Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Cognitive Mechanisms in Positive Psychology Interventions (#329)

Bryant Stone 1 , Kathleen Schmidt 1
  1. Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, ILLINOIS, United States

 

Background

Positive Psychological Interventions (PPIs) are designed to promote wellbeing by targeting positive variables (e.g., gratitude). These interventions range from completing gratitude letters to completing five novel acts of kindness in one day (Lyubomirsky & Layous, 2013). Researchers have argued that PPIs have cognitive mechanisms; specifically, the gratitude letter may produce attentional deployment and cognitive reappraisal (Gross, 1998). We first tested this hypothesis in a pilot study using a 2 (pre-test vs. post-test) by 2 (control vs. gratitude letter) design. The intervention produced no effects in two of three cognitive tasks. However, the participants who completed the gratitude letter recognized negative words faster on a lexical decision task after the intervention than before (ηp2 = .076, p ­< .001); control participants did not demonstrate this change, p = .207. 

Hypotheses/Research Questions

In the main study, we used a fully between-subjects design to investigate the cognitive effects of the gratitude letter.  

Sample Characteristics and Sample Size

Participants (n = 150) were undergraduates (Mage = 19.24, SD = 1.89) who predominantly identified as male (46%) and White/European (56.7%). 

Design

All participants completed a 15-minute writing task, either composing a gratitude letter or writing about their morning routine. Then, participants completed three cognitive tasks (emotional Stroop task, affective lexical decision task, and affective lexical memory task) in random order. 

Results

Contrary to predictions, participants in the gratitude condition did not perform differently than those in the control conditions on any of the tasks, ps > .161.

Scientific Contribution

Although the literature suggests that PPIs affect emotion regulation processes, evidence is lacking regarding their impact on semantic information processing and memory. While our results do not suggest that all PPIs fail to impact semantic information processing and memory, the gratitude letter intervention is unlikely to affect these cognitive processes. 


 

  1. Lyubomirsky, S., & Layous, K. (2013). How do simple positive activities increase well-being? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(1), 57–62.
  2. Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271–299.
  • Keywords: Coping and Emotion Regulation, Meaning and Purpose, Positive emotions, Psychotherapy