The role of mental imagery in creativity

Mental imagery has been linked to creativity through the reports of many historically creative individuals. Following a review and evaluation of the theoretical, anecdotal and empirical literature, the material presented in the thesis investigates the role of individual differences in mental imagery in performance on psychometric creativity tasks. A meta-analytic review of previous research showed a small marginally acceptable criterion association between self-reported mental imagery vividness and control and divergent thinking performance. However, additional non-statistical examination showed that further investigation was required. This led to five studies of the variables under consideration and a revised meta-analytic review in the light of the findings. The main conclusion was that self-report measures of mental imagery have a statistically significant but inconsequential association with divergent thinking performance. Consequently a new series of studies was undertaken in which the creative visualization task (CVT) was employed using an individual differences approach. Having established the parametric properties of a test-format version of the CVT two behavioural measures of mental imagery were used to predict performance. As neither measure predicted CVT performance high and low vividness and Symbolic Equivalence Test groups were used to assess a dissociative model of CVT performance. A significant interaction effect showed that vividness plays a mediating role in predicting CVT performance. In two final studies the individual differences approach was employed in the context of a hypothesised perceptual mediation. The results showed firstly that High Imagers performed significantly better than Low Imagers in creativity tasks following perceptual isolation and secondly that Low Imagers performed significantly better on perceptually sourced creativity tasks than on verbally sourced creativity tasks. The combined findings suggest that, while established protocols do not support a strong imagery-creativity association, new methods of investigation may reveal the predicted differences in creativity between high and low imagery participants

Developments in the treatment for substance misuse offending

The drug treatment of offenders is a contentious issue steeped in political debate and clouded in media commentary about the rights of those who are estimated to commit up to half of the United Kingdom’s acquisitive crimes (HMG, 2008). The aim of this Chapter is to provide the reader with an overview of developments in the treatment for drug misuse offending. Initially, however, a general review of drugs and crime will be conducted. This will be followed by a background review of the development of treatment services in the United Kingdom and the second half of the chapter considers recent progress in treatments for drug misuse offenders

Psychological mindedness, personality and creative cognition

Research into Psychological Mindedness (PM) has focuses on its beneficial role in improving physical and mental well-being. The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of two PM measures and personality in predicting creative cognition performance. Following the completion of a battery of questionnaires 176 participants from the general population (age ranged from 16-68 years old) completed three creative cognition tasks. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed independent effects for both the PM Interest and Insight variables in performance on two of the three creative cognition measures. Critically, these showed that the PM variables positively predicted performance on both the Creative Visualization Task and the Remote Associates Test. Conversely, the association between performance on the Alternate Uses Task and the PM variables was explained by the Openness to new experience variable. These findings are discussed in the context of the inclusion of further mediating variables that may explain the causal relationship between PM and creative cognition

Creativity and the measurement subclinical psychopathology in the general population: schizotypy, psychoticism, and hypomania

The aims of the study were to investigate the roles of well-known psychopathology measures in predicting creativity, to assess the concepts of a multitrait and single trait understanding, and to evaluate the role of latent measures of hypomania predicting creativity. Following the completion of a battery of questionnaires 203 participants completed 2 creative cognition tasks. Multivariate multiple regression analyses revealed significant effects for both schizotypy and the latent hypomania scales. Critically, these showed that some negatively (introvertive anhedonia, excitement, and social vitality) and others positively (impulsive nonconformity and mood volatility) predicted creativity. These findings suggest future avenues should evaluate the roles of mood, autonomy, and asociality in mediating the link between subclinical psychopathology and creativity. Further, research should both manipulate state and control trait mood when evaluating psychopathology and creativity

Dualism and duality: An examination of the structure-agency debate.

