Synopses & Reviews
This book demonstrates that the phenomenon of suggestibility relates to far more psychological processes than just to hypnosis. Several well-known scientists investigate the psychological and psychophysiological characteristics of the perceptual and response processes involved in suggestibility. They try to establish a common theoetical basis for experimental and applied research; this is the first attempt to bring the theory, methodology, and results of different approaches together into a single volume. The contributions deal with definitions, biological and social mechanisms, causes and effects, and the process of suggestion. The authors - present new techniques for assessing sensory, motor, interrogative and hypnotic suggestibility; - describe psychophysiological correlates and susceptibility to hypnosis; - discuss types of "suggestive cues" inherent in social communication and - present data on the relationship of suggestion to attribution and expectation. It is shown that suggestibility, apart from its relationship to hypnosis, is a multifactorial phenomenon comprised of different partly uncorrelated facets. This volume gives easy access to the complex matter which up to now has been scattered across single publications in specialized subdisciplines of psychology.
Synopsis
This book contains the proceedings of the First International Sym- posium on Suggestion and Suggestibility, held at the University of Giessen in the Federal Republic of Germany, July 7-111987, upon the initiative of and organized by Dr. V. A. Gheorghiu and Dr. P. Netter. I regret that for personal reasons I was unable to accept his kind invita- tion to attend, for Dr. Gheorghiu and I are old friends. I am pleased, however, to have this opportunity to call attention to the significance of this volume. Most of the chapters were presented in approximately their present form at the symposium, though some have been extensi- vely revised for publication. It was a wise choice to divide the papers into four major sections. - I. Theoretical and Historical Perspectives, II. Assessment and Indivi- dual Differences of Suggestibility, III. Psychophysiological Aspects of Suggestibility, and IV. Social and Cognitive Aspects of Suggestive Processes - each with a summarizing commentary. In view of the variety and difficulty of the individual papers, it is a help to have the integration provided by these commentaries - on Part I by Sheehan (Chap. 7), on Part II by Lundy (Chap. 13), on Part III by Edmonston (Chap. 19), and on Part IV by Fiedler (Chap. 30).