Male and female subjects with initially low hypnotic susceptibility were either administered a skill-training procedure aimed at inculcating positive attitudes and appropriate interpretational sets toward hypnotic responding or assigned to a no-treatment control condition. Skill-trained subjects obtained significantly higher posttest scores than controls on objective and subjective dimensions of susceptibility and on measures of attitudes toward hypnosis. Over half of the skill-trained subjects but only one control subject scored in the high-susceptibility range on post testing. Questionnaire measures of imagery vividness and absorption predicted posttest susceptibility in skill-trained females, whereas a combination of attitudes toward hypnosis and imagery vividness predicted posttest susceptibility in skill-trained males. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Barber, T. X. (1969). Hypnosis: A scientific approach. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
2.
Barber, T. X. , Spanos, N. P., & Chaves, J. F. (1974). Hypnosis, imagination and human potentialities. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon.
3.
Council, J. R. , Kirsch, I., & Hafner, L. P. (1986). Expectancy versus absorption in the prediction of hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 182-189.
4.
de Groh, M. , Cross, W. P., & Spanos, N. P. (1985). Attitudes and imagery in the prediction of hypnotic suggestibility. Unpublished manuscript, Carleton University.
5.
de Groot, H. P. , Gwynn, M. I., & Spanos, N. P. (in press). The effects of contextual information and gender on the prediction of hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
6.
Diamond, M. J. (1972). The use of observationally presented information to modify hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 79, 174-180.
7.
Diamond, M. J. (1974). Modification of hypnotizability: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 81, 180-198.
8.
Diamond, M. J. (1977). Hypnotizing is modifiable. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 25, 147-165.
9.
Diamond, M. J. (1982). Modifying hypnotic experience by means of indirect hypnosis and hypnotic skill training: An update (1981). Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, 7, 233-239.
10.
Edmonston, W. E., Jr. (1986). The induction of hypnosis. New York: John Wiley.
11.
Gfeller, J. , Lynn, S. J., & Pribble, W. (1987). Enhancing hypnotic susceptibility: Interpersonal and rapport factors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 586-595.
12.
Gorassini, D. R. (1986). Strategic cognitive responding and attributions of nonvolition in hypnotic subjects. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
13.
Gorassini, D. R. , & Spanos, N. P. (1986). A cognitive skills approach to the successful modification of hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1004-1012.
14.
Hilgard, E. R. (1965). Hypnotic susceptibility. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
15.
Hilgard, E. R. (1975). Hypnosis. Annual Review of Psychology, 26, 19-44.
16.
Kinney, J. M. , & Sachs, L. B. (1974). Increasing hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 83, 554-560.
17.
Morgan, A. H. , Johnson, D. L., & Hilgard, E. R. (1974). The stability of hypnotic susceptibility: A longitudinal study. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 22, 249-257.
18.
Perry, C. (1977). Is hypnotizability modifiable? International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 25, 125-146.
19.
Perry, C. , & Laurence, J. R. (1986). Social and psychological influences on hypnotic behavior. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 478-479.
20.
Sachs, L. B. , & Anderson, W. L. (1967). Modification of hypnotic susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 15, 172-180.
21.
Sarbin, T. R. , & Coe, W. C. (1972). Hypnosis: A social psychological analysis of influence communication. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
22.
Sarbin, T. R. , & Coe, W. C. (1979). Hypnosis and psychopathology: Replacing old myths with fresh metaphors. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 506-526.
23.
Sheehan, P. W. (1979). Hypnosis and the processes of imagination. In E. Fromm & R. E. Shor (Eds.), Hypnosis: Developments in research and new perspectives (pp. 381-411). New York: Aldine.
24.
Shor, R. E. , Orne, M. T., & O'Connell, D. N. (1966). Psychological correlates of plateau hypnotizability in a special volunteer sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 80-95.
25.
Singer, J. L. , & Antrobus, J. S. (1972). Daydreaming, imaginal processes, and personality: A normative study. In P. W. Sheehan (Ed.), The function and nature of imagery (pp. 175-202). New York: Academic Press.
26.
Singer, J. L. , & Pope, K. S. (1981). Daydreaming and imagery skills as predisposing capacities for self-hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 29, 271-281.
27.
Spanos, N. P. (1971). Goal-directed fantasy and the performance of hypnotic test suggestions. Psychiatry, 34, 86-96.
28.
Spanos, N. P. (1982). A social psychological approach to hypnotic behavior. In G. Weary & H. L. Mirels (Eds.), Integrations of clinical and social psychology (pp. 231-271). New York: Oxford University Press.
29.
Spanos, N. P. (1986a). Hypnosis and the modification of hypnotic susceptibility. In P. Naish (Ed.), What is hypnosis? (pp. 85-120). London: Open University Press.
30.
Spanos, N. P. (1986b). Hypnotic behavior: A social psychological interpretation of amnesia, analgesia, and "trance logic."Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 449-502.
31.
Spanos, N. P. (1986c). Hypnosis, nonvolitional responding and multiple personality: A social psychological perspective. In B. Maher (Ed.), Progress in personality research (Vol. 14, pp. 1-62). New York: Academic Press.
32.
Spanos, N. P. , Brett, P. J., Menary, E. P., & Cross, W. P. (in press). A measure of attitudes toward hypnosis: Relationships with absorption and hypnotic susceptibility. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.
33.
Spanos, N. P. , Cobb, P. N., & Gwynn, M. I. (1984). The Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale: Stability and reliability under conditions of individual administration. Psychological Reports, 54, 123-128.
34.
Spanos, N. P. , Cross, W. P., Menary, E. P., & Smith, J. (in press). Long-term effects of cognitive skill training for the enhancement of hypnotic susceptibility. British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis.
35.
Spanos, N. P. , de Groh, M., & de Groot, H. (1987). Skill training for enhancing hypnotic susceptibility and word-list amnesia. British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, 4, 15-23.
36.
Spanos, N. P. , & Gorassini, D. R. (1984). Structure of hypnotic test suggestions and attributions of responding involuntarily. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 688-696.
37.
Spanos, N. P. , & McPeake, J. D. (1975a). Involvement in everyday imaginative activities, attitudes toward hypnosis, and hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 594-598.
38.
Spanos, N. P. , & McPeake, J. D. (1975b). The interaction of attitudes towards hypnosis and involvement in everyday imaginative activities on hypnotic suggestibility. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 17, 247-252.
39.
Spanos, N. P. , Radtke, H. L., Hodgins, D. C., Stam, H. J., & Bertrand, L. D. (1983). The Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale: Normative data and psychometric properties. Psychological Reports, 53, 523-535.
40.
Spanos, N. P. , Robertson, L. A., Menary, E. P., Brett, P. J., & Smith, J. (1987). Effects of repeated baseline testing on cognitive skill training induced increments in hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 1230-1235.
41.
Spanos, N. P. , Robertson, L. A., Menary, E. P., Brett, P. J., & Smith, J. (in press). Effects of repeated baseline testing on cognitive skill training induced increments in hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
42.
Springer, C. J. , Sachs, L. B., & Morrow, J. E. (1977). Group methods of increasing hypnotic susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 25, 184-119.
43.
Tellegen, A. (1979). On measures and conceptions of hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 21, 219-236.
44.
Tellegen, A. , & Atkinson, G. (1974). Openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences ("absorption"), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 83, 268-277.
45.
Wagstaff, G. F. (1981). Hypnosis, compliance and beliefNew York: St. Martin's Press.
46.
Yancher, R. J. , & Johnson, H. (1981). Absorption and attitude toward hypnosis: A moderator analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 29, 375-382.
