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Heather McQuaid

BPS Research Digest: The new science of "Phew!" - 0 views

bps-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/...new-science-of-phew.html

psychology brain

shared by Heather McQuaid on 11 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Roughly half the group described a "near-miss" kind of relief - rather like fearing that you've locked yourself out and then realising that you haven't. The other half described a kind of "task-completion" relief, in which a negative experience had come to an end.
  • near-miss relief was associated with having more thoughts about how much worse things could have been and feeling more socially isolated
  • xcessive rumination can be harmful to close relationships. Experience of task-completion relief, by contrast, was associated with more thoughts about how things could have been even better.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • "Experiencing near-miss relief could increase the likelihood that people will act to avert an unfavourable fate in the future" Sweeny and Vohs said. "In contrast, task-completion relief allows people to focus on the positive emotional experience with minimal distraction from downward counterfactual thoughts. This process might reinforce satisfaction in the completion of a job well done ... and therefore increase the likelihood that people will repeat the unpleasant experience."
  • Heather McQuaid on 11 Jun 12
     
    It's better to complete a scary task than to have the sense of relief of a "near miss"
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