THE EFFECTS OF BELIEFS AND INFORMATION ABOUT HYPNOSIS ON THE LEGAL DEFENSE OF AUTOMATISM THROUGH HYPNOSIS

The aims of this study were to assess the impact of public conceptions about the nature and coercive powers of hypnosis, and information reg arding different approaches to hypnosis, on the plea of automatism thr ough hypnosis in a criminal trial. Subjects were assigned to three gro ups. Two were presented with criminal cases in which automatism throug h hypnosis was implicated, as well as duress; one of these groups rece ived information about different approaches to hypnosis. The third rec eived the same cases, but with duress alone. Results showed that, when automatism through hypnosis was implicated as well as duress, the def endant offering the plea was judged less responsible, however, he was not judged less guilty than when duress alone was the defence. Also, s ubjects presented with the plea of automatism tended to be more scepti cal about the idea than those not presented with this plea. The provis ion of information on different approaches to hypnosis was largely ine ffective in altering beliefs and judgments. Judgments of guilt and res ponsibility were, however, strongly influenced by beliefs about automa tism through hypnosis.