Levels of Imagery and Personality Dimensions in a Female Prison Population

• NCJ Number: 75518
• Journal: Journal of Personality Assessment Volume: 44 Issue: 4 Dated: (1980) Pages: 390-395
• Author(s): A B Stricklin; M L Penk
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the Society of Personality Assessment in Tampa, Florida, 1978.

Annotation

This study of female inmates confirms a relationship between neurosis and reported low control of visual imagery, which may be useful in treatment of anxiety disorders via imagery therapy.

Abstract

A total of 62 racially mixed female prisoners from a Federal prison in the Southwest were administered imagery tests and a demographic data sheet. The subjects averaged 11.54 years of education and 101.26 in intelligence scores. The tests included rating the subjects' vividness or clarity of the mental image of objects or scenes on a seven-point scale in seven sensory modalities (visual, auditory, tactual, gustatory, olfactory, kinesthetic, and organic). A total vividness score was the sum of the modalities. Positive relationships indicated that the higher the vividness, the higher the personality score, but high numerals in mean scores indicated low vividness, and vice versa. The visual imagery control test consisted of 12 questions in which each subject rated her ability on a 3-point scale to imagine changing scenes involving a car. Also administered were the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and a social introversion scale which measured the degree of correlation between the extroversion/introversion personality dimension. An anova was analyzed for total vividness, and for each of the vividness modalities. The results confirmed a relationship between neurosis (depression, anxiety) and reported low control of visual imagery and between the extroversion/introversion personality dimension and vividness of mental imagery (if level of neurosis is controlled), across populations, personality inventories, and investigators. With high scores, extroverts report more vivid imagery than introverts, but with low neurosis scores, introverts report more vivid imagery than extroverts. Mental imagery might be a reliable indicator of the cognitive aspect of anxiety disorders. Statistical data, footnotes, and 16 references are included.