Effect of Emotionally-Laden Writing Prompts on Perceptions of Siblings
Poster Number
091
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated the power of forgiveness and gratitude for improving relationship quality, as well as how writing can be a catalyst for healthy thought processing. We applied these ideas to the sibling relationship and explored whether young adults’ perceptions of their siblings can be modified through brief writing exercises. Participants encountered one of five different writing prompts asking them to focus on the sibling to whom they are emotionally closest. One prompt asked participants to write about a positive memory, one about a negative memory, one about a time of gratitude, and one about a time of forgiveness. The last prompt was a control condition, instructing participants to describe physical aspects and hobbies of the chosen sibling. After writing for five minutes, participants responded to published scales that assessed sibling relationship quality and participants’ resilience. Data collection is underway.
Honors Thesis Committee
Merry Sleigh, Ph.D.; Donna Nelson, Ph.D.; and Cheryl Fortner-Wood, Ph.D.
Start Date
12-4-2019 2:15 PM
End Date
April 2019
Effect of Emotionally-Laden Writing Prompts on Perceptions of Siblings
Richardson Ballroom – DiGiorgio Campus Center
Previous research has demonstrated the power of forgiveness and gratitude for improving relationship quality, as well as how writing can be a catalyst for healthy thought processing. We applied these ideas to the sibling relationship and explored whether young adults’ perceptions of their siblings can be modified through brief writing exercises. Participants encountered one of five different writing prompts asking them to focus on the sibling to whom they are emotionally closest. One prompt asked participants to write about a positive memory, one about a negative memory, one about a time of gratitude, and one about a time of forgiveness. The last prompt was a control condition, instructing participants to describe physical aspects and hobbies of the chosen sibling. After writing for five minutes, participants responded to published scales that assessed sibling relationship quality and participants’ resilience. Data collection is underway.
