Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Psychology

Faculty Publications

2017

Trauma

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Weak Evidence For Increased Motivated Forgetting Of Trauma-Related Words In Dissociated Or Traumatised Individuals In A Directed Forgetting Experiment, Lawrence Patihis, Patricia J. Place Oct 2017

Weak Evidence For Increased Motivated Forgetting Of Trauma-Related Words In Dissociated Or Traumatised Individuals In A Directed Forgetting Experiment, Lawrence Patihis, Patricia J. Place

Faculty Publications

Motivated forgetting is the idea that people can block out, or forget, upsetting or traumatic memories, because there is a motivation to do so. Some researchers have cited directed forgetting studies using trauma-related words as evidence for the theory of motivated forgetting of trauma. In the current article subjects used the list method directed forgetting paradigm with both trauma-related words and positive words. After one list of words was presented subjects were directed to forget the words previously learned, and they then received another list of words. Each list was a mix of positive and trauma-related words, and the lists …


Socioemotional Selectivity And Mental Health Among Trauma Survivors In Old Age, Derek M. Isaacowitz, Timothy B. Smith, Laura L. Carstensen Sep 2017

Socioemotional Selectivity And Mental Health Among Trauma Survivors In Old Age, Derek M. Isaacowitz, Timothy B. Smith, Laura L. Carstensen

Faculty Publications

Empirical tests of socioemotional selectivity theory support the contention that the developmental trend in adulthood to focus increasingly on fewer, but emotionally significant, social partners is associated positively with psychological well-being. Tenets of the theory, however, also suggest conditions in which selectivity could instead lead to an increase in negative emotional experiences. In particular, if the socioemotional world of the individual includes emotional distress, selective focus on emotions and close relationships may detract from rather than enhance well-being. In the current study, we examined selectivity and associated well-being in Holocaust survivors, Japanese-American internment camp survivors, and comparably-aged people who lived …