Measures Of Fantasy Proneness Research Articles

Fantasy Proneness Correlates With the Intensity of Near-Death Experience.

Little is known about the personality characteristics of those who have experienced a “Near-Death Experience” (NDE). One interesting candidate is fantasy proneness. We studied this trait in individuals who developed NDEs in the presence (i.e., classical NDEs) or absence (i.e., NDEs-like) of a life-threatening situation. We surveyed a total of 228 individuals. From those, 108 qualified as NDE experiencers (i.e., Greyson NDE scale total score ≥7): 51 had their NDEs in the context of a life-threatening situation; 57 had their NDEs not related to a life-threatening situation. From those who did not meet the criteria to be considered “experiencers,” 20 had their NDE in the absence of a life-threatening situation; 50 had faced death but did not recall a NDE and finally, 50 were healthy people without a history of life threat and/or NDE. All participants completed a measure of NDE intensity (the Greyson NDE scale) and a measure of fantasy proneness (the Creative Experiences Questionnaire). People reporting NDEs-like scored higher on fantasy proneness than those reporting classical NDEs, individuals whose experiences did not meet the NDE criteria and matched controls. By contrast, individuals reporting classical NDEs did not show different engagement in fantasy as matched controls. The reported intensity of the experiences was positively correlated with engagement in fantasy. Our findings support the view that strong engagement in fantasy by individuals recalling NDEs-like might make these persons more likely to report such subjective experiences when exposed to suitable physiological and/or psychological conditions (e.g., meditation, syncope).

Hypnotic Responsiveness: Expectancy, Attitudes, Fantasy Proneness, Absorption, and Gender

This study examines the effect of providing information linking participants' attitudes toward hypnosis with later hypnotic performance. Using total scale scores from McConkey's Opinions About Hypnosis scale, as well as subscale scores, the authors found a weak association between attitudes and performance among 460 student participants; however, the correlation was unaffected by prehypnotic information specifically connecting attitudes and performance. A brief, 3-item measure of hypnotic expectancies generated the strongest correlation with hypnotic responsiveness. The authors also found that the association between fantasy proneness and hypnotizability was unaffected by the order of scale administration. Finally, the study highlighted gender differences across measures of fantasy proneness, absorption, expectancy, and hypnotizability.

Out-of-Body Experiences and Hallucinatory Experiences: A Psychological Approach

In an out-of-body experience (OBE), the “self,” or center of awareness, seems to temporarily occupy a position spatially remote from one's body. In support of previous studies, undergraduate students reporting OBEs ( N = 132) showed a higher level of cognitive-perceptual schizotypy, absorption, dissociation, fantasy, and hallucination proneness, and visual imagery than did non-OBErs ( N = 516). Absorption and cognitive-perceptual schizotypy were the best discriminators for visual and tactile hallucinations ( p < .001). The results support a dissociation model of OBEs. Some persons reported beneficial adaptive effects from their OBEs. Despite the widespread occurrence of anomalous perceptual experiences, including OBEs, in the general population, the term hallucination still has pejorative overtones. The present results are in agreement with other studies in which measures of fantasy proneness seemed to be successful predictors of psychic phenomena (Myers, Austrin, Grisso, & Nickeson, 1983; Wilson & Barber, 1982). Such findings suggest that OBEs may be related to fantasy proneness and cognitive-perceptual schizotypy, which are correlated with each other. Future research should focus on the role of different types of OBEs in personality and cognitive processing.

Fantasy proneness and hypnotizability: another look

AbstractIt has long been theorized that individuals who spend a great deal of time engaged in fantasy and report profound imaginative involvements are highly hypnotizable (see Wilson and Barber, 1981, 1983a). To test this hypothesized link, we administered the Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (ICMI), the Short Imaginal Processes Inventory (SIPI), a measure of daydreaming frequency and the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) to 506 undergraduate students in Study 1. In Study 2, a separate sample of 534 college students completed the ICMI and the HGSHS:A. Across the studies, we obtained a small positive correlation between our measures of fantasy proneness and hypnotizability. Results showed that highly hypnotizable individuals, compared with those who are less hypnotizable, do not spend a great deal of their waking lives engaged in fantasy or daydreaming. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Individuals Who Report Being Abducted by Aliens: Investigating the Differences in Fantasy Proneness, Emotional Intelligence and the Big Five Personality Factors

This study explores individual differences in people claiming to have been abducted by aliens. A sample of 26 alien abductee experiencers (AAErs) plus 26 non-AAEr controls completed self-report measures of fantasy proneness, emotional intelligence, and the big five personality factors. Analysis of Covariance controlling of participants' level of educational attainment revealed no group differences in any of the three fantasy sub-scales (the vividness/realism of fantasies, escapist fantasies, and make-believe fantasies), any of the four EI sub-scales (optimism/mood regulation, the appraisal of emotions, social skills, and the utilization of emotions) or in four of the big five personality factors examined. However, AAErs did rate themselves to be more conscientious than controls, possibly in an attempt to portray themselves as trustworthy and reliable witnesses. Implications for the psychological study of alien abduction experiences are discussed.

