Looking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.

We can imagine looking at ourselves (observer perspective) or through our own eyes (field perspective). Cognitive and clinical theories suggest that compared to field perspective, observer perspective imagery reduces emotional intensity, for example, of trauma memories. Tests of causality are lackin...

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Main Authors: Holmes, E, Coughtrey, A, Connor, A
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2008
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author Holmes, E
Coughtrey, A
Connor, A
author_facet Holmes, E
Coughtrey, A
Connor, A
author_sort Holmes, E
collection OXFORD
description We can imagine looking at ourselves (observer perspective) or through our own eyes (field perspective). Cognitive and clinical theories suggest that compared to field perspective, observer perspective imagery reduces emotional intensity, for example, of trauma memories. Tests of causality are lacking and less is known about perspective and positive emotion. Using contrasting experimental manipulations, participants imagined 100 positive descriptions from either (1) a field perspective or (2) an observer perspective, or (3) thought about their verbal meaning. Affect was more positive after field than observer imagery and verbal conditions, with mood deterioration within the latter two. Findings are the first to demonstrate causality of imagery perspective on emotion. Further, the results demonstrate that imagining positive events from one's own perspective is critical to improving positive affect. Treatment implications include promoting field imagery to facilitate a more rose-tinted view of positive events.
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spelling oxford-uuid:b7a47380-71c7-44da-8df0-7f16d81823ef2022-03-27T04:50:06ZLooking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b7a47380-71c7-44da-8df0-7f16d81823efEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2008Holmes, ECoughtrey, AConnor, AWe can imagine looking at ourselves (observer perspective) or through our own eyes (field perspective). Cognitive and clinical theories suggest that compared to field perspective, observer perspective imagery reduces emotional intensity, for example, of trauma memories. Tests of causality are lacking and less is known about perspective and positive emotion. Using contrasting experimental manipulations, participants imagined 100 positive descriptions from either (1) a field perspective or (2) an observer perspective, or (3) thought about their verbal meaning. Affect was more positive after field than observer imagery and verbal conditions, with mood deterioration within the latter two. Findings are the first to demonstrate causality of imagery perspective on emotion. Further, the results demonstrate that imagining positive events from one's own perspective is critical to improving positive affect. Treatment implications include promoting field imagery to facilitate a more rose-tinted view of positive events.
spellingShingle Holmes, E
Coughtrey, A
Connor, A
Looking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.
title Looking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.
title_full Looking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.
title_fullStr Looking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.
title_full_unstemmed Looking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.
title_short Looking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.
title_sort looking at or through rose tinted glasses imagery perspective and positive mood
work_keys_str_mv AT holmese lookingatorthroughrosetintedglassesimageryperspectiveandpositivemood
AT coughtreya lookingatorthroughrosetintedglassesimageryperspectiveandpositivemood
AT connora lookingatorthroughrosetintedglassesimageryperspectiveandpositivemood