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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Method for Simultaneous fMRI/EEG Data Collection during a Focused Attention Suggestion for Differential Thermal Sensation
Published on: January 5, 2014
Is hypnotic suggestibility a stable trait?
Oliver Fassler1, Steven Jay Lynn, Joshua Knox
1Psychology Department, State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY), Binghamton, NY 13905, USA.
Abstract:
The present study examined the trait-like nature of hypnotic suggestibility by examining the stability of hypnotic responsiveness in a test-retest design in which the procedures were administered either live or by audiotape. Contrary to the idea that hypnotizability is a largely immutable, stable trait, scores on the scale of hypnotic responsiveness decreased significantly at the second session. Measures of subjective experiences and expectancies accounted for a sizable portion of the variance in hypnotic responding, both at initial test and at retest. Participants became disengaged with the hypnotic procedures at retest. Participants who received the hypnotic induction by audiotape did not differ from participants who received it live. The results are consistent with sociocognitive and altered state theories of hypnosis, and underline the important role of subjective experiences in hypnotic responding.
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