Ray Rebecca D, Wilhelm Frank H, Gross James J
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008 Jan;94(1):133-45. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.133.
Research on rumination has demonstrated that compared with distraction, rumination intensifies and prolongs negative emotion. However, rumination and distraction differ both in what one thinks about and how one thinks about it. Do the negative outcomes of rumination result from how people think about negative events or simply that they think about them at all? To address this question, participants in 2 studies recalled a recent anger-provoking event and then thought about it in 1 of 2 ways: by ruminating or by reappraising. The authors examined the impact of these strategies on subsequent ratings of anger experience (Study 1) as well as on perseverative thinking and physiological responding over time (Study 2). Relative to reappraisal, rumination led to greater anger experience, more cognitive perseveration, and greater sympathetic nervous system activation. These findings provide compelling new evidence that how one thinks about an emotional event can shape the emotional response one has.
关于沉思的研究表明，与分散注意力相比，沉思会加剧并延长负面情绪。然而，沉思和分散注意力在思考的内容以及思考方式上都有所不同。沉思的负面结果是源于人们思考负面事件的方式，还是仅仅因为他们思考了这些事件呢？为了解决这个问题，两项研究的参与者回忆了最近一次引发愤怒的事件，然后通过两种方式之一来思考它：沉思或重新评估。作者考察了这些策略对随后愤怒体验评分（研究1）以及对随着时间推移的执着性思维和生理反应（研究2）的影响。相对于重新评估，沉思导致了更强烈的愤怒体验、更多的认知执着以及更强的交感神经系统激活。这些发现提供了令人信服的新证据，即人们思考情感事件的方式会塑造其产生的情绪反应。
