Positive Valence in Adult Imagination

Abstract

Fantasy proneness, absorption, and daydreaming are all associated with the higher order construct, imaginative involvement. However, there is no measurement instrument that assesses all three together, and existing measures are biased toward negatively valenced items. This research presents a balanced and unified measure, adapted from the Creative Experiences Questionnaire, the Tellegen Absorption Scale, and the Short Imaginal Processes Inventory, by incorporating new items addressing positive valence and novelty in imaginative involvement. In Study 1 ( N = 201), we found that our hypothesized four lower order factors underlie imaginative involvement: Negative Fantasy, Sensory Imagery Intensity, Daydream Novelty, and Positive Fantasy. Reliability analyses yielded favorable internal consistency of each scale, and confirmatory factor analysis showed an adequate model fit. Study 2 ( N = 91) provided further convergent and predictive validation of the four-factor model by showing that Positive Affect, Extraversion, Negative Affect, and personality-based Openness were differentially associated with the four lower order factors of imaginative involvement. Finally, imaginative involvement was associated with Surgency, Openness, and Positive Affect, which speaks to the constructive value of imaginative cognitions. Taken together, these results suggest that imaginative involvement is associated with positive emotion, and that the Imaginative Involvement Questionnaire provides a reliable measure for a broad range of individual differences related to imagination, offering implications for a richer theoretical account of the construct.