A number of specific hypotheses about correlates of hypnotizability were tested. A sample of 25 Ss representative of the investigators’ special volunteer population was drawn. The criterion of hypnotizability used was the maximum hypnotic depth achieved in as many intensive hypnotic training sessions as E needed in order to feel confident that a stable plateau in the S’s performance had been reached. Findings confirmed the hypotheses that hypnotizability could be predicted from a general propensity for unusual subjective hypnotic-like experiences, from attitudes and motivational factors specifically relating to hypnosis, and from postural sway, heat illusion, and vividness of mental imagery. In addition, with few exceptions, the hypothesis was supported that there would be only negligible relationships between hypnotizability and measures of personality. Defining hypnotizability as a plateau performance rather than as some briefer estimate was shown to be cogent.

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Psychological Correlates of Plateau Hypnotizability in a Special Volunteer Sample, September 1964 [125 Pages, 39MB]

The post Psychological Correlates of Plateau Hypnotizability in a Special Volunteer Sample, September 1964 first appeared on The Black Vault.

The hypnotic interview is recommended as a viable procedure and a useful tool in aviation accident investigation. In the case study presented, an Army aviation accident investigation board for the first time accepted into evidence information obtained in a hypnotic interview. The hypnotic interview provided the board with evidence which was not previously obtained by other investigative techniques and which proved to be invaluable in the investigative and decision making process. The evidence suggested mechanical failure in a specific component, which laboratory testing later confirmed. The accident investigation board reversed the original opinion of “pilot error” to a unanimous decision of “mechanical failure”. The defective component would not have otherwise been discovered without the evidence from the hypnotic interview.

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Hypnosis in Army Aviation: A Case Study, 1978 [14 Pages, 6.2MB]

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The present study determined the differences in hypnotic capacity, as measured by the Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP),between patients referred to a psychiatric consultation liaison service (PCLS) and patients referred to a psychiatric outpatient clinic (POC). Two HIP scales were used to insure comprehensive results: The HIP Profile Score and the HIP Induction Score. Both the mean profile score and the mean induction score of the HIP were significantly higher for the PCLS patients than the respective scores of the POC patients. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in relation to diagnosis and treatment.

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Differences in Hypnotic Capacity: Patients Referred to a Psychiatric Consultation Liaison Clinic vs. Patients Referred to a Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic, 1994 [40 Pages, 14.0MB]

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The effects of hypnosis on thermoregulatory responses were studied in nonacclimatized acutely cold-exposed men. Forty exposures (4.5 @#X2013;5.0 C) were conducted in an environmental chamber under both hypnosis and nonhypnosis conditions. Five subjects, wearing 1 clo insulation, were cold exposed for 1 hr, four times for each condition, and each subject served as his own control. Variables monitored included mean skin and rectal temperatures, heart and shivering rates, basal skin resistance, and vigilance task performance. In hypnosis, shivering was suppressed, heart rate lowered, and vigilance task performance improved. Basal skin resistance differed in terms of pattern and level, being generally higher under hypnotic conditions. Rectal temperatures were lower despite maintaining skin temperature at the same level as during nonhypnosis conditions. These findings indicate that with the thermal stress imposed and levels of trance achieved, there is a general amelioration of the psychophysiological effects of the stress. The mechanism responsible for this form of “adaptation” remains speculative but is consistent with generalized suppression of sympathetic activity.

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Modification Of Thermoregulatory Responses To Cold By Hypnosis, Final Report, September 1962 – April 1963 [14 Pages, 8.5MB]

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The major purposes of the work done under this present grant were twofold: (a) to extend the Investigation begun by Dr. Dittborn of the relation between suggested sleep and hypnotizability as measured by standardized test procedures and assessed by clinical ratings , and (b) to familiarize Dr. Dittborn with procedures developed in our laboratory for the evaluation of hypnotizability with a view toward future research, taking advantage of the clinical facilities available to Dr. Dittborn in Chile. Further experience with experimental procedures formed an integral part of the second aim.

