Customer Reviews

Hypnosis: A Scientific Approach (The Master Work Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Barber has made some of the most significant contributions to our knowledge of the mind. While others were making extravagant claims about the powers of the mind, Barber was testing what people could actually do in altered states like Yoga and hypnosis and under the influence of LSD, and using techniques like biofeedback.

This is one of his most important works, where he reviews research that tests what happens during hypnosis. Can a suggestion cause a blister to raise ? Can someone's heart be stopped by a suggestion ? Do people really believe they are someone else in a stage hypnosis show ? Barber made some of the most careful tests of these claims and his results are documented in this book. He also introduces his original model for testing hypnosis, the task motivation protocol, where results are compared for people who are motivated to produce results vs. hypnotized to produce results.

Barber came out of all of this with the remarkable conclusion that many of the effects claimed for hypnosis were real, but that they don't require hypnosis ! He found remarkable powers of mind, but at the same time stripped away much of the mystique of "trance."

This book is a great classic of behavioral science, a must for anyone interested in hypnosis or suggestion from any perspective. It joins Hilgard's "Hypnotic Susceptibility," as one of the small handful of essential classics of hypnosis and suggestion research. It was republished in 1995, but quickly sold out of stock. If you can find a copy, grab it.