It might have been pointed out at the beginning of this chapter that in approaching such a topic as hypnosis and hypersuggestibility there are two alternatives. It may be assumed that a single mechanism or process is responsible for the observed phenomena, as has been as- sumed in past theories; or the opposite view may be taken, as was done here, that the observed phenomena have a multiple origin, that hypnotic hypersuggestibility is not a unitary phenomenon. More spe- cifically, the theory advanced in the previous pages proposes the fol- lowing principal ideas:
1.
Suggestibility phenomena have a multiple origin. They are the expression of a number of different mechanisms or processes which at times act in unison and at times act separately. In particular, during trance induction pretrance phenomena, especially in the early stages, have a different origin from those of later phases of trance induction.
2.
Hypnosis itself is a state of hypersuggestibibty arising from an orderly sequence of psychosomatic and somatopsychic interactions. It is a psychic as well as a physiological state and differs from the normal waking state in a number of respects. The characteristic hypersuggesti- bility itself arises through two different mechanisms, one causing homo- active hypersuggestibility, the other producing heteroactive bypersug- gestibility.
3.
Psychologically speaking, hypnosis is a state of altered awareness, the character of which is the chief determinant of the subject's behavior when hypnotized. That is, the subject behaves the way he does be- cause it is the most consistent form of behavior for him in terms of his actual perceptions.
4.
The psychophysiological basis of suggestibility is ideomotor action, itself a form of conditioning.
5.
The physiological bases of hypersuggestibflity are (a) neuromotor enhancement (homoaction), and (b) abstract conditioning (generaliza- tion or heteroaction).
6.
The psychophysiological basis of the hypnotic alteration of aware- ness is a combined selective inhibition and excitation of various cerebral regions leading to a dissociation of awareness from all stimuli except the voice of the hypnotist, unless otherwise specified by suggestions.
7.
Through hypersuggestibility and dissociation of awareness, the words of the hypnotist acquire the value of actual stimulus objects. His voice becomes an extension, so to speak, of the subject's psychic processes. This opens the way to a large variety of perceptual altera- tions.
It should be emphasized that the above applies only to primary suggestibility and hypnosis. To what extent, if any, it also applies to secondary and tertiary suggestibility will be the subject matter of the next chapter.
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