“In Vivo” Emotive Imagery: A Preliminary Test

The process of focusing on positive covert events during overt anxiety-arousing situations has been termed “in vivo” emotive imagery. 36 Ss were stratified on sex, given imagery training, and then assigned randomly to no-treatment control, distraction control, or experimental treatment conditions during which they were asked to immerse their hands in ice water (33° F) for as long as possible. Mean tolerance scores were 51.7, 77.3, and 146.4 sec. respectively. A sex by treatment analysis of variance followed by Tukey post hoc comparisons showed that “in vivo” emotive imagery was significantly more effective than no-treatment control procedures. Possible sources of subject variability were discussed.