## Summary: The Tellegen Absorption Scale is a 34-item multi-dimensional measure that assesses imaginative involvement and the tendency to become mentally absorbed in everyday activities. The TAS was developed from a questionnaire that derived items from inventories of hypnotic-like experiences (Roche & McConkey, 1990)
## Instructions for Administration: Please fill in the following questionnaire by circling the number that corresponds to how frequently each of the following statements is true of your experience. It is imperative that you answer these questions as honestly as possible and in accordance with your experiences.
## Scoring Methodology: All the items on the TAS are positively keyed. The average score is approximately 80, with a standard deviation of approximately 18 (Glisky et al., 1991, Studies 2 and 3) -- figures which comport with the dichotomous version.On a version using the 0-100 "percentage" scale, similar to that used with the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the average score was about 31, with a standard deviation of about 16 (Angiulo & Kihlstrom, 1991).
## Citation and Authors: The original authors of the Tellegen Absorption Scale are Auke Tellegen and Robert Atkinson (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974). Subsequent analyses were conducted by Martha Glisky among others (Glisky et al., 1991; Glisky & Kihlstrom, 1993).
Make sure scoring is explained
Item # | Question | Never | At least once | Occasionally | Often | Very often |
1 | I feel and experience things as I did when I was a child. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
2 | I can be greatly moved by eloquent or poetic language. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
3 | While watching a movie, a TV show, or a play, I become so involved that I forget about myself and experience the story as if it were real and as if I were taking part in it. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
4 | If I stare at a picture and then look away from it, I can see an image of the picture, almost as if I were still looking at it. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
5 | I feel as if my mind could envelop the whole earth. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
6 | I like to watch cloud shapes in the sky. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
7 | If I wish, I can imagine (or daydream) some things so vividly that they hold my attention as a good movie or a story does. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
8 | I think I really know what some people mean when they talk about mystical experiences. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
9 | I can step outside my usual self and experience an entirely different state of being. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
10 | Textures – such as wool, sand, wood – remind me of colours. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
11 | I experience things as if they were doubly real. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
12 | When I listen to music, I can get so caught up in it that I don’t notice anything else. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
13 | If I wish, I can imagine that my whole body is so heavy that I could not move it if I wanted to. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
14 | I can somehow sense the presence of another person before I actually see or hear him/her. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
15 | The crackle and flames of a woodfire stimulates my imagination. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
16 | It is possible for me to be completely immersed in nature or art and to feel as if my whole state of consciousness has somehow been temporarily altered. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
17 | Different colours have distinctive special meanings for me. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
18 | I am able to wander off into my own thought while doing a routine task and actually forget that I am doing the task, and then find a few minutes later that I have completed it. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
19 | I can recollect certain past experiences in my life with such clarity and vividness that it is like living them again or almost so. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
20 | Things that might seem meaningless to others often make sense to me. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
21 | While acting in a play, I think I would really feel the emotions of the character and become her/him for the time being, forgetting both myself and the audience. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
22 | My thoughts do not occur as words but as visual images. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
23 | I take delight in small things (like the five pointed star shape that appears when you cut an apple across the core or the colours in soap bubbles). | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
24 | When listening to organ music or other powerful music, I feel as if I am being lifted into the air. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
25 | I can change noise into music by the way I listen to it. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
26 | Some of my most vivid memories are called up by scents and smells. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
27 | Certain pieces of music remind me of pictures or patterns of colour. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
28 | I know what someone is going to say before he or she says it. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
29 | I have physical memories; for example, after I have been swimming I may still feel as if I am in the water. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
30 | The sound of a voice can be so fascinating to me that I can just go on listening to it. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
31 | I somehow feel the presence of someone who is not physically there. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
32 | Thoughts and images come to me without the slightest effort on my part. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
33 | I find that different odors have different colors. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
34 | I can be deeply moved by a sunset. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |