a dialogical, negotiative orientation. However, there has been little thought given to how exactly dialogical marketing communication can practically reconcile itself with the issue of persuasion. In this article, I argue that a critical appraisal of the techniques of the clinical hypnotist and therapist Milton Erickson can provide marketers with a constructive framework with which to refashion their communicative roles and practices around the notion of a therapeutic, rhetorically grounded, marketing dialogue in which marketing stakeholders interweave dynamic narratives of value, which have the power to change other stakeholders and themselves. I also use the comparison with service-orientated marketing literature to point out certain weaknesses in the Ericksonian conception of the therapist/client dyad.
The contemporary perspective on altered states of conscious is surveyed as an introduction to commentaries on Kallio and Revonsuo's lead article in Contemporary Hypnosis(2003). It is noted that the study of consciousness, unconscious processing, and altered states of consciousness are central issues in neuroscience, heralding fresh approaches to the neuroscientific understanding of hypnosis. These include attempts to bring together new neurophysiological methods with phenomenological report. The alteration in hypnosis of anterior brain processes including the anterior cingulated cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are particularly productive areas of research. The lack of engagement with neuroscientific evidence from theorists with a purely social and cognitive orientation to hypnosis is noted, with examples provided from research on attention and relaxation. Unifying the field awaits active collaboration between scientists with neurophysiological and social orientations. Copyright © 2005 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis
This study examined the relative impact of hypnotic inductions and several other variables on hypnotic and nonhypnotic responsiveness to imaginative suggestions. The authors examined how imaginative suggestibility, response expectancies, motivation to respond to suggestions, and hypnotist-induced performance standards affected participants' responses to both hypnotic and nonhypnotic suggestions and their suggestion-related experiences. Suggestions were administered to 5 groups of participants using a test-retest design: (a) stringent performance standards; (b) lenient performance standards; (c) hypnosis test-retest; (d) no-hypnosis test-retest; and (e) no-hypnosis/hypnosis control. The authors found no support for the influence of a hypnotic induction or performance standards on responding to suggestions but found considerable support for the role of imaginative suggestibility and response expectancies in predicting responses to both hypnotic and nonhypnotic suggestions.
In this introductory article to a special issue on the sociocognitive perspective of hypnosis, the authors contrast two influential hypnosis theories-the sociocognitive and dissociation perspectives-and argue that recent developments in sociocognitive theory (i.e., response set theory) and in the broader field of cognitive psychology pertaining to nonconscious information processing and goal-directed action make possible a rapprochement between theoretical accounts that have vied for attention and empirical support.
Over the past 30 years, mental health practitioners, encouraged by rigorous empirical studies and literature and meta-analytic reviews, have increasingly appreciated the ability of hypnosis to modulate attention, imagination, and motivation in the service of therapeutic goals. This article describes how hypnosis can be used as an adjunctive procedure in the treatment of depression and rumination symptoms, in particular. The focus is on attention-based treatments that include rumination-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive control training, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. The authors provide numerous examples of techniques and approaches that can potentially enhance treatment gains, including a hypnotic induction to facilitate mindfulness and to motivate mindfulness practice. Although hypnosis appears to be a promising catalyst of attention and mindfulness, research is required to document the incremental value of adding hypnosis to the treatments reviewed.
This article will provide an examination of Erickson's model of hypnosis and the impact hypnosis has made on the psychosocial well being of the medically ill patient. The intrinsic three stage process of a hypnotic intervention, as well as its value, practice assumptions, and its relevance to alleviating pain, distress, and anxiety with oncology patients will be discussed. We have found this approach to be particularly effective with adult oncology patients at alleviating the side effects of the arduous treatment that is often endured. Case vignettes will demonstrate the benefits of utilizing this intervention with adult patients in the hospital setting as well as provide specific insight into the creative methods in which we have woven hypnosis into our clinical work. Finally, we will explore the use and rationale of hypnosis in medical settings and the impact of using this intervention on the role of the hospital social worker.
