Hypnotic Responsiveness and Dissociation: A Multi-Variable Analysis

Myths and misconceptions about hypnosis and suggestion: Separating fact and fiction

“…Research associating hypnotic responsiveness with the widely used Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; Carlson & Putnam, 1993) has secured correlations that only hover around r = 0.20 (e.g., see Kirsch & Lynn, 1998 for a review), and scales that measure non‐pathological dissociation have similarly not found significant correlations of dissociation with hypnotic suggestibility (Green, Lynn, Green, Bradford, & Rasekhy, 2020). Furthermore, when the scales are administered in two purportedly different and unrelated testing sessions, the correlation often vanishes to near zero (Kirsch & Lynn, 1998).…”

“…Council, Kirsch, and Grant (1996) summarized a number of findings and reported that the correlation between absorption and hypnotic suggestibility averaged r = 0.21 for behavioral responses to hypnosis and r = 0.25 for subjective response to hypnosis when the measures were administered in the same test context and r = 0.12 (behavioral) and r = 0.09 (subjective) when the measures were administered in separate test contexts. These findings imply that the absorption‐hypnotizability link also is sensitive to context effects (e.g., see Council, Kirsch,, & Hafner, 1986; Green et al, 2020; Green & Council, 2004; Green & Lynn, 2008) and may be affected by motivation to present oneself in a consistent manner (Council & Green, 2004). In contrast, the hypnotic suggestibility‐fantasy proneness link is not so sensitive to context effects ( r = 0.29 measured out of context, Silva & Kirsch, 1992).…”