Hypnotic age regression and moral reasoning.

Moral reasoning was assessed with two dilemmas from the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview (1976) in 7 adults who were hypnotically age regressed to four ages: 15, 12, 9, and 6 years. Seven adults in a control group under task-motivation instructions were age regressed to the same ages and administered the dilemmas. Age-regressed moral maturity scores for both groups were compared to pretest scores, to data for actual 15-, 12-, 9-, and 6-year-olds from other studies, and to each other. Both groups were able to lower their moral reasoning scores when given age-regression instructions; however, hypnosis subjects not only scored lower than task-motivation subjects but also more closely resembled the levels of reasoning used by children at these ages. The results provide some support for a distinction between age regression through hypnosis and age regression through task-motivation instructions.