The Relationship between Hypnotic Induction Modality and Locus of Control Expectancy

Abstract

Twenty Ss were exposed to either an intrinsic mode of task motivation and induction (i.e., the “I am” format) or to the traditional extrinsic (i.e., “You will”) modality and objective and subjective criteria of hypnotic susceptibility assessed. Results indicated that Ss receiving the “intrinsic” input were more susceptible at the .01 level of confidence. When the same data were analyzed in terms of comparing congruent and incongruent matching of procedural modality and Ss' Internal-External Locus of Control expectancy as per the Rotter I-E scale, a significance favoring I-E/input congruence obtained at the .05 level. It was concluded from the data that when a congruence exists between procedural modality and the I-E characteristic of the subject, performance of hypnotic-like behavior and subjective perception of altered behavior are enhanced considerably.