Imaginative Involvement Research Articles

Hypnotizability, imaginative involvement, and anxiety

Forty‐five undergraduate students were investigated to determine the relationship between hypnotizability, imaginative involvement (absorption), and anxiety responses. Hypnotizability was measured independently with the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS), and imaginative involvement was measured with the Absorption Scale (ABS). The results indicated moderate significant correlations between CIS, ABS, and several of the anxiety measures. In particular self‐reported physiological aspects of anxiety/activation were associated with the CIS and the ABS. Three of the subjects reported having panic attacks. These subjects also exhibited high hypnotic responsiveness, and their scores on the ABS and several of the anxiety scales were considerably elevated as compared with the group mean level.

Music absorption and hypnotizability.

The present study investigated differences between high (N = 15), medium (N = 20), and low (N = 16) hypnotizable Ss' involvement in imaginative versus nonimaginative music. Ss were first screened for hypnotizability with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962). In a second session presented as a study of music appreciation, Ss listened to classical music of high and low rated music imaginativeness. Ss' involvement was indexed by absorption, imagery elaboration reported in open-ended essays, and reaction time to a pure tone. High hypnotizable Ss reported more absorption than low hypnotizable Ss, regardless of the imaginativeness level of the music. Ss reported more imagery elaboration in the imaginative than in the low imaginative passages. High hypnotizable Ss tended to differ in their imagery elaboration in response to the imaginative passages but not in response to the nonimaginative passages. Reaction time results were nonsignificant. No sex differences were found. Medium hypnotizable Ss were indistinguishable from both high and low hypnotizable Ss. The findings are generally compatible with J. R. Hilgard's (1970, 1974) construct of imaginative involvement.

Dimensions of negative affectivity, self-reported somatic symptoms, and health-related behaviors

This study focused on the relationship between personality dispositions, self-reported somatic symptoms, and health-related behaviors in undergraduate students. Findings are presented which indicate systematic correlations between health complaints and negative affectivity (NA), a common and pervasive mood disposition. Generally, there was a stronger relationship between NA and self-reported somatic symptoms than between NA and variables reflecting health-related behaviors, lifestyle, and general fitness. Significant correlations between health complaints and capacity for imaginative involvement (absorption), as well as self-reported measures of emotional inhibition, were also demonstrated. However, it is uncertain whether absorption and emotional inhibition properly belong to the NA construct. The results also indicated differences with respect to the strength of the associations between various dimensions of NA and particular types or classes of health complaitts. For example, cognitive anxiety (e.g. worry, ruminations, disturbing thoughts) was more strongly related to somatic complaints than behavioral (social avoidance) componebts of anxiety. Moreover, diffuse and widespread symptoms (e.g. weakness and fatigue) were more strongly associated with NA than more specific and localized symptoms, particularly musculo-skeletal complaints, although complaints belonging to the musculo-skeletal category obtained the highest group mean score. The results strongly suggest that a differentiated approach to the study of NA-symptom connections should be adopted.

Psychological Treatment of Distress, Pain, and Anxiety for Young Children with Cancer

The study compared the efficacy of hypnotic "imaginative involvement," behavioral distraction and standard medical practice for the reduction of pain, distress and anxiety in children with leukemia, during bone marrow aspirations. Two age groups of children, 3 to 6, and 7 to 10 years, were randomized to the three treatment groups. Two intervention sessions were given. At first intervention, observational ratings of distress indicated significant reductions for the younger group in the hypnotic treatment, whereas the older group achieved significant reductions in both treatment conditions for observer-rated pain and anxiety. At second intervention, all groups showed reductions and the control group appeared to be contaminated. The hypnotic method with its internal focus had an all-or-none effect, whereas distraction appeared to require that coping skills be learned over one session or more.

Imaginative involvement and hypnotizability in childhood.

Abstract 2 pilot studies were conducted to assess the relationship between hypnotizability in children and the extent of involvement in fantasy-related activities during early childhood. The Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale for Children (Morgan & Hilgard, 1978/79) and a structured interview questionnaire regarding fantasy activities based on previous work by Singer (1973) were given to 30 medical patients aged 6–18 years in the first study and to 37 healthy children aged 6–12 years from a school population in the second study. In both studies, hypnotizability correlated moderately (.42 and .39, respectively) with extent of involvement in fantasy-related activities. Results of these studies support Hilgard's (1979) findings that hypnotizability is related in part to the development of imaginative involvement in childhood.

Personality, imaginative involvement, and self-reported somatic complaints: relevance to the concept of alexithymia.

Forty-five undergraduate students were investigated to determine the relationship between personality dispositions, capacity for imaginative involvement, and self-reported physical symptoms. The results showed that somatic complaints were associated with variables reflecting psychological vulnerability and dysphoric affect (e.g. anxiety and worry/depression). Imaginative involvement, and especially the Absorption Scale, correlated positively with self-reported somatic symptoms. Factor analyses revealed that Absorption Scale and the Creative Imagination Scale loaded on a general psychological distress factor. Moreover, self-reported somatic symptoms correlated negatively with 'inner directedness' and 'sociable' coping style, and positively with the coping styles 'sensitive' and 'inhibited', thus suggesting a link between emotional expressiveness and somatic complaints. The relevance of these results to the concept of alexithymia is discussed.

