Harnessing the imagination. Mental simulation, self-regulation, and coping.

Mental simulation provides a window on the future by enabling people to envision possibilities and develop plans for bringing those possibilities about. In moving oneself from a current situation toward an envisioned future one, the anticipation and management of emotions and the initiation and maintenance of problem-solving activities are fundamental tasks. In the program of research described in this article, mental simulation of the process for reaching a goal or of the dynamics of an unfolding stressful event produced progress in achieving those goals or resolving those events. Envisioning successful completion of a goal or resolution of a stressor--recommendations derived from the self-help literature--did not. Discussion centers on the characteristics of effective and ineffective mental simulations and their relation to self-regulatory processes.

[1]  J. W. Atkinson Motives In Fantasy, Action, And Society , 1958 .

[2]  David A. Hamburg,et al.  Coping And Adaptation , 1974 .

[3]  L. Saul Coping and Adaptation , 1975 .

[4]  M. Horowitz Stress response syndromes , 1976 .

[5]  R. M. Nideffer,et al.  The Inner Athlete: Mind Plus Muscle for Winning , 1976 .

[6]  G. Marlatt Craving for Alcohol, Loss of Control, and Relapse: A Cognitive-Behavioral Analysis , 1978 .

[7]  J. Carroll The Effect of Imagining an Event on Expectations for the Event: An Interpretation in Terms of the Availability Heuristic. , 1978 .

[8]  Barbara Hayes-Roth,et al.  A Cognitive Model of Planning , 1979, Cogn. Sci..

[9]  B. Lyman,et al.  Frequency of Imagery in Emotional Experience , 1980 .

[10]  Steven J. Sherman,et al.  The effects of explaining hypothetical future events: From possibility to probability to actuality and beyond , 1981 .

[11]  G. Marlatt,et al.  Alcoholism: New Directions in Behavioural Research and Treatment , 1981 .

[12]  A. Tversky,et al.  Intuitive Prediction: Biases and Corrective Procedures , 1982 .

[13]  Walter Mischel,et al.  Influence of affect on cognitive social learning person variables. , 1982 .

[14]  R. Cialdini,et al.  Self-Relevant Scenarios as Mediators of Likelihood Estimates and Compliance: Does Imagining Make It So? , 1982 .

[15]  M. Stones,et al.  Searching for Meaning in Misfortune: Making Sense of Incest , 1983 .

[16]  D. Landers,et al.  The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. , 1983 .

[17]  C. Anderson Imagination and expectation: The effect of imagining behavioral scripts on personal influences. , 1983 .

[18]  J. Pennebaker,et al.  Confiding in others and illness rate among spouses of suicide and accidental-death victims. , 1984, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[19]  R R McCrae Situational determinants of coping responses: loss, threat, and challenge. , 1984, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[20]  W. Gentry Handbook of behavioral medicine , 1984 .

[21]  A. Bandura Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory , 1985 .

[22]  Steven J. Sherman,et al.  The role of prior knowledge in explaining hypothetical events , 1985 .

[23]  F. Strack,et al.  Happiness and reminiscing: The role of time perspective, affect, and mode of thinking. , 1985, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

[24]  Robin R. Vallacher,et al.  A Theory Of Action Identification , 1985 .

[25]  J. Pennebaker,et al.  Confronting a traumatic event: toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. , 1986, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[26]  C. Anderson,et al.  Effects of Explanation and Counter-Explanation on the Development and Use of Social Theories. , 1986 .

[27]  Athayde Ribeiro da Silva Psychological preparation and athletic excellence , 1986 .

[28]  Dale T. Miller,et al.  Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives , 1986 .

[29]  A. Washton,et al.  Relapse Prevention: Maintenance Strategies in the Treatment of Addictive Behaviors , 1986 .

[30]  G A Marlatt,et al.  Understanding and preventing relapse. , 1986, The American psychologist.

[31]  Psyched: Inner Views of Winning , 1987 .

[32]  J. T. Reason,et al.  Handbook of Life Stress, Cognition and Health , 1988 .

[33]  Patrick Fanning,et al.  Visualization For Change , 1988 .

[34]  J. Pennebaker,et al.  Disclosure of traumas and immune function: health implications for psychotherapy. , 1988, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[35]  Peter M. Bentler,et al.  EQS : structural equations program manual , 1989 .

[36]  C. Carver,et al.  Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[37]  Sherry K. Schneider,et al.  Coping and the Simulation of Events , 1989 .

[38]  You'll See It When You Believe It , 1989 .

[39]  S. Nolen-Hoeksema,et al.  Effects of responses to depression on the remediation of depressive affect. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[40]  W. Katon,et al.  Coping profiles associated with psychiatric, physical health, work, and family problems. , 1990, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[41]  Henry L. Tosi A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance , 1991 .

[42]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Social cognition, 2nd ed. , 1991 .

[43]  R. Larsen,et al.  Personality and susceptibility to positive and negative emotional states. , 1991, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[44]  Derek J. Koehler,et al.  Explanation, imagination, and confidence in judgment. , 1991, Psychological bulletin.

[45]  E. Higgins,et al.  Handbook of motivation and cognition : foundations of social behavior , 1991 .

[46]  John M. Flach,et al.  An Ecological Approach to Human-Machine Systems , 1992 .

[47]  B. Fredrickson,et al.  Response styles and the duration of episodes of depressed mood. , 1993, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[48]  K. Markman,et al.  The Mental Simulation of Better and Worse Possible Worlds , 1993 .

[49]  P. Gollwitzer Goal Achievement: The Role of Intentions , 1993 .

[50]  R. Buehler,et al.  Exploring the "planning fallacy": Why people underestimate their task completion times. , 1994 .

[51]  G. J. Klein,et al.  The role of mental simulation in problem solving and decision making , 2018 .

[52]  Martin Davies,et al.  Mental Simulation: Evaluations and Applications - Reading in Mind and Language , 1995 .

[53]  G. Oettingen Positive fantasy and motivation , 1996 .

[54]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Situated Optimism: Specific Outcome Expectancies and Self-Regulation , 1998 .

[55]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  From Thought to Action: Effects of Process-Versus Outcome-Based Mental Simulations on Performance , 1999 .

[56]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  The Effects of Mental Simulation on Coping with Controllable Stressful Events , 1999 .

[57]  J. Bargh,et al.  The psychology of action : linking cognition and motivation to behavior , 1999 .