Relating the Components of Figure Preference to the Components of Hypomania

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between two measures of figure preference (an "origence" measure derived from the Welsh Figure Preference Test (1987) and a polygon-based task) and the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HoP), in a sample of 170 introductory psychology students. A multidimensional measure of schizotypal traits, the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE; Mason, Claridge, & Jackson, 1995), was also administered. A focus of the analysis involved the correlation of HoP subscales, produced from a previous large-scale factor analysis, with factors produced from Principal Components Analyses of the two figure preference tasks. Hypomanic personality was associated with total origence and was negatively associated with an origence factor representing simple geometric figures. In the polygons task, hypomanic personality was associated with an index of figural complexity, and was negatively associated with a factor representing simple asymmetrical polygons. A canonical correlation confirmed that relationships were strongest for hypomania factors measuring such aspects of behavior as moodiness, restlessness, and hypersociability. Two schizotypy scales produced patterns of correlation parallel to, but generally weaker than, the hypomania correlations. The sensation-seeking construct is invoked to explain the obtained relationships.