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334
F.
J.
EVANS
AND
D.
SCHMELDLER
of SHSS:A by Shor and
E.
Orne
(1962)3
designed to be used for initial
hypnotic testing. Each scale contains
12
items of varying difficulty
scored
on
a
pass-fail basis according t o objectively defined criteria.
Both scales possess satisfactory psychometric properties (%or
E.
Ome,
1962;
Weitzenhoffer
&
Hilgard,
1962).
Several investigators have employed a combination of HGSHS
:A
and SHSS
:
C to select
8s
who will achieve specified levels of hypnotic
depth. Typically,
Ss
are selected on the basis of HGSHS:A scores, and
SHSS: C is employed either t o confirm the predictions of susceptibility
to hypnosis based
on
HGSHS:A,
or
as a means of further refining the
screening process. The reliabilities of the two scales are sufficiently
high
(A0
and
.85
respectively, Shor
&
E.
Orne,
1962;
Weitzenhoffer
&
Hilgard,
1962)
for this to be a satisfactory procedure provided that the
scales are measuring the same aspects of hypnosis.
From
the test
reliabilities, and if the scales are measuring similar attributes of hyp-
nosis, the correlation between HGSHS:A and SHSS:C would be
32.
With only small samples of
22,25,
and
25,
Bentler and Roberts
(1963),
Coe
(1964),
and
She+
report correlations
of
.67, .60,
and
.67
respec-
tively between the two scales.
Except for the three correlations between the two scales, based on
small samples, little information has been presented to indicate the
manner in which these scales discriminate between specified ranges of
hypnotic susceptibility, and the kind of information provided by these
scales. Research by London and Fuhrer
(1961)
and Rosenhan and
London
(1963a; 1963b)
suggests there may be differences in the re-
sponsiveness of
Ss
a t various levels
of
hypnotic susceptibility. I n addi-
tion, these scales are probably not factorially homogeneous (Evans,
1966;
Hammer, Evans,
&
Bartlett,
1963;
Hilgard,
1965)
and do not
necessarily measure the full range of hypnotic responsiveness. These
results suggest that comparisons should be made between items, and
within subclasses of susceptibility to hypnosis.
This study examined the predictive relationship between HGSHS :A
and
SHSS:
C
for groups of
Ss
of high, medium, and low susceptibility
to hypnosis
on
HGSHS:A. The extent to which the two scales provide
complementary
or
supplementary information was evaluated.
‘While
SHSS:A and B, and SH95:C are
acored
by
an
observer, HGSHS:A
is
self-scored
by
8.
However,
three
studies
have demonstrated that
self-
and
ob-
aerver-assigned =ores
on
HGSH9:A
are
highly
correlated (Bentler
&
Hilgard,
1963;
O’Connell,
1964;
Shor
&
E.
Ome,
1963).
4
Personal communication,
1964.
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