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Reduced Attention Towards Accomplishments Mediates the Effect of Self-Critical Rumination on Regret

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Abstract

Background

Rumination is associated with counterfactual thinking (CFT) and regret, but underlying mechanisms in this association are uninvestigated. Rumination is characterized by attentional biases and focusing attention towards accomplishments versus lost opportunities influences CFT and regret. The goal of this study was to investigate the association between self-critical rumination and attention towards accomplishments and lost opportunities, and how this may underly the link between rumination and CFT and regret.

Methods

Hundred healthy female participants performed a risk-taking task while (a) attention towards accomplishments and lost opportunities, and (b) self-reported CFT and regret were measured.

Results

Analyses showed that participants with high (versus low) rumination tendencies focused less on accomplishments, and this mediated the association between rumination and regret.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that reduced attention towards accomplishments may be an underlying mechanism in the link between rumination and regret, and interventions could target this attentional bias for therapeutic benefit.

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Data Availability

The data and analysis scripts are available online (https://osf.io/9yqub/).

Notes

  1. The sample size was determined based on simulations to test the hypothesized indirect mediation effect of self-critical rumination on CFT/regret via attentional deployment. In these simulations, the sample size was increased stepwise in increments of 10, starting from 10, until a power of 0.80 was achieved with alpha set to 0.05. The effect size for the first step of the mediation model, testing the effect of self-critical rumination on attentional deployment was estimated based on past research on rumination and attentional biases (Owens & Gibb, 2016; Sanchez-Lopez et al., 2019b; Yaroslavsky et al., 2019). The effect size for the second step in the mediation model, testing the effect of attentional deployment towards CFT/regret, was based on past research on attentional deployment and regret (Li et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2017, 2020).

  2. After this procedure, an additional task (relational responding task; De Houwer et al., 2015) was performed, in which implicit attitudes towards actual and ideal self-esteem were measured (Remue et al., 2014). The results of this section of the experiment fall outside of the scope of the current manuscript and are reported elsewhere. In addition, skin conductance and heart rate was measured throughout the protocol, but these indices were not used to inform about the current research question.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (G044019N, awarded to M-A. V. and R. D. R.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, Campus University Hospital (UZ Ghent), 1K12F, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, Ghent, 9000, Belgium

    Jens Allaert & Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt

  2. Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Jens Allaert, Hanne September & Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt

  3. Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Jens Allaert, Rudi De Raedt & Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt

  4. E-Motion Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Alvaro Sanchez-Lopez

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  1. Jens Allaert
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  4. Hanne September
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  5. Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt
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Contributions

The experiment was designed by J. A. with guidance from M-A. V., R. D. R., and A. S-L. The data was collected by H. S. Statistical analyses were performed by J. A. The original manuscript was written by J.A. with support and feedback from H. S., M-A. V., R. D. R., and A.S-L.

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Correspondence to Jens Allaert.

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The study was conducted with the approval of Ghent University’s Medical Ethical Committee, and was in line with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Allaert, J., De Raedt, R., Sanchez-Lopez, A. et al. Reduced Attention Towards Accomplishments Mediates the Effect of Self-Critical Rumination on Regret. Cogn Ther Res 47, 399–411 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-023-10367-8

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