Measuring “Hypnotic-Like” Suggestibility with and without “Hypnotic Induction”; Psychometric Properties, Norms, and Variables Influencing Response to the Barber Suggestibility Scale (BSS)

Abstract

The Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales, and other extant instruments, designed to measure response to test-suggestions of the type traditionally associated with the word “hypnosis,” are not conducive to experimental manipulation of antecedent variables. To isolate the instrumental factors which affect response to test-suggestions, a suggestibility scale is needed that can be administered with prior experimental manipulation of all potentially important antecedent variables, e.g., with and without a “hypnotic induction.” The present monograph presents three sets of data related to an instrument, the Barber Suggestibility Scale (BSS), that was constructed to fulfill this aim. One set of data pertains to the characteristics of the BSS (reliability, norms, intercorrelations of items, factor analyses, etc.). A second set derives from an experimental program designed to delineate the critical variables which affect response to the BSS. A third set of data indicates that findings obtained with the BSS can be generalized to other types of test-suggestions.