Suggestibility scales?

[esoteric]

Hi,

Does anyone have a copy of any suggestibility scales they could share with me? I'm looking for the Standford, Harvard, and especially, the Barber. I'd rather have the individual scales, compared to the group scales, but I'd take any. I've been looking online and at my university's library for hours, and can't find a copy of the actual scales, with instructions and scoring.

And just so you know it's for my research methods class, I'm going to do a simple correlation study between the GSS (A suggestibility scale designed for interogrative suggestibility), if I can find it the Barber scale, and the Hypnotic Attitudes Questionnaire.

So if anyone has an electronic copy, or in an book or journal article they'd be willing to type out I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for your help.

[Shlomo_NLP]

What scale? what are you talking about?

Suggestibility is not really measureable as much as I can tell...

[Ali-Gh]

Hi,

Does anyone have a copy of any suggestibility scales they could share with me? I'm looking for the Standford, Harvard, and especially, the Barber. I'd rather have the individual scales, compared to the group scales, but I'd take any. I've been looking online and at my university's library for hours, and can't find a copy of the actual scales, with instructions and scoring.

And just so you know it's for my research methods class, I'm going to do a simple correlation study between the GSS (A suggestibility scale designed for interogrative suggestibility), if I can find it the Barber scale, and the Hypnotic Attitudes Questionnaire.

So if anyone has an electronic copy, or in an book or journal article they'd be willing to type out I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for your help.

Dear Friend

I have both stanford and harvard scales. send me your email address.

best wishes
ali

[esoteric]

What scale? what are you talking about?

Suggestibility is not really measureable as much as I can tell...

Ahh.. well there are actually a lot of suggestibility scales used out there for research and publication. To do research on hypnosis and suggestibility people break it down so it's measurable, reliable, reliable. I recently read an article in which the authors claimed that hypnosis is actually just imaginitivity and creativity, and they created a scale to test it out. As for scales though, the most popular, I would say, are the Harvard and Standford Suggestibility Scales. But there is a lot more out there.

[teadaze]

>Ahh.. well there are actually a lot of suggestibility scales used out there for research and publication.

Yes but that doesn't mean they are of any relevence. These 'suggestibility scales' are rejected by many hypnotists and were designed as a way of trying to simplify the state of hypnosis. I do not think they achieve this but serve to complicate things further. Everyone is suggestible and as long as a hypnotist is flexible, advances can be made.


>To do research on hypnosis and suggestibility people break it down so it's measurable, reliable, reliable.

How can you measure something like suggestibility? A person can be in a very suggestible state at one time and at another time have no reaction to suggestions. This depends on many different factors (such as the intent of the hypnotist) which of course cannot be measured. I would never go so far as to say this was reliable...

>As for scales though, the most popular, I would say, are the Harvard and Standford Suggestibility Scales. But there is a lot more out there.


Just in case you are interested, this web site which mentions your 'Harvard and Stanford' scale contains a lot of information which is false and has long since found to be false. Just an example of the amount of misinformation there is surrounding hypnosis, please be wary of it.

http://www.pdrhealth.com/content/natural_medicine/chapters/201280.shtml

[esoteric]

When I said reliable I was trying to convey that these measures have been shown to be reliable, in that they consistently measure the same thing and get similiar scores. The measure is reliable, whether or not it measures hypnosis may or may not be. This is somewhat related to my project.

These were designed to try and establish norms about hypnosis, suggestibility and the average person. It's hard to emerge as a full fledge scientific field without reliable, consistent measures that can be duplicated. I'm not trying to say one way or another that they are accurate, but you can see they are needed for research and publication. Certainly I'm not an expert on the literature in the field, but I've a bit.

These measures are scientific in that they have standard procedures, control groups without inductions, and the same scoring measure for everyone. This does increase the internal validity, which is important, but it is at the cost of the ecological results. But that is a common issue of balances in most research, especially psychological studies.

[Terry (existing)]

You are absolutely correct in your statements, the real problem arises because you are attempting to view an art with the eye of the scientist. This won't work very well I'm afraid....The scales you require can be obtained from a book of course, so I see not problem with you doing the research at the local library instead of online. However, knowing the scales won't get you nearer to an understanding of hypnosis, and is to my mind, an excercise in futility, unless your goal is not what I perceive it to be....

[esoteric]

>The scales you require can be obtained from a book of course, so I see not problem with you doing the research at the local library instead of online.

I may not have been clear in the research I was doing. I was looking at my University's website, which lists all publications they have as electronic copies, in house, or can get via inter-library loan, and it was only after this failed I asked here. I do appreciate the suggestion though.

>However, knowing the scales won't get you nearer to an understanding of hypnosis, and is to my mind, an excercise in futility

I would have to politely argue with you on this. While knowing the scales may not make me a better hypnotist, but I think it can say a lot of current thinking of hypnosis in these scientific areas and ideas behind its working. You say hypnosis is art, but even art can be broken down and catergorized and that is a very important process to lending credibility and furthering the field such as hypnosis.