The authors propose that hypnosis and mindfulness-based approaches can be used in tandem to create adaptive response sets and to deautomatize maladaptive response sets. They summarize recent research on the effectiveness of mindfulness-based approaches in clinical and nonclinical contexts and propose that the cognitive underpinnings of mindfulness approaches can be conceptualized in terms of the metacognitive basis of mindful attention, Toneatto's elucidation of the Buddhist perspective on cognition, and Kirsch and Lynn's response-set theory. They also suggest that mindfulness can serve as a template for generating an array of suggestions that provides cognitive strategies to contend with problems in living and to ameliorate stress and negative affect more generally. Many of the ideas the authors advance are speculative and are intended to spur additional research and clinical work.
In a first experiment, subjects verbalizing the stream of consciousness for a 5-min period were asked to try not to think of a white bear, but to ring a bell in case they did. As indicated both by mentions and by bell rings, they were unable to suppress the thought as instructed. On being asked after this suppression task to think about the white bear for a 5-min period, these subjects showed significantly more tokens of thought about the bear than did subjects who were asked to think about a white bear from the outset. These observations suggest that attempted thought suppression has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy, perhaps even producing the very obsession or preoccupation that it is directed against. A second experiment replicated these findings and showed that subjects given a specific thought to use as a distracter during suppression were less likely to exhibit later preoccupation with the thought to be suppressed.
This research supported the hypothesis that hypnosis can be thought of as a set of potentially modifiable social-cognitive skills and attitudes. A low-interpersonal-training treatment devised by Gorassini and Spanos (1986) was compared with a treatment designed to modify not only cognitive factors but also to augment rapport with the trainer and diminish resistance to responding (high-interpersonal training). Fifty percent of the initially unhypnotizable subjects in the high-interpersonal condition tested as being highly susceptible to hypnosis (high susceptibles) at posttest on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (Shor & Orne, 1962); 25% of the unhypnotizable subjects in the low-interpersonal condition responded comparably. Eighty-three percent of the medium-susceptibility (medium susceptibles) subjects tested as being highly susceptible at posttest in both conditions. Practice-alone control subjects' performance was stable across testings. The study was the first to demonstrate that treatment gains generalize to a battery of novel, demanding suggestions (generalization index) that have been found to differentiate highly susceptible subjects from unhypnotizable simulating subjects. The importance of rapport was evidenced by the finding that rapport ratings paralleled group differences in hypnotic responding and that rapport correlated substantially with susceptibility scores at posttest and with the generalization index. Whereas initial hypnotizability scores correlated significantly with retest susceptibility scores, initial hypnotizability failed to correlate significantly with the generalization index.
Fantasy realization theory states that when people contrast their fantasies about a desired future with reflections on present reality, a necessity to act is induced that leads to the activation and use of relevant expectations. Strong goal commitment arises in light of favorable expectations, and weak goal commitment arises in light of unfavorable expectations. To the contrary, when people only fantasize about a desired future or only reflect on present reality, expectancy-independent moderate goal commitment emerges. Four experiments pertaining to various life domains supported these hypotheses. Strength of goal commitment was assessed in cognitive (e.g., making plans), affective (e.g., felt attachment), and behavioral terms (e.g., effort expenditure, quality of performance). Implications for theories on goal setting and goal striving are discussed.
Previous research in the domain of attitude change has described 2 primary dimensions of thinking that impact persuasion processes and outcomes: the extent (amount) of thinking and the direction (valence) of issue-relevant thought. The authors examined the possibility that another, more meta-cognitive aspect of thinking is also important - the degree of confidence people have in their own thoughts. Four studies test the notion that thought confidence affects the extent of persuasion. When positive thoughts dominate in response to a message, increasing confidence in those thoughts increases persuasion, but when negative thoughts dominate, increasing confidence decreases persuasion. In addition, using self-reported and manipulated thought confidence in separate studies, the authors provide evidence that the magnitude of the attitude-thought relationship depends on the confidence people have in their thoughts. Finally, the authors also show that these self-validation effects are most likely in situations that foster high amounts of information processing activity.
