Western studies of hypnosis: theories and experiments

The purpose of this article is to review and compare two influential approaches to hypnosis, namely the traditional and the social-cognitive ones. The author describes general theoretical foundations of both approaches and systematizes their views on the key controversial issues of hypnology. Along with a thorough theoretical analysis the results of interesting experiments supporting either theses are discussed, which helps to integrate the approaches and formulate a unified view of the nature and phenomenology of hypnosis.