Absorption is a disposition or

personality trait In psychology, trait theory (also called dispositional theory) is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of ''traits'', which can be defined as habitual patterns of behaviour, tho ...

in which a person becomes absorbed in their

mental image A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...

ry, particularly

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

. This trait thus correlates highly with a

fantasy prone personality Fantasy prone personality (FPP) is a disposition or personality trait in which a person experiences a lifelong, extensive, and deep involvement in fantasy. This disposition is an attempt, at least in part, to better describe "overactive imagination ...

. The original research on absorption was by American psychologist

Auke Tellegen Auke Tellegen (born 1930) is a psychologist who served as a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota from 1968 to 1999. He worked on assessment, developing the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire and contributed to the Minnes ...

. The

construct Construct, Constructs or constructs may refer to: * Construct (information technology), a collection of logic components forming an interactive agent or environment ** Language construct * ''Construct'' (album), a 2013 album by Dark Tranquillity ...

of absorption was developed in order to relate individual differences in hypnotisability to broader aspects of personality. Absorption has a variable correlation with hypnotisability ( ''r'' = 0.13–0.89) perhaps because in addition to broad personality dispositions, situational factors play an important role in performance on tests of hypnotic susceptibility. Absorption is one of the traits assessed in the

Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) is a personality test meant to measure normal personality developed by Auke Tellegen in 1982. It is currently sold by the University of Minnesota Press The University of Minnesota Press is a un ...

Measurement

Absorption is most commonly measured by the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS). Several versions of this scale are available, the most recent being by Graham Jamieson, who provides a copy of his modified scale. The TAS comprises nine content clusters or subscales: * responsiveness to engaging stimuli * responsiveness to inductive stimuli * imagistic thought * ability to summon vivid and suggestive images * cross-modal experiences—e. g.:

synesthesia Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who re ...

* absorption in thoughts and imaginings * vivid memories of the past * episodes of expanded awareness *

altered states of consciousness An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called altered state of mind or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. By 1892, the expression was in use in relation to hypnosis, though there ...

A 1991 study by Glisky et al. concluded that responsiveness to the engaging or inductive stimuli subscales of the TAS were more strongly related to hypnotisability than were imagistic thought, episodes of expanded awareness, or absorption in thoughts and imaginings. A revised version of the TAS has been included in Tellegen's

(MPQ) in which it is considered both a primary and a broad trait. In the MPQ, absorption has two subscales called "sentient" and "prone to imaginative and altered states" respectively. Tellegen has assigned

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

of TAS to the

University of Minnesota Press The University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota. It had annual revenues of just over $8 million in fiscal year 2018. Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its book ...

(UMP). It was generally believed from the 1990s that the TAS was now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

, and various improved versions were circulated. However, recently the UMP has reasserted its copyright, and regards these later versions to be unauthorised, and also disputes whether these versions are in fact improvements.

Relationship to other personality traits

Absorption is strongly correlated with

openness to experience Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe human personality in the Five Factor Model. Openness involves six facets, or dimensions: active imagination (fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, ...

. Studies using

factor analysis Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. For example, it is possible that variations in six observed ...

have suggested that the fantasy, aesthetics, and feelings facets of the NEO PI-R Openness to Experience scale are closely related to absorption and predict hypnotisability, whereas the remaining three facet scales of ideas, actions, and values are largely unrelated to these constructs. Absorption is unrelated to extraversion or

neuroticism In the study of psychology, neuroticism has been considered a fundamental personality trait. For example, in the Big Five approach to personality trait theory, individuals with high scores for neuroticism are more likely than average to be moody ...

. One study found a positive correlation between absorption and

need for cognition The need for cognition (NFC), in psychology, is a personality variable reflecting the extent to which individuals are inclined towards effortful cognitive activities. Need for cognition has been variously defined as "a need to structure releva ...

. Absorption has a strong relationship to

self-transcendence Self-transcendence is a personality trait that involves the expansion of personal boundaries, including, potentially, experiencing spiritual ideas such as considering oneself an integral part of the universe. Several psychologists, including Viktor ...

in the

Temperament and Character Inventory The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is an inventory for personality traits devised by Cloninger et al. It is closely related to and an outgrowth of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ), and it has also been related to the d ...

Emotional experience

Absorption can facilitate the experience of both positive and negative emotions. Positive experiences facilitated by absorption include the enjoyment of music, art, and natural beauty (e.g. sunsets) and pleasant forms of

daydreaming Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which partici ...

