Cultural Views and Attitudes about Hypnosis: A Survey of College Students Across Four Countries

Abstract

The present investigation surveyed attitudes and beliefs about hypnosis across 4 samples of students attending college at the University of New South Wales, Australia; Dortman University, Germany; The Ohio State University, United States; and Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran. A total of 280 undergraduate students (70 from each country sampled), ranging in age from 18 to 25 years, completed 3 different questionnaires assessing their opinions and beliefs about hypnosis. Although responses to some items varied by country, there was remarkable similarity across many items suggesting that certain views and attitudes about hypnosis are not culture specific.

Zusammenfassung:

In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wurden Einstellungen und Überzeugungen bezüglich Hypnose an vier Stichproben von Studierenden erfragt, welche die Universität von New South Wales (Australien), die Universität Dortmund (Deutschland), die Ohio State Universität (USA) und die Shaheed Behesti University of Medical Sciences (Iran) besuchten. Insgesamt nahmen 280 Studenten (70 aus jedem Land, Alter zwischen 18 und 25 Jahren) teil und beantworteten drei Fragebögen zu ihren Meinungen und Überzeugungen bezüglich Hypnose. Obgleich die Antworten auf einige Items zwischen den Ländern variierten, zeigte sich eine bemerkenswerte Ähnlichkeit in den Antworten auf viele Items. Dies legt nahe, dass bestimmte Ansichten und Einstellungen gegenüber Hypnose nicht kulturspezifisch sind.

Ralf Schmaelzle University of KonstanzKonstanz Germany

Résumé:

Cette recherche étudie les attitudes et croyances concernant l’hypnose à travers quatre échantillons d’étudiants inscrits à l’Université de la Nouvelle-Galles-du-Sud, Australie, Université de Dortmund, Allemagne (remark by translator: there is no Dortman university in Germany), Université d’Etat de l’Ohio, Etats-Unis; et Université des Sciences Médicales de Shaheed Behesti, Iran. Un total de 280 étudiants du premier et deuxième cycle (70 dans chaque pays étudié), dans la tranche d’age de 18 à 25 ans, ont rempli trois questionnaires différents évaluant leurs opinions et croyances concernant l’hypnose. Bien que les réponses à certains items varient selon le pays, il existe une similarité remarquable à travers de nombreux items, ce qui suggère que certaines idées et attitudes concernant l’hypnose ne sont pas spécifiques à une culture.

Ursula Knapp-McInnes Clinical psychologistBoulogne-Billancourt France

Resumen:

Esta investigación midió las actitudes y creencias sobre la hipnosis en 4 muestras de estudiantes de la Universidad de Nueva Gales del Sur, en Australia; la Universidad de Dortman, en Alemania; La Universidad Pública de Ohio, en los Estados Unidos; y la Universidad Shaheed Behesti de Ciencias Médicas, en Irán. Un total de 280 estudiantes de licenciatura (70 de cada país), de entre 18 y 25 años, completaron 3 cuestionarios diferentes sobre sus opiniones y creencias acerca de la hipnosis. Aunque las respuestas a algunos reactivos variaron según el país, hubo una similitud notable en muchos, lo que sugiere que ciertas perspectivas y actitudes sobre la hipnosis no son específicas a una cultura.

Etzel Cardeña University of Lund Sweden

Notes

²After rotation, Gow et al. (2002) reported an 11-factor solution accounting for less than 50% of the variance.

³The number of students completing the surveys at any given location varied between 70 (the Australian sample) and 161 (the U.S. sample).

⁴We examined group differences across our survey items using age and years attending college as covariates. The results were not appreciably different from those obtained without using covariates.

⁵Sampling attitudes among students from four different countries might have inadvertently increased the heterogeneity of responses. However, in two previous investigations of the ATH, OAH, and the BAFH scales, we found a similar pattern of interitem correlations. Our first investigation sampled responses from N = 226 undergraduate students attending Ohio University (Green & Lynn, 1996). Only 96 out of 1,128 (8.5%) interitem correlations reached the r = .30 criterion. A subsequent study of N = 178 students attending Ohio State University, Lima (Green, Raskehy & Carey, 2000), found similar results (i.e., 92 out of 1,128; 8.2%) interitem correlations reached the r = .30 criterion). Combining the data from both studies, we found 7 factors with eigen values greater than 1.0 (Green, Rasekhy, & Carey, 2000). However, the solution was unacceptable as the factors explained only 38% of the total variance.

⁶We calculated Cronbach’s (1951) alpha statistics for each of the total scale scores and across the three HAQ factor scores. Reliability coefficients for the items on the HAQ, OAH, and BAFH scales were rs = .78, .71, .73, respectively. Coefficients for the items comprising the HAQ factors were rs = .73, .61, .59, respectively.

⁷Participants’ age did not correlate with the three factors of the ATH or the ATH total scale score (rs ranged from –.06 to +.01). When the analyses were rerun using age as a covariate, the results were unchanged.

Green, J. P., & Lynn, S. J. (1996). Unpublished raw data. Ohio State University, Lima

Green, J. P., Rasekhy, R., & Carey, J. (2000). Unpublished raw data. The Ohio State University, Lima