Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

Answers to Evaluate Questions
1.
Consciousness; 2.
tr
ue; 3.
REM; 
4.
Cir
cadian rhythms; 
5.
wish 
fulfi llment; 
6. 1-c, 2-a, 3-b 
 
Module 14 
Sleep and Dreams 
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You are feeling relaxed and drowsy. You are getting sleepier. Your body is becoming 
limp. Your eyelids are feeling heavier. Your eyes are closing; you can’t keep them open 
anymore. You are totally relaxed. Now, place your hands above your head. But you will 
fi nd they are getting heavier and heavier—so heavy you can barely keep them up. In 
fact, although you are straining as hard as you can, you will be unable to hold them up 
any longer.
An observer watching this scene would notice a curious phenomenon. Many of the 
people listening to the voice are dropping their arms to their sides. The reason for 
this strange behavior? Those people have been hypnotized.
Hypnosis: A Trance-Forming 
Experience?
People under  hypnosis  are in a trancelike state of heightened susceptibility to the 
suggestions of others. In some respects, it appears that they are asleep. Yet other 
aspects of their behavior contradict this notion, for people are attentive to the hyp-
notist’s suggestions and may carry out bizarre or silly suggestions.
How is someone hypnotized? Typically, the process follows a series of four steps. 
First, a person is made comfortable in a quiet environment. Second, the hypnotist 
explains what is going to happen, such as telling the person that he or she will 
experience a pleasant, relaxed state. Third, the hypnotist tells the person to concen-
trate on a specifi c object or image, such as the hypnotist’s moving fi nger or an image 
of a calm lake. The hypnotist may have the person concentrate on relaxing different 
parts of the body, such as the arms, legs, and chest. Fourth, once the subject is in a 
highly relaxed state, the hypnotist may make suggestions that the person interprets 
as being produced by hypnosis, such as “Your arms are getting heavy” and “Your 
eyelids are more diffi cult to open.” Because the person begins to experience these 
sensations, he or she believes they are caused by the hypnotist and becomes suscep-
tible to the suggestions of the hypnotist. 
Despite their compliance when hypnotized, people do not lose all will of their 
own. They will not perform antisocial behaviors, and they will not carry out self-
destructive acts. People will not reveal hidden truths about themselves, and they are 
capable of lying. Moreover, people cannot be hypnotized against their will—despite 
popular misconceptions (Gwynn & Spanos, 1996; Raz, 2007). 
There are wide variations in people’s susceptibility to hypnosis. About 5% to 
20% of the population cannot be hypnotized at all, and some 15% are very easily 
hypnotized. Most people fall somewhere in between. Moreover, the ease with 
which a person is hypnotized is related to a number of other characteristics. Peo-
ple who are readily hypnotized are also easily absorbed while reading books or 
listening to music, becoming unaware of what is happening around them, and 
they often spend an unusual amount of time daydreaming. In sum, then, they 
show a high ability to concentrate and to become completely absorbed in what