ANALYSIS of experimental procedures used in studies of suggestibility supports an interpretation of suggestibility as a form of dependency behavior. In the experiments of Shcrif (1935) and Asch (1940), designed to demonstrate the influence of group norms, suggestions were given to subjects (5s) which resulted in increased conformity of their judgments to those of other members of the group. The changes in judgments were said by Asch to result from S's need for social support, in other words, they were evidence of S's dependency on the group. When the autokinetic effect is employed as a means of demonstrating the influence of suggestion, S is confronted with a highly ambiguous stimulus and is asked to make judgments in the absence of customary cues. A second person also makes judgments that S may accept as criteria against which to validate his own. Under these circumstances the judgments of another person become cues which S may accept or reject. If 5 accepts them, he is accepting help; if he accepts help, he is responding in a dependent manner.Both experimental and clinical evidence support an interpretation of suggestibility in terms of dependency behavior. Inverse relationships between suggestibility and ascendancy (Kelman, 1950) and between suggestibility and self-sufficiency (Young & Gaier, 1953) have been found. Moreover, suggestibility and dependency have been traditionally associated in clinical descriptions of hysterical reactions. However, in spite of implicit and explict 1 This paper is based in part on a thesis submitted by the first-named author in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M.A. at the University of Toronto. The authors wish to express appreciation to G. B. Thornton and E. Tulving for constructive advice and assistance and, also, to the Institute of Child Study of the University of Toronto and the Forest Hill Village Board of Education for their cooperation in this study. They wish in particular to express gratitude to Dorothee Keschner for permission to adapt and revise her test of dependency and independence and for her ready assistance in the development of a parallel test for older children.

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