Browsing by Subject "Life change events -- Psychological aspects"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    The Influence of Conversations through Transformational Processing: Narrative Identity Formation and Well-being
    (2010) Marinucci, Danielle
    Past research has shown that there are qualitative differences between processing positive and negative life events. This study attempted to test the influence of a conversation on the way in which individuals make sense of their life events. We predicted that the conversation would impact how individuals' narrative identities are transformed by the events as well as the degree to which individuals' well-being increased or decreased over two weeks. Furthermore, we expected that the personality of the individual processing the event would impact well-being two weeks after the conversation. Although the predicted effects on well-being and narrative identity were not observed, some findings lend support to the study's main hypotheses. This study has just begun to examine how conversations affect narrative identity and long-term well-being. More research should continue to focus on this topic to determine the most effective ways of processing positive events and working through negative events.
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    The Influence of Conversations, Through Transformational Growth, on Narrative Identity and Well-being
    (2010) Keller, Leonor Geneviève Pitschna; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    The objective of this experimental study is to determine the impact of conversations between 81 same-sex friend pairs on the levels of transformational growth displayed in narratives about the event, and their overall well-being, two weeks later. Each participant designated a recent, positive or negative event, after which the friend pairs engaged in a 10-minute conversation in which one participant either spoke about their event or about a control topic. Although the experimental condition had no direct impact on the narrative or well-being measures (p < .05), the results indicated that extraversion moderated the effects of experimental condition on well-being. The implications of these findings in the context of the literature as well as the limitations of the study are discussed.
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    Transformational Processing of Negative Events: An Experimental Manipulation
    (2012) Tan, Joseph; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    Transformational processing has been defined by past narrative identity research on negative event processing as a distinctive combination of the processes of exploration and resolution. The current study aimed to test the effect of transformational processing of negative events on well-being. Through an expressive writing framework, subjects processed a negative event through three days of writing either in a transformational manner (composed of both exploration and resolution), through exploration only, or through resolution only. Results showed no significant effects on well-being, but also showed that the transformational narratives had patterns of growth and positive emotion words over the course of the three writing days that were distinct from the patterns in the other writing conditions.
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    Transformational Processing of Negative Events: Implications for Well-Being
    (2012) Galef, Nicolas; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    The current study constituted an investigation into narrative processing of negative events, using an expressive writing paradigm (Pennebaker & Beall, 1986), in terms of its effects on an individual's well-being. This study was among the first to experimentally prime distinct narrative processing styles, including transformational processing (Pals, 2006a; 2006b; 2006c). It was hypothesized that transformational processing would lead to the greatest increases in well-being, and that greater presence of personal growth and emotional complexity in written samples would mediate that effect. Participants were instructed to write about a particularly traumatic event from their past in one of three narrative processing styles (vs. a neutral writing task for control subjects) during three writing sessions taking place over three consecutive days. Well-being measures were recorded before writing, and then both one day and one week following the end of the writing sessions. The collected narratives were coded for the presence of exploratory narrative processing, coherent positive resolution, and statements of personal growth. Analyses revealed no effect of transformational processing on well-being, but it did establish a strong causal relationship with growth. The implications for the relationship between transformational processing and narrative growth, which had previously only been shown through correlational data, are discussed, along with suggestions for future research to improve upon the current study.
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    Transformational Processing of Negative Life Events Through Expressive Writing: An Experimental Manipulation
    (2012) Bass, Becca; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    Though a wealth of existing research demonstrates correlations between written narrative processing of negative events and various well-being outcomes, the current experimental manipulation pursues the issue of causality. 79 subjects were assigned to one of four writing conditions (explore, resolve, combination, and control), and those in the experimental conditions received different prompts to write about a centrally challenging life event for 15 minutes on each of the three consecutive writing days. While we failed to show a significant causal relationship between writing condition and any changes in our measures of well being over time, we did find a significant condition x day interaction on growth. This interaction showed an increase in growth over time unique to the combo condition, which suggests that exploring and then resolving produces the most growth. Because our study indicates that different prompted forms of processing do in fact encourage different outcomes, we hope that future longitudinal studies will be better able to address the long-term path and outcomes for different processing mechanisms.
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    Transformative Processing of Negative Events Through Expressive Writing
    (2012) Plowden, Marissa K.; Compton, Rebecca J. (Rebecca Jean); Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    The aim of this study was to utilized Pennebaker and Beall's (1986) previously developed expressive writing paradigm and Pals'(2006b) concept of positive selftransformation to try to induce heightened psychological well-being through writing about negative events. Specifically, we developed three separate writing prompts that targeted the two separate components of processing (exploratory processing and coherent positive resolution) as well as a hybrid prompt that utilized elements of both in an effort to induce transformational processing, with the idea that this combination prompt would induce "optimal", or eudaimonic well-being. Overall, our results did not support our hypotheses; however, our combination prompt did produce narratives that scored significantly higher in growth than either the "explore" or the "resolve" prompt. Additionally, narratives in the Explore and Combination conditions showed a higher amount of insight cognition words than the Resolve condition. While these findings are not conclusive with regard to the influence of different writing styles on psychological well-being, they are conclusive in showing that growth is a function of both emotional exploration and positive closure and that this type of writing prompt has the potential to induce a significant positive change in an individual's self-identity.