Three meta-analyses have been conducted on the foot-in-the-door literature and two on the door-in-the-face. This article presents a qualitative comparison and synthesis of those quantitative reviews. First, an overview of the findings is presented. Next, two recent attempts to develop a theoretical perspective that accounts for both request sequences are examined. Finally, attention is given to questions that are as yet unresolved.
When people encounter problems in translating their goals into action (e.g., failing to get started, becoming distracted, or falling into bad habits), they may strategically call on automatic processes in an attempt to secure goal attainment. This can be achieved by plans in the form of implementation intentions that link anticipated critical situations to goal-directed responses ("Whenever situation
x arises, I will initiate the goal-directed response
y!"). Implementation intentions delegate the control of goal-directed responses to anticipated situational cues, which (when actually encountered) elicit these responses automatically. A program of research demonstrates that implementation intentions further the attainment of goals, and it reveals the underlying processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This research was designed to extend earlier research by K. McConkey and P. W. Sheehan (1976) by testing 24 hypnotizable and 21 unhypnotizable Ss, prescreened with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, in high interpersonal/high rapport and low interpersonal/low rapport testing contexts. Overall, hypnotizable Ss were more responsive to hypnosis, rated the hypnotist more positively, and experienced greater involuntariness and archaic involvement than unhypnotizable Ss. However, the results provided support for the hypothesis that low hypnotizable Ss are particularly sensitive to variations of the hypnotist's interpersonal behavior. Although Ss' perceptions of the hypnotist were successfully manipulated, only low hypnotizable Ss' objective and subjective hypnotic performance on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale was enhanced by hypnotist behavior designed to optimize rapport. Hypnotizable Ss' behavior was stable across testing contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Factors that influence client outcome can be divided into four areas: extratherapeutic factors, expectancy effects, specific therapy techniques, and common factors. Common factors such as empathy, warmth, and the therapeutic relationship have been shown to correlate more highly with client outcome than specialized treatment interventions. The common factors most frequently studied have been the person-centered facilitative conditions (empathy, warmth, congruence) and the therapeutic alliance. Decades of research indicate that the provision of therapy is an interpersonal process in which a main curative component is the nature of the therapeutic relationship. Clinicians must remember that this is the foundation of our efforts to help others. The improvement of psychotherapy may best be accomplished by learning to improve one's ability to relate to clients and tailoring that relationship to individual clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The efficacy of cognitive therapy was examined for 70 depressed private practice patients. Although these patients had a broader range of psychopathology than patients in controlled outcome studies of cognitive therapy, they had comparably large reductions in Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores. Patients who completed treatment had an average reduction in BDI scores of 65.5%. Initial BDI scores, endogenous symptoms, compliance with homework, and the interaction between homework and initial BDI scores were statistically significant predictors of end-of-treatment BDI scores. The squared correlation between the observed end-of-treatment BDI scores and the estimated expected value was .81. Controlling for other factors, patients who did homework improved three times as much as those who did not. The effect of homework was substantially larger for patients with high initial BDI scores; thus, studies that include only patients with high initial BDI scores may overstate the importance of homework on a general population. In spite of significant improvement, 50% of patients terminated treatment prematurely, premature termination was most likely in patients with personality disorders, high initial BDI scores, and no endogeneous symptoms.
This article introduces the special issue of Psychotherapy devoted to evidence-based therapy relationship elements and traces the work of the interdivisional task force that supported it. The dual aims of the task force are to identify elements of effective therapy relationships (what works in general) and to identify effective methods of adapting or tailoring treatment to the individual patient (what works in particular). The authors review the structure of the subsequent articles in the issue and the multiple meta-analyses examining the association of a particular relationship element to psychotherapy outcome. The centrality of the therapy relationship, its interdependence with treatment methods, and potential limitations of the task force work are all highlighted. The immediate purpose of the journal issue is to summarize the best available research and clinical practices on numerous elements of the therapy relationship, but the underlying purpose is to repair some of the damage incurred by the culture wars in psychotherapy and to promote rapprochement between the science and practice communities.
