Facial imagery and personality development.

The empirical relationship between judgments obtained with a motorized facial-distortion mirror and relevant personality and rating measures was examined. Subjects were 88 school children. The findings indicated general trend differences between males and females in perceiving facial distortion shown in a mirror. Although not statistically significant, a relationship between teachers' ratings on hygiene, self-concept, sociability, and two scales of the High School Personality Questionnaire were noted.     

Intelligence and personality in mate choice and marital satisfaction

This research examined how intellectual and personality similarity or complementarity between a couple relates to their marital choice and marital satisfaction. Eighty-one couples were tested using the WAIS-R and the MMPI and the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale. As predicted, couples showed significant similarity for some IQ variables. However, the prediction that IQ would have a relationship to marital satisfaction was not borne out. Couples show some significant similarity on some personality variables but for different variables in the 39 Clinic couples and the 42 Non-clinic couples. A strong relationship was found between couples in both samples on the Pd scale. As far as marital satisfaction is concerned, similarity or complementarity in personality variables does not appear.     

Smoking,personality, and imagery preference in Relation to spontaneous bilateral electrodermal activity

Effects of smoking on spontaneous bilateral skin conductance were studied as a consequence of interactions with set and setting. Bilateral skin conductance was recorded in six men and six women who smoked and an equal number of nonsmokers on two different days. On the first day, spontaneous electrodermal activity was recorded before and after a 10-minute rest period during which half the smokers smoked a cigarette. On the second day, one week later, spontaneous activity was again recorded before and after a 10-minute rest period during which the remaining smokers smoked a cigarette. Nonsmokers did not smoke at any time. Following smoking there was a significant negative correlation between a preference for visual over nonvisual imagery and spontaneous skin conductance responsivity in the left as compared to the right hand. Correlations were significantly different in smokers and nonsmokers. Smokers showed significantly greater preferences for either visual or nonvisual imagery than nonsmokers. Nonresponding nonsmokers were higher on the psychoticism (P) scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) than responding nonsmokers. Smokers scored higher on P than nonsmokers. Interactions between personality, cognitive style, and the experimental situation, set, and setting were discussed in relation to the arousing effects of nicotine.     

Aggressive personality traits in the effects of violent imagery on unprovoked impulsive aggression

In a three-factor design varying the aggressive-behavior subtraits of physical aggression (low, high) and hostility (low, high) with exposure to film content (innocuous, violent imagery), respondents were exposed to film segments and thereafter engaged in a teaching task that involved the administration of noxious feedback for unproductive efforts by the learner. A display informed respondents of the intensity of delivered feedback. Instructions were to provide feedback as often as required and of intensities deemed appropriate. However, respondents were also told to refrain from using extremely high intensities, as these intensities would be hurtful to the learner. None of the three independent variables exerted appreciable influence on the frequency of use of recommended feedback. In contrast, the frequency of the use of the disallowed, hurtful feedback was markedly affected. Independent of exposure to film content, men scoring high on hostility used impulsive aggressive responses more frequently than men scoring low on that subtrait. Within the subtrait of physical aggression, however, the degree of trait manifestation proved inconsequential for impulsive aggression, but exposure to the violent film segment resulted in more frequent use of impulsive aggressive responses than exposure to the innocuous film segment.     

Characteristics of autobiographical memories and prospective imagery across a spectrum of hypomanic personality traits

Evidence of a strong causal relationship between mental imagery and emotion has informed psychological conceptualisations of disordered positive mood states (i.e., mania). Holmes et al.'s cognitive model of bipolar disorder asserts a prominent role for intrusive and affect-laden positive imagery of the past and the future in the amplification and maintenance of positive mood and associated manic behaviours. The aims of the current study were two-fold: (1) to test aspects of this model in a non-clinical population sampled for hypomanic personality traits and (2) to examine the phenomenological characteristics of positive autobiographical memories and imagery of the future. Undergraduate students (N = 80) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires and rated their positive and negative memories and images of the future on a number of dimensions. We found significant positive correlations between hypomanic tendencies and the (1) everyday experience and use of mental imagery, (2) experience of intrusive mental imagery of future events, (3) emotional intensity and sensory detail of positive but not negative autobiographical memories. Results are discussed in the context of their theoretical and clinical implications, and directions for future research are considered.     

