Dreaming and hypnotic susceptibility: a pilot study.

Previous experimental work has indicated that certain stable personality characteristics are reliably associated with differential susceptibility to hypnosis. It is suggested that people who are more susceptible will be characterized by an awareness of dreaming more frequently, vividly and creatively. This study describes the construction of a Dream Questionnaire and the relations of the scores obtained on it to scores previously obtained on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. Sex differences were noted in response to the questionnaire. For women, a global score was derived from the questionnaire, and this was positively and significantly associated with hypnotic susceptibility. Men responded rather differently to the questionnaire and as hypnotic susceptibility scores were available for only a more limited number, further analysis was postponed until more data from men may become available. Some suggestions for research are discussed, and the relations between sleep research and hypnosis research are briefly considered.

Respiratory symptoms in Tasmanian adolescents: a follow up of the 1961 birth cohort.

The 1961 birth cohort of Tasmanians (n = 8410) was initially surveyed in 1968 and was followed up in 1974 for the history and presence of respiratory symptoms and signs. The study was designed to describe and compare the natural histories of wheeze and productive cough. In 1981 a 10% stratified random sample of the original cohort was again followed up and this sample's responses were compared across the three surveys. Wheezing was found to be more persistent than productive cough. Wheezers were twice as likely as coughers to persist with their symptoms to the age of 20. These persistent wheezers represented 3.6% of the cohort available for follow-up in 1974 (n = 7132). Wheezing was also invariably associated with decreased spirometric performance, particularly FEV at 0.5 s and FEF 25-75. The new wheezers first detected in 1974 had had significantly decreased spirometry measurements in 1968 compared to those of their coughing or symptom-free peers. An early history of cough was associated with triple the incidence of wheeze in previously asymptomatic children. Hayfever and eczema were associated with persistence of wheeze. A child with either of these diagnoses was four times as likely to persist in wheezing to the age of twenty than a wheezer without atopic complaint. No significant associations could be demonstrated between wheezing and smoking.

Longitudinal growth study of tasmanian children. The ten-year-olds.

The data obtained at the 10-year examination of children in a longitudinal growth study are presented. The heights and weights of children appear to be comparable with those of children in other regions, but certain ethnic, social and economic factors as well as elapsed time have to be considered. From the percentages of overweight boys and girls at each of various years of the child's development--namely, birth, one year, three years, seven years and 10 years--it is shown that there is no one period in which children are likely to become overweight. Birth weight was found to be of minor importance in determining a child's weight at 10 years of age. Many children have wrong concepts about their own weight status.

Hypnotic susceptibility and personality: the consequences of diazepam and the sex of the subjects.

It was suggested by Gibson & Curran (1974) that the rather complex relationships found to obtain between hypnotic susceptibility and the personality parameters of extraversion and neuroticism might be understood by considering neuroticism as a moderator variable (as had been suggested by Furneaux & Gibson, 1961). They made the hypothesis that if a tranquillizing drug were administered the operative level of neuroticism would be decreased, and as a consequence the level of susceptibility of neurotic extraverts would be raised, and that of neurotic introverts lowered. This study reports the test-retest data on a sample of 71 subjects on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales, half of whom were retested with diazepam and half with nicotinic acid. The hypothesis was confirmed and additional data are given on the drug/placebo effects on each item of the scale. The significance of drugs on different aspects of hypnotic susceptibility in relation to personality is discussed.

Longitudinal growth study of Tasmanian children. 2. The seven-year-olds.

A longitudinal growth study of Tasmanian children, involving 1,114 infants born between September 1, 1967, and August 31, 1968, has continued into the seventh year during 1974-1975, when measurements of height and weight were recorded on the 898 remaining children that could be traced. A portion of the results is presented here. The main findings is that a high percentage of children who are overweight at the age of three years is likely to be overweight at seven years. Birth weight is not an important factor in determining the weight of a seven-year-old. Children over the 90th percentile at age three years are, on the average, more than 5 kg heavier at seven years than children between the 10th and 90th percentiles at three years. The seven-year-old weights themselves do not appear to have altered in the past two decades, being virtually identical to those in the 1957 Standard Tables for Australian Children.

Personality and differential susceptibility to hypnosis: further replication and sex differences.

Following the study of Gibson & Curran (1974), a further sample of 45 subjects were tested on the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) and a slightly modified form of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (SHSS) in precisely the same way. The results in this second sample were broadly the same as those obtained in the earlier study. Combining the two samples, it was found that the sex variable provided some interesting contrasts. The power of the lie scale of the EPI to predict hypnotic susceptibility observed earlier was found to be a significant effect only for males. While there was no significant difference between the sexes in terms of the means and S.D.S. of the extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N) scales, when the interaction of these scales was studied males and females differed significantly. The population from the two studies (n = 88) was analysed by means of polar coordinates in the manner suggested by Eysenck (1966) with regard to the E nad N scales. Esyenck's prediction as to hypnotic susceptibility was strikingly confirmed. These data are briefly discussed in terms of alternative approaches to hypnosis from the 'state' and the 'non-state' viewpoints.

Relations between performance on the advance matrices and the EPI in high-intelligence subjects.

This study continues the investigation of the relationship between performance on tests of intelligence, and the personality parameters of the Eysenckian theoretical framework. Candidates for admission to an honours degree course (n = 281) were given the Advanced Progressive Matrices as a screening device. Those admitted to the course were on later occasions given both forms of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI). In view of problems of test-retest on the EPI, scores were analysed in a novel fashion to give three groups: 'introverts', 'extraverts' and 'ambiverts'. The 'introverts' scored significantly highest on the Matrices, but the scores of the 'ambiverts' were lowest. Neuroticism showed little interaction with other variables. These results are discussed in terms of the theory of reactive inhibition. New data on the Advanced Progressive Matrices are given which are significantly higher than the published university norms.