The Journal of Positive Psychology
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Resilience facilitates positive emotionality
and integration of negative memories in needsatisfying memory networks: An experimental
study
Frederick L. Philippe, Alastair E. Dobbin, Sheila Ross & Iliane Houle
To cite this article: Frederick L. Philippe, Alastair E. Dobbin, Sheila Ross & Iliane Houle (2018)
Resilience facilitates positive emotionality and integration of negative memories in need satisfying
memory networks: An experimental study, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13:6, 586-596, DOI:
10.1080/17439760.2017.1365158
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2017.1365158

Published online: 23 Aug 2017.

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The Journal of Positive Psychology
VOL. 13, NO. 6, 586–596
https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2017.1365158

Resilience facilitates positive emotionality and integration of negative memories
in need satisfying memory networks: An experimental study
Frederick L. Philippea, Alastair E. Dobbinb, Sheila Rossc and Iliane Houleaa
ELABORER – Laboratory for Research on Emotions and Representations, Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal,
Canada; bCollege of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; cThe Foundation for Positive Mental Health,
Edinburgh, UK

ARTICLE HISTORY

ABSTRACT

Resilience has been associated with the capacity to experience positive emotions in the midst ofnegative life events or following the recall of such events. Apparently, resilient people are able
to self-generate those positive emotions because they tend to integrate and associate such past
negative life events with other positive past events in memory networks. However, study designs
on resilience have remained either cross-sectional or longitudinal. The causal effect of resilience onthese outcomes remains to be shown as a third variable or unknown factor could be at play. In thisstudy, we used a resilience intervention from a self-help clinical program to induce resilience andcompared this condition against Jacobson type relaxation and neutral music background. Results
showed that the resilience intervention increased positive emotionality following the recall of anegative self-defining memory and facilitated the integration of that memory within more positive
and need satisfying memory networks.

Resilience has often been associated with the capacity
to experience positive emotions in the midst of negative
life events (Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003)
and when thinking back to negative events (Tugade &Fredrickson, 2004). Research has also shown that resilient
people are able to self-generate those positive emotions
because they tend to integrate and associate past negative
life events with other positive past events within memory
networks (Philippe, Lecours, & Beaulieu-Pelletier, 2009).
However, there is to our knowledge no experimental
demonstration confirming that resilience causes theseoutcomes. Past studies, either cross-sectional or longitudinal, have typically assessed resilience as a trait. Thereis therefore no certitude that there is not a third variable
that is driving this effect (other individual differences orstill unknown factors). There is thus a need to ascertainthat resilience does cause these outcomes, thereby deepening our understanding of the psychological processesof resilience. The present study will examine these causal
effects at the short-term level by manipulating resilience
processes using a self-help intervention.
Resilience has been frequently shown to lead to experiences of positive emotions amidst negative events

CONTACT Frederick L. Philippe

philippe.frederick@uqam.ca© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Received 12 August 2016
Accepted 10 July 2017
KEYWORDS

Resilience; positive
emotionality; memory
networks; need satisfaction;
self-help programand stress (Block & Kremen, 1996; Klohnen, 1996; Ong,
Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace, 2006). For instance,
Fredrickson et al. (2003) showed that trait resilience predicted increases in positive emotions experienced after the
9/11 attacks on the United States. This experience of positive emotions is essential and has been shown to facilitate
coping and faster cardiovascular recovery in face of stress inlaboratory studies (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). However,resilience is not only about facing stressful events. It is also
about living despite having experienced adverse events
and, sometimes, traumatic ones. These events do not only
have an effect after their experience. They continue having
repetitive effects over time through the memory of these
events (Philippe & Bernard-Desrosiers, 2017). Recent memory research suggests that it is not as much the frequencyof negative events experienced that can hinder mental
health, as how the memories of these events are recalled
and organized in the memory system (e.g. Philippe,
Koestner, Beaulieu-Pelletier, & Lecours, 2011). Two characteristics of memories are expected to promote resiliencefrom past negative events: their experiential component
and their organization in networks.

THE JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY﻿ Need satisfaction in memories as a key
experiential component
The experiential component of a memory represents(although not necessarily fully corresponding to it) what
the person has experienced during the initial event(Conway, 2009; Wheeler, Stuss, & Tulving, 1997). One
important experiential component of memories is thelevel of need satisfaction experienced during the eventof the memory (Philippe, Koestner, Lecours, BeaulieuPelletier, & Bois, 2011). According to self-determination
theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), three psychological needs arefundamental to human well-being and growth: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy refers to
the need to feel volitional and authentic in one’s actions.
Competence is defined as the need to feel effective andefficacious. Relatedness refers to the need to feel connected, to care for others, and to be cared for by others inturn. The satisfaction of these needs have been found tocontribute to well-being and growth in various contexts(Milyavskaya et al., 2009) and across cultures (Tay & Diener,2011), whereas the thwarting of these needs have beenshown to hinder well-being and psychological adjustment(see Deci & Ryan, 2000). Given their constant and pervasive
function in people’s lives, it is not surprising that research
has also found that those needs are a core characteristic ofwhat people remember from past events kept in memories(Philippe, Bouizegarene, Guilbault, Rajotte, & Houle, 2015;
Philippe, Koestner, Lecours et al., 2011). Moreover, research
has underscored that need satisfaction in memories, as
opposed to need thwarting, positively predicts well-being
and growth (Philippe, Koestner, Beaulieu-Pelletier, Lecours,& Lekes, 2012; Philippe, Koestner, & Lekes, 2013). The presence of narrative themes similar to need satisfaction inmemory descriptions, such as agency (Adler, Skalina, &McAdams, 2008), communion (Bauer & McAdams, 2004), or
intrinsic themes (Bauer, McAdams, & Sakaeda, 2005) werealso found to correlate with well-being. In addition, thoseinterpretations of need satisfaction and need thwartingare tightly related to the memory to which they pertain
and correlate weakly with measures of need satisfaction
in other memories or with person-level variables, such as
traits and perceptions of need satisfaction in life in general(e.g. ‘I feel competent in my life’ as opposed to ‘During thisevent, I felt competent’ as assessed for a memory) (Philippe
et al., 2012).
Memories also keep having repetitive effects overtime as a function of the level of need satisfaction orneed thwarting characterizing them. Whenever a person
thinks about a particular memory or that environmental cues match the content of a memory, this memory isreactivated (Conway & Loveday, 2015; Conway & PleydellPearce, 2000). Research has shown that reactivations of587

need thwarting memories, intentionally or by subtle andnon-consciously perceived cues, have immediate effects
that disturb mood and well-being, whereas reactivationsof need satisfying memories increase positive mood andwell-being (Houle & Philippe, 2017; Philippe & BernardDesrosiers, 2017; Philippe et al., 2012). Relatedly, a certain
type of memories that are frequently recalled and activated, self-defining memories (Singer & Salovey, 1993),
were found to be extremely influential (Blagov & Singer,
2004). These memories are central to people’s identity as
they tend to reflect people’s concerns and self-images andare often linked to other memories. Over time, potentiallythrough their frequent activations, these memories havebeen shown to significantly alter well-being and adjustment in important life spheres as a function of the level ofneed satisfaction or need thwarting characterizing thesememories (Philippe et al., 2012, 2013). Overall, need satisfaction and need thwarting appears to be a critical characteristic of memories with a great influence on mood andwell-being.

Networks of memories
The way memories are organized in the memory system
can also facilitate resilience. Memories tend to associatewith each other based on common features and themes(Anderson, 1984; Brown & Schopflocher, 1998; Christianson& Engelberg, 1999). Research has shown that networksof memories are often formed based on the contiguityof memory elements, such as similar events (Brown &Schopflocher, 1998), themes (Kemp, Burt, & Malinen,2009), or emotion (Demblon & D’Argembeau, 2016).
Consequently, when a negative episodic memory is triggered, other memories to which it is linked become active,as activation spreads across the links (Anderson, 1984;
Bower, 1981; Christianson & Engelberg, 1999). According
to the emotional memory network theory (Philippe et al.,2009), two properties of the network can serve essential
emotion regulation and resilience functions: the numberof networked memories composing the network and theirneed satisfying or thwarting nature. When an episodic
memory characterized by need thwarting is triggered, if
this memory is associated with a network of other memories of higher need satisfaction levels, these networked
memories can temper the impact of the activated needthwarting memory. Similarly, a greater number of networked memories characterized by need satisfaction will
have a greater tempering effect than fewer need satisfying
networked memories.
In consequence, the capacity to integrate need thwarting memories in a more need satisfying memory network
composed of many memories can be an important factor
facilitating resilience. Indeed, resilient people have been

588

 ﻿F. L. PHILIPPE ET AL.

shown to integrate negative events into more positive andneed satisfying memory networks (Philippe et al., 2009).
Therefore, whenever they experience a novel situation thattriggers a negative and need thwarting memory from theirpast, associated networked memories are triggered as well.
The greater number and need-satisfying nature of these
networked memories then help alleviate the negativityof the main need thwarting memory activated, thereby
allowing resilient people to experience positive emotionsin the midst of the novel situation or when thinking backto their need thwarting memory.

The present research
The purpose of the present research was to use an experimental intervention of resilience following the recall ofa negative self-defining memory and examine its causal
effect on the experience of positive emotionality and thecapacity to integrate that memory in a more need satisfying memory network. The resilience intervention used was
taken from a supervised self-help intervention, Positive
Mental Training (Dobbin, Maxwell, & Elton, 2009), which
consists of recorded instructions of mindful relaxation,breathing retraining, visualization of positive events andsuggestions of resilience, set against a background of neutral (modal) music. This program previously demonstrated
significant reductions in clinical depression (Dobbin et al.,2009; Koeser, Dobbin, Ross, & McCrone, 2013). We used one
specific audio track from this program, a track containing
suggestions of traits, mindsets, and actions characteristic of resilience, such as self-control, hardiness, taking onchallenges, experiencing growth as result of difficulties,
strong personality, high self-esteem, trust in abilities,
being energetic, and positive meaning finding (Block &Kremen, 1996; Klohnen, 1996; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004).
We reasoned that this track would be effective in inducing
a mental state of resilience that could reveal the causal
effect of resilience processes on the experience of positive
emotionality amidst the recall of a negative event and on
the integration of such an event in more need satisfying
memory networks. This specific track was therefore usedin the current study to induce resilience processes and wascompared against tracks of Jacobson type relaxation anda track of music only.
During Phase 1, participants completed online scalesof psychological adjustment and described a negative
self-defining memory and associated networked memories and rated each memory for need satisfaction. At
Phase 2, participants were invited to the lab and wereasked to mentally re-experience the event of their negative self-defining memory. They were then randomly
assigned to listen to one of the three audio tracks. They
subsequently reported their emotions and were asked todescribe again networked memories associated with their
negative self-defining memory.
We hypothesized that the resilience condition would
be more effective than the two other control conditions inincreasing positive emotionality after recalling a negative
self-defining memory and in facilitating the integrationof that memory in a more need satisfying memory network. We did not, however, expect that the ratings of needthwarting of the negative self-defining memory would be
reduced over such a short time span. However, the resilience condition should broaden people’s cognitive repertoires (Fredrickson, 2001), enabling them to recruit moreneed satisfying networked memories – as opposed to needthwarting networked memories – in association with their
negative self-defining memory. We also examined whether
psychological adjustment could act as a moderator. We
expected the resilience intervention to be useful to everyone, but hypothesized that it could also be potentially more
effective in people presenting lower psychological adjustment. Indeed, people with higher psychological adjustment
might already use resilient strategies, in which case theresilience intervention would not contribute additionally.

MethodParticipants
A total of 89 undergraduates were recruited from a pool of
psychology students at a Canadian university. Six of theseparticipants only completed the measures of Phase 1 andwere therefore excluded from the final analyzes. The final
sample consisted of 83 participants (70 females, 13 males)with a mean age of M = 20.30 years (SD = 1.57 years).

Measures Phase 1
Psychological adjustment
Six scales were used to assess psychological adjustment. A
short scale of the Beck Depression Inventory (0- to 3-point
scale; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961), a
short Beck Anxiety Inventory (0- to 3-point scale) measuring the subjective state of anxiety (Osman, Kopper, Barrios,
Osman, & Wade, 1997), the 10-item Symptom Checklist(0- to 4-point scale; Rosen et al., 2000, the Perceived
Stress Scale (0- to 4-point scale; Cohen, Kamarck, &Mermelstein,1983), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (1-to
7-point scale; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), andthree short subscales (growth, acceptance, and purpose) of
the Psychological Wellbeing Scale (1- to 7-point scale; Ryff
& Keyes, 1995). All short scales have been used successfullyin past research and have displayed adequate evidence ofvalidity and reliability (e.g. Philippe & Bernard-Desrosiers,
2017; Philippe, Koestner, Beaulieu-Pelletier et al., 2011). All

THE JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY﻿ scales were standardized and averaged in an index assessing psychological adjustment with the depression, anxiety,symptoms, and stress scales reverse scored, such that ahigher score on this index expressed a high psychologicaladjustment. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.90 for thisindex.

Negative self-defining memory
Participants were asked to describe a negative personal
self-defining memory (Singer & Salovey, 1993). Instructions
were derived from past research (Philippe, Koestner,
Beaulieu-Pelletier et al., 2011) and asked the participants:“to describe a NEGATIVE personal memory of an event/
moment that is at least one year old and that is significant(important) for you. This negative memory should reflect
your identity or what you are as a person and should
reveal something about how you perceive yourself ingeneral.”Participants were asked to describe their memory in detail,as if they were telling a story to someone.

Networked memories
Following Philippe and colleagues’ (2009) procedure, participants were asked to think of other specific personal
events that they have experienced in the past that could
be linked in one way or another to their negative selfdefining memory and to describe them. A maximum of
three text boxes were provided to the participants todescribe three networked memories. However, they were
informed that they did not have to report as many memories but rather write down memories that came spontaneously to mind. Thus, participants were free to recall any
number of networked memories, between one and three.
Need satisfaction in memories
After describing all of their memories (self-defining andnetworked memories), participants were asked to rate
the degree of need satisfaction or of need thwarting theyexperienced at the moment the event of their memory
occurred. Participants made their ratings on a 7-point
Likert-type scale ranging from −3 (strongly disagree) to+3 (strongly agree), with 0 representing do not agree nor
disagree or not applicable – this latter option indicating thatboth need satisfaction and need thwarting were part ofthe event or that need satisfaction was not present in theevent. They were provided with two items assessing eachof the three psychological needs postulated by self-determination theory (i.e. autonomy, competence, and relatedness). Sample items include ‘I felt free to do things and to
think how I wanted’ (autonomy), ‘I felt skillful or capable’(competence), and ‘I felt connected to one or more people’ (relatedness). These items were used in past research(e.g. Philippe, Koestner, Beaulieu-Pelletier et al., 2011) toassess need satisfaction in memories. They were averaged589

together to form an index of need satisfaction for eachmemory, separately. Alphas were 0.64 for the self-defining
memory and >0.83 for each of the networked memories.

Integration score: Number of need satisfying and needthwarting networked memories.
The number of need satisfying and need thwarting networked memories was calculated. More specifically, networked memories rated >0 in terms of need satisfaction
were classified as need satisfying, whereas those rated≤0 were scored as need thwarting. The number of needthwarting memories was summed and subtracted fromthe number of need satisfying memories, such that agreater number of need satisfying networked memories
as compared to need thwarting networked memories led
to a higher integration score. This score takes into accountboth the number of networked memories reported andtheir need satisfying vs. need thwarting nature (for similar
algorithms, see Philippe et al., 2009, 2012). Since we were
specifically interested in how the networked memories
could be changed from need thwarting to need satisfying
following the intervention (and not just a mere decrease inneed thwarting) and in the number of networked memories that would be reported, this algorithm was the mostappropriate to test our hypothesis.1
Measures Phase 2
Positive emotionality
Participants’ positive emotionality was measured using
six positive emotional items (amused, content, eager,
enthusiastic, happy, interested) used in past research(Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004), six items from the Vitality
Scale (Ryan & Frederick, 1997), and six negative emotional
items (afraid, angry, anxious, disappointed, disgusted, frustrated). Participants were asked the extent to which they
were currently feeling each of the above emotions or theextent to which each statement of the vitality scale wascorresponding to how they were currently feeling. Ratings
were made on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (notat all) to 7 (totally). These scales were completed at the
beginning of Phase 2 to obtain a baseline measure (T1:
pre-intervention) and again following the experimental
manipulation, that is, after listening to one of the three
tracks (T2: post-intervention). These three scores wereaveraged in an index of positive emotionality (with negative emotions reverse scored). Cronbach’s alpha coefficientfor this index was 0.91 at T1 and 0.86 at T2.
Integration score T2: Need satisfaction in memories
and networked memories and number of networked
memories
Participants were asked to rate again for need satisfaction
the negative self-defining memory they had described

590 ﻿F. L. PHILIPPE ET AL.

at Phase 1. They were also asked to think of networked
memories that seemed to be related to their negative selfdefining memory using the same instructions used inPhase 1. They were also told that they could describe
the same networked memories they had described one
week ago or describe new networked memories that now
seemed related to their self-defining memory. They also
rated each network memory for need satisfaction. Alphas
were 0.70 for the self-defining memory and >0.80 for eachof the networked memories. Again, the number of needsatisfying and need thwarting networked memories wascalculated as explained above.

Intervention conditions
Music condition
The music track consisted of ‘in the Dorian mode’ by Johan
Ovanlee; Dorian modal music is neutral with in neither
a minor nor major key so we did not expect mood changes.
Relaxation condition
Against a background of the same music as the music
condition, relaxation instructions were given, startingwith squeezing the left hand, ‘noticing the tension …
then when relaxing …. you’ll notice … how the relaxation
spreads to every part of your entire body and how relaxed
your whole body feels’ combined with slow diaphragmatic
breathing with an experiential focus – ‘follow your breathin and follow your breath out, noticing that every time you
breathe out you relax more and more, deeper and deeper’.
Resilience condition
The same background music was used. This track suggested at the beginning that the participant will be given
pictures and suggestions that will change the way they see
themselves, as they listen ‘these suggestions and visualizations will sink deeply into your unconscious mind … will
give you increased energy, you’ll feel more alert, energetic,
able to do more, you’ll be more effective and resourceful’.
There then followed suggestions that the participant will
re-appraise an apparently negative situation as explicitly positive (i.e. in an ‘increasing positive’ fashion where
situation is better than before) ‘you’ll grow as a result ofdifficulties; you’ll experience problems as solutions’. The
track concludes with a brief visual activation ‘allow yourself
to picture yourself in some future situation and see how
your increased self-confidence enables you to handle thissituation better than you ever have before’. See Appendix
1 for the narratives of each track.
Procedures
The study consisted of two phases. During Phase 1, participants were asked to complete an online questionnairemeasuring their psychological adjustment. They werethen asked to describe a negative self-defining memory,
to rate it for need satisfaction, and to describe networked
memories and to rate each networked memory for needsatisfaction/thwarting.
Phase 2 took place one week later. Participants wereinvited to a lab session and tested in small groups (n = 3or 4) in a large testing room and seated in such a way thatthey could not see each other. At T1 (pre-intervention),
participants completed the baseline positive emotionality
scales. They were then shown the negative self-defining
personal memory they had described in Phase 1 and asked
to ‘Please take about two minutes to read this memory andto remind yourself about this event/moment in detail andhow you felt during this event/moment’. Next, the program randomly assigned the participants to listen to oneof three audio-recorded tracks. In all three tracks there wasan instruction to the participant to sit comfortably andclose their eyes. We did not assess mood after the mental re-experience of the negative self-defining memory inorder to avoid distracting the participants from this memory induction and because it is already well-establishedthat such an induction clearly reduces positive mood andelevates negative mood (e.g. Baker & Guttfreund, 1993;
Houle & Philippe, 2017). Each condition lasted 10 min. After
listening to the condition, at T2 (post-intervention), participants were asked to complete the same positive emotionality mood scale again and were asked to rate again
on need satisfaction their negative self-defining memory.
They were then asked to report networked memories
again and to rate them for need satisfaction. Participants
were fully debriefed and paid $10 for their participation.2

Results
There were no significant differences among the conditions on all Phase 1 measures and on pre-intervention
positive emotionality (all Fs < 1.00, ns). Psychologicaladjustment was positively associated with positive emotionality at T1 (r = 0.39, p < 0.01) and with integration at
T1 (r = 0.29, p < 0.01). Positive emotionality at T1 and T2
were positively correlated (r = 0.64, p < 0.01), as well as
integration scores at T1 and T2 (r = 0.52, p < 0.01).

Positive emotionality
An ANCOVA was performed on positive emotionality at T2(post-intervention), conditions as the between-factor, andpositive emotionality at T1 (pre-intervention) as covariate.
By controlling for positive emotionality at T1, the results ofthis ANCOVA will show if the conditions instilled a change
in positive emotionality.3 Results revealed a main effect ofconditions, F(2, 79) = 3.11, p = 0.05. Planned orthogonal
contrasts revealed that the resilience condition resulted

THE JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY﻿ in significantly higher levels of positive emotionality at T2(M = 4.87, SE = 0.11) than the relaxation and music conditions (M = 4.56, SE = 0.13), t(81) = 2.42, p < 0.05, which did
not differ against each other, t(55) = 0.48, ns. See Table 1.
Controlling for psychological adjustment or for the levelof need satisfaction/thwarting in the self-defining memory did not affect these results. However, there was a marginally significant Conditions X Psychological adjustment
interaction, F(2, 76) = 2.83, p = 0.065. Analysis of this interaction was done using multiple regressions and revealed
that for those with a low psychological adjustment (-1 SD),
there was a particularly greater increase in positive emotionality in the resilience condition as compared to thetwo other conditions, t(81) = 3.44, p < 0.05. The distinction among conditions was smaller for those with a highpsychological adjustment (+1 SD), t(81) = 0.66, p = 0.51.
Further analysis of this result revealed that those in theresilience condition with low psychological adjustment
increased their positive emotionality at T2 to the samelevel (M = 4.87, SD = 0.68) as those with high psychological adjustment across the three conditions (M = 4.88,
SD = 0.75), t(44) = 0.04, ns. For this reason, people in theresilience condition with low psychological adjustment
reported significantly greater positive emotionality at
T2 than people with low psychological adjustment in
the two other conditions t(34) = 2.32, p < 0.05 and t(29)= 1.90, p < 0.07. These results suggest that the resilience
condition was particularly effective at increasing positive
emotionality in people characterized by lower psychological adjustment. Given the clear positive relationshipbetween psychological adjustment and positive emotionality (r = 0.39, p < 0.01, in this study), it is noteworthy thatparticipants in the resilience condition reached levels of
positive emotionality comparable to those typically experienced by people with high psychological adjustment.

Changes in the networked memories
The same ANCOVA was conducted again, but this timethe integration score at T2 (post-intervention) served
as the dependent variable and conditions was the
between-factor. Integration at T1 (pre-intervention)
was entered as a covariate to allow the examination of
Table 1. Means and standard errors of positive emotionality andintegration score across experimental conditions.
Dependent variables
Conditions
Music
Relaxation
Resilience

Positive emotionality T2
4.53 (0.10)
4.60 (0.11)
4.88 (0.11)

Integration score T2
0.51 (0.26)
0.58 (0.28)
1.40 (0.28)

Note: Means are adjusted after controlling for their respective T1 measure.
Standard errors are in parenthesis.

591

changes in integration between T1 and T2. There wasa significant main effect of conditions, F(2, 79), = 3.24,
p < 0.05. Planned orthogonal contrasts revealed that theresilience condition had a significantly higher integration
score at T2 (M = 1.40, SE = 0.28) than the relaxation andmusic conditions (M = 0.54, SE = 0.38), t(81) = 2.53, p < 0.05,
which did not differ against each other, t(55) = 0.19, ns.
See Table 1. Controlling for need satisfaction/thwartingin the self-defining memory or psychological adjustment did not alter the result and there was no significant
Conditions X Psychological adjustment interaction, F(2, 76)= 1.14, p = 0.33, suggesting that the resilience condition
was helpful in facilitating the integration of the negative
self-defining memory for everyone, including those withlow or high psychological adjustment.
Further analyzes revealed that the resilience condition
was effective at both increasing the number of need satisfying networked memories, t(81) = 2.39, p < 0.05, anddecreasing the number of need thwarting networked
memories, t(81) = 2.26, p < 0.05.
The same ANCOVA was conducted again, this time looking at change in the need thwarting ratings of the negative
self-defining memory. There was no significant effect ofconditions, F(2, 79) = 0.06, ns or interaction between conditions and psychological adjustment, F(2, 76) = 1.34, ns, thus
suggesting that the resilience intervention did not alter
the interpretation of the negative self-defining memory,
but was effective at integrating that negative memory ina more need satisfying memory network.

General discussion
The purpose of the present research was to ascertain thecausal effect of resilience processes on positive emotionality amidst the recall of a negative event and the capacity tointegrate such negative events into need satisfying memory
networks. Our findings revealed that a resilience intervention focusing on key characteristics of resilience (e.g. zestful,
self-control, growth, hardiness, positive meaning finding,see Block & Kremen, 1996; Klohnen, 1996) was more effective than relaxation or listening to neutral music at increasing participants’ positive emotionality following their recallof one of their own negative self-defining memories. More
importantly, the results also showed that the resilience condition facilitated the integration of this negative self-defining memory into a more need satisfying memory network.
The capacity to experience positive emotions amidst
adversity or following the recall of negative events is awell-established finding (e.g. Fredrickson, 2001; Tugade& Fredrickson, 2004). The present research extends thosefindings by showing for the first time the causal effect ofresilience on positive emotionality following the recall ofa negative event. The effect of our resilience intervention

592 ﻿F. L. PHILIPPE ET AL.

also appears to have been slightly more effective in people with lower psychological adjustment. This tends tosuggest that people with higher psychological adjustment are already able to recruit positive emotions andrecover to their baseline level after recalling a negative
event. However, people with lower psychological adjustment could have more difficulties achieving this and theresilience intervention appears to have eliminated the difference between those with high and low psychologicaladjustment on this capacity.
A finding that is much less well-established regarding resilience is that resilient people integrate negative
events of their lives within more positive and need satisfying memory networks. This has been suggested as animportant way in which resilient people can self-generate positive emotions, notably during the experience ofnegative events or stress (Philippe et al., 2009). In thisstudy, manipulating resilience, using suggestions of various characteristics of resilience, appears to have led people to associate their negative self-defining memory withmore need satisfying networked memories. This not only
replicates the findings of Philippe et al. (2009) but complements them by showing the causal effect of resilience on
this capacity to integrate negative events within positive
and need satisfying memory networks.
The organization of memories in positive and needsatisfying memory networks has great emotional regulation value and is potentially a mechanism preventing
distressing past events from constantly affecting people’s
well-being and health over time. Whenever a memory isrecalled consciously or activated outside of people’s awareness (Philippe et al., 2012) it has a clear impact on people’s
subjective (Baker & Guttfreund, 1993) and physiologicalresponses (Schwartz, Weinberger, & Singer, 1981). Overtime, frequent activations of these memories have beenshown to have an enduring effect on stable assessments ofdepressive mood (Philippe, Koestner, Beaulieu-Pelletier etal., 2011) and well-being (Milyavskaya, Philippe, & Koestner,
2013; Philippe et al., 2012). Because networked memories
are activated as well whenever a memory is triggered, these
networked memories have the power to reduce the deleterious impact of a frequently activated negative memory,thereby acting as an effective regulating mechanism. Thissuggests that networked memories are a potential avenue
for clinical interventions in order to reduce the deleterious
effect that negative memories can have on mental health.
The present study showed that it was possible to ‘prime’
resilience processes and examine their effects upon key
outcomes of resilience. However, from a clinical standpoint, it is unknown if a resilience intervention such as
the one we used could lead to stable changes. Memories
are constantly reconstructed based on the person’s actual
goals system and therefore, any mindset such as the one

induced in the present research can orient the retrieval
process toward certain type of memories. Whether the
resilience intervention had an effect at the retrieval mechanisms only or also had a deeper influence at the structurallevel of memory – at the way memories are associatedin the self-memory system – remains unknown. However,if the resilience intervention broadened cognitions(Fredrickson, 2001) and increased the capacity to recruit
more diverse and more need satisfying network memories,
then repetitive inductions of resilience could lead to stable changes in the memory system. If these changes arestable, then thinking back to the negative self-defining
memory should lessen its deleterious impact on subjective and physiological well-being, which over time, should
lead to improvements in psychological adjustment. Future
research will be needed to examine the long-term effectof such interventions.
A number of limitations should be underscored regarding the present research. First, the sample size was a bit
small. Consequently, our power was slightly reduced andonly medium to large effects could be detected. It remains
possible that smaller effects that could not be detectedwith our analyzes could play a role. Second, we did not use
a manipulation check for our resilience intervention. We
had several reasons not to do so. A first reason is that theresilience intervention we used is part of a larger self-help
program, which has been shown to be effective (Dobbin
et al., 2009; Koeser et al., 2013) and the narratives of the
track have clear face validity. There is therefore some evidence that this track can tap into resilience processes. A
second reason is that it is difficult to determine what would
have been an adequate manipulation check for resilience.
There exists no situational measure of resilience and it isdoubtful that our resilience intervention would have translated into influencing participants’ responses to a trait
inventory of resilience. A third reason is that we were very
careful in the present research to avoid any influence that
could have thwarted our intervention, as we were unawareof the strength of our manipulation. As such, we did notmeasure emotions after the memory recall in order to prevent participants from focusing on this task as an induction
and we did not use any manipulation check so as not toprime participants with non-resilience. Indeed, responding
to a trait inventory of resilience following the resilienceintervention could bring to mind that one does not feelor act in this way very often, which could counteract theresilience induction. Now that there is evidence that theresilience intervention is effective, future research could
try to use a manipulation check to further ensure that resilience is actually induced by the audio track. Nevertheless,the intervention we used showed to lead to resilient-likeoutcomes and this can have important consequences forclinical programs.