This research supported the hypothesis that hypnosis can be thought of as a set of potentially modifiable social-cognitive skills and attitudes. A low-interpersonal-training treatment devised by Gorassini and Spanos (1986) was compared with a treatment designed to modify not only cognitive factors but also to augment rapport with the trainer and diminish resistance to responding (high-interpersonal training). Fifty percent of the initially unhypnotizable subjects in the high-interpersonal condition tested as being highly susceptible to hypnosis (high susceptibles) at posttest on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (Shor & Orne, 1962); 25% of the unhypnotizable subjects in the low-interpersonal condition responded comparably. Eighty-three percent of the medium-susceptibility (medium susceptibles) subjects tested as being highly susceptible at posttest in both conditions. Practice-alone control subjects' performance was stable across testings. The study was the first to demonstrate that treatment gains generalize to a battery of novel, demanding suggestions (generalization index) that have been found to differentiate highly susceptible subjects from unhypnotizable simulating subjects. The importance of rapport was evidenced by the finding that rapport ratings paralleled group differences in hypnotic responding and that rapport correlated substantially with susceptibility scores at posttest and with the generalization index. Whereas initial hypnotizability scores correlated significantly with retest susceptibility scores, initial hypnotizability failed to correlate significantly with the generalization index.
A theory was proposed to reconcile paradoxical findings on the invariance of personality and the variability of behavior across situations. For this purpose, individuals were assumed to differ in (a) the accessibility of cognitive-affective mediating units (such as encodings, expectancies and beliefs, affects, and goals) and (b) the organization of relationships through which these units interact with each other and with psychological features of situations. The theory accounts for individual differences in predictable patterns of variability across situations (e.g., if A then she X, but if B then she Y), as well as for overall average levels of behavior, as essential expressions or behavioral signatures of the same underlying personality system. Situations, personality dispositions, dynamics, and structure were reconceptualized from this perspective.
Strupp & Hadley (1979) compared the performance of professional therapists (Ts) with a group of college professors (ATs) in time-limited psychotherapy. Because of their specific technical skills, Ts were hypothesized to achieve superior treatment outcomes. Although the group results did not support this hypothesis, further analyses cast new light on this finding. The study is being revisited in an effort to correct misapprehensions created by the earlier results.
This study rested the idea of habits as a form of goal-directed automatic behavior. Expanding on the idea that habits are mentally represented as associations between goals and actions, it was proposed that goals are capable of activating the habitual action. More specific, when habits are established (e.g., frequent cycling to the university), the very activation of the goal to act (e.g., having to attend lectures at the university) automatically evokes the habitual response (e.g., bicycle). Indeed, it was tested and confirmed that, when behavior is habitual, behavioral responses are activated automatically. in addition, the results of 3 experiments indicated that (a) the automaticity in habits is conditional on the presence of an active goal (cf. goal-dependent automaticity; J. A. Bargh, 1989), supporting the idea that habits are mentally represented as goal-action links, and (b) the formation of implementation intentions (i.e., the creation of a strong mental link between a goal and action) may simulate goal-directed automaticity in habits.
If cognitive science is to make a useful contribution to the safety and efficiency of future technological systems, it must be able to offer designers some workable generalizations regarding the information-handling characteristics of a system’s human participants (see Card, Moran, & Newell, 1983). This chapter explores the generality of one such approximation:
When cognitive operations are under specified, they tend to default to contextually appropriate, high-frequency responses.
