The effectiveness of mental imagery on increasing Ambiguity tolerance, Flourishing and Entrepreneurial Attitude in Second high School Students

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran

2 Department of Counseling, Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, Sciences and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jed.2026.398378.654551

Abstract

entrepreneurial attitudes and behavior in students. Ambiguity tolerance, flourishing and entrepreneurial attitude are as cognitive and personality traits that role paling in tendency to entrepreneurial behavior. Therefore the present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of mental imagery on increasing tolerance for ambiguity, flourishing and Entrepreneurial Attitude in Second high School Students.

Method: Method of quasi-experimental and pre-test, post-test and a 2 months follow-up design was used. The population included senior female students in region 1 of Tehran in 2025. using purposeful sampling, 40 participants who met the inclusion criteria were selected and randomly assigned to two groups of mental imagery or control, n1=n2=20. Research tools were the questionnaires of McLain’s (2009) ambiguity tolerance, Diener, & Biswas-Diener’s (2008) flourishing, and Robinson et al’s (1991) Entrepreneurial Attitude which were administered in three stages for two groups and O’Shea & Moran’s (2019) mental imagery intervensions to the experimental group during 12 weekly, 90- minute sessions and data were analyzed using mixed repeated measures analysis variance and SPSS- 23.

Results: The results showed that the interventions based on mental imagery can decrease ambiguity tolerance, flourishing and Entrepreneurial Attitude in Second high School Students and the effect of interaction of time and intervention in increasing ambiguity tolerance 59%, flourishing 54% and Entrepreneurial Attitude orderly were 59%, 54% and 64%. Also the results of Bonferroni follow-up test showed the effect of intervention of mental imagery on increasing ambiguity tolerance, flourishing and Entrepreneurial Attitude in experimental group and this effect remained stable at follow- up (P<0.01).

Conclusion: The results showed evidence that using a mental imagery can increase ambiguity tolerance, flourishing, and entrepreneurial attitude of Second high school students and this changes remained after 2 months. In mental imagery interventions, participants create new and acceptable thoughts and behaviors that decrease their anxiety and worries. Participants learn that in coping with ambiguous situations, don’t percept threatening and to accept them as part of self-life and instead of trying to eliminate uncertainty, appropriately accept ambiguity and find new solutions when coping with complex problems and Use a flexible and appropriate thinking style in interpreting events. Also the results indicated that the intervention based on mental imagery increase flourishing of Second high school students and this changes remained after 2 months. Since academic flourishing is a life with growth, fertility, flexibility and academic well-being it is nurtured in conditions without worry and internal conflict. Mental imagery techniques such as mental rotation techniques, mental screening, relaxation and cognitive reprocessing helped participants that don’t just think about a specific topic, image, or thought, Rather, can decrease their worries and internal conflicts by replacing positive thoughts and mental images with negative thoughts and mental images and Provide conditions for nurturing capacities and flourishing. In addition, the results indicated that the intervention based on mental imagery increase entrepreneurial attitude of Second high school students and this changes remained after 2 months. Mental imagery interventions reinforce entrepreneurial attitude by influencing individuals' emotions in the decision making process in high risk situations. In the mental imagery package, interventions such as restructuring dysfunctional thoughts and images helped participants that can develop their positive thoughts, create effective images for their job future and become more preparation for high risk in business and continue an effective and constructive attitude in entrepreneurship. Therefore, considering the effectiveness of the mental imagery in increasing ambiguity tolerance, flourishing, and entrepreneurial attitude of students, it is recommended that entrepreneurship education instructors use this package.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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