Writing about one's best possible self to influence task persistence

Author

Stephanie G. Holmes, Xavier UniversityFollow
Heather M. McCarren, Xavier UniversityFollow

Periodical Title

Modern Psychological Studies

Volume

25

Number

2

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Previous research has identified a correlation between optimism and increased persistence. Existing research also suggests that optimism can be manipulated to induce a mindset of positive outcome expectancies. Writing about and imagining one’s best possible self (BPS) has resulted in an increase in an individual’s positive outcome expectancies, but the effect of BPS on related constructs has yet to be examined. Thirty university students participated in a study to investigate whether participants primed with optimism using BPS would persist longer on an impossible anagram task. A t-test revealed that participants primed with BPS spent significantly longer on the anagrams than control participants. These results suggest that priming optimism using BPS can successfully bolster persistence.

Subject

Psychology

Keyword

optimism; task persistence; best possible self; optimism intervention

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Recommended Citation

Holmes, Stephanie G. and McCarren, Heather M. (2020) "Writing about one's best possible self to influence task persistence," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 25: No. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol25/iss2/3