Imaginative involvement and hypnotizability in childhood

2 pilot studies were conducted to assess the relationship between hypnotizability in children and the extent of involvement in fantasy-related activities during early childhood. The Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale for Children (Morgan & Hilgard, 1978/79) and a structured interview questionnaire regarding fantasy activities based on previous work by Singer (1973) were given to 30 medical patients aged 6–18 years in the first study and to 37 healthy children aged 6–12 years from a school population in the second study. In both studies, hypnotizability correlated moderately (.42 and .39, respectively) with extent of involvement in fantasy-related activities. Results of these studies support Hilgard's (1979) findings that hypnotizability is related in part to the development of imaginative involvement in childhood.