Music absorption and hypnotizability

Abstract

The present study investigated differences between high (N = 15), medium (N = 20), and low (N = 16) hypnotizable Ss' involvement in imaginative versus nonimaginative music. Ss were first screened for hypnotizability with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962). In a second session presented as a study of music appreciation, Ss listened to classical music of high and low rated music imaginativeness. Ss' involvement was indexed by absorption, imagery elaboration reported in open-ended essays, and reaction time to a pure tone. High hypnotizable Ss reported more absorption than low hypnotizable Ss, regardless of the imaginativeness level of the music. Ss reported more imagery elaboration in the imaginative than in the low imaginative passages. High hypnotizable Ss tended to differ in their imagery elaboration in response to the imaginative passages but not in response to the nonimaginative passages. Reaction time results were nonsignificant. No sex differences were found. Medium hypnotizable Ss were indistinguishable from both high and low hypnotizable Ss. The findings are generally compatible with J. R. Hilgard's (1970, 1974) construct of imaginative involvement.