Editing Hypnosis (section)

=== Social role-taking theory ===
The main theorist who pioneered the influential role-taking theory of hypnotism was [[Theodore R. Sarbin|Theodore Sarbin]]. Sarbin argued that hypnotic responses were motivated attempts to fulfill the socially constructed roles of hypnotic subjects. This has led to the misconception that hypnotic subjects are simply "faking". However, Sarbin emphasised the difference between faking, in which there is little subjective identification with the role in question, and role-taking, in which the subject not only acts externally in accord with the role but also subjectively identifies with it to some degree, acting, thinking, and feeling "as if" they are hypnotised. Sarbin drew analogies between role-taking in hypnosis and role-taking in other areas such as [[method acting]], mental illness, and shamanic possession, etc. This interpretation of hypnosis is particularly relevant to understanding stage hypnosis, in which there is clearly strong peer pressure to comply with a socially constructed role by performing accordingly on a theatrical stage.

Hence, the ''social constructionism and role-taking theory'' of hypnosis suggests that individuals are enacting (as opposed to merely ''playing'') a role and that really there is no such thing as a hypnotic trance. A socially constructed relationship is built depending on how much [[rapport]] has been established between the "hypnotist" and the subject (see [[Hawthorne effect]], [[Pygmalion effect]], and [[placebo effect]]).

Psychologists such as [[Robert A. Baker|Robert Baker]] and Graham Wagstaff claim that what we call hypnosis is actually a form of learned social behaviour, a complex hybrid of social compliance, relaxation, and suggestibility that can account for many esoteric behavioural manifestations.<ref name="Baker, 1990">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Robert A. | name-list-style = vanc |year=1990 |title=''They Call It Hypnosis'' |url=https://archive.org/details/theycallithypnos0000bake |url-access=registration |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, NY |isbn=978-0-87975-576-8}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=September 2021}}