From initial consultation to termination of treatment, psychologists and other mental health practitioners make a series of crucial decisions to determine the progress and therapy of the patient. These decisions have varied implications such as the clinical course of the patient, the efficacy and efficiency of the treatment, and the cost of the sessions. Thus, the decisions made by mental health professionals need to be accurate and consistent, respecting a series of guidelines that will ultimately benefit the patient. This is the first in a series of guidebooks that is designed to do just that by providing practitioners with some structure in the development of treatment programs. Previous guidelines have been based on consensus panels of experts or on the opinions of membership groups, causing guidelines to be very far off from the findings of empirical research. Here, guidelines are presented in terms of treatment principles rather than in terms of specific treatment models or theories, and they do not favour one theory of psychotherapy over another. Instead, they define strategies and considerations that can be woven into comprehensive treatment programmes.
automated social cognitive processes categorize, evaluate, and impute the meanings of behavior and other social information, and this input is then ready for use by conscious and controlled judgment and decision processes / review . . . the literature on automaticity in social cognition] / discuss the research in terms of its relevance for the] issues of awareness, intentionality, efficiency, and control (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)(chapter)
The theory of ironic processes of mental control holds that both the most and the least desired effects of attempts to control one's own mental states accrue from two processes: an intentional operating process (a conscious, effortful search for mental contents that will produce a desired state of mind) and an ironic monitoring process (an unconscious, automatic search for mental contents that signal a failure to produce the desired state of mind). Although the monitoring process usually functions just to activate the operating process, during stress, distraction, time urgency, or other mental load, the monitor's effects on mind can supersede those of the operator, producing the very state of mind that is least desired. An individual's attempts to gain mental control may thus precipitate the unwanted mental states they were intended to remedy.
Experiential avoidance is the attempt to escape or avoid certain private experiences, such as particular feelings, memories, behavioral predispositions, or thoughts. In this article, we discuss evidence that experiential avoidance is both pervasive and often harmful to human functioning. We argue that experiential avoidance can be explained by two verbal processes, and we provide basic behavioral evidence on both: the bidirectionality of derived stimulus relations in verbal humans and the insensitivity to the effects of reshy; sponding produced by verbal rules. If this analysis is correct, experiential avoidance is built into human language and thus can be undermined only with difficulty.
Strupp & Hadley (1979) compared the performance of professional therapists (Ts) with a group of college professors (ATs) in time-limited psychotherapy. Because of their specific technical skills, Ts were hypothesized to achieve superior treatment outcomes. Although the group results did not support this hypothesis, further analyses cast new light on this finding. The study is being revisited in an effort to correct misapprehensions created by the earlier results.Strupp & Hadley (1979) verglichen das Verhalten professioneller Therapeuten mit einer Gruppe von Collegeprofessoren in zeitlich begrenzten Psychotherapien. Es wurde damals vermutet, daß die Therapeuten aufgrund ihrer spezifischen technischen Fertigkeiten bessere Ergebnisse erzielen. Wenngleich damals die Gruppenvergleiche diese Hypothese nicht stützten, werfen weitere Analysen doch ein etwas anderes Licht auf diese Befunde. Die Studie wird hier neu bewertet, nicht zuletzt um Fehlinterpretationen, welche die ursprünglichen Ergebnisse nach sich zogen, zu korrigieren.Strupp & (1979) ont comparé la performance de thérapeutes professionnels (Ts) avec celled d'un groupe d'enseignants universitaires (Ats) dans des psychothérapies à durée. En raison de leurs compétences techniques spécifiques, les Ts étaient censés obtenir des résulats supérieurs. Les résultats n'not pas confirmé cette hypothése, mais une analyse approfondie apporte des éclaircissements nouveaux. L'étude est revue dans le but de corriger quelques malentendus suscités par les résultats prêédents. Strupp & Hadley (1979) compararon el comportamiento de terapeutas profesionales (Ts) con un grupo de profesores universitarios (ATs) respecto de psicoterapia de tiempo limitado. Debido a sus habilidad ténicas específicas, se formuló la hipótesis de que Ts alcanzaría resultados superiores en el tratamiento. Si bien los resultados grupales no apoyaron esta hipótesis, anélisis posteriores arrojaron nevas luz sobre este hallazgo. El estudio tiene como fin corregir errores de concepto creados por los resultados anteriores.
