A Comparison of Group and Individual Induction of Hypnosis with Selfscoring and Observer-Scoring

Abstract

Forty-five volunteer Ss were hypnotized in small groups of 4, 5, or 6 and were subsequently hypnotized in individual sessions. In both sessions observer- and self-scores were recorded for all suggestions of the Harvard Group Scale adaptation of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. The correlation between observer- and self-scores was .83 for the group session and .89 for the individual session. Hypnotic susceptibility in the group session was very similar to susceptibility in the individual session; mean observer-scores were 6.80 and 6.67 on a 12 point scale. Group self-scores were found to predict quite accurately objective hypnotist scores of the subsequent individual session, 93 per cent of the cases being within 3 points of each other. The correlation was .74. A second sample of 34 non-volunteer male Ss were hypnotized individually following Form A of the Stanford scale. Observer- and self-scores correlated .81. Thus self-scoring was found to be remarkably successful, and the results of group administration very comparable to those of individual administration of hypnotic susceptibility tests.