Glossary
Suggestibility
What is suggestibility?
Suggestibility is susceptibility to suggestions that affect reports, experiences, or behavior. It is studied in settings including memory interviews and hypnosis. These are not all measures of one general tendency to be gullible.
Memory Suggestibility: A Research Example
Loftus and Palmer found that the wording of questions changed judgments about an accident and later reports of broken glass that had not been present.
Ceci and Bruck's review describes cognitive and social influences on children's suggestibility. Children can be vulnerable to suggestions while also recalling substantial accurate information. The existence of suggestibility does not make a particular account false.
Hypnotic Suggestibility
Hypnotic suggestibility concerns responsiveness to suggestions during hypnosis, including suggested changes in sensations, thoughts, feelings, or behavior. Elkins and colleagues’ account of the APA Division 30 definitions uses the term hypnotizability for this capacity and discusses measuring individual differences.
Suggestion and Agreement
Agreeing with someone does not necessarily mean your memory changed. Hypnotic responsiveness is also different from obeying any command.
Why it matters
When evaluating a report, consider how it was obtained and what independent evidence supports it.