Intelligence impairment, personality features and psychopathology disturbances in a family affected with CADASIL

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a small-vessel disease of the brain that is characterized by headache, recurring lacunar strokes, mood changes and progressive cognitive deterioration. The disease is transmitted with an autosomal dominant pattern and usually starts during midadulthood (at 30-50 years of age). Cognitive deficits in patients with CADASIL develop slowly. The dementia causes frontal-like symptoms and it typically develops after a history of recurrent stroke. We describe three patients from one Spanish family affected by this disease. All three cases underwent comprehensive clinical and neuropsychological examination, and were monitored for seven years. The results obtained in this study describe a) a significant loss of the intelligence quotient (IQ) and noticeable damage to abstract ability (g factor), b) mood and psychopathological disturbances (major depression and dysthymia), and c) a personality with neurotic features.     

Auditory imagery and free recall.

Research on mental imagery has demonstrated the importance of visual imagery to recall performance. Little attention, however, has been paid to the mnemonic value of auditory imagery. The present experiments addressed the influence of auditory and visual imagery on free recall. Characteristic sounds, pictures, or printed verbal labels of 40 common items were presented sequentially to adult subjects, who were asked to recall them after a 2-min retention interval. Pictures and characteristic sounds were associated with significantly better recall than were verbal labels alone, indicating that auditory imagery has mnemonic value similar to that of visual imagery. This effect was confirmed by further experiments. However, the effects of auditory and visual imagery on free recall were not shown to be additive.     

Hypnagogic imagery and EEG activity.

The relationships between hypnagogic imagery and EEG activity were studied. 7 subjects (4 women and 3 men) reported the content of hypnagogic imagery every minute and the hypnagogic EEGs were classified into 5 stages according to Hori's modified criteria. The content of the hypnagogic imagery changed as a function of the hypnagogic EEG stages.     

Differentiating visual and kinesthetic imagery in mental practice.

Through two experiments, the study sought to emphasize the usefulness of the visual and kinesthetic imagery in mental practice. In Experiment 1, it was hypothesized that when the task to be learned through mental practice necessitates the reproduction of a form by drawing, the visual image, which provides a wide span of apprehension, is more suitable than the kinesthetic image. On the other hand, the kinesthetic image that supplies inputs from the muscles' positions and movements should be more appropriate for the acquisition of the duration of the drawing. In Experiment 2, it was hypothesized that the task, transformed into a motor task necessitating minute coordination of the two hands, would benefit more from kinesthetic imagery. To have optimal control over what was actually experienced during mental practice, the participants' imagery skills were measured. The participants also benefited from prior imagery training. The results demonstrate that when using mental practice to initially acquire a task, visual imagery is better for tasks that emphasize form while kinesthetic imagery is better for those tasks that emphasize timing or minute coordination of the two hands.     

Self-rated imagery and encoding strategies in visual memory.

The value of self-rated vividness of imagery in predicting performance was investigated, taking into account the mnemonic strategies utilized among subjects performing a visual-memory task. Subjects classified as 'good' or 'poor' imagers, according to their scores in the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ; Marks, 1972), were to detect as rapidly as possible differences between pairs of similar pictures presented consecutively. No coding instructions were given and the mnemonic strategies used were analysed by studying subjective reports and objective performance measurements. The results indicated that the subjects utilized two main strategies--a detail or an image strategy. The detail strategy was the more efficient. In accordance with a previous study (Berger & Gaunitz, 1977), it was found that the VVIQ did not discriminate between performance by 'good' and 'poor' imagers. However, among subjects who used the image strategy, 'good' imagers performed more rapidly than 'poor' imagers. Self-rated imagery may then have some value in predicting performance among individuals shown to have utilized an image strategy.     

Gestures maintain spatial imagery.

Recent theories suggest alternatives to the commonly held belief that the sole role of gestures is to communicate meaning directly to listeners. Evidence suggests that gestures may serve a cognitive function for speakers, possibly acting as lexical primes. We observed that participants gestured more often when describing a picture from memory than when the picture was present and that gestures were not influenced by manipulating eye contact of a listener. We argue that spatial imagery serves a short-term memory function during lexical search and that gestures may help maintain spatial images. When spatial imagery is not necessary, as in conditions of direct visual stimulation, reliance on gestures is reduced or eliminated.     