Emotional Creativity, Alexithymia, and Styles of Creativity

ABSTRACT Averill's Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) was correlated (n = 322) with self-report measures of creative capacity, alexithymia, fantasy proneness, and styles of creativity in everyday life. Two sets of findings suggest an overlap between the emotional and cognitive aspects of creativity: (a) a principal components analysis of the 3 ECI subscales, the creative capacity, and the fantasy proneness measures revealed 1 factor with high loading on all 5 measures; and (b) the pattern of correlations of the different creative capacity measures with styles of creativity were similar. As expected, the ECI and its subscales correlated with a measure of fantasy proneness and negatively correlated with a measure alexithymia. Earlier findings of the relationship between the measures of creative capacity, fantasy proneness, and styles of creativity were replicated and extended to the ECI.

Belief in psychic ability and the misattribution hypothesis: A qualitative review

This paper explores the notion that people who believe in psychic ability possess various psychological attributes that increase the likelihood of them misattributing paranormal causation to experiences that have a normal explanation. The paper discusses the structure and measurement of belief in psychic ability, then reviews the considerable body of work exploring the relationship between belief in psychic ability, and academic performance, intelligence, critical thinking, probability misjudgement and reasoning, measures of fantasy proneness and the propensity to find correspondences in distantly related material. Finally, the paper proposes several possible directions for future research, including: the need to build a multi-causal model of belief; to address the issue of correlation versus causation; to resolve the inconsistent pattern of findings present in many areas; and to develop a more valid, reliable and fine-grained measure of belief in psychic ability.

The Relationship Between Fantasy Proneness and Schizotypy in Adolescents

Previous research has found substantial relationships between fantasy proneness and schizotypy in adulthood. The aim of the present study is to examine the connections between these constructs in an adolescent sample. A sample of 511 adolescents filled out a measure of fantasy proneness and a measure of psychotic-like phenomena. The factorial pattern for schizotypal traits in adolescents replicate the earlier documented three-factor structure. Also, the full range of schizotypal features was found to be related to imaginative tendencies tapped by fantasy proneness. Finally, joint analysis of fantasy and schizotypy showed that, in adolescents, fantasy converges with magical ideation and the cognitive-perceptual dimension of schizotypy, but diverges from the interpersonal aspects of schizotypy.

Direct and Indirect Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Resistance to Therapy and Psychometric Comparability Abstract

Groups of participants were randomly assigned to receive either direct hypnotic procedure using the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Form A (HGSHS:A) or its indirect counterpart, the Alman-Wexler Indirect Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (AWIHSS). Prior to hypnosis, participants completed the Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (a measure of fantasy proneness) and the Therapeutic Reactance Scale (TRS, a measure of resistance to therapeutic directives). The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory was completed in reference to a 2-minute sitting-quietly period embedded in the hypnotic procedure. Although results generally suggest that the two scales are alternate measures of hypnotizability, some differences were observed: (a) item difficulty levels differed on 4 of the 12 items; (b) subjects reported greater altered awareness with the direct method; and (c) contrary to the results of previous research, the more resistant subjects showed a tendency toward higher hypnotizability scores with the HGSHS:A, while the less resistant subjects responded better with the AWIHSS. 1We wish to thank our anonymous reviewers and Michael Nash for their constructive comments. The first author was a recipient of the Best Student Paper Award of Division 30 (Hypnosis) for an earlier version of this paper at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, 2001, San Francisco.

Fantasy proneness, mental imagery and reality monitoring

Individual differences in fantasy proneness and vividness of mental imagery have been suggested to be related to source memory confusions. To test this hypothesis, two groups scoring either high or low on a measure of fantasy proneness (selected from a group of 231 subjects) were compared on measures of self report vividness of mental imagery, objective imagery ability and reality monitoring performance. The two groups differed significantly on ratings of imagery vividness (p<0.01), but not on the imagery performance tasks, nor on reality monitoring performance. Our results indicate that, although fantasy proneness is associated with experiences of vivid mental imagery, it does not necessarily lead to reality monitoring errors.

Dissociative experiences, response bias, and fantasy proneness in college students

In two studies, the connection between dissociative experiences as measured by the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and memory distortions was examined. In the first study, DES scores of female students ( N =42) were not found to be related to reality monitoring failures. There was, however, a significant association between DES and false positive memory failures, suggesting a response bias in participants scoring high on the DES. In the second study, students ( N =70) completed the DES, a measure of fantasy proneness, and the Life Events Inventory (LEI). The LEI lists a large number of discrete events and requires respondents to indicate whether these events have happened to them before the age of 10. A positive connection between DES and LEI was found, such that higher DES scores were accompanied by more positive answers to the LEI. The connection between DES and positive response tendencies to LEI items was evident for both neutral and negative items and was carried by fantasy proneness. Taken together, the data indicate that high DES scores are related to a positive response bias tendency. This may have substantial implications for retrospective studies that attempt to link high DES scores to traumatic antecedents.