The Credibility of Posthypnotic Amnesia: A Contextualists' View

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper attempts to demonstrate how the contextual view rather than the formist-mechanistic view may be more helpful in understanding posthypnotic amnesia. As a point of departure, the criterion for credible posthypnotic amnesia is defined as Ss' phenomenal experiences which are observed indirectly through their counterfactual statements expressed with a high degree of conviction. To make sense of such self-reports, concepts flowing from contextualism, the view of man as an active person in an everchanging series of contexts, are employed. Concepts such as plots, reinforcement contingencies, trust, belief systems, involvement, ambiguousness, and self-observation may be postulated in understanding how people come to believe in their own counterfactual reports and to convince others of their credibility. Recent research on source amnesia, disrupted retrieval, and breachinig posthypnotic amnesia is also critically evaluated. The conclusion is reached that the data are not compelling and their interpretations have been overstated.

This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit: