Human Potential

Exploring Techniques Used to Enhance Human Performance

David Vernon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781134048755
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Throughout time, people have explored the ways in which they can improve some aspect of their performance. Such attempts are more visible today, with many working to gain an 'edge' on their performance, whether it is to learn a new language, improve memory or increase golf handicaps. This book examines a range of techniques that are intended to help improve some aspect of performance, and examines how well they are able to achieve this.

The various performance enhancing techniques available can be divided into those where the individual remains passive (receiving a message, suggestion or stimulus) and those where the individual needs to take a more active approach. Human Potential looks at a range of techniques within each of these categories to provide the reader with a sense of the traditional as well as the more contemporary approaches used to enhance human performance. The techniques covered include hypnosis, sleep learning, subliminal training and audio and visual cortical entrainment as well as mnemonics, meditation, speed-reading, biofeedback, neurofeedback and mental imagery practice.

This is the first time such a broad range of techniques has been brought together to be assessed in terms of effectiveness. It will be useful to all psychology and sports science students, practicing psychologists, life coaches and anyone else interested in finding out about the effectiveness of performance enhancement techniques.

Part I
Passive techniques

2
Hypnosis

The intimate nature of the hypnotic condition, when once induced, can hardly be said to be understood.

(William James 1890)

This chapter launches the exploration of passive techniques by focusing on the use of hypnosis. Hypnosis aims to enhance performance by encouraging the individual to relax whilst repeatedly providing positive or encouraging suggestions. The chapter begins by outlining what hypnosis is and provides a brief history of its development from mesmerism. This is followed by a summary of the hypnotic procedure, including the measurement of hypnotic susceptibility, the relaxation/induction stage and the suggestion stage. The chapter then covers the two main opposing theoretical perspectives of hypnosis encapsulated as non-state versus state approaches. Following this there is an examination of the evidence from various settings assessing whether hypnosis can enhance human performance. Finally, the chapter examines some of the factors known to influence the effectiveness of hypnosis.

What is hypnosis?

Although Hypnos represents the Greek god of sleep and the Greek word hypnoun refers to the process of putting one to sleep, researchers and clinicians alike agree that hypnosis does not actually mean putting a person to sleep. On the other hand, precisely what it does mean is a little more difficult to pin down. This may be a result of the different applications of hypnosis, with those in health-related fields identifying hypnosis as something distinct from those in the performance-enhancement arena. Nevertheless, there is continued debate surrounding precisely what hypnosis is, with some disputing its very existence, whilst others, particularly from the clinical domain, insist that it has therapeutic value.

Hilgard (1965), one of the pioneering researchers in hypnosis, has suggested that it is a process which involves the individual setting aside critical judgement whilst responding to suggestions from a hypnotist. Such a process may represent a distinct psychological state, which is induced by certain ritualistic procedures, during which the individual reduces his level of attention to external stimuli and, as a consequence of direct suggestions from the hypnotist, may experience changes in perception, memory and behaviour. Hypnosis is also thought to increase the level of cognitive flexibility of the individual, enabling him to see things in new and different ways and accept as possible things that he would not normally accept. Such behavioural changes have encouraged the popular belief that hypnosis represents a special state of consciousness in which the individual may be endowed with abilities to complete various mental and physical feats that would normally be difficult, if not impossible.

Whilst the debate continues as to what precisely hypnosis is, there is a common misconception that a hypnotised person gives up his free will and control as part of the hypnotic process and can easily be forced to carry out what he may normally consider to be abhorrent acts, or divulge personal information. Such a view is almost certainly the result of the unusual and often bizarre things that people are encouraged to do as part of a stage hypnotist’s act, but there is no direct empirical evidence to support this idea.

From mesmerism to hypnotism

Hypnosis stems from work conducted by Franz Anton Mesmer, an Austrian physician, who put forward the idea of a universal fluid present in all living things that responded to magnetic vibrations. Mesmer proposed that illness was caused by an imbalance of these invisible magnetic fluids, which could be restored by gesturing with his hands, placing magnets over specific regions of the body and waving a wand at the source of the discomfort. Such claims raised certain sceptical concerns and, in 1784, a royal commission set up by Louis XVI investigated the concept of mesmerism and found that the cures were mainly the result of imagination on the part of the patient.

Later, in the early part of the nineteenth century, a surgeon by the name of James Esdaile attempted, with some degree of success, to use mesmerism to help relieve the pain of one of his patients during an operation (Gauld 1992). From then on, interest in hypnosis has waxed and waned, with contributions from a range of clinicians, including Freud. In 1933, Milton Erikson published a book on hypnosis, which many have argued provided the most scientific treatment of the topic at the time. This led to a resurgent interest in the use of hypnosis, particularly within clinical settings, which over time led to the setting up of various societies in Britain and America to oversee training and provide information on the topic.

