Absorption and attitude towards hypnosis: A moderator analysis

2 factors which have been found to correlate to a small degree with susceptibility are (a) an individual's attitude toward being hypnotized and (b) an individual's capacity for subjective involvement in an experience (absorption). The present study was an attempt to replicate previous findings by Spanos and McPeake (1975) and to extend these findings to determine if there was a significant interaction between these 2 factors in their relationship to susceptibility. 99 Ss (65 females and 34 males) completed the absorption questionnaire of Tellegen (1979) and the attitude questionnaire of Barber and Calverley (1966). Their hypnotic susceptibility was assessed with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962). Attitude and absorption were found to have small positive correlations with susceptibility, results which corroborate previous research. The multiple regression analyses indicated that there were no significant interactions between the factors of attitude, absorption, and sex.