Abstract
Psychological research into spontaneous or intrusive cognitions has typically focused on cognitions in one predefined domain, such as obsessional thoughts in OCD, intrusive memories in posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, or involuntary autobiographical memories and daydreaming in everyday life. Such studies have resulted in a wealth of knowledge about these specific cognitions. However, by focusing on a predefined type of cognition, other subtypes of cognition that may co-occur can be missed. In this exploratory study, we aimed to assess involuntary cognitions in everyday life without a pre-determined focus on any specific subtype of cognition. Seventy unselected undergraduate student participants were administered a questionnaire that assessed the presence of any involuntary cognitions in the past month, their quality, type, content, and potential function. In addition, participants provided self-descriptions and completed measures of psychopathology. Content analyses showed that involuntary cognitions were common, predominantly visual in nature, emotional, often about social relationships, and often related to a hypothetical function of emotional processing. About two-thirds of the cognitions that participants reported were memories. Non-memories included daydreams, imaginary worst case scenarios, imaginary future events, hypothetical reconstructions, and ruminations. Memories and non-memories were strikingly similar in their subjective experience of content and emotionality. Negative (but not positive) self-descriptions were associated with negative involuntary cognitions and psychopathology, suggesting a link between involuntary cognitions and the self. Overall, the findings suggest that people experience a wide variety of subtypes of involuntary cognitions in everyday life. Moreover, the specific subtype of involuntary cognition appears to be less important than its valence or content, at least to the subjective experience of the individual.
Highlights
The field of psychology is characterized by a historical interest in the ways of the mind that appear to operate beyond voluntary control
Given that involuntary cognitions are accepted as a transdiagnostic occurrence across many disorders [e.g., Ref. [20]] we explored the link between different types of involuntary cognitions that would emerge from our procedure and psychopathology
On the involuntary cognitions questionnaire (ICQ) participants were presented with the options “fear,”“anger,”“sadness,”“disgust,”“happiness,” or “other.” For 13 involuntary cognitions, the “other” category was endorsed after which participants were asked to label the associated emotion
Summary
The field of psychology is characterized by a historical interest in the ways of the mind that appear to operate beyond voluntary control. Sigmund Freud inspired an interest in subconscious processes that operate outside of our volition. A growing body of research has investigated the occurrence of involuntary memories experienced in everyday life by individuals in the general population. These interests in involuntary processes across the clinical and cognitive psychology literatures have resulted in numerous scientific publications on specific forms of involuntary cognitions; i.e., thoughts, memories, or images that come into awareness in the absence of an intention of conjuring them. We aimed to explore involuntary cognitions in everyday life using a bottom-up approach that is free from the restrictions of any theoretical framework or an a priori restrictive focus on any one subtype of involuntary cognition
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