Furnishing hypnotic instructions with implementation intentions enhances hypnotic responsiveness.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Self-Regulation

Background:

• Self-regulation is crucial for controlling thoughts, especially in hypnosis.
• Implementation intentions are effective self-regulatory tools.
• Hypnotic suggestibility is viewed as modifiable, not fixed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of implementation intentions on thought suppression within a hypnotic context.
• To determine if implementation intentions enhance hypnotic responsiveness.

Main Methods:

• Randomly assigned participants into four groups: hypnotic instruction with implementation intention, hypnotic instruction only, implementation intention only, and a control group.
• Utilized the "Carleton Skill Training Program" components.

Main Results:

• Participants receiving hypnotic instructions combined with implementation intentions showed significantly improved hypnotic responsiveness.
• Improvements were noted in both objective and involuntary responding measures.
• This group outperformed all other three conditions.

Conclusions:

• Hypnotic responsiveness can be enhanced by integrating implementation intentions with hypnotic instructions.
• Supports the cognitive social-psychological view of hypnosis, where suggestibility is malleable.
• Implementation intentions offer a practical method for augmenting hypnotic effects.