Personality, expectancy, and hypnotizability

This paper examines the relationships between several personality variables and hypnotizability. Measures of four variables from the Rational versus Experiential Inventory (Epstein, Norris, & Pacini, 1995) and of fantasy proneness (Wilson & Barber, 1983) were administered to 248 participants, about half in the hypnotic context and half out-of-context. In addition, measures of expectancies for behavioral responses to, and subjective experiences produced by, hypnotic suggestions were measured in-context. Hypnotizability was assessed using the Carlton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale (Spanos, Radtke, Hodgins, Bertrand, & Stam, 1981). Fantasy proneness was related, both in- and out-of-context, to both measures of expectancy and to behavioral and experiential responses to suggestions. Experiential processing was related to expectancy for experiential responses to suggestions in both contexts. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that both measures of expectancy contributed to the prediction of both hypnotic behaviors and experiences, but that no other variables added significant variance to the model after variance associated with expectancies was accounted for. An explanation of the results from the viewpoint of response expectancy theory is offered.