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RESPONSE BOOKLET - FORM A

HARVARD GROUP SCALE

OF

HYPNOTIC SUSCEPTIBILTY
By Ronald E. Shor and Emily Carota Orne (Modified)

The scale is a standard procedure for estimating susceptibility to hypnosis. An

individual’s susceptibility to hypnosis may change, however, over time and with
differing circumstances. An individual who appears relatively unsusceptible at this
time by these standard procedures will not necessarily still be relatively susceptible
at a later time or under different circumstances.

PLEASE SUPPLY THE INFORMATION REQUESTED BELOW

Name: Date:

Age: Sex: e-mail address:

Have you ever been hypnotized? Circle : Yes No

If so, please site the circumstances and describe your experiences. Please be
brief:

DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOKLET until the examiner specifically

instructs you to do so.
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Please write down now briefly in your own words a list of the things that happened
since you began looking at the target. Do not go into detail. Spend three minutes,
no longer, in writing your reply.

Please DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE until the examiner specifically

instructs you to do so.
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PLEASE DO NOT RETURN TO PAGE 2

On this page write down a list of anything else that you now remember that you did
not remember previously. Please do not go into detail. Spend two minutes, no
longer, in writing out your reply.

Please DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE until the examiner specifically instructs
you to do so.
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PLEASE DO NOT RETURN TO EARLIER PAGES

SECTION ON OBJECTIVE, OUTWARD RESPONSES

Listed below in chronological order are the eleven specific happenings which were suggested to you during
the standard hypnotic procedure. We wish you to estimate whether or not you objectively responded to
these eleven suggestions, that is, whether or not an onlooker would have observed that you did or did not
make definite responses by certain specific, predefined criteria. In this section we are thus interested in your
estimates of outward behaviour and not in what your inner, subjective experience of it was like. Later on you
will be given an opportunity to describe your inner, subjective experience, but in this section refer only to the
outward behavioural responses irrespective of what the experience may have been like subjectively.

It is understood that your estimates may in some cases not be as accurate as you might wish them to be
and that you might even have to guess. But we want you to make whatever you feel to be your best
estimates regardless.

Beneath a description of each of the eleven suggestions are sets of two responses, labelled A and B.
Please circle either A or B for each question, whichever you judge to be more accurate. Please answer
every question. Failure to give a definite answer to every question may lead to disqualification of your
record.

1. HEAD FALLING
You were first told to sit up straight in your chair for 30 seconds and then to think of your head falling
forward. Would you estimate that an onlooker would have observed that your head fell forward at least two
inches during the time you were thinking it was happening?

Circle one: A. My head fell forward at least two inches

B. My head fell forward less then two inches

2. EYE CLOSURE
You were next told to rest your hands in your lap and pick out a spot on either hand as a target and
concentrate on it. You were then told that your eyelids were becoming tired and heavy. Would you
estimate that an onlooker would have observed that your eyelids had closed (before the time you were told
to close them deliberately)?

Circle one: A. My eyelids had closed by then.

B. My eyelids had not closed by then

3. HAND LOWERING (LEFT HAND)

You were told next to extend your left hand straight out and feel it becoming heavy as though a
weight were pulling the hand and arm down. Would you estimate that an onlooker would have
observed that your hand lowered at least six inches (before the time you were told to let your hand
down deliberately)?

Circle one: A. My hand had lowered at least six inches by then.

B. My hand had lowered less than six inches by then
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4. ARM IMMOBILIZATION (RIGHT ARM)

You were next told how heavy your right hand and arm felt and then told to try to lift your hand
up. Would you estimate that an onlooker would have observed that you did not lift your hand
and arm up at least one inch (before you were told to stop trying)?

Circle one: A. I did not lift my hand and arm at least one inch by then.
B. I did lift my hand and arm an inch or more by then

5. FINGER LOCK

You were next told to interlock your fingers, told how your fingers would become tightly
interlocked, and then told to try to take your hands apart. Would you estimate that an onlooker
would have observed that your fingers were incompletely separated (before you were told to
stop trying to take them apart)?

Circle one: A. My fingers were incompletely separated by then.

B. My fingers had completely separated by then

6. ARM RIGIDITY (LEFT)

You were next told to extend your left arm straight out and make a fist, told to notice it becoming
stiff, and then told to try and bend it. Would you estimate an onlooker would have observed that
there was less than two inches of arm bending (before you were told to stop trying)?

Circle one: A. My arm was bent less than two inches by then.
B. My arm was bent two or more inches by then.

7. MOVING HANDS TOGETHER

You were next told to hold your hands out in front of you about a foot apart and then told to
imagine a force pulling your hands together. Would you estimate that an onlooker would have
observed that your hands were not over six inches apart (before you were told to return your
hands to their resting position)?

Circle one: A. My hands were not more than six inches apart by then.
B. My hands were still more than six inches apart by then.

8. COMMUNICATION INHIBITION

You were told to think how hard it might be to shake your head to indicate “no”, and then told to
try. Would you estimate that an onlooker would have observed you to make a recognizable
shake of the head “no” (that is before you were told to stop trying)?

Circle one: A. I did not recognizably shake my head “no”.

B. I did recognizably shake my head “no”.
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9. EXPERIENCING OF FLY
You were told to become aware of the buzzing of a fly which was said to become annoying,
and then you were told to shoo it away. Would you estimate that an onlooker would have
observed you make any grimacing, any movement, any outward acknowledgement of an
effect (regardless of what it was like subjectively)?

Circle one: A. I did make some outward acknowledgement.

B. I did not make any outward acknowledgement.

10. EYE CATELEPSY

You were next told that your eyelids were so tightly closed that you could not open them, and
then you were told to try to do so. Would you estimate that an onlooker would have observed
that your eyes remained closed (Before you were told to stop trying)?

Circle one: A. My eyes remained closed

B. My eyes had opened.

11. POST-HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION (TOUCHING RIGHT EAR)

You were next told that after you were awakened you would hear a tapping noise at which time
you would reach up and touch your right ear. You were further informed that you would do this
but forget being told to do so. Would you estimate that an onlooker would have observed either
that you had reach up and touched your right ear, or that you had made any partial movement to
do so?

Circle one: A. I made at least an observable partial movement to

touch my right ear.
B. I did not make even a partial movement to touch my right
ear, which would have been observable.
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YOU MAY NOW REFER TO EARLIER PAGES – BUT PLEASE DO

NOT WRITE ANYTHING FURTHER ON THEM

SECTION ON INNER, SUBJECTIVE

EXPERIENCES
1. Regarding the suggestion of EXPERIENCING A FLY – how real was it to you? How vividly
did you hear and feel it? Did you really believe at the time that it was there? Was there any
doubt about its reality?

Regarding the two suggestions of HAND LOWERING (LEFT) and HANDS MOVING
TOGETHER - was it subjectively convincing each time that the effect was happening entirely by
itself? Was there any feeling either time that you were helping it along?

On the remainder of this page please describe any other of your inner subjective experiences
during the procedure which you felt to be of interest.

CONTINUE ON NEXT PAGE

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HGSHS - SUBJECTIVE RATING SCALE

You have completed the Response Booklet of the Harvard Group Scale of
Susceptibility (HGSHS). For each test item, you were asked to comment on
whether an onlooker would have judged that you successfully achieved the
suggested behaviour (e.g. your head falling forward by at least 2 inches).

This scale asks you to rate the degree to which you experienced the effects that
each item suggested (e.g. how heavy your head felt).

For each item, please rate the extent to which you experienced the suggested
state of affairs by circling the appropriate number. The meaning of each number
is: -

0 = not at all 1 = slightly 2 = to a moderate extent 3 = fairly strongly 4 = to a great

extent.

1) Head falling 0-1-2-3-4

2) Eye Closure 0-1-2-3-4

3) Hand lowering 0-1-2-3-4

4) Arm immobilisation 0-1-2-3-4

5) Finger lock 0-1-2-3-4

6) Arm rigidity 0-1-2-3-4

7) Moving hands together 0-1-2-3-4

8) Communication inhibition 0-1-2-3-4

9) Experiencing of fly 0-1-2-3-4

10) Eye catalepsy 0-1-2-3-4

11) Post-hypnotic amnesia 0-1-2-3-4

12) Post-hypnotic suggestion (touching right ear) 0-1-2-3-4