With a comprehensive introduction tracing the historical development of hypnosis, and the cultural and scientific practices that prevailed at various times, this book brings together the most important previously published papers that reveal how a scientific approach to understanding hypnosis as a psychological phenomenon has emerged over the last 70 years. The volume also includes a selection of reports on clinical applications and on legal and forensic issues.

Contents: Series preface; Introduction. Part I The Birth of Modern Hypnosis: Quantitative methods of investigating hypnotic suggestion, Clark L. Hull; A preface to a theory of hypnotism, Robert W. White. Part II Theories of Hypnosis: The Altered State Debate: Contributions to role-taking theory: I hypnotic behaviour, Theodore R. Sarbin; The nature of hypnosis: artefact and essence, Marin T. Orne; Towards a scientific explanation of 'hypnotic' behaviour, Theodore X. Barber; Altered states of awareness, Ernest R. Hilgard; A frontal assault in dissociated control, Kenneth S. Bowers. Part III Theories of Hypnosis: Divergence and Convergence: Toward a neo-dissociation theory: multiple cognitive controls in human functioning, Ernest R. Hilgard; Hypnotic behaviour: a cognitive social psychological perspective, Nicholas P. Spanos; Response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behaviour, Irving Kirsch. Part IV Individual Differences in Hypnotic Suggestibility: The heritability of hypnotic susceptibility in twins, Arlene H. Morgan; Openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences ('absorption'), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility, Auke Tellegen and Gilbert Atkinson; A social-cognitive skills approach to the successful modification of hypnotic susceptibility, Donald R. Gorassini and Nicholas P. Spanos Fantasy-proneness: hypnosis, developmental antecedents and psychopathology, Steven Jay Lynn and Judith W. Rhue; On the degree of stability of measured hypnotisability over a 25-year period, Carlo Piccione, Ernest R. Hilgard and Philip G. Zimbardo; Imaginative suggestibility and hypnotisability, Irving Kirsch and Wayne Braffman. Part V Investigating Hypnotic Phenomena: Pain and dissociation in the cold pressor test a study of hypnotic analgesia with 'hidden reports' through automatic key pressing and automatic talking, Ernest R. Hilgard, Arlene H. Morgan and Hugh Macdonald; Contextual demands, negative hallucinations, and hidden observer responding: 3 hidden observers observed, Nicholas P. Spanos, Deborah M. Flynn and Maxwell I. Gwynn; Increasing contextual pressures to breach posthypnotic amnesia, William C. Coe and Anne S.E. Sluis; Hypnotic and posthypnotic suggestion: finding meaning in the message of the hypnotist, Amanda J. Barnier and Kevin M. McConkey. Part VI Neuropsychological and Neurophysiological Research and Theories: Brain dynamics and hypnosis: attentional and disattentional processes, Helen J. Crawford; Pain affect encoded in human anterior cingulate but not somatosensory cortex, Pierre Rainville, Gary H. Duncan, Donald D. Price, Benoît Carrier and M. Catherine Bushnell; A working model of the neuropsychophysiology of hypnosis: a review of evidence, John Gruzelier; Psychphysiological correlates of hypnosis and hypnotic susceptibility, Vilfredo de Pascalis. Part VII Clinical Applications: Hypnosis: practical applications and theoretical considerations in normal labour, Mary W. Jenkins and M.H. Pritchard; Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive behavioural psychotherapy: a meta-analysis, Irving Kirsch, Guy Montgomery and Guy Sapirstein; Long term benefits of hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome, W.M. Gonsalkorale, V. Miller, A. Afzal and P.J. Whorwell; Hypnosis and clinical pain, David R. Patterson and Mark P. Jensen. Part VIII Professional and Legal Issues: Scientific status of refreshing recollection by the use of hypnosis, American Medical Association; Recalling the unrecallable: should hypnosis be used to recover memories in psychotherapy?, Steven Jay Lynn, Timothy G. Lock, Bryan Myers and David G. Payne; The alleged dangers of stage hypnosis, Michael Heap; Immediate and persisting effects of misleading questions and hypnosis on memory reports, Alan Scoboria, Guiliana Mazzoni, Irving Kirsch and Leonard S. Milling; Name index; Name Index.