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03-02-2016 | Original Article

Of Passions and Positive Spontaneous Thoughts

Auteurs: Elise L. Rice, Barbara L. Fredrickson

Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research | Uitgave 3/2017

Abstract

Despite the abundance of research on negative intrusive thoughts, far less is known about their positive counterparts. In two studies, we explored how positive spontaneous thoughts are related to people’s favorite activities (i.e., their passions, Vallerand et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 85(4):756–767. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.4.756, 2003), and how passions and associated thoughts contribute to mental health. In Study 1, 170 participants reported on the valence and frequency of the spontaneous thoughts they tend to have about several activities. Harmonious and obsessive passion both predicted more frequent spontaneous thoughts, but only harmonious passion predicted thought positivity. In Study 2, 232 participants completed measures pertaining to physical activity, spontaneous thoughts, and mental health. As predicted, positivity of spontaneous thoughts about physical activity predicted frequency of physical activity. Further, positivity of spontaneous thoughts about physical activity mediated the relationship between harmonious passion and indices of mental well-being.

vorige artikel Integrating Positive and Clinical Psychology: Viewing Human Functioning as Continua from Positive to Negative Can Benefit Clinical Assessment, Interventions and Understandings of Resilience

volgende artikel Remembering the Good Ole Days: Fear of Positive Emotion Relates to Affect Repair Using Positive Memories

We created prompts based on the definition of passions and features of harmonious and obsessive passions to target (1) a neutral activity that participants engage in often, (2) a favorite activity about which participants were relatively more harmonious, and (3) a favorite activity about which participants were relatively more obsessive, though the prompts did not use the terms “harmonious” or “obsessive.” Scores on the passion scale revealed that whereas the neutral prompt was effective in drawing out non-passions, the prompts for harmonious versus obsessive passions did not reliably yield these different forms of passions. As such, following the approach used in the majority of prior research on passions, we used subscale scores (rather than prompt type) as the independent variable in primary analyses. The analyses reported herein include all activities, and analyses that exclude the neutral activities do not produce patterns of results that are appreciably different (see the note below Table 2 for more information).

Because the four reverse-scored items from the CES-D measure have been widely used to assess positive affect (Moskowitz 2003; Ostir et al. 2001), they were excluded from current analyses. However, including them does not alter the pattern of results.

The Mental Health Continuum was not included in the study until the third wave, so the sample size for this measure is smaller than for the other variables.

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Titel: Of Passions and Positive Spontaneous Thoughts
Auteurs: Elise L. Rice
Barbara L. Fredrickson
Publicatiedatum: 03-02-2016
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research / Uitgave 3/2017
Print ISSN: 0147-5916
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-2819
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-016-9755-3

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