Counterintuitive findings on the hypnotizability of state and nonstate theorists: a brief communication.

17 research psychologists, identified as reflecting state or nonstate theoretical positions regarding hypnosis, were requested to provide anonymous information about their personal hypnosis test scores. There were no differences between the state and nonstate groups in mean scores on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962) or the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (Weitzenhoffer & Hilgard, 1962), and no differences in the numbers who reported that they used hypnotherapy to treat patients. Small sample size suggests caution in interpretation of the present results, but it appears that commitment to a state or nonstate theory is not necessarily related to the hypnosis researcher's personal experience with hypnosis.