MindCraft Challenges

In many everyday settings, the default choice is to simply experience negative emotions as they arise, rather than attempting to reappraise them. Gaurav Suri and his colleagues noted that when the default is ‘do nothing’, people only try to reappraise in a lab task only 16% of the time.

Challenge: Try a day of reappraisal. You will try to change your default by leaving yourself “reappraise!” messages (notes in your room and car, a sticky note or home screen on your phone, etc.). Any time you experience a negative event throughout the day, you will try to follow the reappraisal instruction. Because Suri and his colleagues found that there was the possibility that reappraisal instructions might also have a small effect on the likelihood of reappraisal, you should read this handout with descriptions of how to do two kinds of reappraisal.

Read More
Defaults predict whether reappraisal will happen
https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000011
Instructions for two kinds of reappraisal
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x

One way that we think about and explain our identity is by telling our life story. When the most important events in our lives and the turning points (where the story of a life could have changed completely) are linked to meaning-making (understanding some aspect of one’s self), identity formation moves toward identity achievement.

One way to engage in meaning-making is through counterfactual thinking-imagining other paths that your life could have taken. Choose some aspect of your life right now (where you go to school, your major, the church you attend, your hobbies). Think about how you ended up at this point in your life.  Looking back, list (write about) the broad sequence of things that led to you being where you are. 

Next, write about all the ways things could have turned out differently. Did counterfactual thinking increase the feeling that your life is meaningful?

Read More
The Psychology of Life Stories
https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.2.100
Life Stories and Meaning-Making
https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.4.714
Counterfactual Thinking and Meaning-Making
https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017905
A Group Process for Reducing Identity Distress
https://doi.org/10.1080/15283488.2014.944696

Paul Paulus and his colleagues have studied individuals and groups as they try to come up with new, creative ideas (often known as brainstorming or ideation). They have found that going back and forth between individual idea generation and group idea generation is more effective than individuals working alone—particularly when the individual thinking session is first.

If you have a group project, think about how you might implement this with your group. If you need to work with an AI to generate ideas (a kind of group project!), think about how to interleave individual thinking with group thinking and how to make sure that individual contributions always precede group thinking. Does alternating thinking practices make a difference in the quality and quantity of your ideas?

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Best practices for brainstorming:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.11.002
More about the science of teamwork:
http://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000334

Kristin Laurin and her colleagues conducted one of many studies demonstrating that thinking about God can change people's behavior. In their study, they activated people's thoughts about God. People were more likely to be resistant to temptation—however, they were also less likely to actively pursue goals when they thought about a controlling God. Laurin and her colleagues interpreted this as people feeling less like agents while thinking about an omnipotent God (the participant’s religious beliefs didn’t change the pattern). When people thought about God as a guide, they were both resistant to temptation and willing to pursue their goals.

Challenge: Spend a day regularly reading, memorizing, and reciting Psalm 121. Did your motivation or susceptibility to temptation change from what it usually is as you thought about God’s constant guidance?

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The Laurin “thinking about God” study:
https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025971
More about religion and self-control:
https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014213

About a decade ago, a music professor and a social work professor asked Jewish and Arab women in Israel to join in a music-listening experiment. The women listened to songs about either the Holocaust or fallen Israeli soldiers, sung by either a Jewish or Arab singer. Hearing a national song that did not reference the Israeli-Arab conflict (the Holocaust songs) sung by an Arab singer (an out-group member) reduced prejudice and humanized people from the other group.

Challenge:
You will need to involve another person—specifically someone from a different cultural, generational, racial, or religious background than you. Share songs (not linked to intergroup conflict) that represent your background with them and either teach them to sing or play them, or listen to the songs together. If they would like to share songs with you, accept the offer. Does your perception of a person from a different background change?

Read More:
The Israeli-Arab song study
https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735616640599
Playing music together builds empathy in children
https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735612440609
Music can be a tool to lower cultural prejudice
https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864918802331