Could Empathy Be a Predictor of Hypnotic Ability?

Abstract

This study examined whether trait empathy is related to hypnotic ability and absorption. Sixty-four graduate students and mental health professionals completed the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A; the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index; and the Tellegen Absorption Scale as measures of hypnotic ability, empathy, and absorption. Correlation analysis determined that statistically significant relationships exist between empathy and hypnotic ability (r = .41); empathy and absorption (r = .43); and absorption and hypnotic ability (r = .31). The results also indicate that empathy and absorption are both predictors of hypnotic ability, although absorption does not appear to contribute a statistically significant amount of the explained variance in hypnotizability that is independent of empathy. Itmaybe that the conceptual ground shared by both empathy and absorption is what predicts hypnotic ability.