Hypnotizability as affected by attitudinal and motivational variables

The purpose of the study was two-fold: to discover whether task-motivated Ss would be more hypnotizable than those not given task-motivation instructions, and to discover whether the attitude of the E would affect Ss hypnotizability. The Barber Suggestibility Scale was employed for measuring susceptibility to hypnosis. Ss were divided randomly into 6 groups of 10: Group 1 (task-motivated-E neutral); Group 2 (non task-motivated-E neutral); Group 3 (task-motivated-E friendly); Group 4 (task-motivated-E harsh); Group 5 (non task-motivated-E friendly); and Group 6 (non task-motivated-E harsh). Analyses of variance, both for objective and subjective scores, did not yield significant results for the task-motivation variable but did yield significant results (p = .01) for the variable dealing with E attitude.