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Imaginative Involvement and Hypnotic Susceptibility

J. Hilgard (1970, 1972, 1974, 1979), utilizing an interview format, asserted that a personality variable, namely, an individual's capacity to become imaginatively involved in experiences outside of hypnosis, was significantly correlated with his or her hypnotic susceptibility. Tellegen and Atkinson (1974) operationalized the imaginative involvement variable in a 37-item questionnaire, the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS) that correlated significantly with hypnotic susceptibility (e.g., Crawford, 1982). However, Council, Kirsch, and Hafner (1986) suggested that the relationship between the TAS and hypnotic susceptibility is a context-mediated artifact in that the two correlate only when the TAS is administered within a context clearly identified as involving hypnosis. As the interviews conducted by J. Hilgard (1970, 1972, 1974, 1979) were done within a context clearly identified as involving hypnosis, the possibility exists that the relationship between imaginative involvement and hypnotic susceptibility is also a context-mediated artifact. In a test of this possibility, 86 subjects were interviewed concerning their imaginative involvements. Forty-three subjects were interviewed within a context defined as "research investigating hypnosis" and 43 subjects were interviewed within a context defined as "research investigating imagination." Hypnotic susceptibility was assessed in sessions separate from the interviews. In the present study, an individual's hypnotic susceptibility was not found to be significantly related to his or her imaginative involvement. It appears J. Hilgard's original finding may have been due to chance correlations compounded by subsequent experimenter expectancy effects. It is recommended that J. Hilgard's work be clarified through more extensive replications in which experimenter blindness is assured.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc331851
Date08 1900
CreatorsDrake, Stephen Douglas
ContributorsNash, Michael, Burke, Angela J., Watkins, C. Edward, Peterson, Polly E.
PublisherNorth Texas State University
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formativ, 100 leaves, Text
CoverageUnited States - Texas - Denton County - Denton
RightsPublic, Drake, Stephen Douglas, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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