Cultural views and attitudes about hypnosis: a survey of college students across four countries.

The present investigation surveyed attitudes and beliefs about hypnosis across 4 samples of students attending college at the University of New South Wales, Australia; Dortman University, Germany; The Ohio State University, United States; and Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran. A total of 280 undergraduate students (70 from each country sampled), ranging in age from 18 to 25 years, completed 3 different questionnaires assessing their opinions and beliefs about hypnosis. Although responses to some items varied by country, there was remarkable similarity across many items suggesting that certain views and attitudes about hypnosis are not culture specific.