Psychophysiological Consequences of Unexplained Arousal: A Posthypnotic Suggestion Paradigm

This experiment compared the emotional, cognitive, and physiological responses of Ss experiencing induced physiological arousal with and without awareness of the source of their arousal. Nine highly hypnotizable Ss and 9 nonhypnotizable controls were used in a within-subjects design. Each S received posthypnotic suggestions for arousal (increases in heart and respiration rate) with and without amnesia for its source in a two-phase procedure. Only the hypnotizable Ss were expected to differ between conditions. As predicted, for the hypnotizable Ss, unexplained arousal produced significant and dramatic effects when compared with explained arousal, including elevations in self-reported and physiological measures of arousal, negative mood states, and causal misattributions. These results are considered within a conceptual framework of the role of discontinuous experiences in the development of psychopathological symptoms in normal persons.