2024/01/16 by Batuhan Sayis, Sayis, Batuhan, Marc Beardsley +3
Psychology · #Behavioral Health and Interventions #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation #Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) #Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2401.08424
openalex publication_date 2024/01/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Best possible self (BPS) is a positive psychological intervention shown to enhance well-being which involves writing a description of an ideal future scenario. This paper presents a comparison of psychophysiological effects of a BPS activity that has been adapted for classroom settings and a time-matched control activity (NA). Thirty-three undergraduate students participated in the study that assessed state anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI), affect (Affective Slider, AS), and cardiac vagal activity (heart-rate variability, HRV) as an indicator of self-regulatory resource usage, at three time periods (PRE, DURING, POST). Results show that BPS led to a significantly greater increase in positive valence (DURING) and overall higher levels of cardiac vagal activity (HRV) compared to NA. These findings suggest that BPS has promising characteristics as a self-regulatory technique aimed at fostering positive affect and positively impacting self-regulatory resources. As BPS does not require expert knowledge nor specialized technology to administer, it may be a suitable activity for educators to use when teaching and having students practice self-regulation. This study presents evidence collected in a replicable multimodal approach of the self-regulatory effects of a brief BPS activity on undergraduate students.