心理时间旅行的动力机制:自我的作用

The Dynamic Mechanism Underlying Mental Time Travel:The Role of Self

选取120名大学生,通过两个研究考察了自我在心理时间旅行中的动力机制。研究1以核心自我评价为评估自我概念的指标,发现自尊和一般自我效能对指向未来的心理时间旅行具有一定的预测效力。研究2通过启动使不同类型的自我概念在意识中占优,发现互倚组比独立组报告出更多具体的事件,且更关注他人和关系。研究表明,自我概念能够引导个体对过去和未来事件的建构。

Mental time travel is comprised of mental reconstruction from personal past events （episodic memory） ,as well as mental construction from possible future events （foresight） （Suddendorf Corballis,1997） . Recent findings suggest that both episodic memory and the self can contribute to shape the episodic future thinking （foresight） . However,how self-concept may make the process different is not yet fully understood （Shao,Yao,Ceci Wang,2010） . The current two studies therefore aim to explore the dynamics between the self and mental time travel. The first study investigated how core self-evaluations can be related to mental time travel,by showing whether the self-concept can predict episodic future thinking. Sixty undergraduates completed 4 questionnaires （self-esteem,self-efficacy,locus of control and neuroticism） to evaluate their core self-concepts. Each of them had to either recall past experiences or simulate future scenarios by 4 various aspects （autobiographical fluency,autobiographical specificity,amount of episodic details and phenomenology） . A series of correlation analyses and stepwise regression analyses were conducted. The main results show that reported frequencies of future imagination are significantly predicted by past autobiographical fluency （β = . 60,p . 001,R 2 = . 44） and self-esteem （β = . 30,p . 005,R 2 = . 09） . Furthermore,the self-efficacy （β = . 36,p . 01,R 2 = .13） rather than past events can predict the subjective feeling about future events imagination （phenomenology） . The second study further explored whether the episodic future thinking can be shaped by different self-construals. Sixty undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of two groups： interdependent or independent self-concept group. Participants assigned in each of these groups were presented with a story either focused on self or others. Six questions were further asked to confirm the priming effect. The follow-up interview involved topics in terms of autobiographical specificity,personal focus of past / future events,and phenomenal characteristics. To examine whether the self-construal would affect mental time travel,five repeated measures analyses of variance （ANOVAs） with time （past vs. future） as a within-subjects factor,and self-construal （interdependent vs. independent） as a between-group factor were conducted. The main results show： （1） Those in the interdependent self-concept group reported more specific past and future experiences than those in the independent group,F（1,58） = 6. 51,p . 05,η p 2 = .10; （2） Those in the interdependent self-concept group reported more information about others and relationships,whereas those in the independent self-concept group described more details about themselves,F（1,58） = 9. 36,p . 005,η p 2 = .14; （3） Those in the independent self-concept group gave higher scores at evaluating their subjective feelings,expressing more richness and vividness of episodic details than the other group,F（1,58） = 5. 27,p . 05,η p 2 = . 08. These findings suggest that the self-concept can drive the construction of past and future events. Our studies reveal the dynamics between the self and mental time travel from a novel perspective.