Imagination,Cognition and Personality

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.

The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) globally defines an individual according to their propensity to form visual mental imagery. A less frequently used approach to the study of mental imagery is based on self-reports on a trial-by-trial basis. The current meta-analysis consisted of three tests designed to compare the VVIQ and trial-by-trial vividness ratings against more objective criteria to address the predictive validity of these different measure instruments. Test 1 was based on a convenient sample and the calculation of effect sizes using exact p values. Tests 2 and 3 were based on a systematic sample, but while Test 2 used exact p values, Test 3 used effect sizes directly. Trial-by-trial vividness reports demonstrated significantly larger effect sizes than the VVIQ across all three experimental methodologies, with neural measures yielding significantly greater effect sizes than behavioral and cognitive ones. Therefore, we conclude that trial-by-trial self-reports have higher predictive value than VVIQ.

For individuals suffering from an eating disorder, the Internet is a place of encouragement and support. To date, however, no comprehensive research has been done to examine particular entries on blogs used by those individuals. Therefore, this study aimed to fill that gap. It focuses on what types of messages individuals communicate to pro-anorexia (Pro-Ana) website and what types of imagined interactions they have with others about their disorder. A total of 587 Pro-Ana blog entries were content analyzed. The results indicated that individuals with an eating disorder blog to talk about their illness, to ruminate about the conflict with their parents and peers who often disapprove of their actions, and to ask for advice. Food is the most cited theme in the blog entries. This supports the evolutionary perspective that food is always on their mind, something those with eating disorders try to control. A logistic regression analysis revealed that mental imagery in the form of imagining interaction with significant others was .50 times less likely to reflect mental illness issues and .24 times less likely to reflect binging problems when compared with entries that did not feature imaginary conversation with others. In terms of the interaction partners, most bloggers imagined talking with family members, followed by peers, professionals, and romantic partners, while a small number of entries reported having imagined interactions with Ana in terms of personification followed by coworkers, kids, or strangers.

The relationship between materialism and the self-conscious emotions (e.g., gratitude, shame, pride, and regret) was investigated with a sample of University students. Materialism was related to shame, regret, low gratitude, and hubristic pride. Shame was strongly associated with the envy component of materialism and was on the opposite end of a scale with gratitude. With pride, materialism was related to being conceited or snobbish versus having self-worth or a sense of accomplishment. The results are consistent with materialism having a weaker sense of self as hubristic pride involves a distorted, self-aggrandized sense of self, shame is associated with a sense of the self as defective, and regret is associated with the unhappiness of maximization rather than satisficing in decision making.