GENDER DIFFERENCES IN HYPNOTIC PHENOMENA

Abstract

The present study investigated gender differences in four components, of hypnotic phenomena- Creative imagination (imaginative suggestibility), Absorption (focalized attention), subjective experience (depth of Trance state.) and hypnotisability (as trait) on samples of 150 females and 150 males (age range 10 to 22) Harvard Group scale for Hypnotic susceptibility A (HGSHS: A) provided scores for subjective experience (SE) and Hypnotisability. Creative Imagination Scale (CIS) and Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS) were used to index imaginative suggestibility and absorption respectively obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statics, 
t-ratios, and person's intercorrelations. Between groups comparison revealed females scoring significantly higher on absorption, subjective experience and hypnotisability than males on creative imagination also females obtained higher mean scores statistically not significant) than 
males. Inter-correlations among four components in both data have been found to be significantly positive depicting substantial overlap among them and supplementary to each other. It provides empirical support to multifaceted nature of hypnosis and its pluralistic paradigms.