ERIC Number: EJ766344
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-May
Pages: 12
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0096-3445
EISSN: N/A
Looking Forward, Looking Back: Anticipation is More Evocative than Retrospection
Van Boven, Leaf; Ashworth, Laurence
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, v136 n2 p289-300 May 2007
The results of 5 experiments indicate that people report more intense emotions during anticipation of, than during retrospection about, emotional events that were positive (Thanksgiving Day), negative (annoying noises, menstruation), routine (menstruation), and hypothetical (all-expenses-paid ski vacation). People's tendency to report more intense emotion during anticipation than during retrospection was associated with a slight, but only occasionally significant, tendency for people to expect future emotions to be more intense than they remembered past emotions having been. The greater evocativeness of anticipation than retrospection was also associated with and statistically mediated by participants' tendency to report mentally simulating future emotional events more extensively than they report mentally stimulating past emotional events. The conclusion that anticipation is more evocative than retrospection has implications for research methodology, clinical practice, decision making, and well-being.
Descriptors: Self Evaluation (Individuals), Psychological Patterns, Emotional Response, Expectation, Memory, Emotional Experience, Experience
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A