ABSTRACT
One of the most influential workers in the field of hypnosis today and one who speaks outspokenly in defense of hypnosis as an altered state of awareness is Ernest R. Hilgard. Hilgard gives careful recognition to objective as well as subjective data, his philosophical position being a moderate one. He rejects the strict tenets of Watsonian behaviorism by saying there is much more to the study of hypnosis than the subjects' behavioral response to a hypnotic suggestion. Internal processes, inferred from subjective reports, are a prime part of his model's domain and the model claims that full understanding of hypnotic phenomena cannot be gained simply from specifying patterns of behavior in the hypnotic setting and isolating the social conditions that relate lawfully to them. At the same time, however, what the subject tells the hypnotist about his experiences is only one portion of the data to be collected. Objectivity is the paramount goal of the scientist but he cannot discard methodological caution to recognize only the value of talking about experience.