[Don]

I remember when I was studying music at UCLA (I also studied music at Santa Monica College and UCSD). They told an interesting story about Bach's fugues.

For a long time, the rules of writing fugues in the style of J.S. Bach have been known. So some very clever students got together and wrote a program for a computer to compose a fugue in the style of Bach and following all the rules. When the final result printed out, they took it to an organ and played it. It was horrible.

The examined what the computer had composed. It exactly followed every one of the rules of Bach fugue composition. So what went wrong? They went back and compared all of Bach's fugues to the rules of fugue composition.

Not one followed the rules.

Bach was an individual. Individuals don't follow rules. Examine 1,000 and you can get averages, but there may not be one person who follows the average. How can that be so?

Scores on a test: 88, 98, 104, 100, 89.
Average Score: 95.8
How many people scored the average? 0
Yet that was the average score.

The problem is, that while scales can be used to describe when certain phenomenon occur, that basically has little to do with the success of the hypnotherapy. The hypnotherapy requires hypnosis, but the rapport and appropriateness of and approach for giving suggestions, combined with actual depth of desire for change on the part of the subject, are far more accurate in determining the success than is the depth of the hypnosis.

In short, in a field with a dozen variables that you are not quantifying (and which some people may claim are not quantifiable), how can quantifying one minor aspect help you?

Further, who do you think will pay attention to the greater cred you wish us to have? Doctors? The AMA already accepts hypnosis. Psychiatrists? Just as long as we don't give drugs they don't care. Psychologists? We're competition and many will never accept us because of that.

[stevetist]

Does anyone know of a suggestablility scale geared specifically for seniors, or those subjects 55 and over? In my experience, this age range includes some of the best subjects I've encounterd.

[esoteric]

In short, in a field with a dozen variables that you are not quantifying (and which some people may claim are not quantifiable), how can quantifying one minor aspect help you?

I'm not implying that quantifying and measuring one aspect of hypnosis will tell us everything we'd like to know about it, but it's a start. I think the scientific investigation, looking at different components, mediums, uses, etc. of hypnosis is extrememly important. The investigation of suggestbility, hypnotizability, and the use of these scales, is just one piece of the puzzle. My actual research, assuming my hypotheses are supported, is to try and discredit the use of the term suggestibility as a synonym of hypontizability.


Further, who do you think will pay attention to the greater cred you wish us to have? Doctors? The AMA already accepts hypnosis. Psychiatrists? Just as long as we don't give drugs they don't care. Psychologists? We're competition and many will never accept us because of that.

I'm sure you know better than myself the stigma that is often associated with hypnosis; especially in psychology. In my opinion hypnosis is part of and complimentary to psychology and therapy, not in competition. But because of the spotted research and effects of stereotyping, hypnosis isn't, in my opinion, at the acceptance and use it should be.

On top of this, my interest isn't actually in hypnotherapy, it's in hypnosis itself and the underlying mechanisms. I think with more credibility comes more research and research opportunities, easier job opportunies and a general advancement of the field.

[Merlin]

Does anyone actually use those scales?

[Merlin]

>While knowing the scales may not make me a better hypnotist, but I think it can say a lot of current thinking of hypnosis

Such a shame :(
R.I.P. Hypnosis studies.

[Poodle]

Scales have become basically obsolete in the practice of hypnosis(hypnotherapy). No one uses them any more and that's why you are not getting a direct answer to your question.

[esoteric]

Scales have become basically obsolete in the practice of hypnosis(hypnotherapy). No one uses them any more and that's why you are not getting a direct answer to your question.

I did not know that, thanks. But, I still want to ask, are they no longer used in research of hypnosis? That's my focus, and different in my book. Thanks for the input.

[Terry (existing)]

I did not know that, thanks. But, I still want to ask, are they no longer used in research of hypnosis? That's my focus, and different in my book. Thanks for the input. I think the replies you got, though not direct, indicate that the answer to your question is "No", scales are no longer used, and likely not taught any more. I was taught a couple during my first course some thirty seven years ago, but had no use for them within a year of grauating, since they had no significance to me once I established a better understanding of hypnosis. As for research, we now use electronic devices to measure brain changes during hypnosis, so you are way behind in your goals and direction. Sadly, I can't offer you any information on research of the kind you wish to do, since mine is based on results, not measurments, but any time you can quantify and measure the mind, good luck to you, it is something I would never attempt to do, since the mind is so complicated, and being etherial, has no applications you can use in the study, except electronic signals.....

[skip]

Esoteric,

The scales attempt to objectify something that is subjective at best.

That makes them woefully innacurate to begin with.

And the measurements made subject to debate at every 'level'.

That doesnt lend itsself to "good research".

It can be ueful as a teaching tool, as long as it is taught as a model, only a model, an innacurate one at best, but useful for some understanding and discussion purposes, and one thought to represent the truth at worst.

skip

[Merlin]

I found them on the web.
Just use your trusty search-engine.

They are still <sigh> used in acedemia.
Not wise, but it is done.