Counterfactuals generated by people who have experienced
traumatic life events were examined to elucidate their
significance for the coping process. In Study 1, 93 respondents
were interviewed 4-7 years after the loss of their spouse or
child in a motor vehicle accident. In Study 2, 124 respondents
were interviewed 3 weeks and 18 months following the death of
their child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Across these two
studies it was found that (a) counterfactuals that undid the
traumatic event were commonly reported; (b) the focus of
counterfactuals was typically on one's own (in)actions, rather
than on the behavior of others; (c) the more freguently
respondents were undoing the event, the more distress they
reported; and (d) this relation held even after controlling for
more general ruminations. In Study 3, 106 respondents were
interviewed one week following their spinal cord injury. In this
study, self-implicating counterfactuals were shown to predict
ascriptions of self-blame, controlling for causal attributions
and foreseeability estimates. Taken together, these field data
suggest that counterfactuals play an important role in how people
cope with traumatic life events. Possible roles that these
counterfactual thoughts might play are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/7277 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Davis, Christopher G. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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