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Visualization as a technique for personal change

University of British Columbia

This study examined the effectiveness of information about, and/or practice with, visualization in increasing: self-understanding, belief in one's ability to effect self change, positive themes in ongoing imagery, and internality of locus of control. A sample of 19 women and 11 men, ranging in age from 18 to 50 years, were divided into four groups which each received different amounts of information about, or practice with, visualization. All groups were tested before and after treatment on four measures, and the three experimental groups also completed a posttest-only measure. The measures used were the Personal Response Questionnaire (developed by the author), subscales from the Imaginal Processes Inventory, the Spheres of Control test, the Questionnaire on Imagery Control, and the Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery. Results indicated that members of the experimental groups believed that visualization could contribute significantly to self-understanding, felt differently about themselves as a result of learning about visualization, felt it would be useful for personal development, and felt they would use it in their own future self-development. Vividness of imagery increased from pretest to posttest for those groups with most information about, and practice with, visualization. Increased internality on the sociopolitical control subscale of the Spheres of Control test was also found for all groups on the posttest. None of the other predicted effects were found to have occurred at a significant level. The failure to achieve the anticipated results was attributed partially to the short period of training and practice allocated, to the small number of subjects, and also to the lack of appropriate and sufficiently sensitive assessment measures.

Text

2010-06-02

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/25351

Psychology

University of British Columbia

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