Rumination and problem-solving

Rumination and problem-solving

Autobiographical memory

Memory

Presnell, Andrew Harrison

2008

Abel, Millicent H.

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Based upon a predictive model of memory, the Quadrants of Remembering Style (QRS), this project targeted the manipulation of memory style. The study evaluated the effects of ""how"" and ""why"" prompts on subsequent writing tasks related to a generic story. Furthermore, the study attempted to identify carry-over effects from the prompts on both further writing samples involving personal stories and the positivity and negativity of later judgments. Finally, exploratory analyses were planned to examine the relationships between the factors of the QRS and factors of positivity and negativity. Using the Ultimate Survey online research tool, participants (n = 85) completed a demographic form and a battery of surveys, the M5-50 Personality Inventory, the Positive Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), a measure of optimism/pessimism (LOT-R), the QRS scale, Positive and Negative Likelihood Judgment Measures, and the Probability of Future Problems scale. In addition to the surveys, participants were subjected to either a ""how or why"" prompt when asked to write about a break-up presented in a story. They were then asked to write about a personal break-up experience. This time though, the prompting words were removed from the directions. I first hypothesized that prompting an individual to write with a ""how"" prompt would result in concrete writing samples. Similarly, I hypothesized that an individual prompted with ""why"" would produce abstract writing samples. Results strongly confirmed both of these hypotheses. The second set of hypotheses predicted that the individual would continue to write in the prompted style when simply directed to write, without a prompt, about a personal break-up story. These hypotheses were not supported by the statistical analyses. The third set of hypotheses proposed a negative shift in judgments of future events in the ""how" prompted condition and a positive shift in the ""why"" prompted condition. Again, the data did not support these hypotheses. The exploratory analyses did reveal relationships between the factors of the QRS and the factors of the M5-50, the PANAS, the LOT-R, the QRS, the Likelihood Judgment Measure, and the Probability of Future Problems scale. Future research should continue to attempt to identify different methods of altering the characteristic memory styles of individuals. Previous studies with the QRS showed that persons who have an extreme characteristic style may have trouble responding to the prompts of ""how"" or ""why'' in the typical manner. In future research, the manipulation of extreme styles, possibly at fault in disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, should remain a focus of basic clinical research.

2015-06-08

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