Donald G. Forgays

Creativity enhancement through flotation isolation

Abstract Research over the last 25 years on the contribution of aloneness to creativity enhancement has had mixed results. Early studies of sensory deprivation generally found negative effects while more recent research on flotation isolation has reported positive influence. Sports performance, for example, has been improved by means of directed imagery and flotation aloneness. However, there has been only one study which has attempted to enhance creativity through the flotation method and while this study reported positive results, it lacked several control features and was based on a very small sample of highly selected subjects. The present study was designed to evaluate directly the potential contribution of floating to creativity enhancement as measured by the Guilford fluency test and other measures. Subjects were male and female university students, half of whom spent one hour in a float environment and the other half in a darkened room. Each was tested before and after experimental trial on the Guilford and other creativity measures and on two personality/affect scales. Float subjects showed significant increases on the Guilford test from the pre- to post-float and meaningful increases on other thinking measures as compared to non-floating control subjects. Floating was associated with a decrease in anxiety/tension, depression, hostility, and fatigue, but with an increase in vigor and a maintenance of curiosity scores, and it is speculated that the creativity benefits may be a result of these state changes.

Personality and Cigarette Smoking in Italy, Poland, and the United States

This study reports data on over 700 young adults, undergraduate and medical students attending the University of Vermont, the University of Rome, and the Warsaw Medical Academy. Each subject provided information about cigarette smoking history and completed several personality, Type A, and life events inventories. Subjects were classified as nonsmoker, ex-smoker, and smoker. Each measure was analyzed by ANOVA on this basis, with gender and country as additional main effects. Smokers were found to have higher state anxiety, a lower lie score, and were more Type A than ex-smokers and nonsmokers, but they tended to report fewer life events and of lower value.

Smoking Behavior and Personality Characteristics in Polish Adolescents

We report here clear-cut evidence that personality characteristics, at least those measured by the Maudsley Personality Inventory and a semantic differential rating of smokers and nonsmokers, are related to smoking behaviors in 1,000 Polish adolescents. The pattern of relationships replicates well that reported by others based on data collection from other cultures. The use of such findings in intervention and prevention attempts with cigarette smoking or other self-abusive behaviors remains to be evaluated in the future.

Measurement of the Type A behavior pattern in adolescents and young adults: cross-cultural development of AATAB.

This paper reports psychometric development of a new scale, the AATAB, a 19-item questionnaire which attempts to measure the Type A behavior pattern in the adolescent and in the young adult. Initial studies were accomplished with Polish secondary-school students. Test-retest and internal consistency reliability estimates were very adequate, as was concurrent validity. Construct validity information is scant but in the desired direction. Factor analytical studies reveal only a single-factor structure on these adolescent subjects. The AATAB was given to university students of both sexes in Poland, Italy, and the United States. Students from all three countries scored at about the same level and concurrent validity was acceptable. Factor analysis of these data revealed meaningful factors for both sexes across all three cultures. While similar factors were found, the order of them was different by sex and by culture. These results are discussed and further reliability and validity research with the AATAB is outlined.

Headache in College Students: A Comparison of Four Populations

SYNOPSIS

Is flotation isolation a relaxing environment

Abstract The present study was an attempt to evaluate the relaxation potential of the flotation environment, employing both subjective and objective measures. The subjects were 20 male and 20 female adult volunteers who were floated in a commercially produced tank for up to 150 minutes for each of three runs at intervals of one week. Phsyiological monitoring of heart rate was done just before and just after each run and during all the flotation periods. Most subjects remained for about 2/3rds of possible time in tank. Heart rate appears to follow a general trend across and within floats starting at a higher value, proceeding to a lower value, and then increasing again. Post-run differences in subjective indices of well-being, relaxation, or anxiety appear to be associated with the age and sex of subjects. Thus, while this environment does seem generally to be a relaxing one, the degree of relaxation potential is related to individual subject differences.

Personality dimensions and cigarette smoking behavior in polish and U.S. adolescents

Abstract To contribute to the design of adequate intervention and prevention programs, data on smoking behavior were collected from over 300 male and female 15 year olds from Poland and the United States, approximately half from each country. Several personality measures were obtained from each subject. Fifty of these students were already smoking and over 100 more had tried cigarettes. Results indicate that for both countries, smokers had a characteristic personality profile which included being anxious, angry, and impulsive/antisocial. In short they appear to be emotionally distressed and females were more extreme than males in this regard. Possible intervention and prevention strategies and future needed research are discussed.

Measurement of the type A behavior pattern from adolescence through midlife: further development of the adolescent/adult type A behavior scale (AATABS)

We reported in 1990 the development of the Adolescent/Adult Type A Behavior Scale (AATABS). While the measure showed considerable promise, improvements to its component structure were indicated. The present study reports such modifications and also provides data on the use of the new scale, the AATABS-R, with middle-aged subjects as well as young adults from the United States.

Type A behavior within families : parents and older adolescent children

Type A behavior has been associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease and occupational stress. However, researchers know very little about the etiology of the Type A behavior pattern (TABP). Relating measures of TABP in the young to comparable measures from their parents and other family members is one way to address the etiological issue. This study is the first in a series which examines the relationship between parent and child TABP using multiple measures for assessing TABP and the same measures in children and their parents. One hundred thirty-eight undergraduate students at the University of Vermont and their parents completed three Type A and two anger measures. The results suggest a cross-gender pattern in which Type A in fathers is related to Type A in their daughters and Type A in mothers is related to Type A in their sons. Anger measures generally agree with this pattern. Methodological difficulties in the field and future directions for research are discussed.

Flotation rest as a smoking intervention

The present study is an attempt to produce smoking cessation or reduction in persons who smoke cigarettes heavily but are motivated to stop. It makes use of the floating environment as an intervention, coupled with messages designed to shape attitudinal change. Subjects were followed up for twelve months post-intervention. Reduction at 12 month follow-up compares favorably with other interventional techniques, and floats of longer duration appear to be a more effective intervention than shorter floats. Messages did not add to effects found. Control subjects reduced their smoking more than the experimental subjects, suggesting that the procedures used on them were actually more effective interventions.