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The effect of varying number of response descriptors on hypnotic depth ratings was assessed. Following hypnotic susceptibility testing, subjects in one group (n = 111) rated their hypnotic depth on a unidimensional four-point scale with alternatives ranging from "not hypnotized" to "highly hypnotized." A second group (n = 111) responded to a four-point scale that confounded the two descriptors, hypnotic depth and degree of absorption. The alternatives on this scale ranged from "neither hypnotized nor absorbed" to "highly hypnotized and absorbed." Finally, those in a third group (n = 111) were given a scale that included degree of hypnosis and degree of absorption as separate descriptors. Thus, these subjects could rate themselves either as hypnotized to some degree or as "absorbed to some degree but not hypnotized." Substantially fewer subjects at all susceptibility levels rated themselves as "hypnotized to some degree" when given the scale with alternative descriptors as opposed to a scale that did not permit choice of descriptors. These data challenge the validity of measures of hypnotic depth and suggest caution in their interpretation.

In this paper, the relationships between hypnosis and behavior therapy are examined on two levels. First, the authors consider the contention that a "hypnotic state" mediates some of the therapeutic changes that are seen in behavior therapy. Logical and empirical problems pertaining to the hypothetical construct "hypnotic state" or "trance" are specified and it is concluded that the construct is not useful in explaining the changes in behavior observed in either hypnotic situations or in behavior therapy situations. Secondly, the authors focus on parallels between hypnotic situations and those behavior therapy situations that make subjects' imaginings the pivot of therapeutic change. Four sets of variables are delineated that appear to play a role in mediating the changes in behavior seen in both hypnotic and behavior therapy situations: (a) motivational variables, (b) attitudinal and expectancy variables, (c) the specific wording of the suggestions or instructions, and (d) circumscribed cognitive processes (e.g., goal-directed imagining) occurring in response to the suggestions or instructions.

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