Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 1999 · 203 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesBehavioral SciencesPsychologyCognitive PsychologyExperimental DesignExperimental PsychologyCognitive Behavioral TherapyHypnotic TherapyHypnotic EffectsImaginative Thinking
The study examined hypnotic and nonhypnotic suggestibility across two experiments. The experiments measured suggestibility in different orders and used correlational analyses with absorption, fantasy proneness, motivation, and expectancy. Results showed that nonhypnotic suggestibility was reduced when assessed after hypnotic suggestibility, that hypnosis had a small but significant effect when measured first, that nonhypnotic suggestibility correlated with absorption, fantasy proneness, motivation, and expectancy (with expectancy being the sole predictor when others were controlled), that behavioral response to hypnosis was explained 53 % by nonhypnotic suggestibility, motivation, and expectancy, that experiential response was predicted only by nonhypnotic suggestibility, and that hypnosis decreased suggestibility in a substantial minority of participants.
Hypnotic and nonhypnotic suggestibility were investigated in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, nonhypnotic suggestibility was suppressed when measured after hypnotic suggestibility, whereas hypnotic suggestibility was not affected by the order of assessment. Experiment 2 confirmed a small but significant effect of hypnosis on suggestibility when nonhypnotic suggestibility was measured first. Nonhypnotic suggestibility was correlated with absorption, fantasy proneness, motivation, and response expectancy, but only expectancy predicted suggestibility when the other variables were controlled. Behavioral response to hypnosis was predicted by nonhypnotic suggestibility, motivation, and expectancy in a model accounting for 53% of the variance. Experiential response to hypnotic suggestion was predicted only by nonhypnotic suggestibility. Unexpectedly, hypnosis was found to decrease suggestibility for a substantial minority of participants.