Thesis
The effects of hypnotic ego strengthening on self-esteem
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2006
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/517
Abstract
Enhancing self-esteem may have significant therapeutic value, but little research has been done on the application of hypnotic ego strengthening for this purpose. This study examined the effects of two procedures intended to enhance self-esteem: one in which ego strengthening suggestions were read verbatim to participants after a hypnotic induction (ES), and one in which the same suggestions were read to participants without a hypnotic induction (PT). Each participant attended two sessions one week apart. During the first session, participants (n = 33) were administered the Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale (SHCS; Morgan & Hilgard, 1975) to determine hypnotizability, and the State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES; Heatherton & Polivy, 1991) to determine a pre-test indicant of self-esteem. They were then assigned to either the control (PT) or experimental (ES) condition using their SHCS scores to balance the groups for hypnotizability. Participants assigned to the PT group (n = 17) were read an ego strengthening script used in Lavertue, Kumar, and Pekala's (2002) study without a hypnotic induction or hypnotic suggestions. Participants assigned to the ES group (n = 16) were first administered a hypnotic induction and then read the same ego strengthening script with hypnotic suggestions intended to enhance ego strengthening. Finally, participants in both groups were administered the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI; Pekala, 198211 99 1) as a measure of subjective hypnotic depth during the ES or PT procedure. During the second session, participants returned to fill out the SSES a second time. Improvements in self-esteem were determined by measuring the differences between pre-treatment SSES scores and post-treatment SSES scores. Results revealed that both groups demonstrated significant average increases in SSES scores, and the hypnotic induction group showed significantly higher post-treatment SSES scores that the suggestion only group. These findings indicate that although ego strengthening suggestions alone can result in higher self-esteem, including a hypnotic induction with such suggestions increases the effect.
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Details
- Title
- The effects of hypnotic ego strengthening on self-esteem
- Creators
- Thomas John Herber
- Contributors
- Arreed F. Barabasz (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Education, College of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900524808701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis