- Title
- Effects of repeated exposure to stressors on cognitive flexibility as a function of self-type and self-complexity: a multi-session experimental test
- Creator
- Oswald, Amy
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2015
- Description
- Professional Doctorate - Doctor of Clinical and Health Psychology (DClin&HealthPsych)
- Description
- Scope: Past research suggests that the complexity of a person’s self-schema (called self-complexity) shapes important outcomes, including individual well-being and cognitive flexibility. Individuals are classified as either low or high in self-complexity, as determined by the number of self-aspects an individual uses to describe themselves, and the amount of independence (vs. overlap) that exists among those self-aspects. Individuals who identify a greater number of self-aspects that are distinct from one another, or are less overlapping, are said to be higher in self complexity than individuals who have either a similar number of or fewer self-aspects that are very similar to one another (i.e., have greater overlap among them). Exactly when this increased complexity of the self impacts upon cognitive flexibility remains unclear. Two relatively separate research traditions have evolved in the self-complexity literature, distinguished by a focus on different types of self: One focused closely on the effects of personal self-complexity upon psychological well-being and the other investigating the effects of social or collective self-complexity on social attitudes. These two separate traditions have both produced very mixed and complex results. Whilst some research suggests benefits of a more complex personal self, other argues that high self-complexity can, instead, lower well-being and performance. On the side of the collective self, the literature also reveals disparate results. Some evidence purports to the psychological and cognitive benefits of having a more complex social or collective identity, whereas other evidence indicates benefits under low collective self-complexity, at least where one’s self-aspects are well integrated. The present experimental study aspires to link these two traditionally independent bodies of research in the form of the personal and collective approaches to the self to explicitly examine how self-complexity affects cognitive flexibility. Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to examine experimentally, the effects of repeated exposure to episodic stressors on cognitive flexibility as a function of self-type and self-complexity over time. This study stands out from other work on self-complexity by explicitly comparing and contrasting over time the magnitude of effects of two self-type primes—personal and collective, as they interact with self-complexity primes—low vs. high—and acute stressors—low vs. high—to affect an objective/behavioural measure of episodic cognitive flexibility over five consecutive measurement sessions. Methodology: A five-wave experimental study in which participants (first year university students) were randomly allocated to one of the cells of a 2 self-type (personal/collective) by 2 self-complexity (low/high), by 2 stress (low/high) between-subjects design. Cognitive flexibility was our key dependent variable. A baseline assessment of chronic/trait-like measures of all key variables (personal and collective self-complexity and cognitive flexibility) was obtained at Time 1. This was followed by three experimental testing sessions, implementing the experimental primes prior to measuring episodic cognitive flexibility, and concluded with a final measurement of chronic/trait-like variables at Time 5. Results: We found experimentally induced changes in objective episodic cognitive flexibility via primes of personal and collective self-complexity after repeated exposure to stressors, at Time 4. Episodic cognitive flexibility was significantly higher under high personal self-complexity and low collective self-complexity primes; lower under low personal self-complexity/high collective self-complexity primes. Second, we obtained mediational evidence that reduced negative mood was implicated in the beneficial effects of priming high personal self-complexity on objective episodic cognitive flexibility. Third, we detected experimentally induced changes in self-reported chronic cognitive flexibility via primes of personal and collective self-complexity which mapped onto the episodic effect. Conclusions: This study uniquely contributes to and extends existing knowledge by demonstrating, for the first time, a causal link between experimental primes of high personal and low collective self-complexity and both higher episodic cognitive flexibility, and increased chronic cognitive flexibility over time. This study extends the debate on the value of the personal self, by illustrating that a more complex and differentiated view of oneself, separate from others, has benefits that go beyond the general domain of wellbeing to cognitive flexibility. Findings further contribute to the multiple identity literature suggesting the potential benefits of a more integrated collective self. Implications: The findings presented in this experimental study offer new and stimulating contributions to a growing literature on the psychological consequences of self-complexity. We have extended existing knowledge by providing robust experimental evidence, for the first time, that self-type plays a central role in the relationship between self-complexity and cognitive flexibility. The findings can be harnessed by both researchers and clinicians alike, to advance self-complexity theory and implement psychological interventions to boost individuals’ cognitive resources and more broadly, to enhance psychological well-being.
- Subject
- self-complexity; self-type; cognitive flexibility; stress
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1308271
- Identifier
- uon:21634
- Rights
- Copyright 2015 Amy Oswald
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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