Within the structure-agency debate the works of Margaret Archer and Anthony Giddens represent opposite opinions of the society-person connection and the status of social types. Their views are defined, respectively, by an adherence to dualism or duality. Whilst Archer's theory requires ontological proof that social structures, as emergent phenomena, exist sui generis Giddens' argument, based on a commitment to hermeneutics and pragmatism carries no such ontological baggage. I argue that the demands of Archer's and Bhaskar's realism are unmet and that duality is the most plausible position to hold in the structure-agency debate. In Chapter One I set out Giddens' theory and note his rejection of relativism in favour of pragmatism. In Chapter Two I argue that the bedrock of Archer's theory, Bhaskar's naturalism, when carried to the social sciences, is flawed by the inability to 'close' systems. In Chapter Three I show how realists have modified Bhaskar's realism in order to separate structure from agency. However, as with past attempts at basing realism on the concept of emergence this raises the spectre of reification. In Chapter Four I discuss and demonstrate the ways in which the concept of supervenience may or may not be helpful in proving the sui generis status of social facts. In the first half of Chapter 5 I make a distinction between morphological and cultural types and demonstrate that separating 'ideas' from those individuals who hold them is nonsensical and therefore dualism is fundamentally flawed. In the second half of the chapter I argue that there are logical grounds for rejecting the transposition of realism from the natural to the social sciences. In Chapter Six I defend Giddens' thesis against criticisms concerning voluntarism, the clarity of the notion of social structure and its relationship to system

Theorising Social Constraint: The Concept of Supervenience

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates Kieran Healy's recent contribution to the structureagency debate. Supervenience, I argue, has multiple uses, it entails different ontological perspectives depending on which entities it is applied to and which conditions are placed upon subvening and supervening entities. Healy's use of supervenience is unclear. On the one hand, applied to individual-society relations it does nothing more than restate the trivial truth: no people -no society. On the other hand, if supervenience is to be applied to structure-agent relations the consequence is extreme voluntarism. In either case it simply fails to address Healy's key concern: conceptualising social constraint. I then argue that an alternative way of grasping structural constraint in the present might be to view past-tense 'activity dependence' as 'Cambridge events'

Conceptual framework for living with and beyond cancer: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.

OBJECTIVE: The concept of living with and beyond cancer is now emerging in policy and literature. Rather than viewing this notion simply as a linear timeline, developing an agreed understanding of the lived experience of people affected by cancer will aid the development of person-centred models of care. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted. The review question was "What does the term 'living with and beyond cancer' mean to people affected by cancer?" The protocol for the review was preregistered in the PROSPERO database (PROSPERO CRD42017059860). All included studies were qualitative, so narrative synthesis was used to integrate descriptions and definitions of living with and beyond cancer into an empirically based conceptual framework. RESULTS: Out of 2345 papers that were identified and 180 that were reviewed, a total of 73 papers were included. The synthesis yielded three interlinked themes: Adversity (realising cancer), Restoration (readjusting life with cancer), and Compatibility (reconciling cancer), resulting in the ARC framework. CONCLUSIONS: Three themes describe the experience of living with and beyond cancer: adversity, restoration, and compatibility. The ARC framework provides an empirically informed grounding for future research and practice in supportive cancer care for this population

Development and evaluation of an Individualised Outcome Measure (IOM) for randomised controlled trials in mental health

Predefined, researcher-selected outcomes are routinely used as the clinical end-point in randomised controlled trials (RCTs); however, individualised approaches may be an effective way to assess outcome in mental health research. The present study describes the development and evaluation of the Individualised Outcome Measure (IOM), which is a patient-specific outcome measure to be used for RCTs of complex interventions. IOM was developed using a narrative review, expert consultation and piloting with mental health service users (n=20). The final version of IOM comprises two components: Goal Attainment (GA) and Personalised Primary Outcome (PPO). For GA, patients identify one relevant goal at baseline and rate its attainment at follow-up. For PPO, patients choose an outcome domain related to their goal from a predefined list at baseline, and complete a standardised questionnaire assessing the chosen outcome domain at baseline and follow-up. A feasibility study indicated that IOM had adequate completion (89%) and acceptability (96%) rates in a clinical sample (n=84). IOM was then evaluated in an RCT (ISRCTN02507940). GA and PPO components were associated with each other and with the trial primary outcome. The use of the PPO component of IOM as the primary outcome could be considered in future RCTs