To test the context hypothesis, Council, et al. (1986) assessed one sample (n = 64) on the TAS outside a hypnotic context; several weeks later the same participants were assessed on hypnotic susceptibility. A second sample (n = 64) received the TAS immediately before hypnosis assessment. Council, et al. (1986) used a group modification of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSSC; Weitzenhoffer & Hilgard, 1978) to measure hypnotizability. It was further modified by including a subjective experience subscale to the usual objective response format.

Council et al. found that the TAS and hypnotizability correlation was statistically significant only when Absorption was measured immediately before hypnosis. The Absorption/Hypnotizability correlation for the Context condition (r = .31, p < .02) was significantly higher than for the No Context (r = - .14, p > .10) condition (z = 2.55, p < .05) for the SHSS: C subjective scale. However, there were no significant differences in the size of the correlations for the Context (r = .22, p = .077) and No Context (r = -.03, p > .10) conditions for the SHSS: C objective scale (z = 1.40, p > .05).