Absorption, Empathy and Imagery: the Interactions of Psychological and Interpersonal Skills (Therapy, Affect, Counseling, Emotions, Personality).

Abstract

The design of this experiment was based on two main assumptions. The first assumption is that people who are more skilled in generating images would more likely be able to generate data of an emotional nature. The second assumption is that some people are more sensitive than others to internally generated data or at least better able to concentrate informational processing systems in an effective way. This ability was defined as absorption. From these two assumptions certain hypotheses were developed and tested in an experimental design. The experiment consisted of testing 79 undergraduate, liberal arts majors over two different sessions. The first session involved measuring the subject's empathy through the Affective Sensitivity Scale. The second session was comprised of measuring imagery by the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire and Gordon's Control of Imagery Questionnaire and measuring absorption by the Tellegen Absorption Scale. The data were analyzed in a series of steps designed to reveal the most significant aspects of the variables' relationships to each other. All of the stated hypotheses were rejected. The strongest finding was that there was a negative relationship between imagery and empathy. When the data for imagery were separated into their component parts, vividness and control, and the absorption data into high and low scorers, some significant differences were revealed. Specifically what was found is that control of imagery is consistently related to empathy in a negative direction, that vividness of imagery is negatively related to empathy for low absorption subjects and positively related to empathy for high absorption subjects. Interpretations from the data were then discussed and explanations for the findings given. The implications based on the experimental findings were presented. The implications apply to the selection and training of mental health professionals and affective education. Lastly, recommendations for future research that would clarify or extend the present findings were presented.