THE RELATIONSHIP OF EMPATHY, DIVERSITY, AND TELEPATHY IN MOTHER-DAUGHTER DYADS (FIELD-INDEPENDENCE).
Contributors: New York University.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 193
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: M. Rogers' conceptual framework provided the theoretical basis for this descriptive study of 180 volunteer mother-daughter dyads who were hypothesized to demonstrate three manifestations of human behavior: empathy, diversity, and telepathy. The sample consisted of mothers over age 25, who read, wrote, and understood English, reported adequate vision, and had daughters 6 through 16 years old. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) (Davis, 1980) a 28 item tool consisting of 4 subscales measured empathy; diversity was determined by the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) to measure differentiation and mobility by the Necker Cube Illusion Test (Bloomberg, 1971); and telepathy was determined by Rhine's Zener Card technique, with daughters as senders and mothers as receivers of telepathic messages. During telepathy testing participants were in nonadjacent rooms and a one-way light between receiver and sender was utilized. ESP score sheets were matched and the results were tallied by an assistant.

One form of empathy (personal distress) was related (p < .05) to telepathy. Diversity, as determined by moderate differentiation and mobility was related (p < .05) to telepathy. Multiple regression analysis showed only 6% of the variance in telepathy was accounted for by the empathy and diversity measures combined. Belief in one's own extrasensory ability was significantly (p < .005) related to telepathy.

Those who were mobile and moderately field independent were the only subjects who demonstrated any form of empathy empathy-empathic concern, t (178) = -2.20 lending new information to what is known about field independent people. The study further supports the contention of Haronian and Sugarman that not all field independent subjects are mobile, and that flexibility is a quality in its own right.

The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis Empathy Measure) continued to demonstrate acceptable reliability (Cornbach's alpha = .75), as did the Group Embedded Figures Test Part II to Part III r (180) = .91 . Split-half reliability, first to second half r (180) = .63 and odd/even r (180) = .66 of the telepathy test was acceptable. Test-retest of the Necker Cube Illusion Test r (66) = .97 was also highly satisfactory.

Belief in extrasensory perception had an unexpected impact on the results, and when this factor was added to the independent variables in a multiple regression it accounted for one half of the explained variance in telepathy.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-08, Section: B, page: 3297.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, 1986.

School code: 0146.