German norms for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A.

German norms for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) of Shor and E. Orne (1962) are presented. 3 samples (N = 108, N = 103, and N = 163) were pooled resulting in an aggregate sample of 374 Ss which was in general congruent with earlier normative studies (Laurence & Perry, 1982; Sheehan & McConkey, 1979; Shor & E. Orne, 1963) with regard to score distribution and item difficulty level. Reliability of the German adaptation of HGSHS:A was somewhat lower than the reliabilities reported by the 3 cited studies, but in terms of standard error of measurement (estimated for each study by using the corresponding reliability coefficient), the German and the other studies were quite compareable. Results show that HGSHS:A is a useful instrument for initial screening of hypnotizability in a German context. The Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) of Shor and E. Orne (1962), adapted form the individually administered Standord Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form A of Weitzenhoffer and Hilgard (1959), is regarded as an efficient device for initial screening of hypnotizability within groups (Sheehan & McConkey, 1979). Comparisons between normative studies which are available for American (Coe, 1964; Shor & E. Orne, 1963), Australian (Sheehan & McConkey, 1979), and Canadian students (Laurence & Perry, 1982) show that the psychometric properties of HGSHS:A are compareable across different sociocultural contexts. In the normative studies cited above, HGSHS:A was always administered in English. The present study extends the body of normative data to a linguistic context other than English and reports results for normative testing of German Ss. In order to check for comparability of the German adaptation of HGSHS:A with the English version, results are contrasted with data from the American sample of Shor and E. Orne (1963), as well as with data from the Australian (Sheehan & McConkey, 1979) and the Canadian (Laurence & Perry, 1982) samples.