Hypnotic Phenomena, Suggestibility, and Individual Differences
Core phenomena
Candidates must recognize the classic hypnotic phenomena: analgesia, anesthesia, amnesia, hypermnesia, age regression, catalepsy, ideomotor and ideosensory responses, time distortion, dissociation, and posthypnotic suggestion with its characteristic amnesia. For each, know the honest limits: age regression produces plausible role-consistent performance rather than veridical reliving; hypermnesia yields modest, unreliable gains; hypnotic amnesia is often partial and reversible by cue. Posthypnotic suggestions are most effective when tied to a specific, unambiguous cue and a defined response.
Suggestibility and individual differences
Separate hypnotizability (capacity to experience suggested alterations) from suggestibility (general responsiveness to suggestion in or out of hypnosis). Know that responsiveness is fairly stable across adulthood, correlates only weakly with personality measures, and is not predicted by intelligence or gullibility. Expect differences by age (children are generally more responsive, with a peak in middle childhood and decline after adolescence), and note that standardized scales are the proper way to estimate responsiveness.
Traps
Items often claim that highly hypnotizable people are compliant, dependent, or mentally ill - all false. Another trap treats every reported phenomenon as literally true; examiners reward the distinction between subjective experience and objective performance. Watch for the claim that hypnosis reliably enhances memory for witnessed events; it does not, and confidence may rise without accuracy.
Rule of thumb
When a stem describes an impressive-sounding phenomenon, ask: Is this a subjective report, a measurable performance, or an inference? Choose the answer that respects that hierarchy.
Worked example
A patient under hypnosis reports vivid childhood detail with high confidence. The defensible answer: subjective conviction can increase while accuracy does not, so corroboration is required and the material is not forensic evidence.