The induction of hypnosis: indirect vs. direct methods and the role of anxiety.

Abstract The present study was designed to investigate a method of facilitating hypnotic susceptibility through an induction procedure administered without the Ss awareness of hypnotic intent. It was also intended to determine the effect of this procedure in terms of arousal, as compared to an overt administration of hypnotic induction. Twenty Ss were randomly assigned to either a relaxation group (RH) or an overt hypnosis group (OH). Ss assigned to the RH group received instructions describing the research as an experiment in relaxation, while Ss in the OH group received instructions describing the research as an experiment in hypnosis. After some preliminary relaxation exercises, each S was given an altered version of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (SHSS) from which their susceptibility scores were tabulated. Arousal was measured by GSR frequency. The OH group produced significantly more GSRs per second than the RH group when they were given their instructions, and these Ss did not use the w...