Affect, affective resonance and a new theory for hypnosis

New theory is most useful when it helps explain phenomena outside the observational realm within which it was derived. The growing body of evidence suggesting that adult human emotion is the result of neocortical modulation of phylogenetically earlier subcortical affect programs, and the logical system developed by Tomkins to explain the links between innate affect and adult behavior, has been reviewed in terms of newer work on infant observation. The study of interaffectivity and intersubjectivity leads to an understanding of the caregiver as an external modulator of infantile affect; the similarity between these processes of external modulation and the well known techniques of hypnotic induction suggests commonality. Save for a massive reorganization of our theories about affect and its relationship to the face, I do not think it can any longer be considered valid for an investigator to present data about hypnosis without meticulous attention to facial affect display.