Abstract
In three studies it was investigated whether rumination was related to less internalized self-regulation and goals and whether reflection was related to more internalized self-regulation and goals. In all studies students completed questionnaires measuring rumination, reflection, and internalization of self-regulation and goals. In Study 1, rumination was related to less internalized self-regulation, whereas reflection was related to more internalized self-regulation. In Study 2, rumination was related to less internalized self-regulation and goals as well as to more avoidance- and extrinsic content of goals. Reflection was related to more internalized self-regulation and goals as well as to less avoidance content of goals. In Study 3, goal-specific rumination was related to less internalized goals and goal-specific reflection was related to more internalized goals. Collectively, the studies suggest that internalization of self-regulation and goals is critical for distinguishing between unconstructive and constructive self-focused repetitive thoughts.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Thomas Jensen & Cathrine Kingo for their help with coding the data in Study 2 and Bo Sommerlund & Mark Shevelin for their statistical assistance. Our gratitude to the Registry at the University of Aarhus, and in particular Hans Jørgen Hansen for his help with recruiting participants for Study 2. Also thanks to Mimi Mehlsen for her comments on an earlier version of the manuscript and to Professor Richard Ryan for his editorial work, which improved the paper significantly. The study was supported by a grant from the Research Council for the Humanities (grant number: 273-06-0395) to the first and second author.
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Thomsen, D.K., Tønnesvang, J., Schnieber, A. et al. Do people ruminate because they haven’t digested their goals? The relations of rumination and reflection to goal internalization and ambivalence. Motiv Emot 35, 105–117 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-011-9209-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-011-9209-x