Looking Forward: The Effect of the Best-Possible-Self Intervention on Thriving Through Relative Intrinsic Goal Pursuits

Heekerens, Johannes Bodo; Heinitz, Kathrin

doi:10.1007/s10902-018-9999-6

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…We examined participants' writing and asked them to list 10 current thoughts after the interventions with the aim of exploring cognitive‐affective processing. As expected, participants in the optimism and gratitude conditions used more positive emotion and insight words than participants in the control condition (Heekerens & Heinitz, 2019; Owens & Patterson, 2013). It might be that these interventions allow participants to draw connections between their present life and future dreams or reflect their relationships with meaningful others, which may facilitate self‐exploration and understanding (King, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Cognitive‐affective responses to online positive‐psychological interventions: The effects of optimistic, grateful, and self‐compassionate writing

Heekerens

Eid

Heinitz

et al. 2022

Applied Psych Health & Well

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Cognitive‐affective responses to online positive‐psychological interventions: The effects of optimistic, grateful, and self‐compassionate writing

Heekerens

Eid

Heinitz

et al. 2022

Applied Psych Health & Well

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“…The preference for the mono-dimensional scales over the multidimensional ones is evident when looking for studies that adopted respectively the CIT and the BIT. Few studies adopted the CIT scale to measure well-being in cross-sectional study (Iannello et al, 2021) or to assess the effectiveness of welfare interventions, such as the effectiveness of "best possible self" intervention with psychology undergraduate students (Heekerens & Heinitz, 2019). Furthermore, these studies have not adopted the entire CIT scale, but only a few subscales of the CIT.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The comprehensive inventory of thriving: a systematic review of published validation studies and a replication study

et al. 2021

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In this study we sought to collect evidence regarding the validity of the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT), systematically reviewing studies that tested its psychometric properties (Study 1) and trying to replicate validity evidence collected across previous validation studies (Study 2). We found five studies that tested the validity of CIT scores through the collection of different kinds of evidence (score structure validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, criterion-related validity, incremental validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability). Results were often inconsistent across studies (especially for the score structure validity evidence). Using a sample of 483 Italian participants (63.0% female; aged 18–71 years), we replicated the tests performed in the previous validation studies. Findings suggest that the best fitting model is the one that (1) adds the overarching latent construct of thriving, which can be measured using the total scale score; and (2) merges the Skills and Flow factors in just one factor, named “Skills for Flow”. At the same time, the different kinds of validity evidence collected both in previous validation studies and in the current replication study indicate high overlap among thriving sub-dimensions and poor validity evidence. We concluded that the CIT in its present form is not an adequate instrument to assess thriving, thus mono-dimensional scales (e.g. Brief Inventory of Thriving) should be currently preferred. Suggestions to develop a multi-dimensional scale measuring thriving (both using a theory-driven approach or a data-drive approach) are discussed.

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“…Previous research suggests that thinking about who one aspires to be at one's best may engender positive feelings about oneself (e.g., Heekerens & Heinitz, 2019). For example, Ruvolo and Markus (1992, p. 99) wrote, "The priming of positive possible selves should engender positive self-relevant feelings," and Markus and Nurius (1986) noted that activating a possible self may have implications for temporary self-esteem.…”

Section: Controlsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflecting on one's best possible self as a leader: Implications for professional employees at work

Jennings

Lanaj

Koopman

et al. 2021

Personnel Psychology

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Most professional employees aspire to leadership, and this suggests that a best possible leader self-a personalized representation of who an employee aspires to be at their best as a leader in the future-is likely a relevant and motivating self-representation for employees at work. Integrating theory on best possible selves with control theory, we suggest that activating a best possible leader self can have beneficial effects for the way that any employee feels and behaves at work. Specifically, we propose that employees who reflect on their best possible leader self will enact more leadercongruent behaviors and subsequently perceive themselves as more leaderlike due to the positive affect generated by such reflection. We found support for our theoretical expectations in an experimental experience sampling study that included both current and aspiring leaders. On days when employees reflected on their best possible leader self, they engaged in more helping and visioning via positive affect. Furthermore, employees perceived themselves as more leaderlike after performing these leader-congruent behaviors, as captured by higher enacted leader identity and clout. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for research on leadership.

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Looking Forward: The Effect of the Best-Possible-Self Intervention on Thriving Through Relative Intrinsic Goal Pursuits

Cited by 14 publications

References 60 publications

Cognitive‐affective responses to online positive‐psychological interventions: The effects of optimistic, grateful, and self‐compassionate writing

Cognitive‐affective responses to online positive‐psychological interventions: The effects of optimistic, grateful, and self‐compassionate writing

The comprehensive inventory of thriving: a systematic review of published validation studies and a replication study

Reflecting on one's best possible self as a leader: Implications for professional employees at work

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