Negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time.
Rumination is intrusive, perseverative cognition. We suggest that one psychological consequence of ruminating about negative emotional events is that the events feel as though they happened metaphorically "just yesterday". Results from three studies showed that ruminating about real world...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0117105&type=printable |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849774799761440768 |
|---|---|
| author | Ewa Siedlecka Miriam M Capper Thomas F Denson |
| author_facet | Ewa Siedlecka Miriam M Capper Thomas F Denson |
| author_sort | Ewa Siedlecka |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Rumination is intrusive, perseverative cognition. We suggest that one psychological consequence of ruminating about negative emotional events is that the events feel as though they happened metaphorically "just yesterday". Results from three studies showed that ruminating about real world anger provocations, guilt-inducing events, and sad times in the last year made these past events feel as though they happened more recently. The relationship between rumination and reduced temporal psychological distance persisted even when controlling for when the event occurred and the emotional intensity of the event. Moreover, angry rumination was correlated with enhanced approach motivation, which mediated the rumination-distance relationship. The relationship between guilty rumination and distance was mediated by enhanced vividness. Construal level and taking a 3rd person perspective contributed to the sense of distance when participants were prompted to think about less emotionally charged situations. A meta-analysis of the data showed that the relationship between rumination and reduced distance was significant and twice as large as the same relationship for neutral events. These findings have implications for understanding the role of emotional rumination on memory processes in clinical populations and people prone to rumination. This research suggests that rumination may be a critical mechanism that keeps negative events close in the heart, mind, and time. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c00a4f97cb4a47bb80be1fcdd51244fb |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-c00a4f97cb4a47bb80be1fcdd51244fb2025-08-20T03:01:36ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01102e011710510.1371/journal.pone.0117105Negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time.Ewa SiedleckaMiriam M CapperThomas F DensonRumination is intrusive, perseverative cognition. We suggest that one psychological consequence of ruminating about negative emotional events is that the events feel as though they happened metaphorically "just yesterday". Results from three studies showed that ruminating about real world anger provocations, guilt-inducing events, and sad times in the last year made these past events feel as though they happened more recently. The relationship between rumination and reduced temporal psychological distance persisted even when controlling for when the event occurred and the emotional intensity of the event. Moreover, angry rumination was correlated with enhanced approach motivation, which mediated the rumination-distance relationship. The relationship between guilty rumination and distance was mediated by enhanced vividness. Construal level and taking a 3rd person perspective contributed to the sense of distance when participants were prompted to think about less emotionally charged situations. A meta-analysis of the data showed that the relationship between rumination and reduced distance was significant and twice as large as the same relationship for neutral events. These findings have implications for understanding the role of emotional rumination on memory processes in clinical populations and people prone to rumination. This research suggests that rumination may be a critical mechanism that keeps negative events close in the heart, mind, and time.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0117105&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Ewa Siedlecka Miriam M Capper Thomas F Denson Negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time. PLoS ONE |
| title | Negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time. |
| title_full | Negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time. |
| title_fullStr | Negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time. |
| title_short | Negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time. |
| title_sort | negative emotional events that people ruminate about feel closer in time |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0117105&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ewasiedlecka negativeemotionaleventsthatpeopleruminateaboutfeelcloserintime AT miriammcapper negativeemotionaleventsthatpeopleruminateaboutfeelcloserintime AT thomasfdenson negativeemotionaleventsthatpeopleruminateaboutfeelcloserintime |