Since then, the use of hypnosis has expanded beyond its original therapeutic domain into areas of peak performance. Today, there are a plethora of hypnotic recordings available on audiotape as well as in video format, and increasing numbers of practitioners who argue that hypnosis represents a powerful tool for personal development.

The hypnotic procedure

Many hypnotists follow a similar hypnotic procedure, which goes through a number of stages. First, the participant is screened to identify his level of hypnotic susceptibility. This is followed by the hypnotic relaxation or induction stage, which gives way to specific suggestions or instructions relating to performance.

Hypnotic susceptibility

The rationale for measuring hypnotic susceptibility is that this will let the hypnotist know how well, or not, he can expect the participant to respond to the suggestions made. Table 2.1 lists a range of tasks that the individual may be asked to carry out during hypnosis to assess their level of susceptibility.

For example, the first task of hand lowering involves asking the hypnotised participant to hold their arm out straight in front of them. They are then told that their arm is becoming heavier and heavier, and that it is taking more and more effort to hold it up. Suggestions to lower the heavy arm are then given and if the participant complies with these he scores a ‘yes’ for that task. The hypnotist then proceeds through the various tasks, scoring the participant’s response to each. The more often the participant responds positively to each of the suggestions, the higher their hypnotic susceptibility. Those with scores in the top quartile represent highly susceptible individuals and those with scores in the lower quartile are classified as low-susceptibles.

Table 2.1 A summary of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale showing tasks carried out during hypnosis to identify level of hypnotic susceptibility

Item	Task	Response
1	Hand lowering	Yes/No
2	Hands moving apart	Yes/No
3	Mosquito hallucination	Yes/No
4	Taste hallucination	Yes/No
5	Arm rigidity	Yes/No
6	Dream	Yes/No
7	Age regression	Yes/No
8	Arm immobilisation	Yes/No
9	Anosmia	Yes/No
10	Auditory hallucination	Yes/No
11	Negative visual illusion	Yes/No
12	Posthypnotic amnesia	Yes/No
	Total score:	_____
Adapted from Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (Weitzenhoffer and Hilgard 1962)

Relaxation/induction stage

Most people are familiar with the media image of a hypnotist gently swinging a watch on the end of a chain in front of a recumbent person while issuing instructions to ‘look at the watch’ and ‘feel sleepy’. However, it is much more likely that a person undergoing hypnosis will be asked to stare at a spot on a wall or ceiling and, after a period of time, be encouraged to simply close his eyes and relax. This said, there is no clear consensus on what the requirements are for an induction procedure to produce an effective level of hypnosis. Nevertheless, the broad consensus is that the induction encourages the individual to achieve an intensely focused state of consciousness. In this way, the procedure is designed to heighten the readiness of the individual to follow suggestions given by the hypnotist.

The induction procedure itself may incorporate the use of detailed suggestions as well as the use of imagery to encourage the individual to reduce his level of reality testing. Reality testing refers to the natural process that involves an individual comparing his internal perceptions and beliefs with information from the world outside to see whether they match or not. A good example of reduced reality testing can be seen when someone is deeply involved in playing a video-game, particularly one that involves driving a car. Such a player, it is possible to notice, tends to lean to one side when driving their ‘virtual car’ around a corner at high speed. It is unlikely that such physical movements aid their performance but the point is that they do this because, at that moment in time, the ‘reality’ of the virtual world of the game seems more real to them than their surroundings. Thus, by encouraging the participant to reduce their level of reality testing, the hypnotist hopes he will become absorbed by the positive suggestions made.

Suggestion stage

Once the induction stage is complete, the participant is guided by the hypnotist to respond to a range of suggestions encouraging him to experience changes in subjective experience, perception, emotion and/or behaviour. The specific suggestions vary according to the goals of the procedure and may include the idea of enhanced memory or improving a specific skill. Such suggestions can also be linked to a ‘trigger’ provided during the hypnotic process.

Triggers can be words, sounds or images, or a natural part of the routine of the individual, which, when encountered, will trigger a response usually obtained during the hypnotic procedure. For example, a trigger which represents a normal part of the routine may be holding a golf club for a golf player, holding the ball for a basketball player or holding a pen for a student. Thus, a golfer may be given the suggestion that when he next grips his golf club he will feel completely relaxed and perform his best ever shot. In this way, the positive feelings of relaxation experienced as part of th...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Part I Passive techniques
• Part II Active techniques
• Part III Peak performance
• References
• Index