Effects of positive reappraisal and self-distancing on meaning-making in negative experiences

• Main Author: LAU, Yong Hao Clement
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Positive Reappraisal; Self-distancing; Global Meaning; Situational Meaning; Applied Behavior Analysis; Personality and Social Contexts
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/405; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/etd_coll/article/1403/viewcontent/GPPS_AY2022_MbR_Clement_Lau_Yong_Hao.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Scant research has investigated the impact of common daily adversities on one’s sense of meaning, and how one can cope and find meaning in these distressing events. Drawing on the meaning-making model and tripartite model of meaning, this study sought to examine how using a combination of coping strategies (i.e., positive reappraisal and self-distancing) can help individuals to derive greater situational meaning (i.e., meaning from the experience), greater global meaning (i.e., meaning in life)—across three facets (i.e., coherence, significance, and purpose). Specifically, it is proposed that the effects of positive reappraisal on promoting meaning would be enhanced by adopting a self-distanced perspective. This self-distancing “enhancement” hypothesis was expected to be mediated by reduced negative affect. In the present study (N = 482), little support was found for the enhancement hypothesis. Exploratory analyses were conducted to examine whether it would be supported under specific levels of recency and intensity of experience. While recency moderated the interaction between positive reappraisal and self-distancing on meaning, self-distancing did not enhance the effects of positive reappraisal. Similarly, although the three-way interaction between intensity, positive reappraisal, and self-distancing was statistically significant for two facets of situational meaning (coherence and existential mattering [significance]), the results did not support the enhancement hypothesis. Alternate explanations, implications, and limitations were further discussed.