Expectancy versus absorption in the prediction of hypnotic responding.

The Absorption Scale, a measure of imaginative involvement, was administered to 64 subjects in the context of a hypnosis experiment and to an additional 64 subjects in a context unrelated to hypnosis. Expectancies of responding to hypnotic suggestions were assessed both before trance induction and after trance induction but before administration of hypnotic test suggestions. Hypnotic depth was assessed on the Long Stanford Scale (LSS) before the administration of test suggestions, and on the Inventory of Hypnotic Depth (IHD) after the hypnosis session. Absorption was correlated with hypnotic responsivity and expectancy, but only when assesed in the hypnotic context. Completing the Absorption Scale in a hypnotic context appeared to affect hypnotic responsiveness by altering subjects' expectancies. Only postinduction expectancies were uniquely predictive of response to hypnotic test suggestions, and all variables except the LSS were predictive of IHD scores. Results of path analysis supported the hypothesis that trance inductions alter expectancies for responding to hypnotic suggestions and that these altered expectancies determine subsequent hypnotic behavior.

The fantasy-prone person: hypnosis, imagination, and creativity.

The present study evaluated the so-called fantasy prone personality by selecting subjects who ranged along the continuum of fantasy proneness and then administering measures designed to assess hypnotic susceptibility (Harvard Group Scale, HGSHS:A; Shor & Orne, 1962), absorption (Tellegen Absorption Scale; Tellegen, 1976), vividness of mental imagery (QMI; Sheehan, 1967), response to waking suggestion (Creative Imagination Scale; Wilson & Barber, 1978), creativity (Barron Welsh Art Scale; Barron & Welsh, 1952), and social desirability (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960). Fantasy-prone (N = 23; upper 4% of college population), medium range (N = 22), and nonfantasy-prone persons (N = 17; lower 4% of population), were selected using the Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (Wilson & Barber, 1981). Strong support was secured for J. R. Hilgard's construct of imaginative involvement and Wilson and Barber's contention that fantasy prone persons can be distinguished from others in terms of fantasy and related cognitive processes. Fantasizers were found to outscore subjects in both comparison groups on all of the measures of fantasy, imagination, and creativity, with social desirability used as a covariate. Low fantasy-prone subjects were no less creative or less responsive to hypnosis than their medium fantasy-prone counterparts.

Antarctic isolation and imaginative involvement--preliminary findings: a brief communication.

Abstract Group 1 Ss (N = 9) were interviewed in Antarctica prior to and following 1 year of Antarctic isolation. Group 2 Ss (N = 7) were exposed to 3 weeks of Antarctic field-site isolation and were interviewed upon return to the United States. A control group of 10 Ss was also interviewed on 2 masioas, paralleling Group 1. Group 1 showed a significant increase in imaginative involvement from pre- to post-Antarctic isolation. Group 2 showed a significantly greater level of imaginative involvement than the control Ss. The possibility that Antarctic living may have revived the mental processes available to these Ss as children is considered within both regression and learning explanations.

Hypnosis and the experience of nonvolition.

Abstract Consistent with theoretical perspectives on hypnosis and the experience of nonvolition (e.g., Arnold, 1946; Hilgard, 1977, 1979; Spa-nos, 1981, 1982), hypnotic Ss, when faced with a conflict between experiencing motoric suggestions and inhibiting movements, resolved the conflict by following the hypnotist's suggestions. Imagining and simulating Ss, by and large, showed no movements. Hypnotic Ss' reports of their experience reflected more conflict, sensations, imaginative involvement, and involuntariness than simulating Ss. Arnold's (1946) theory was not supported in that imagining Ss reported feeling as absorbed and involved in imaginings as hypnotic Ss but resisted responding to suggestions. The findings were more compatible with theoretical accounts which emphasize dissociation (Hilgard, 1977, 1979) and the importance of the experimental context in determining the experience of nonvolition (Spa-nos, 1981).

A failure to support the relationships of selected traits and hypnotic responsiveness in drama students.

Abstract A number of characteristics of drama students were investigated in order to discover relationships with the generally high hypnotic responsiveness of drama subjects. Correlations between Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C scores and J. Hilgard's imaginative involvement, Tellegen and Atkinson's absorption scale, number of acting classes and acting roles, and peer and instructor ratings of subject's involvement in acting were insignificant. Limitations of the study were discussed.

The future case: An alternative to single case study

Traditional single case studies have tended to focus on the individual's past and/or present with minimal reference to one's future. This allows for an incomplete assessment of the reality in which humans participate as organisms-in-process. The future case is advanced as a complement to traditional single case designs. Emphasis is upon imaginative and creative involvement with one's future in the clinical setting. The rationale and concrete outline for this future invention process reflect how individuals can move beyond restricting conditions to higher levels of emotional growth and satisfaction.

Hilgard, J. R.Personality and Hypnosis: A Study of Imaginative Involvement(2nd. Ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago, 1979. Pp. 309

Hilgard, J. R.<i>Personality and Hypnosis: A Study of Imaginative Involvement</i>(2nd. Ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago, 1979. Pp. 309

Hypnotic susceptibility as related to gestalt closure tasks.