The effect of increasing the availability of cognitive scripts on social behavior was investigated in three studies. In Study I male subjects read either a story describing a "boy-meets-girl" encounter or a control story. Those who read the boy-meets-girl story subsequently behaved in a much friendlier manner toward a female confederate than those who had read the control story, i.e., they smiled more, talked more, leaned forward more, and gazed at the confederate more. Study 2 replicated Study 1, except that subjects rated their mood after reading the stories. As predicted there were no differences between the conditions in mood, indicating that mood changes were not responsible for the behavioral effects. However, the behavioral effects in Study 2 were very weak. Study 3 attempted to explain why the behavioral effects in Study 2 were so much weaker than in Study 1. When there was a short delay (M = 4 minutes) between the time subjects read the story and met the confederate, subjects were significantly less friendly than subjects who had interacted with the confederate immediately after reading the story. It was concluded that making scripts available in memory can have powerful effects on behavior, although these effects appear to be quite temporally limited.
A review of the literature on feedback delivered in small groups reveals there are many gaps in knowledge of the most effective ways for individuals to give and receive information about themselves and each other. The present study was designed to examine further this phenomenon. (Author)
Suggests that social-psychological principles can be used to understand M. H. Erickson's psychotherapeutic approach (Erickson and E. L. Rossi, 1979). In addition to using an array of indirect suggestive approaches, Erickson exploited clients' reactance, increased their perceptions of control and mastery, altered the accessibility of thoughts and memories, and modified thoughts and behaviors. To accomplish these therapeutic goals, Erickson used the following techniques: seeding, priming, confusion, script enactment, framing, explanation, and perspective modification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
review the problems that arise whenever one attempts to demonstrate perception without awareness based on a dissociation between a measure of awareness and a second measure of perception assumed to reflect unconsciously perceived information / the conclusion reached on the basis of this review is that traditional approaches based on the dissociation paradigm are probably doomed to continual controversy because of the inherent difficulties in demonstrating that any behavioral measure actually exhibits null sensitivity to all relevant conscious information
suggest an alternative approach / it is based on a behavioral measure that is assumed to reflect the magnitude of unconscious influences relative to conscious influences / this measure predicts qualitative differences in performance such that stimuli perceived without awareness lead to different consequences than stimuli perceived with awareness / in addition, quantitative predictions can also be made (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
major purpose of this chapter is to present a novel perspective on resistance—one that grows out of recent research and theorizing on self-verification processes / specifically, we suggest that out of a desire to make their worlds predictable and controllable, people strive to verify and sustain their self-views, even if those self-views are negative / devoted much of the chapter to a consideration of the implications of this assumption for the processes through which therapists strive to alter their clients' self-concepts
pleasure principle / self-defeating behavior and self-consistency strivings / self-verification theory / therapy: eluding the crossfire between self-enhancement and self-verification [changing specific self-conceptions, raising global self-esteem, making intrapsychic changes stick: the role of the social environment] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
if cognitive science is to make a useful contribution to the safety and efficiency of future technological systems, it must be able to offer designers some workable generalizations regarding the information-handling characteristics of a system's human participants / this chapter explores the generality of one such approximation: when cognitive operations are underspecified, they tend to default to contextually appropriate, high-frequency responses (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This book is the sequel to our Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis, in which we attempted to provide practitioners, researchers, and students with a survey of modem clinical hypnosis. Our goal was to present a diversity of viewpoints relevant to the science and practice of clinical hypnosis. We felt that such a book was necessary, given the explosion of interest in the scientific and clinical foundations of hypnosis that has occurred over the past decade or so--a trend legitimized by evidence that hypnosis can increase the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatments of a variety of disorders (Kirsch, Montgomery, & Sapirstein, 1995). