A critical evaluation of the relationship between sustained attentional abilities and hypnotic susceptibility

Abstract

During hypnosis, highly susceptible individuals report a loss of awareness of their surroundings and a narrowing of their awareness to the events suggested by the hypnotist. These individuals also report more frequent occurrences of deeply involving experiences in daily life. It has been widely theorized that the ability to strongly maintain the focus of attention underlies hypnotic susceptibility (Crawford, 1994). Studies making use of a range of behavioural measures are widely cited as supporting this view. However, lack of replication and uncertainty about the nature of the measures makes interpretation difficult. The present study uses a factor analytic design (n = 182) to explore the structure of the relationship between hypnotic susceptibility, imagery, absorption and a range of behavioural measures said in the hypnosis literature to correlate with susceptibility and to index sustained attentional abilities. If the general claims are correct, similar relationships should be found here. Further, an identifiable sustained attention factor should emerge from the covariance structure, including a substantial loading from susceptibility. These predictions were not supported. Results showed that only absorption correlated significantly with susceptibility. A sustained attention factor did emerge but was independent of the hypnosis absorption factor. Linkages between susceptibility and sustained attention remain undemonstrated.