Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:27:51 -0500 |
Content-Type: | multipart/alternative |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
DD: Interesting article re verb usage from Psychology;
ScienceDaily (Mar. 13, 2009) If you want to
perform at your peak, you should carefully
consider how you discuss your past actions. In a
new study in Psychological Science, psychologists
William Hart of the University of Florida and
Dolores Albarraca n from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reveal that the way
a statement is phrased (and specifically, how the
verbs are used), affects our memory of an event
being described and may also influence our behavior.
In these experiments, a group of volunteers were
interrupted prior to finishing a word game and
were then asked to describe their behavior using
the imperfective (e.g., I was solving word
puzzles) or perfective (e.g., I solved word
puzzles) aspect. The volunteers then completed a
memory test (for the word game) or a word game
which was similar to the first one they had worked on.
It turns out, the volunteers who had described
their behavior using the imperfective aspect were
able to recall more specific details of their
experience compared to volunteers who had
described their behavior in the perfective
aspect. The volunteers writing in the
imperfective aspect also performed better on the
second word game and were more willing to
complete the task than did volunteers who used
the perfective to describe their experience.
The authors surmise that when we think about our
past behavior in the imperfective (e.g. what we
were doing), we tend to imagine that behavior as
ongoing (and not completed yet). This enables us
to easily think about what went into that
behavior and may help us improve performance on similar tasks in the future.
The authors note that these findings may be
relevant to behavioral therapy. They suggest that
"decreasing the frequency of unhealthy behaviors
might be facilitated by discussing these
behaviors in terms of what I did. In contrast,
increasing the frequency of healthy behaviors
might be facilitated by discussing these
behaviors in terms of what I was doing."
----------
Journal reference:
* . What I Was Doing Versus What I Did. Psychological Science, (in press)
Adapted from materials provided by
<http://www.psychologicalscience.org>Association<http://www.psychologicalscience.org>
for Psychological Science.
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
|
|
|