How Self-Generated Thought Shapes Mood—The Relation between Mind-Wandering and Mood Depends on the Socio-Temporal Content of Thoughts

Abstract

Recent work has highlighted that the generation of thoughts unrelated to the current environment may be both a cause and a consequence of unhappiness. The current study used lag analysis to examine whether the relationship between self-generated thought and negative affect depends on the content of the thoughts themselves. We found that the emotional content could strongly predict subsequent mood (e.g. negative thoughts were associated with subsequent negative mood). However, this direct relationship was modulated by the socio-temporal content of the thoughts: thoughts that were past- and other-related were associated with subsequent negative mood, even if current thought content was positive. By contrast, future- and self-related thoughts preceded improvements of mood, even when current thought content was negative. These results highlight the important link between self-generated thought and mood and suggest that the socio-temporal content plays an important role in determining whether an individual's future affective state will be happy or sad.

Examining the role of emotional valence of mind wandering: All mind wandering is not equal

“…Recent work has demonstrated a congruence between mood and the content of the mind wandering, such that sadness prior to mind wandering predicted mind wandering with sad content, and anxiety prior to the mind wandering measurement predicted mind wandering with anxious but not sad content (Poerio, Totterdell, & Miles, 2013). Likewise, mind wandering with positively valenced content predicts subsequent positive mood (Ruby, Smallwood, Engen, & Singer, 2013). However, the impact of emotional valence of mind wandering on future mood may be altered by the temporal orientation of the thought, such that past and ''other-related" thoughts are predictive of decreases in mood, even when the emotional valence of the thought is positive.…”

Who am I? Differential effects of three contemplative mental trainings on emotional word use in self-descriptions

“…Cognitive therapy, for instance, aims at changing the maladaptive emotional content of the self-concept towards more adaptive emotional content and its evaluation (Hofmann, Asmundson, & Beck, 2013;Vreeswijk, Spinhoven, Eurelings-Bontekoe, & Broersen, 2014). In addition, interventions such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (Kuyken et al, 2010;Williams & Kuyken, 2012) are targeted to overcome self-generated, habitual negative thinking patterns (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010;Ruby, Smallwood, Engen, & Singer, 2013). Overall, these data suggest that the content of the self-concept is intentionally alterable through interventions in patients.…”

On the relation of mind wandering and ADHD symptomatology

“…Indeed, Smallwood and Andrews-Hanna (2013) have argued that mind wandering is a heterogeneous experience and that the functional outcomes associated with the experience will depend in part on features of particular episodes, such as content (see also Seli, Carriere, & Smilek, in press). To date, there is evidence that mind wandering can vary on a number of dimensions including its: (1) temporal nature (Smallwood, Nind, & O'Connor, 2009), (2) topical stability (Ottaviani, Shapiro, & Couyoumdjian, 2013), (3) valence (Ruby, Smallwood, Engen, & Singer, 2013), (4) depth of decoupling (Seli, Carriere, Thomson, et al, 2014;Smallwood, Beach, Schooler, & Handy, 2008), (5) level of awareness (Schooler, 2002;Smallwood, McSpadden, & Schooler, 2007), and (6) intentionality (Carriere, Seli, & Smilek, 2013;Seli, Carriere, & Smilek, in press). Given the heterogeneous nature of mind wandering episodes, along with the hypothesis that different dimensions of mind wandering will be associated with different functional outcomes (Seli, Carriere, & Smilek, in press; Smallwood & Andrews-Hanna), it is perhaps unsurprising that there is a less than perfect correspondence between the experience of "mind wandering," defined broadly, and the notion of distracted inattention in ADHD.…”