ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the appearance of a "hidden observer" in some hypnotically deafened subjects is explained without recourse to Hilgard's theory that the former subjects manifest a "temporary personality created in hypnosis hearing at the covert level". By implication, subjects who exhibit total hypnotic deafness in the absence of a "hidden observer" should be subjects who possess auditory imagery vivid enough to attenuate brainstem auditory evoked potentials. The chapter describes "source monitoring" interpretation of subconsciousness, as it interacts with contextual demands and fantasizing abilities, provides new insights into the illusory presence of a hidden observer. The presence of a hidden observer is thus an illusion, when it is theoretically reduced to the absence of self-conscious "source monitoring," plus a context attributing unmonitored sensations to subconsciously "hidden" sources. It is not that hypnosis does not entail subconsciousness, but that subconsciousness does not entail hidden observations by a "temporary personality" or computer-like "cognitive substructure".
