(PS11-71) Does State Judgment of Internal Experience Influence Mood and Rumination? Testing the Impact of a Judgment Induction Procedure

Introduction: Rumination is involved in the onset and maintenance of a range of psychological disorders. Some researchers have proposed that the degree of judgment that accompanies repetitive thinking is what distinguishes rumination from adaptive forms of self-referent thinking (Rude et al., 2007). Consistent with this, studies have shown negative associations between rumination and trait non-judgment (the tendency to respond non-judgmentally toward one’s inner experiences). In this study, we tested whether a causal relationship exists between judgment of one’s emotional state and state rumination by evaluating a procedure designed to induce a temporary sense of judgment of one’s negative emotions in a laboratory setting. We hypothesized that compared to a control condition, exposure to the judgment induction followed by a sad mood induction procedure would lead to increased state judgment of one’s thoughts and feelings, greater feelings of sadness, and increased engagement in state rumination.

Method: Participants were 89 adults (84.3% female, 33% non-White, mean age = 27 years (s.d. = 13.8)). In a laboratory visit, they completed questionnaires assessing depression symptoms, trait rumination, and trait judgment of internal states. Participants were assigned to either a control condition (n = 45) or the judgment induction condition (n = 44). Those in the judgment induction condition read and then summarized an “advertisement” describing the harmful impact of negative emotions, while the control group read and summarized a neutral infographic. All participants were then exposed to a sad mood induction (watching a sad scene from a movie). Following this, we measured state affect and judgment of one’s emotions and thoughts. After a 5-minute no-task delay period designed to allow for participants to engage in spontaneous rumination, we assessed state rumination and re-assessed state affect.

Results: Following the experimental manipulation and mood induction, the judgment induction group reported greater state judgment of their internal experiences compared to the control group (controlling for trait judgment; F (1, 86) = 4.52, p = .036).  Repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant time by condition interaction on sad affect (F (1.85, 158.78) = 4.99 , p = .01). Although both groups experienced a similar increase in sadness from pre- to post- mood induction, the judgment induction group had not recovered from the mood induction as fully as controls five minutes later. Finally, although there was no main effect of experimental condition on state rumination (b = 2.25, p = .94), condition interacted with depression symptom severity to predict state rumination (b = 7.05, p = .019). Specifically, relative to the control condition, the judgment induction led to increased rumination among those with greater depression symptom severity.

Conclusion: Findings support the validity of a procedure for inducing a temporary sense of judgment of one’s thoughts and feelings, providing a method for continued study of the role of judgment in psychological health. Judging one’s internal experiences may slow recovery from sad mood states, and among those with increased depression symptoms, may increase engagement in rumination.