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Effects of the Best Possible Self Activity on Subjective Well-Being and Depressive Symptoms

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Abstract

The field of positive psychology has identified brief interventions that increase individuals’ well-being and decrease depressive symptoms. An example is the best possible self (BPS) activity. It is a writing exercise that asks participants to project themselves into the future, and imagine they have met all their goals in every domain of their life. The first objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of BPS in increasing subjective well-being of youths in an Asian context. 191 participants were recruited from an institute of higher learning in Singapore. Classes were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group was given instructions for the BPS intervention while the control group was asked to write about their past week. Participants completed two sessions that were 1 month apart. Results indicated that for the first session, the experimental group exhibited a significantly larger decrease in negative affect compared to the control group. Analyses of change scores indicated that changes in positive affect were related to changes in optimism scores whereas changes in negative affect were related to changes in life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Implications of the findings are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

A version of this paper was presented at the Fourth Australian Positive Psychology and Well-Being Conference in Melbourne, Australia in February, 2014. Funding to attend the conference was provided by the National Institute of Education, Singapore.

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Correspondence to Albert K. Liau.

Appendix

Appendix

Instructions for the Experimental Group.

We want you to project yourself into the future. Think about your best possible self. That means imagine yourself in the future and everything has gone as well as it possibly could in every area of your life, for instance, your family life, your social life, your work or studies, your recreational or leisure activities, and your health. Imagine you have worked hard and realized all your dreams. Imagine that things have turned out just the way you wanted. On this paper, write what you imagine. You can write in any language you want. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.

Instructions for the Control Group.

Think about your past week. These might include what happened in your family, what your schedule was like, what you liked and did not liked, what you thought about, and what your classes were like. On this paper, write what you can think of. You can write in any language you want. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.

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Liau, A.K., Neihart, M.F., Teo, C.T. et al. Effects of the Best Possible Self Activity on Subjective Well-Being and Depressive Symptoms. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 25, 473–481 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-015-0272-z

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