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Assimilation and contrast effects in the placement of opinion items in a series and in the evaluation of the acceptability of such items are explained by principles derived from psychophysical studies of stimulus placement and the development of scales of judgment. The book contains a systematic survey of relevant psychophysical studies plus an analysis of several of the authors' recent experiments on the judgment of weights, opinion topics, and political parties. In addition to the argument that assimilation and contrast effects depend on the location of anchors employed by the judge in evaluating the stimulus items, the authors introduce the concepts of latitude of acceptance and latitude of rejection and discuss the implications of these concepts for attitude change and communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychological tests have been used widely in the prediction of response to treatment. This chapter summarizes the status of research on some of the more promising of these dimensions and their associated measures. Seven dimensions appear to be promising for use in planning treatment: Functional Impairment, Subjective Distress, Readiness for (or stage) of Change, Problem Complexity, Resistance Potential or Inclination, Social Support Level and Coping Style. Also, this chapter reported the initial development of a clinician-based measure that promises to tap a multitude of relevant treatment planning dimensions that can be used to plan a treatment with the potential to enhance the efficiency of treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Three social–cognitive models are presented as alternatives to dissociation theories of hypnotic involuntariness. In Model I, people are seen as intentionally enacting responses without being aware of the volitional quality of their acts. In Model II, hypnotic behaviors are seen as prepared responses that are triggered directly by suggestion. The first model corresponds to E. R. Hilgard's (1986) neodissociation theory and the second to K. S. Bowers's (1992) theory of dissociated control, but without positing dissociative mechanisms as explanatory constructs. These constructs are replaced by a consideration of the automaticity that is inherent in commonplace intentional behavior and the degree to which subjective experience is affected by beliefs and expectations. Finally, a composite model reconciling the contradictions between the two prior social–cognitive models is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Therapy theorists' criticism of the lack of specific mechanisms in the prevention of mental disorders is examined from the perspective of solution-focused therapy (SFT), which argues that solutions can be unrelated to problems, and that it is not even necessary to know what a problem is in order to solve it. It is suggested that the shift of attention from problems to solutions in SFT offers a conceptual framework within which the criticism is not relevant, and from which theorists of therapy and prevention can share a common outlook. This outlook involves a focus on encouraging productive, useful, positive behavior, with a corresponding deemphasis on an skepticism about current conceptualizations of mental disorders.
Past research has demonstrated the effects of explaining hypothetical events on estimates of the probability that these events will occur. Two experiments examined the effects of explaining hypothetical outcomes for oneself on actual behavior in that situation and in a related situation. Subjects first explained hypothetical success or failure on an upcoming anagram task. They then either stated explicit expectations for the anagram task or did not. When subjects were asked to state expectations, those who had explained hypothetical success not only expected to do better but also actually outperformed those who had explained failure. That is, the events explained were behaviorally confirmed. However, when explicit expectations were not made following the explanation, those who had first explained failure did best of all, suggesting that raising the possibility of failure without forming concrete failure expectancies motivates better performance. Experiment II demonstrated that the self-fulfilling effects of prior explanation and expectation statements generalize to situations similar but not identical to the event that was explained. In addition, the effects of initial explanation predominated over the effects of actual performance feedback. The processes underlying these effects as well as the implications of the effects were discussed.
Response expectancy is the anticipation of automatic, subjective, and behavioral responses to particular situational cues. More than a decade of research in diverse laboratories indicates that response expectancies are important considerations in designing and administering treatments and prevention programs for such problems as anxiety disorders, depression, substance abuse, and sexual dysfunction. Response expectancy also plays a central role in the effects of antidepressive medication, psychotherapy, and hypnosis. In addition, studies of the effects of placebos reveal that response expectancies can produce lasting changes in pain, anxiety, depression, alertness, tension, sexual arousal, alcohol craving and consumption, aggression, asthma, warts, and contact dermatitis. The veracity of many self-reported placebo effects have been corroborated by changes in physiological function.
Mental simulation provides a window on the future by enabling people to envision possibilities and develop plans for bringing those possibilities about. In moving oneself from a current situation toward an envisioned future one, the anticipation and management of emotions and the initiation and maintenance of problem-solving activities are fundamental tasks. In the program of research described in this article, mental simulation of the process for reaching a goal or of the dynamics of an unfolding stressful event produced progress in achieving those goals or resolving those events. Envisioning successful completion of a goal or resolution of a stressor--recommendations derived from the self-help literature--did not. Discussion centers on the characteristics of effective and ineffective mental simulations and their relation to self-regulatory processes.
