Effect of violence victimization at counterfactual thinking

• Grant number: 12/02231-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Cognitive Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Patrícia Waltz Schelini
• Grantee: Florença Lucia Coelho Justino
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The imagination function of thinking is related to the experience, needs and interests of individuals who are frequently in adaptation to the surrounding environment. There is a strict bond between imagination and reality which illustrates the adaptive function of the process of imagination. Thinking about what have happened or thinking counterfactually is an important type of imagination thinking and may be defined as thoughts about alternatives to something that have been experienced in order to change the sequence of events or modify what happened with the purpose of reaching a different outcome. Starting from the presupposition that the individual perspective influences the sort and type of possibilities made and also affects the adaptive function or dysfunction of counterfactual thinking, the aim of this study will be compare and contrast the counterfactual possibilities constructed by women victims of violence and those made by women that do not experience violence. The sample will consist of 50 female adults, divided into two groups: women which experience violence and women which do not. Data collection will take place at two individual sections with approximately 60 minutes long. At the first one, participants will be request to freely modify five newspapers news or stories presented. At the second section, stories will be presented with possibilities of modification. The participants must choose the alternative that they consider most suitable to modify the event.