Image vividness, image control and attitude towards death in adolescents and adults
Main Article Content
Abstract
People can have vivid mental images of death and they can have control over them. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of image vividness and image control on attitudes towards death among a group of teenagers (Study 1) and a group of adults (Study 2). The independent variables were image vividness and image control, and the subscales of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R) questionnaire were used as dependent variables: Acceptance of Approach (AA), Fear of Death (FD), Death Avoidance (DA), Escape Acceptance (EA), and Neutral Acceptance (NA). The results showed that teenage subjects with greater image control displayed significantly less Fear of Death (FD) and obtained lower scores in Avoidance of Death (DA) and higher scores in Neutral Acceptance (NA) than students with lower image control. In Study 2, image vividness and image control were not found to influence the subscales of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R). The article also analyses the implications of the findings in an educational context.
Keywords:
Downloads
Article Details
References
Berna, C., Vincent, K., Moore, J., Tracey, I., Goodwin, G. M., & Holmes, E. A. (2011). Presence of mental imagery associated with chronic pelvic pain: A pilot study. Pain Medicine, 12 (7), 1086-1093. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01152.x
Boelen, P. A., & Huntjens, R. J. C. (2008). Intrusive images in grief: An exploratory study. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 15, 2017-226. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.568
Borkovec, R. D., Alacine, O, & Behar, E. (2004). Avoidance theory of worry and generalized anxiety disorder. En R. G. Heimberg, C. L. Turk, & D. S Mennin (Eds.). Generalized anxiety disorder: Advances in research and practice (pp. 77-108). The Guilford Press.
Brewin, C. R., Gregory, J. D., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010). Intrusive images in psychological disorders: Characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological Review, 117, 210-232. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018113
Campos, A. (Ed.) (1998). Imágenes mentales. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.
Campos, A., & Campos-Juanatey, D. (2019). Do gender, discipline and mental rotation influence orientation on “You-Are-Here-Maps”. SAGE Open, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019898800
Campos, A. & Canto, M. (2019). Diferencias en imagen mental entre individuos españoles e italianos. Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, 6(1), 37-43. https://doi.org/10.17979/reipe.2019.6.1.5271
Campos, A., & Fuentes, L. (2016). Musical studies and the vividness and clarity of auditory imagery. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 36(1), 75-84. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276236616635985
Campos, A., & González, M. A. (2017). Importancia de las imágenes mentales en el pensamiento. Revista Mexicana de Investigación en Psicología, 9(2), 113-119. https://www.revistamexicanadeinvestigacionenpsicologia.com/index.php/RMIP/article/view/265
Campos, A., González, M. A., & Amor, A. (2002). The Spanish version of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire: Factor structure and internal consistency reliability. Psychological Reports, 90, 503-506. https://doi.org/10.2466/PR0.90.2.503-506
Campos, A., & Pérez-Fabello, M. J. (2005). The Spanish version of Betts` Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery. Psychological Reports, 96(1), 51-56. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.96.1.51-56
Clark, D. M., Ehlers, A., Hackmann, A., McManus, F., Fennell, M., Grey, N., Waddington, L., & Wild, J. (2006). Cognitive therapy versus exposure and applied relaxation in social phobia: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(3), 568-578. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006x.74.3.568
Deeprose, C., & Holmes, E. (2010). An exploration of prospective imagery: The Impact of Future Events Scale. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 38(2), 201-209. https://doi.org/10.10.17/S135246580999671
Dönmez, C. F., & Bilgin, J. (2020). The effect of guided imagery on death anxiety, empathy and attidude towards terminally ill patients in oncology nurses. Journal of Nursing & Healtcare, 5(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.33140/JNH.05.01.04
George, D., & Mallery, P. (2003). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference.11.0 update. Allyn & Bacon.
Gesser, G., Wong, P., & Reker, G. (1988). Death attitudes across the life-span: The development and validation of the Death Attitude Profile. Omega – Jounal of Death and Dying, 18, 113-128. https://doi.org/10.2190/0DQB-7Q1E-2BER-H6YC
Hales, S. A., Deeprose, C., Goodwin, G.M., & Holmes, E. A. (2011). Cognitions in bipolar affective disorder and unipolar depression: Imagining suicide. Bipolar Disorders, 13(7-8), 651-661. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-5618.2011.00954.x
Holmes, E. A., Geddes, J. R., Colom, F., & Goodwin, G. M. (2008). Mental imagery as an emotional amplifier: Application to bipolar disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46(12), 1251–1258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2008.09.005
Holmes, E. A., & Matheus, A. (2005). Mental imagery and emotion: A special relationship? Emotion, 5(4), 489-497. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.5.4.489
Lee, S. K. (2009). East Asian attitudes toward death – a search for the ways to help east Asian elderly dying in contemporary America. Permanente Journal, 13 (3), 55-60. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/08-068
López-Pérez, M. E., Pino-Juste, M., & Campos, A. (2020a). Mental imagery and anxiety towards death in adolescence. (Manuscript submitted for publication). Departamento de Psicología, Universidad of Santiago de Compostela.
López-Pérez, M. E., Pino-Juste, M., & Campos, A. (2020b). Image of death and attitude towards death. North American Journal of Psychology, 22(4), 701-710.
Marks, D. F. (1973). Visual imagery differences in the recall of pictures. British Journal of Psychology, 64, 17-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1973.tb01322.x
McGovern, M., & Barry, M. M. (2000). Death education: Knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives of Irish parents and teachers. Death Studies, 24, 325-333. https://doi.org/10.1080/074811800200487
Ng, A. S., Abbott, M. J., & Hunt, C. (2014). The effect of self-imagery on symptoms and process in social anxiety: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 34, 620-633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2014.09.003
Nilsson, J., Lundh, L., & Viborg, G. (2012). Imagery rescripting of early memories in social anxiety disorder: An experimental study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 387-392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j-brat.2012.03.004
Pérez-Fabello, M. J., & Campos, A. (2004). Factor structure and internal consistency of the Spanish version of the Gordon Test of Visual Imagery Control. Psychological Reports, 94, 761-766. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.94.3.761-766
Pérez-Fabello, M. J., & Campos, A. (2017). Dissociative experiences and vividness of auditory imagery. Creativity Research Journal, 29(2), 200-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2017.1303310
Pérez-Fabello, M. J., Campos, A., & Felisberti, F. (2018). Object-spatial imagery in Fine Arts, Psychology and Engineering. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 27, 131-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2017.12.005
Richardson, A. (1969). Mental imagery. Routledge & Kagan Paul.
Stopa, L., Brown, M. a., & Hirsch, C. R. (2012). The effects of repeated imagery practice on self-concept, anxiety, and performance in socially anxious participants. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 3(2), 223-242. https://doi.org/10.5127/jep.021511
WeBlau, C., Closs, M., Höfling, V., & Steil, R. (2015). Visual mental imagery and symptoms of depression – results from a large-scale web-based study. BMC Psychiatry, 15, 308. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0689-1
Wild, J., Hackmann, A., & Clark, D. M. (2008). Rescripting early memories linked to negative images in social anxierty disorder: A pilot study. Behavior Therapy, 39(1), 47-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth. 2007.04.003
Wong, P., Reker, G., & Gesser, G. (1994). Death Attitude Profile-Revised: A multidimensional measure of attitudes toward death. En R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.). Death anxiety handbook: Research, instrumentation, and application (pp. 121-148). Taylor and Francis.