This qualitative study explores empathic listening from the vantage point of 5 female clients engaged in consecutive therapeutic relationships with two different therapists, a male and a female. Previous experiences of being “misunderstood” or “not heard” stood in stark contrast to experiences of being empathically understood in their relationships with the two therapists. Participants experienced being heard when therapists created a safe space for self-exploration, were actively and genuinely engaged in the therapeutic dialogue (paraphrasing, clarifying, questioning, and remembering details), and did not flinch when painful material was brought to the therapeutic process. Each participant’s experience of being heard was idiosyncratic and reflected something of what she had been missing in previous interpersonal encounters. Empathic listening emerges as a relational, interactional variable unique to each therapeutic encounter examined and not reducible to a technique or skill.
In a first experiment, subjects verbalizing the stream of consciousness for a 5-min period were asked to try not to think of a white bear, but to ring a bell in case they did. As indicated both by mentions and by bell rings, they were unable to suppress the thought as instructed. On being asked after this suppression task to think about the white bear for a 5-min period, these subjects showed significantly more tokens of thought about the bear than did subjects who were asked to think about a white bear from the outset. These observations suggest that attempted thought suppression has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy, perhaps even producing the very obsession or preoccupation that it is directed against. A second experiment replicated these findings and showed that subjects given a specific thought to use as a distracter during suppression were less likely to exhibit later preoccupation with the thought to be suppressed.
A THEORY OF SELF-PERCEPTION IS PROPOSED TO PROVIDE AN ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION FOR SEVERAL OF THE MAJOR PHENOMENA EMBRACED BY FESTINGER'S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND TO EXPLICATE SOME OF THE SECONDARY PATTERNS OF DATA THAT HAVE APPEARED IN DISSONANCE EXPERIMENTS. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE ATTITUDE STATEMENTS WHICH COMPRISE THE MAJOR DEPENDENT VARIABLES IN DISSONANCE EXPERIMENTS MAY BE REGARDED AS INTERPERSONAL JUDGMENTS IN WHICH THE O AND THE OBSERVED HAPPEN TO BE THE SAME INDIVIDUAL AND THAT IT IS UNNECESSARY TO POSTULATE AN AVERSIVE MOTIVATIONAL DRIVE TOWARD CONSISTENCY TO ACCOUNT FOR THE ATTITUDE CHANGE PHENOMENA OBSERVED. SUPPORTING EXPERIMENTS ARE PRESENTED, AND METATHEORETICAL CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE "RADICAL" BEHAVIORAL APPROACH UTILIZED AND THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TYPIFIED BY DISSONANCE THEORY ARE DISCUSSED. (2 P. REF.)
The “hidden observer” phenomenon as observed in the laboratory is too limited to conclude that its presence indicates an incipient multiple personality: The laboratory studies suggest directions of research that may eventually bring experimental studies of dissociation and clinical studies of multiple personalities together.
Therapeutic relationship as perceived by clients (N = 54) and therapists (N = 8) At a community mental health clinic was rated on Lorr's (1965) five main factors: Understanding, Accepting, Accepting, Critical, Independence-Encouraging, and Authoritarian (directive). These perceptions were correlated with client and therapist ratings of improvement. In addition, discrepancies between client and therapist ratings of the relationship were correlated with outcome measures. Findings indicated that client perceptions of therapists as Understanding and Accepting were correlated most highly with self-reported improvement. Therapists self-perception of Independence-Encouraging was correlated most highly with client-rated improvement, while therapists' self-perception of Accepting and Understanding was correlated most highly with therapist-rated improvement. Differences between client and therapist ratings of the Understanding and Accepting qualities of the therapeutic relationship showed the highest negative correlations with both client and therapist improvement ratings. Implications for therapeutic and research strategies are discussed.