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Individual differences in imagination inflation.

C Heaps1, M Nash

  • 1cheaps@utk.edu

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|August 30, 2002
PubMed
Summary
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Imagining childhood events increases their perceived likelihood, a phenomenon known as imagination inflation. This effect is linked to hypnotic suggestibility and dissociativity, not imagery vividness.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Memory Studies
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Imagination inflation is a documented psychological phenomenon where imagining an event increases its perceived likelihood.
  • Previous research by Garry, Manning, Loftus, and Sherman (1996) established this effect with adult subjects and childhood events.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To replicate the imagination inflation effect using a new set of Life Events Inventory items.
  • To investigate the relationship between imagination inflation and individual differences in hypnotic suggestibility, dissociativity, imagery vividness, and interrogative suggestibility.

Main Methods:

  • Participants were presented with a list of childhood events, some of which they were asked to imagine.
  • Following imagination, participants rated the likelihood of all events having occurred.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Correlational analyses examined the association between the degree of imagination inflation and measures of individual characteristics.

    • Main Results:

    • The study successfully replicated the imagination inflation effect.
    • Imagination inflation was positively associated with hypnotic suggestibility and dissociativity.
    • No significant association was found between imagination inflation and vividness of imagery or interrogative suggestibility.

    Conclusions:

    • Imagination significantly influences judgments of likelihood for past childhood events.
    • Individual differences, particularly hypnotic suggestibility and dissociativity, are associated with susceptibility to imagination inflation.
    • These findings contribute to understanding the mechanisms of false memory creation and individual variability therein.