Determinants of educational achievement at 16+: Intelligence,personality, home background and school

The classical path model linking home background with IQ and school type to educational attainment is extended by the inclusion of the EPQ and new questionnaires measuring Status Aspiration and Work Ethic. In a study of approx. 700 adolescents it was shown that Psychoticism and Status Aspiration are significant variables in the prediction of educational achievement. The most important determinant of educational attainment was found to be intelligence.     

Individual differences in reported visual imagery and memory performance.

Seventy high school students completed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). Two months later, the 16 highest scores (low visualizers) and the 16 lowest scores (high visualizers) took part in a memory experiment involving abstract words, concrete words and pictures. Analyses of variance showed that high visualizers were superior to low visualizers on all three kinds of item in short-term recall, whereas they were only superior on the concrete words and pictures in long-term recall. Finally, both groups performed equally well on a subsequent recognition test. The results were interpreted as providing support for the validity of the VVIQ.     

Problems in assessment of vividness and control of imagery.

Difficulties in assessing individual differences in vividness and control of mental imagery hinder understanding of the role of of imagery in various phenomena. This study examined the relationships among the Gordon test of imagery control, the Betts questionnaire on imagery vividness, and a research questionnaire on control of imagery developed for this study. The research questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and scores were more widely distributed than were those on the Gordon test. Correlations among the instruments ranged from .47 to .57, suggesting that vividness and control of imagery are not clearly differentiated in practice. Discussion of these results suggests that further empirical work is needed to establish the differential validity of the two constructs.     

Psychodiagnosis of personality structure: psychotic personality organization.

Recent developments in Rorschach psychology, including nomothetic approaches focused on scores, ratios, and indices and idiographic approaches focused on content emerging from psychoanalytic theory, offer the Rorschach clinician a rich and potent interpretive methodology. This article examines the structural diagnosis of personality organization with a focus on psychotic personality structure. Rorschach approaches to the differential diagnosis of psychotic personality organization are presented. The Rorschach is viewed as indispensible in the differential diagnosis of personality organization, especially in the so-called "borderline" cases.     

Learning style and personality type.

To investigate the relations between the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Gregorc Style Delineator and to examine the construct validity of the Style Delineator, 41 undergraduate students preparing to be teachers were given both tests. Observed differences in learning styles by personality type partially support the construct validity of the Style Delineator. Judging individuals (n = 25) tended to perceive themselves as concrete sequential thinkers as opposed to perceptive individuals (n = 16) who thought of themselves as concrete random thinkers. Feeling types (n = 29) tended to prefer random modes of thinking.     

Creative personality in schizophreniform disorder.

This paper sets forth the contention that a schizophreniform disorder can enhance creativity. Given the usual brief duration of no more than six months, this disorder may enable the resilient ego of a creative person to descend temporarily into the symbolic sea of the unconscious. With such broadening of the person's symbolic experience in the unconscious, in the postpsychotic period the person may be able to forge symbols into novel concepts through a cohesive ego restored to homeostasis.     

Hardiness and major personality factors.

This study tested Maddi and Khoshaba's 1994 hypothesis that Hardiness is an index of mental health. A sample of 241 undergraduates (103 men and 138 women) completed the Dispositional Resilience Scale, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, and the Psychopathology-5 Scales. Using the individual median scores on the three subscales (Commitment, Control, and Challenge) of the Dispositional Resilience Scale, the High Hardiness group was obtained by identifying the individuals who scored above the medians on all the three subscales, whereas the Low Hardiness group were those who scored consistently below the medians on all the three subscales. Multivariate analysis of variance performed for the two hardiness groups using the scales from each personality inventory indicated that the two groups had significantly different mean profiles on the NEO Personality Inventory as well as the Psychopathology-5 Scales. Combined discriminant function analysis performed for the two hardiness groups using all the 10 scales from the two personality inventories indicated that the two groups had significantly different mean profiles and that the standard discriminant function coefficients were substantial (> .3) for the NEO Personality Inventory Openness (.65) and Conscientiousness (.49) scales and the Psychopathology-5 Positive Emotionality (.56) and Psychoticism (-.36) scales, supporting the tested hypothesis.