Goal-directed fantasy, the experience of nonvolition, and compliance

In a study of suggested arm levitation, Spanos and Barber (1972) concluded that subjects tended to experience suggestions as more nonvolitional when instructed to engage in goal-directed fantasy. An attempt was made to test the viability of an interpretation of their findings in terms of compliance. A group of 48 subjects was instructed to simulate a response to an arm levitation suggestion. The suggestion was worded in one of four different ways, varying from a direct command to an instruction to engage in goal-directed fantasy. The simulated responses were similar to those found by Spanos and Barber; the arm levitation suggestion was reported as more involuntary when the subjects were asked to engage in a goal-directed fantasy. After the simulation part of the experiment, subjects were asked to report what they actually experienced. The trend for more nonvolition with goal-directed fantasy was significantly diminished in these non-simulated reports. It was concluded that the results of Spanos and Barber are readily explicable in terms of compliance, and thus the immediate clinical applicability of the concept of goal-directed fantasy may be limited.