A ESTRUTURA DA AUTOCONSCIÊNCIA E HABILIDADES DE VISUALIZAÇÃO DE IMAGENS MENTAIS: ESTUDO DE VALIDAÇÃO

Abstract

The ex-post-facto study aimed to describe the relations between situational and dispositional self-focus, the relevance of the rumination-reflection dichotomy on the dimensionality of self-awareness, and the relations of dispositional self-focus with the visualization of mental imagery skills, supported by the wider hypothesis of cognitive mediation of self-focus through mental imagery. The empirical test of the hypotheses was carried out on a sample of 958 university students, who answered the psychometric instruments: Dispositional Self-focus Scale, Situational Self-focus Scale and the Visualization of Mental Imagery Skills Test, with its two independent series – Self and Non-Self. The data were analyzed using factor analysis, similarity structure analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, and series of stepwise and fixed-step multiple regressions analysis. The results support (a) the hypothesis of cognitive mediation of self-focus through mental imagery, both in state and trait modes;  (b) favorable evidence to the organic link between self-focus state and trait; (c) the dichotomy rumination-reflection on the dimensionality of self-awareness; (d) and, finally, the good psychometric properties of the instruments of research, especially the Dispositional Self-focus Scale, based on new dichotomy that underpins the dispositional self-focus which was discovered in this research - Awareness-Attentiveness.

Keywords: situational and dispositional self-focus; rumination-reflection; visualization of mental imagery skills; psychometric evaluation; facet theory