Barber, T.X. 1927–2005

(Theodore Xenophon Barber)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born January 29, 1927, in Martins Ferry, OH; died of a ruptured aorta, September 10, 2005, in Framingham, MA. Social psychologist, educator, and author. Barber was best known as an expert on the phenomenon of hypnosis and for developing the Barber Suggestibility Scale. A graduate of American University, he completed his B.A. in 1954 and a Ph.D. in 1956. After conducting research at Harvard University as a National Institute of Mental Health fellow and then working as a research associate at the Worcester Foundation, he was hired by the Medfield Foundation in Massachusetts in 1961. By 1973 he had risen to the post of director of psychological research. While working at Medfield, Barber became fascinated by hypnotism. Through extensive research, he demystified the process and showed that, to varying degrees, people could be induced into sleepiness fairly easily—without the help of a swinging pocket watch or other such device—and then influenced by suggestion. While some subjects were highly resistant to hypnotism, he found that about one in five people are very susceptible to suggestion and two to four percent are extremely receptive to it. Barber developed his Suggestibility Scale based on this research and made the phenomenon of hypnosis a legitimate part of psychology dealing with factors such as memory and concentration. He wrote of his findings in such books as Hypnosis: A Scientific Approach (1969), Hypnosis, Imagination, and Human Potentialities (1974), and Hypnotic Phenomena (1974). In addition to his work at the Medfield Foundation, Barber was former chief psychologist at the Medfield State Hospital and chief psychologist at the Cushing Hospital in Framingham, Massachusetts, from 1978 to 1986. In later life, he also penned the book The Human Nature of Birds: A Scientific Discovery with Startling Implications (1993).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2005, p. B14.

New York Times, September 23, 2005, p. C19.

Washington Post, September 25, 2005, p. C10.