Award Date

1-1-2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Committee Member

Christopher L. Heavey

Number of Pages

147

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the differences in inner experience between alexithymic and nonalexithymic individuals, as identified by the TAS-20. Six individuals high in alexithymic characteristics and six control individuals completed a total of four days of experience sampling using the Descriptive Experience Sampling method. Over the course of these four days, participants' inner experiences were randomly sampled. All participants also completed a fifth day of experience sampling in a controlled environment, during which time they observed four emotion-eliciting film clips. Overall, results indicated that individuals with alexithymia tended to experience emotions, as well as other major phenomena of inner experience at the same rate as nonalexithymic individuals. However, individuals with evidenced much more impoverished, less detailed inner experience overall. It is concluded that individuals with alexithymia have a deficit not only of emotion experience, but of inner experience as a whole.

Keywords

Alexithymia; Descriptive; Examining; Experience; Sampling

Controlled Subject

Clinical psychology

File Format

pdf

File Size

2539.52 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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