Effects of self-focused rumination on negative thinking and interpersonal problem solving.
Hypotheses about the effects of self-focused rumination on interpretations of events and interpersonal problem solving were tested in 3 studies with dysphoric and nondysphoric participants. Study 1 supported the hypothesis that dysphoric participants induced to ruminatively self-focus on their feelings and personal characteristics would endorse more negative, biased interpretations of hypothetical situations than dysphoric participants induced to distract themselves from their mood, or nondysphoric participants. Study 2 showed that dysphoric participants who ruminated were more pessimistic about positive events in their future than the other 3 groups. Study 3 showed that dysphoric ruminating participants generated less effective solutions to interpersonal problems than the other 3 groups. In Studies 1 and 3, dysphoric ruminating participants also offered the most pessimistic explanations for interpersonal problems and hypothetical negative events. In all 3 studies, dysphoric participants who distracted were as optimistic and effective in solving problems as non-dysphoric participants.
Lyubomirsky
S
S
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, California, USA.
Nolen-Hoeksema
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010469:Perceptual Distortion; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011340:Problem Solving; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D013850:Thinking