Computer Versus Live Delivery of the Sussex Waterloo Scale of Hypnotizability (SWASH)

There exist reliable and stable trait differences in the ability to control phenomenology in response to imaginative suggestion. Hypnotizability scales measure response to imaginative suggestion within a hypnotic context. Because hypnotizability has recently been shown to predict measures of experiential change in psychological experiments (e.g., the rubber hand illusion), there is a need for easy-to-use screening tools which are accessible to researchers with little or no background in hypnosis or imaginative suggestion research. The SWASH is a time-efficient group hypnotizability scale which can be administered to up to 50 participants simultaneously. Here we present norms from an undergraduate sample for a recorded version delivered by a computer program alongside norms for a live presentation. Reliability, validity, and mean scores are similar across the two presentations. Computer delivery of a prerecorded script provides a simple tool to rapidly screen for hypnotizability in large groups for researchers with no prior experience of hypnosis research.