IMAGINATION

IMAGINATION, in psychology, is understood as an activity characterized by the combining of images from past experience. This imaginal activity can manifest in almost every process of our thinking, but it manifests most brightly in the activity of fantasy, when the psychological process detaches itself from the perception of reality and is regulated, predominantly, by internal emotional attitudes of the personality. In its purest form, the activity of I. can be observed in the play of a child, who can with extraordinary ease transform the most primitive toy into a fantastic object corresponding to his desires; it manifests itself similarly in the creativity of an artist, where I., connected with colors, forms, or sounds, must play an especially important role. In pathological forms, the activity of I. can manifest in the delusions of the mentally ill, 'daydreams', in certain forms of dreams. In particularly bright cases, images of I. can compete even with images of reality perceived from without, as, for example, happens in hallucinations. Signs of such an exceptionally bright I. have been established in recent years in children and adolescents; German authors have described this phenomenon of vivid imaginal memory, including alongside elements of perception also elements of I., under the name of 'eidetism'. By this name is understood a special kind of I., consisting in that certain adolescents are able to preserve very vividly and accurately in I. the image of an object they have perceived; at the same time, this 'visual image', while persisting for a long time, imprints a special mark on all subsequent perceptions, which thus become compromise phenomena between the direct result of external stimulation and the activity of I. (remnants of previously preserved experience). 'Eidetism' is apparently connected with certain endocrine states (Jaensch). Typological differences in the activity of I. play, according to data from modern psychology, a significant role in the activity of thinking. Thus, on the basis of experimental data, one can distinguish a subjective type of thinking, in which I. plays a very significant role, and an objective type, in which the activity of I. is not so significant, and descriptions, judgments, etc. bear, predominantly, a realistic character, standing under the direct control of external phenomena. Much in the determination of the type of thinking and I. depends on the conditions of upbringing and those factors under the influence of which the character is formed. Thus, Jung (S. G. Jung) describes the type of I. characteristic of so-called introverted (closed, turned inward) and extraverted (more closely connected with the external environment) characters. Especially sharp changes in the activity of I. can be observed in diseases that deepen certain traits of character, especially those emphasizing traits of introversion. As a rule, the activity of I. begins to take on pathologically exacerbated traits in those cases when, for some reason, the patient's connection with the external world begins to weaken and the world of fantasy grows compensatorily. Since the determination of the type, richness, and content of I. represents considerable importance for practical purposes (clinical study of the patient, pedagogical goals, legal practice and determination of the degree of reliability of witness testimony), acquaintance with the methods of studying I. acquires great importance. The main methods of studying I. are as follows: 1. The method of inkblots (or the Rorschach method) consists in that the subject is presented with formless inkblots (sometimes of different colors) and he must say what images he notices in them. According to Rorschach's data, such experiments yield very valuable diagnostic materials, since in them are manifested both the richness of I. and its character, and the specific emotional attitudes of the personality. 2. The method of composing phrases from three words (Drei-wortmethode), or words from separate letters, in which the subject must compose the maximum number of phrases from three proposed words (or words from the proposed letters); this method, like the following ones, has preferential value for the study of intellectual I. 3. The method of filling in the missing parts of a text ('Lticken-test'), having the same meaning. 4. The method of describing pictures, exhibited for a short time, was successfully applied by Binet and Stern. In addition, a number of methods for studying I. are described in the psychological systems of Rossolimo, Bernstein, etc. a. Luria. Disorders of I. Being closely connected in the most various respects both with the emotional life and with the intellectual activity of man, I. is involved in suffering in almost all pathological processes affecting the psyche. In particular, states of dementia, connected with weakening of memory, naturally lead to the depletion of the stock of representations that can be activated, and consequently to a more or less significant quantitative decrease in the activity of I. The processes of psychological inhibition, characteristic of depressions, also complicate the reproduction of images and the composition of new combinations from them; in milder cases they lead to a special pallor of representations, which according to the descriptions of patients become little plastic, colorless, and poor in content. Much more complex are the disorders of I. in schizophrenia: on the one hand, emotional dullness and decline of interests make almost impossible any purposeful creative work of I., and on the other hand—the autistic immersion of patients in themselves, combined with weakening of active attention and logical coherence, often populates their inner world with the most bizarre and fantastic images. The products of the disordered activity of pathologically excited I. must also be considered the hallucinatory experiences of delirious patients, confabulations in acutely developing memory disorders and so-called daydreams, not uncommon even in normal people in states of fatigue or distraction. Of particular interest is the excessively developed activity of I. in certain groups of psychopaths, namely: in paranoic inventors, striving for the realization of grandiose plans, but concerned only with the goal they have set themselves, and not with the means for its realization, whereby the firm ground of reality slips away from under their feet; in dreamers and fantasists, immersed in solitary dreams of the great and impossible and inventing at the same time all new and new, sometimes worked out down to the smallest details, situations in which they themselves play the role of heroes, and in pathological liars. In the latter group of psychopathic personalities, the unbridled activity of I. comes so much to the forefront that some authors speak further of a special fantastic, or mythomaniacal, constitution. It must be especially emphasized that excessive activity of I. most often is connected with traits of so-called psychological infantilism, namely with emotional instability, increased suggestibility, inability to consecutive logical thinking, weakness of criticism, etc. Phenomena of autosuggestion, so frequent and demonstrative in hysteric subjects and hypochondriacs, apparently are based to a large extent on I. activity sharpened in a certain direction. Increased tendency to fantasizing in persons with corresponding predisposition sometimes leads, under the influence of emotional shocks or other moments weakening the psyche (infections, injuries, etc.) to the development of transient delusional states, in which the patient's most incredible dreams are realized.