Remembering personal change for better or worse: Retrieval context matters

Abstract

We investigated how focusing on the details (experience focus) versus self-narrative significance (coherence focus) of valenced transitions informs appraisals and emotions at recall. Participants (N = 302) selected a negative or positive transition and rated their emotion. Two weeks later, they described their event using an experience or coherence focus, then rated emotion, event impact, self-relevance, and memory characteristics. A coherence (vs. experience) focus produced lower negative affect and greater psychological impact, particularly for negative transitions. The negative-coherence group showed the largest decrease in negation emotion over time. A coherence (vs. experience) focus resulted in less perceptual detail, reactivity, and re-experiencing. Positive (vs. negative) events were deemed more central to identity and connected to other events. Mental focus informed psychological impact and negative affect, while event valence influenced self-relevance. These findings remained when event type (interpersonal) was matched across groups. Motives for framing autobiographical memories and implications for adaptive self-reflection are discussed.

My Turning Point Tells the Story: A Longitudinal Examination of Greater Episodic Detail and Youth Depressive Symptoms

“…Why might elevated self-focused attention and episodic detail in the context of a turning point be problematic for some young people, whereas lessening the focus on the self (distancing) be helpful? Research suggests that recalling the past in detail when self-focused attention is high can produce negative affect, and taking a more distant perspective is, in comparison, a more effective emotion regulation strategy (Boucher & Scoboria, 2020 ; Orvell et al, 2021 ), particularly for people with depressive symptoms (Kross et al, 2012 ; Kross & Ayduk, 2009 ; Orvell et al, 2022a , b ). Thus, one possibility is that negative affect may play a role in our research outcome that recalling detailed turning points with heightened self-focused attention predicts concurrent depressive symptoms.…”

“…Additionally, when self-focus is induced, people, particularly when they are depressed, recount the past in greater detail and report increased negative affect (Kross et al, 2012 ). ‘Stepping back’ and recalling an event with less detail (taking a distant perspective), on the other hand, reduces negative affect (Boucher & Scoboria, 2020 ; Orvell et al, 2021 ) and may buffer against escalating depressive symptoms (Kross & Ayduk, 2009 ; Orvell et al, 2022a ).…”