Examining Relationships Between Personality and Inexperienced Imagery Ability Among Athletes and Non-Athletes

Mental imagery is a technique that uses many of our senses to create a depiction in the mind of what someone is trying to experience in actuality. The purpose of this mental skill is to increase the effectiveness of physically doing the action you imagined. Previous research has failed to examine the differences between athletes and non-athletes in imagery ability and the personality. If there are differences, this could discount research that has been done using mental imagery techniques designed for athletes in non-athletes. In this study, I examined the relationships between athlete status, the personality traits openness to experience and conscientiousness, and inexperienced imagery ability. Participants at the College of Wooster (N = 128) completed two imagery tasks as a measure of inexperienced imagery ability. Next, they took a shortened version of the 200-item HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised that measured only the factors openness to experience and conscientiousness. There was no significant difference between athletes and non-athletes in inexperienced imagery ability. However, openness to experience mediated the relationship between athlete status and inexperienced imagery ability. Non-athletes scored higher on openness to experience and therefore were more likely to have better inexperienced imagery ability. My research affirmed that the techniques used to enhance imagery ability in athletes can be used for non-athletes as well. Keywords: Imagery, Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Sport Psychology, Athletes, Non-Athletes, Performance Psycholog