A 4-week experimental study (N = 67) examined the motivational predictors and positive emotion outcomes of regularly practicing two mental exercises: counting one’s blessings (“gratitude”) and visualizing best possible selves (“BPS”). In a control exercise, participants attended to the details of their day. Undergraduates performed one of the three exercises during Session I and were asked to …
Tag Archives: possible selves
Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American psychologist, 41(9), 954-969.
Introduces the concept of possible selves (PSs) to complement current conceptions of self-knowledge. PSs represent individuals’ ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming, and thus provide a conceptual link beteen cognition and motivation. PSs are the cognitive components of hopes, fears, goals, and …
Oyserman, D., & Markus, H. R. (1990). Possible selves and delinquency. Journal of personality and social psychology, 59(1), 112-125.
The relationship between possible selves and delinquency is explored. In this study, 238 youths between the ages of 13–16 who varied in the degree of their delinquency were asked to describe their possible selves. Although many similarities were found among their hoped-for selves, the groups of youth differed markedly in the nature of their expected …