Abstract Mkid 14

Hypnosis is not only intrinsically interesting, but also research into hypnosis can shed light on issues across the psychological domain. This article explores ways in which hypnotic phenomena, in particular posthypnotic suggestion, can provide approaches to and understanding of complex issues in cognitive psychology. For instance, when subjects respond to a posthypnotic suggestion, they are presented with a stimulus that they appear to be attending to and which influences their behaviour, yet they lack phenomenal awareness of it. This discontinuity between attention and consciousness suggests that the assumed mapping of attentive processing and awareness is problematic Relatedly, the finding that posthypnotic suggestion is not automatic in the technical sense used by cognitive psychologists, despite the fact that subjects often describe their experiences as such, underscores that the processes of response initiation, awareness, and experience interact in complex and sometimes illusory ways. Overall, posthypnotic suggestion, and hypnotic phenomena in general, offer valuable paradigms for exploring important issues in psychology.