Hypnosis and Performance Standards

Abstract

Participants received 1 of 3 instructional sets designed to manipulate their performance standards (i.e., criteria used to evaluate hypnotic performance): (a) stringent set (n = 33), these subjects were told that responsive subjects respond immediately to hypnosis and imagine realistically, (b) lenient set (n = 30), these subjects were told that responsive subjects do not necessarily respond immediately or imagine realistically, and (c) control set (n = 34), standard prehypnotic information. As expected, compared to controls, stringent set participants were less responsive to hypnosis, as indexed by measures of actual and estimated suggestibility, subjective involvement, involuntariness, quickness of responding, satisfaction, and imaginative ability. Stringent set participants estimated they passed fewer suggestions, were less satisfied with their performance, and reported less subjective involvement than individuals in the lenient condition.