Studies // Cited work
Effects of self-focused rumination on negative thinking and interpersonal problem solving
Lyubomirsky, S., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1995). Effects of self-focused rumination on negative thinking and interpersonal problem solving.
Level B Experiment doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.1.176
What this study supports
Supports the claims that dysphoric participants induced to ruminate endorsed more negative interpretations, were more pessimistic and generated less effective interpersonal solutions, whereas dysphoric participants who were distracted performed like nondysphoric participants. Brief laboratory inductions.
- Who was studied
- Dysphoric and nondysphoric students in three experiments with rumination or distraction inductions.
- Design
- Experiment
- Level of evidence
- Controlled studies: randomised or experimental designs, and syntheses of correlational work.
Claims that rest on it
Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.
EmpiricalLevel BConfidence MODERATE
In experiments, dysphoric participants induced to ruminate made more negative interpretations and generated less effective solutions than those induced to distract, and in depressed patients concrete rather than abstract self-focus improved social problem solving.
- Scope
- Brief laboratory inductions in dysphoric students and in depressed patients with controls.
- Caveat
- Short-term outcomes in small samples; the effects of changing thinking mode in everyday life over weeks are not shown here.
Last reviewed · Review due · induced-rumination-impairs-problem-solving