Self Distancing and Human Reflection: Overcoming Bias in Judgment and Emotional Reasoning.

Self-distancing;Distance;Bias;Debiasing;Emotion Regulation;Self-control;Psychology;Social Sciences;Psychology

Bremner, Ryan HanlonSchwarz, Norbert W. ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Self-distancing;    Distance;    Bias;    Debiasing;    Emotion Regulation;    Self-control;    Psychology;    Social Sciences;    Psychology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/99872/bremner_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

It is difficult to describe what takes place when we reflect on our thoughts, feelings, or actions without resorting to metaphor. ;;Detachment,” ;;getting outside of ourselves,” ;;taking a step back”—all of these expressions use the metaphor of distance to describe what happens when we relate to mental states in a way that differs from our initial experience of them. This dissertation aims to demonstrate that gaining psychological distance from ourselves and our thoughts can improve decision-making, strengthen emotion regulation, and, ultimately, increase well-being. Chapter 2 demonstrates that self-distancing can reduce biased thought: Writing while using second- or third-person pronouns (e.g., ;;you,” ;;he,” or ;;she”) to refer to the self reduces the correspondence bias. Chapter 3 demonstrates that this same type of self-distanced writing can improve well-established cognitive behavioral therapy homework interventions, leading to increased life satisfaction. Chapter 4 demonstrates that self-distanced writing can increase people’s assessments of their ability to cope with difficult situations. This program of research begins to demonstrate the depth and power of gaining psychological distance from the self.