Relationships between Imaginative Ability Variables and the Barber Suggestibility Scale

Abstract

Previous studies indicate that various measures of imaginative ability may correlate with some standardized scales of hypnotic suggestibility but not others. In the present study Involvement in Everyday Imaginative Activities, Vividness of Imagery, Control of Visual Imagery and two Attitude Toward Hypnosis scales were correlated with the performance of male and female hypnotic subjects on the Barber Suggestibility Scale. Unlike previous results obtained with the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Involvement failed to correlate with the Barber Scale and Control correlated negatively with the Barber Scale in females. These data indicate that relationships between subject variables and hypnotic suggestibility may be more dependent on the structure of specific suggestibility scales than has heretofore been recognized.