While the many similarities of interest between Dr. Dittborn and those at our laboratory initially suggested a program of research along broad lines in the areas of differing states of consciousness not primarily associated with hypnotic procedures, it soon became apparent that this would be less likely to result in specific experimental results than the planning of several studies designed to answer specific questions more limited in nature. These could then provide both substantive findings as steps for future research and Important methodological experience useful for the furtherance of that research.

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An Empirical Investigation of Trance Phenomena, Final Report, May 1968 [35 Pages, 8.4MB]

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Hypnosis is a state of human consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.

In some cases, hypnosis has been used by law enforcement to help witnesses recall previous events, memories etc.

I thought it would be interesting to see if hypnosis was utilized by the United States Secret Service (USSS), so in June of 2017, I filed a FOIA request that asked for the following:

I respectfully request a copy of records, electronic or otherwise, of any and all policy documents, or records describing the use of HYPNOSIS by your agency.

The below is the only responsive record that came in.

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 Hypnosis and the United States Secret Service (USSS), Released March 2019 [4 Pages, 0.6MB]

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According to the Department of Justice Criminal Resource Manual – Use of Hypnosis:

“In certain limited cases, the use of forensic hypnosis can be an aid in the investigative process. Witnesses to crimes have been able to recall certain facets of the crime while in a hypnotic state that they had not remembered without hypnosis. The use of hypnosis, however, is subject to serious objections and thus should be used only on rare occasions.

The information obtained from a person while in a hypnotic trance cannot be assumed to be accurate. Therefore, any information obtained by the use of hypnosis must be thoroughly checked as to its ultimate accuracy and corroborated. It would therefore be advisable to first consult with a board-certified forensic psychologist/ psychiatrist to ascertain if the matter in question is appropriate for the application of forensic hypnosis. Because of the question of admissibility with regard to information retrieved within a hypnosis session, Assistant United States Attorneys should also consider the appropriateness and potential application of the cognitive interview before using hypnosis. The cognitive interview is a non-hypnotic structured interview that is used to enhance the witness’s ability to remember an event by engaging in a reconstruction of to: the context in which the event took place.”

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  Hypnosis Policy of the Department of Justice [13 Pages, 2.9MB]

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The post Hypnosis and the Department of Justice (DOJ) first appeared on The Black Vault.

Hypnosis is a state of human consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.

In some cases, hypnosis has been used by law enforcement to help witnesses recall previous events, memories etc.

I thought it would be interesting to see if hypnosis was utilized by the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), so in June of 2017, I filed a FOIA request that asked for the following:

I respectfully request a copy of records, electronic or otherwise, of any and all policy documents, or records describing the use of HYPNOSIS by your agency.

The response gave me a bit more. There are references to a NCIS-3, which I have requested under FOIA which appears to maybe serve as more of the guidelines, but I also received a few cases from their files mentioning “hypnosis”.

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 Hypnosis and the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Released August 2, 2017 [11 Pages, 0.6MB]

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The post Hypnosis and the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) first appeared on The Black Vault.

Mind control (also known as brainwashing, reeducation, brainsweeping, coercive persuasion, thought control, or thought reform) is a controversial pseudoscientific theory that human subjects can be indoctrinated in a way that causes “an impairment of autonomy, an inability to think independently, and a disruption of beliefs and affiliations. In this context, brainwashing refers to the involuntary reeducation of basic beliefs and values”.

The following is a list of documents pertaining to mind control and research of the U.S. military and government.

Declassified Documents

Interrogation: Science and Art [371 Pages], December 2006 – U.S. military personnel and intelligence officers in particular are expected to gain accurate information from detainees or prisoners and thus need to know “what works” in “educing” information through interrogation, strategic debriefing and information elicitation. This book presents the work of 13 specialists in law, psychology, military intelligence, neuroscience, computer science, conflict management and library science. The authors review what is known and not known about educing information.

