SUGGESTIBILITY AND HYSTERIA

Abstract

A study is made of 60 subjects, 30 hysteria patients and 30 normal subjects, equally divided as to sex. Each individual received a personal interview, an intelligence test, 2 tests of temperament, 2 tests of perseveration, and 8 tests of suggestibility. Test results were intercorrelated and compared with studies of clinical histories, personal interviews, and the introspections of the subjects. The suggestibility, perseveration, and temperament tests showed very little differential scores between the hysterical and the non-hysterical groups. The author finds some justification for a differentiation between primary and secondary suggestibility. Primary suggestion involves disassociation and is related to the hypnotizability of a subject, while secondary suggestibility is unrelated to states of disassociation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)