Hypnotic sex change: creating and challenging a delusion in the laboratory

The authors suggested a change of sex to virtuoso, high-hypnotizable, and low-hypnotizable simulating participants in an application of the real-simulating paradigm of hypnosis. The experiences of sex change that participants reported during hypnosis were challenged through procedures of contradiction and confrontation. Behavioral and self-report data indicated that virtuosos experienced a transient delusion about their sex that was compelling and resistant to challenge. Implications are discussed for investigations of delusion through the use of hypnosis in the laboratory and for understanding delusion in the clinical setting.