Brief Hypnotic Suggestibility Training: A Confirmation of its Effectiveness and a Test of Self-Report Validity

Abstract

Participants who pretested low in hypnotic suggestibility were, prior to a retest, either given a four-minute version of the Carleton Skill Training Package or encouraged to try hard. Large pre- to posttest gains in behavioral and nonvolitional suggestibility scores occurred in the training condition only. In order to evaluate the possibility that nonvolition self-reports of trained participants were faked, self-ratings of nonvolition were elicited under anonymous as well as public conditions. Training-induced gains in nonvolition were as great when the ratings were made anonymously as when they were made in public. The implications of these findings are discussed.