. Absorption has also been linked to forms of maladjustment, such as

nightmare A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, Retrieved 11 July 2016. is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety or great sadness. The dream may contain situations of d ...

frequency and anxiety sensitivity (fear of one's own anxiety symptoms), and

dissociative Dissociatives, colloquially dissos, are a subclass of hallucinogens which distort perception of sight and sound and produce feelings of detachment – dissociation – from the environment and/or self. Although many kinds of drugs are capable of ...

symptoms. Absorption may act to amplify minor somatic symptoms, leading to an increased risk of conditions associated with hypersensitivity to internal bodily sensations, such as

somatoform disorders A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder,(2013) dsm5.org. Retrieved April 8, 2014. is any mental disorder that manifests as physical symptoms that suggest illness or injury, but cannot be explained fully by a general ...

and

panic disorder Panic disorder is a mental disorder, mental and Abnormal behavior, behavioral disease#Disorder, disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by reoccurring unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear th ...

. People may have a particular risk of the aforementioned problems when they are prone to both high absorption and to personality traits associated with negative emotionality.

Altered states of consciousness

A core feature of absorption is an experience of focused attention wherein: "objects of absorbed attention acquire an importance and intimacy that are normally reserved for the self and may, therefore, acquire a temporary self-like quality. These object identifications have mystical overtones." This capacity for focused attention facilitates the experience of altered states of consciousness. In addition to individual differences in hypnotizability, absorption is associated with differential responses to other procedures for inducing altered states of consciousness, including

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

use, and

biofeedback Biofeedback is the process of gaining greater awareness of many physiology, physiological functions of one's own body by using Electronics, electronic or other instruments, and with a goal of being able to Manipulation (psychology), manipulate t ...

. A review of studies on differential response to the drug

psilocybin Psilocybin ( , ) is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungi. The most potent are members of the genus ''Psilocybe'', such as '' P. azurescens'', '' P. semilanceata'', and '' P.&nbs ...

found that absorption had the largest effect of all the psychological variables assessed on the intensity of individual experiences of altered states of consciousness. Absorption was strongly associated with overall consciousness alteration and with mystical-type experiences and visual effects induced by psilocybin. Researchers have suggested that individual differences in both absorption and responsiveness to hallucinogenic drugs could be related to the binding potential of

serotonin Serotonin () or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Its biological function is complex and multifaceted, modulating mood, cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes such as vomiting and vas ...

receptors (specifically 5-HT_2A) which are the main site of action of classic hallucinogens, such as

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

and psilocybin. A series of studies has found that people higher in absorption have a greater propensity towards having

religious experience A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defens ...

s (also known as spiritual experiences), which may have a sensory-like character (e.g., reporting the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

"rush" through them). Higher levels of absorption have been found to predict people reporting more and stronger

mystical experience Scholarly approaches to mysticism include typology (disambiguation), typologies of mysticism and the explanation of mystical states. Since the 19th century, mystical experience has evolved as a distinctive concept. It is closely related to "mystic ...

s when wearing a

placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

version of a

God helmet The God helmet is an experimental apparatus originally called the Koren helmet after its inventor Stanley Koren. It was developed by Koren and neuroscientist Michael Persinger to study creativity, religious experience and the effects of subtle stimu ...

—that is, a helmet that supposedly induces spiritual experiences through magnetic stimulation of the

temporal lobe The temporal lobe is one of the four Lobes of the brain, major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain. The temporal lobe ...

s of the brain but in fact provides no magnetic stimulation. Furthermore, in most studies people higher in absorption report experiencing greater levels of

awe Awe is an emotion comparable to wonder but less joyous. On Robert Plutchik's wheel of emotions awe is modeled as a combination of surprise and fear. One dictionary definition is "an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., ...

when viewing vast landscapes, art exhibitions, and other potentially awe-inducing things. Given these findings on spiritual experiences, placebo god helmets, and awe, the authors of a 2019 research paper suggest that higher levels of absorption may give individuals a greater "talent" for "experienc ngas real what must be imagined". The authors argue that this is a key aspect of most religious or spiritual traditions, while noting that they are not necessarily dismissing the reality of what is reported in spiritual experiences.

Dream recall

Research has found that frequency of

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

recall is associated with absorption and related personality traits, such as openness to experience and proneness to

dissociation Dissociation, in the wide sense of the word, is an act of disuniting or separating a complex object into parts. Dissociation may also refer to: * Dissociation (chemistry), general process in which molecules or ionic compounds (complexes, or salts ...

. A proposed explanation is the continuity model of human consciousness. This model proposes that people who are prone to vivid and unusual experiences during the day, such as fantasy and daydreaming, will tend to have vivid and memorable dream content, and hence will be more likely to remember their dreams.

References