The investigation was concerned primarily with the relationship of gestalt closure tasks to hypnotizability on a test of the hypothesis that the more highly hypnotizable do better on a task of holistic visuospatial functioning than those less responsive to hypnosis. Several other cognitive tasks were included: visualization, disembedding of hidden figures, and syllogistic reasoning. Sex differences were inconsistent in the four studies reported. In Study 1 (22 male and 20 female university students), high hypnotizables scored significantly higher than low hypnotizables on the gestalt closure tasks, but there were no significant correlations between hypnotizability and the other cognitive tasks. In Study 2 (25 male and 25 female university students) and Study 3 (41 male and 37 female university students), females showed significant correlations between hypnotic susceptibility and gestalt closure scores. In Study 4 (37 male and 27 female high school students), a significant correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and gestalt closure was found for males. The results are consistent with studies of different types of cognitive functioning (hemispheric preference, creativity, attentional distribution, imaginative involvement, and absorption), all indicating differences in cognitive abilities associated with high hypnotizability.

Nightmares: clinical characteristics and personality patterns.

The authors evaluated the development and clinical course of nightmares and the personality patterns of people with this dosorder by studying 30 adults who had a current complaint of nightmares. Nightmares usually began in childhood or adolescence and were chronic. Psychological factors played a major role in the development and persistence of nightmares, major life events were often associated with the onset of the disorder, mental stress usually increased the frequency of events, and psychological testing indicated relatively high levels of psychopathology. Nightmares sufferers in general were distrusful, alienated, sufferers in general were distrustful, alienated, and emotionally estranged, and many showed a chronic schizoid pattern of adjustment, but they were not overtly psychotic.

Review of Personality and hypnosis: A study of imaginative involvement. 2nd ed.

Review of Personality and hypnosis: A study of imaginative involvement. 2nd ed.

Kierkegaard's Concept of Subjectivity and Implications for Humanistic Psychology

To clarify the implications of existential thought for humanistic psychology an analysis is made of the writings of Soren Kierkegaard, primarily his major work, Concluding Unscientific Postscript. A study of the basic concepts of humanistic psychology as presented by Buhler, Rogers, May, and Bugental reveals significant similarities with Kierkegaard regarding their focus on subjectivity. Their respective interpretations of time differ, however. The humanist position, focusing upon the "here and now," bears little resemblance to Kierkegaard's radical dialectical analysis of subjectivity in which the future is the dominant mode of time. Drawing from Kierkegaard's interpretation of existence as future oriented, the author presents a framework for an alternative approach to the single case study: the future case In this model, emphasis is upon imaginative involvement with one's future "history."

Prediction of hypnotic susceptibility from imaginative involvement.

Abstract One hundred college students were given an imaginative involvement inventory based on J. Hilgard's case studies. Nine areas of imaginative involvement were tested with two statements representing each area. Sixteen high scorers and sixteen low scorers on the imaginative inventory were hypnotized using the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale-A (Revised). The high imaginative involvement group had significantly higher hypnotic susceptibility scores than the low imaginative involvement group. Six factors emerged from analysis of the entire group of questionnaires. The factor structure supports a partial dissociation-identification theory of hypnosis. Further support of this theory was provided by factor analysis of imaginative inventories of the 32 subjects.

An Experimental Investigation of the Relationship between Hynotic Susceptibility and Reading Involvement

Abstract In a test of J. R. Hilgard's (1970) theory relating hypnotic susceptibility and imaginative involvement two groups of 10 subjects, one scoring high on tests of hypnotic susceptibility and one scoring low, were compared on two measures of reading involvement. In one, subjects were asked to read a short story in the laboratory and then to rate their involvement on seven 7-point scales. In the other, subjects were asked to use the same scales to rate their usual level of involvement when reading imaginative literature. The findings confirmed Hilgard's theory. The highly hypnotizable subjects became more involved in the story and rated their usual involvements higher than the lower hypnotizable subjects. The correlations between the two sets of ratings indicated that subjects, particularly in the high scoring group, saw the involvement in the story as representing their usual level of involvement. The research indicates the potential value of controlled involvement tasks in this field.

Involvement in suggestion-related imaginings and the "hypnotic dream".

Abstract Forty-nine female student nurses were administered the Barber Suggestibility Scale (BSS) in a group hypnosis session, and an “hypnotic dream” suggestion in a later individual session. Following the “dream” suggestion subjects rated the extent to which they (a) became involved in their imaginings, and (b) experienced their imaginings as an involuntary process. Furthermore, two judges independently rated the transcribed “dream” protocol of each subject for imaginative involvement. The judges also rated the “dream” protocols of 30 of the subjects for implausibility, fearfulness, and fragmentation. Subjects' self-ratings of involvement and judges' ratings of “dream” protocols for involvement correlated highly with one another. Both involvement measures also correlated with self-ratings of involuntariness of imagining, and with BSS scores. Finally, self-ratings of involvement correlated with the degree of implausibility, and fearfulness found in the “dream” protocols. These findings are consistent wit...