Predicting hypnotic susceptibility via a phenomenological approach.

The hypnotic susceptibility of 300 nursing students was predicted via an instrument called the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory. The students experienced the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and subsequently completed the self-report inventory with reference to their experience of hypnosis. Regression analyses generated a multiple R of .67 between subjects' susceptibility, as measured by the Harvard scale, and their predicted susceptibility, based on the (sub)dimensions of the inventory. Additional analyses gave a validity coefficient of .61 between the Harvard scale scores of the subjects in the present study and their predicted scores, using regression coefficients obtained in an earlier study. The results replicated previous research and suggest that the inventory may be a useful instrument in predicting hypnotic susceptibility in a less obtrusive fashion than the Harvard scale.