Theory · 1985
Response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behavior
Listen instead of reading · 35 minDirty Mind: Dirty Talk Hypnosis – Find Your Own WordsNo script, no borrowed lines: a trance that lets your own words out – in a lower, slower voice. Kirsch, I. · American Psychologist, 40(11), 1189–1202
Main finding
Response expectancies are self-confirming. On this view, much of hypnosis works because people expect suggested experiences to happen on their own, and then they do.
What was done
Irving Kirsch proposed that expecting an automatic reaction – feeling relaxed, less pain, a heavy arm – can itself produce that reaction. He applied the idea to hypnosis, placebo effects and fear.
What the study does not show
A theory, supported and challenged by later experiments. Expectancy explains a lot of hypnotic responding, but researchers still debate whether it explains all of it.
Cite as
Kirsch, I. (1985). Response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behavior. American Psychologist, 40(11), 1189–1202. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.40.11.1189
Original paperRelated topics
Terms on this page
- Ideomotor effect The ideomotor effect means: when you vividly imagine a movement, your body makes it in a small way – without it feeling intentional. That is why a pendulum seems to swing on its own.
- Response expectancy Response expectancy means: if you firmly expect something to happen on its own – calm, a light arm – that very expectation can help bring it about.
- Suggestion A suggestion is a sentence that invites you to experience something as if it were happening on its own – for example "your arm is getting lighter" – rather than doing it on purpose.
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