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An application of Ericksonian hypnosis in an academic setting
Abstract
Two studies are presented which test the applicability of Ericksonian hypnosis to an academic environment. The treatment consisted of 4 one hour group sessions fashioned on Lankton and Lankton's (1983) embedded metaphor formulation of Milton Erickson's approach to hypnotherapy. Subjects in the first study were 57 undergraduate students in a challenging remedial algebra course. When treatment subjects were compared to a group of randomly selected no-treatment control participants, and using a model which controlled for cognitive developmental level (TOLT), the treatment was associated with a difference of 14.5 points on a 100 point final exam with the treatment group scoring higher (F = 6.77, p $<$.01, one tail). Other analyses which used a different covariate (midterm exam) and which used a different control group (self-selected volunteers) did not reach statistical significance. The models using the TOLT appeared to be most sensitive to the effect of the treatment. Students in the second study were 85 undergraduates in an introductory statistics course. Controlling for performance on prior exams, the treatment was not associated with a difference between groups on performance on a final exam. Some evidence for an interaction was found, suggesting that the treatment benefitted the least able students in the class. Results suggested that the treatment might have affected these students in the areas of self-assessment of resources and "feeling good" about class. These latter findings are considered especially tentative because of a low n. Methodological shortcomings discussed include the lack of a control group which received a similar treatment, e.g. relaxation training, lack of control for an expectancy effect on self-efficacy/affect variables, and a low ceiling on the dependent variable in the second of the studies.
Subject Area
Psychology|Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
Farady, Michael, "An application of Ericksonian hypnosis in an academic setting" (1992). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9305827.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9305827