Hypnosis and hypnotizability: Delusion or simulation?

Sutcliffe (1961) showed that hypnotic suggestions are not comparable in sensory content with real stimuli. The present experiment is a test of the postulated difference (Sutcliffe 1960; 1961) between “pseudo-perception” and “simulation” as indexed by reported subjective experiences of hypnotic Ss. From 215 undergraduates tested for susceptibility to hypnosis, 30 high susceptibility (HS) and 30 low susceptibility (LS) Ss made kinesthetic and visual judgments of horizontality. A significant response, not attributable to simulation, was found only for the HS-hypnosis induction group; the effect was not attributable individually to susceptibility, hypnosis induction, or motivation. It was concluded that hypnosis, defined by this significant interaction effect between high susceptibility and hypnosis induction can be interpreted as a pseudo-perceptual response to suggestion.