When Seeing is Not Believing: The Effects of Contextual Variables on the Reports of Hypnotic Hallucinators

Abstract

When administered a hallucination suggestion most high susceptible hypnotic and task-motivated subjects reported that they “saw” the suggested object. When asked what they meant by “saw,” however, almost all indicated that they had imagined the object but did not believe that it had actually been present. On the other hand, simulating subjects maintained that the suggested object had been “really there.” Simulators were also more likely than non-simulators to provide “life-like” descriptions of the suggested object (e.g., solid rather than transparent, colored, highly vivid). These findings are consistent with the view that hypnotic hallucinations are context-generated imaginings. They also indicate that unique or unusual psychological processes like “trance logic” need not be posited to account for the descriptions of “hallucinatory” experiences proffered by hypnotic subjects.