Setting the record straight (again)

Abstract

Spiegel's (1998b) further misrepresentations of both social psychological theory and my own social cognitive theory of hypnosis are corrected. There are more points of agreement than differences between Spiegel's position and mine. We agree that (1) role enactment is not a complete explanation of hypnosis or of anything else, (2) people differ in motivations and expectancies, and these differences do not fully account for differences in response, (3) individual differences in response to suggestion are extremely important; indeed, the trait-like character of hypnotic suggestibility was a cornerstone of social psychological theory at its very inception (Sarbin, 1950), and (4) there are physiological differences between high and low suggestible individuals and within high suggestibles when responding to suggestion.