Date of Award

1984

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Department Not Listed

First Advisor

Murphy, Michael J.

Abstract

This study compared the contents of Early Recollections(ERs)obtained from Ss in a hypnotic state with the ERs obtained from the same Ss ina normal waking state.This comparison was done in an attempt to dsicover differences in the content of the ER's collected under two conditions that might be significant for a more complte understanding of personality.Forty individuals,20 scoring at or above the 60 percentile on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility,Form A and 20 scoring at or below the 19 percentile,were randomly selected for the study.The 40 Ss were administered the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale,Form C.Subjects scoring _+ 1 of their group score were selected for continuation in the investigation.Ss failing to reach criterion were replaced by randomly selected Ss matched for sex and susceptiblity.Ss participated in two different sessions approximately two weeks apart.Two ER's were initially elicited from half of the Ss in anormal waking state;another set of ERs was solicited by using a standard induction technique.For the other half of Ss this order was counterbalanced.The counterbalance technique was utlilized to control for any carryover effects.The stattistical design for this study was a 2(sex) X2 (Levels of Susceptibility) X2(Order) X2 (Condition-with or without hypnosis) factorial design, with the last factor repeated for all subjects.After collection of ERs,scoring of protocols began.To this end the Manaster-Perryman Scoring Manual was employed.This manual contains 42 variables divided among seven categories.ERs were independently scored by 2 judges after a study of the manual.A reliability test was conducted to determine the degree of agreement between scores.Three scores were generated for each variable:a score on each varibale for each ER and a total score(T-score) overall two ERs on each variable.ER-T scores were analysed by the analysis of variance procedure to determine differences,if any,across conditions.There were no carry-over effects(the content of the ER reported earlier did not have any influence/effect on the content of the ER reported later,whether the content reported earlier was elicited while the Ss were in hyponosis or in the ordinary waking state).Carry-over effects were analysed not only for individual items but also for clusters.The content of the ERs of hypnotic Ss showed not only a significant increase in "themes" but also an increase in "details" when compared to non-hypnotized subjects.In their ERs,Ss in hyponosis mentioned "mother" offered themes conatining "misdeeds","hostility",,"mastery", and "mutality";reported "visual" and "motor" detail;and revealed "active" content significantly more often than did Ss in the "ordinary" waking state.Irrespective of state, ie hypnosis or non-hypnosis,amles offered more themes related to "death" than did females;on the other hand females verbalized more themes of "hostility" than did males.In hypnosis low suspectible males and females offered more "school-relevant" settings than did low suspectible males,whereas low suspectible females produced more "school-relevant" settings than did high suspectible females.High susceptible Ss reported more themes related to "hostility" during hypnosis,whereas low susceptible Ss did not differe in reporting "hostility" across states.Further,high susceptible males revealed more themes of "mutuality" irrespective of state than did low susceptible males;however,high susceptible females,irrespective of state,revealed significantly fewer themes of "mutality"than low susceptible females.The implications of these findings for a more comprehensive understanding of personality are discussed from Adlerian and non-Adlerian perspectives.

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