A series of photographs, based on each of the Blacky Pictures and arranged in 14 stages from the vaguest to the clearest, was constructed. (Fig. 1). Those photographs were chosen as test materials to measure the perceptual sensitivity and the cognitive styles, i.e. emotional vs. neutral. Main themes recognized in these photographs were as follows:
Cartoon I; “suckling”.
Cartoon II; “aggression (E)”, “holding (N)”, “collar (N)”.
Cartoon III; “two dogs (N)”, “handshake”, “love making (E)”, “anger (E)”.
Cartoon VIII; “three dogs (N)”, “protection”.
Cartoon IX; “unreal dog (N)”, “scolding (E)”, “fear (E)”.
(N……neutral themes;
E……emotionally toned themes)
Shorter the reaction time for the recognition of a theme, higher the perceptual sensitivity to its theme was indicated. And it was designated as an emotinal-cognitive style if one's sensitivity toward the emotionally toned themes were greater than to the neutral ones. Similarly, a neutral-cognitive style was determined. Considering their notable defensiveness, neurotics were employed as the subjects of this study, and the factors of repression-sensitization, which might have effects on those perceptual sensitivity and cognitive styles, were examined.
Contrary to our expectation, it was proved that the repressors rather than sensitizers were more sensitive to those themes such as “anger” and “fear”, and tended to show more emotional-cognitive styles. In comparison with other studies, several hypothetical conclusions were drawn as follows:
1) To be sensitive to the self does not necessarily mean to be sensitive to the outer world. Consequently, patterns of experience, i.e. introversive vs. extroversive, must be taken into consideration.
2) Recognitions of the stimuli toned with mild emotionality may follow a conflict-free process. Recognitions of the stimuli toned with severe emotionality may fall into a conflicting process, due to the self-involvement.
3) Repressors, being opened toward the outer world, may be more sensitive to the mild stimulus-emotionality than sensitizers.
4) Sensitizers, being sensitive toward themselves, may be more sensitive to the severe stimulus-emotionality than repressors, due to their ego-involvement against it.
From an additional experiment, it was suggested that recognitions by unhealthy and weak egos were apt to fall into conflicting processes.
抄録全体を表示