Hypnotic Devices May Be More Than Placebo

Abstract

The study attempted to assess the effectiveness of two devices in facilitating the induction of hypnosis in subjects preselected as low in hypnotizability. Undergraduates were exposed to no treatment (control) or one of four combinations of devices during the induction phase of being administered the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form B of Weitzenhoffer and Hilgard (1959). Analyses revealed only one of the conditions resulted in a significant difference in subjects' realness ratings of hypnotic items and an increase in hypnotizability score. If the effect is more than a chance significance of placebo, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown.