Hypnotic responding might be due to attenuated frontal lobe functioning after the hypnotic induction. Little is known about whether personality traits linked with frontal functioning are associated with responsiveness to hypnotic suggestions. We assessed whether hypnotic suggestibility is related to the traits of self-control and impulsivity in 154 participants who completed the Brief Self-Control Scale, the Self-Regulation Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS:A). BIS-11 non-planning impulsivity correlated positively with HGSHS:A (Bonferroni-corrected). Furthermore, in the best model emerging from a stepwise multiple regression, both non-planning impulsivity and self-control positively predicted hypnotic suggestibility, and there was an interaction of BIS-11 motor impulsivity with gender. For men only, motor impulsivity tended to predict hypnotic suggestibility. Hypnotic suggestibility is associated with personality traits linked with frontal functioning, and hypnotic responding in men and women might differ.
During hypnosis, the hypnotised individual allows his or her own body and thoughts to follow the suggestions of the hypnotist. Upon suggestion a hypnotised person may move body parts without consciously intending to do so (Blakemore, Oakley, & Frith, 2003), be unable to carry out ordinary movements (Cojan et al., 2009 and Halligan et al., 2000), experience amnesia (Mendelsohn, Chalamish, Solomonovich, & Dudai, 2008), or have auditory hallucinations (Szechtman, Woody, Bowers, & Nahmias, 1998). Responses to hypnotic suggestions typically feel involuntary, as if they were happening on their own or guided by an external force (Weitzenhoffer, 1980). Individuals differ in their propensity to respond to suggestions given during hypnosis, which is termed hypnotic suggestibility (see Kirsch & Braffman, 2001).
From an observer’s perspective, it may seem as if hypnotic responding involves voluntarily giving up self-control and passing control to the hypnotist (although hypnotised individuals are in fact still able to control their own actions; Coe, Kobayashi, & Howard, 1973). Moreover, hypnotic responding might be described as impulsive in the sense that some of the actions or experiences during hypnosis appear to be directly triggered by suggestions rather than by conscious control or thought processes. It is therefore conceivable that individuals who tend to exhibit less self-control in general and who act more impulsively in everyday life might respond better to hypnotic suggestions than those who exhibit greater control and are less impulsive. This hypothesis was tested in the current study.
Our findings indicate that hypnotic suggestibility relates to personality traits linked with frontal functioning. That is, individuals with high non-planning impulsivity (i.e., those who are present-focused and who tend to dislike challenging mental tasks) and those with high self-control (when holding non-planning impulsivity constant) respond best to hypnotic suggestions. Moreover, in men only, motor impulsivity (i.e., the tendency to act on the spur of the moment and to live an inconsistent life style) might be positively linked with hypnotic suggestibility.