Is Military Research Hazardous to Veterans’ Health? Lessons Spanning Half a Century, 08 December 1994 [58 Pages, 3.48MB] – During the last 50 years, hundreds of thousands of military personnel have been involved in human experimentation and other intentional exposures conducted by the Department of Defense (DOD), often without a service member’s knowledge or consent. In some cases, soldiers who consented to serve as human subjects found themselves participating in experiments quite different from those described at the time they volunteered. For example, thousands of World War II veterans who originally volunteered to ‘test summer clothing’ in exchange for extra leave time, found themselves in gas chambers testing the effects of mustard gas and lewisite. Additionally, soldiers were sometimes ordered by commanding officers to “volunteer” to participate in research or face dire consequences. For example, several Persian Gulf War veterans interviewed by Committee staff reported that they were ordered to take experimental vaccines during Operation Desert Shield or face prison. The goals of many of the military experiments and exposures were very appropriate. For example, some experiments were intended to provide important information about how to protect U.S. troops from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons or other dangerous substances during wartime. In the Persian Gulf War, U.S. troops were intentionally exposed to an investigational vaccine that was intended to protect them against biological warfare, and they were given pyridostigmine bromide pills in an experimental protocol intended to protect them against chemical warfare.

On Resisting Social Influence [34 Pages], September 1979 – Resisting social influences becomes important when such influences can be appropriately thought of as ‘mind control.’ When information is systematically hidden, withheld or distorted it is impossible to make unbiased decisions. Under these circumstances, people may be subtly led to believe they are ‘freely’ choosing to act. It is precisely this kind of decision that persists and most affects our behavior since we come to believe in those attitudes and actions for which we have generated our own justifications. The thesis of this essay is that ‘mind control’ exists not in exotic gimmicks, but rather in the most mundane aspects of experience. Because it does, it is possible to reduce our susceptibility to unwanted coercive control by increasing our vigilance and learning to utilize certain basic strategies of analysis. In this paper, we present resistance strategies which are broadly applicable to the wide array of mind-manipulation attempts that surround us daily–in a ‘self- help’ format that provides for ready accessibility. Findings from relevant social-psychological research, from interviews and personal experiences with con men, cultists, super-salesmen and other perpetrators of mind control comprise the reservoir of information from which we have drawn.

Parapsychology in Intelligence [12 Pages], 1977

Individual Rights and the Federal Role in Behavior Modification, November 1974 – A Study Prepared by the Staff of the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-third Congress, Second Session. – A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. This report responds to a directive issued to the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights to conduct an investigation into behavior modification programs, with particular emphasis on the federal government’s involvement in the technology of behavior control and the implications of this involvement for individual rights. Two basic considerations motivated the investigation: first, the concern that the rights of human subjects of behavioral research are sufficiently protected by adequate guidelines and review structures; and second, the question of whether the federal government has any business participating in programs that may alter the substance of individual freedom. Although the material included in this report is by no means comprehensive, some initial findings are apparent: (1) there is widespread and growing interest in the development of methods designed to predict, identify, control, and modify individual behavior; (2) few measures are being taken to resolve questions of freedom, privacy, and self-determination; (3) the Federal government is heavily involved in a variety of behavior modification programs ranging from simple reinforcement techniques to psychosurgery; and (4) a number of departments and agencies fund, participate in, or sanction research involving various aspects of behavior modification.

Hypnosis In Intelligence, October 1966 [32 Pages, 4.91MB] – Hypnosis is one of the oldest techniques for altering and controlling human behavior. A method that has had its share of mistrust and professional neglect. Hypnosis in the past twenty years has been the subject of serious inquiry and sustained interest.  During this time, and even before, professional hypnotists have speculated on the possibilities of using hypnosis in warfare and in intelligence work. They have proposed that hypnosis could be used to strengthen the psychological defenses of captives and that it could be the means of gaining compliance from otherwise uncooperative persons. This paper explores some of the operational implications of these proposals.

Brainwashing From a Psychological Perspective, February 1956 [94 Pages, 11.7MB] – Received from the CIA. I had received a poor reproduction of this document many years ago, but in July of 2016, I was able to receive a much better, cleaner, more readable copy – so it has been replaced here.

Communist Control Techniques, [123 Pages], 2 April 1956

Classified Subject Header CIA Memorandum, 9 July 1951 [2 Pages, 0.8MB] – This memo, received from the CIA, is a declassified document involving the use of hypnosis, and its uses. It is heavily redacted, but shows a disturbing use of hypnosis, as documented by the CIA.

SEE ALSO: MKULTRA

The post Mind Control Collection first appeared on The Black Vault.