THE JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY﻿ 

Notes
1. 
Averaging the need satisfaction ratings would lose theinformation as to whether a memory was only reducedin need thwarting, while still remaining need thwarting,or whether it has changed from need thwarting to needsatisfying. Research has shown that need thwarting
memories, regardless of their intensity, negatively
affect people’s well-being. For example, priming a needthwarting memory will immediately reduce situational
well-being, regardless of how much need thwarting it is,whereas priming a need satisfying memory will increasewell-being (Philippe & Bernard-Desrosiers, 2017;
Philippe et al., 2012). As such, the key is not to reducethe intensity of need thwarting memories, since thesememories will continue to have deleterious effects, butrather to change those memories from need thwartingto need satisfying (or to elect new need satisfying
memories). The present algorithm takes into account
this important issue.
2. 
The Autobiographical Memory Test was also assessed at
the end of both Phases 1 and 2, but will not be analyzed
in this study.
3. 
Results were the same using a repeated-measures
ANOVA. Although there were no significant (p < 0.05)
differences among conditions in the means of positive
emotionality and integration score at T1, the means
were not equal across conditions (e.g. means ranging
from 4.49 to 4.71 for positive emotionality at T1).
The ANCOVA was therefore initially judged as more
adequate than repeated measures to adjust for thosepre-intervention unequal means among conditions.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID
Alastair E. Dobbin

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7838-9824

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THE JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY﻿ Appendix 1
Relaxation track
Sit or lie down and make yourself as comfortable as possible. Ina moment I’ll ask you to clench your left hand as hard as you
can, take in a deep breath and hold it notice that when you do
this the tension in your body especially in your chest and in yourleft hand and forearm will increase I will then ask you to breatheout, close your eyes, and relax your left hand and you’ll noticewhen you do that how the relaxation spreads to every part ofyour entire body and how relaxed your whole body feels You canbegin now by clenching your left hand as hard as you can, take a
deep breath as deep as possible and hold your breath hold yourbreath notice the tensing in your left hand and chest and breatheout, allowing your eyes to close and relaxing your left hand andyour entire body feel how the relaxation spreads throughout
your entire body you don’t need to make any effort to spreadthe relaxation just let it come in its own way, breathe calmly andevenly, Concentrate effortlessly on the physical sensations ofbreathing, the feeling of stretching as you breathe in, and relaxation as you breathe out as you breathe in follow your breath in,as you breathe out follow your breath out, as you breathe in you
are aware of your body, as you breathe out you are calming yourbody, follow your breath in and follow your breath out, noticingthat every time you breathe out you relax more and more, deeper and deeper. Now just continue breathing calmly and evenly
for a few moments until I speak to you again each time that you
breathe out allow yourself to relax even more, allow the relaxation to spread throughout your entire body at its own speed,
noticing the pleasurable sensation of heaviness that follows therelaxation.
Now we’re going to help your body relax by noticing eachmuscle group in the order in which they come, allowing eachmuscle to relax totally after I name each part, allowing the relaxation to come by itself each time that you breathe out. Start byrelaxing your forehead, your eyebrows, and your eyelids which
are now lightly and comfortably closed, relaxing your mouth,
your tongue, your jaws, allowing your lips to part just a little,
allowing the relaxation to move into every muscle in your faceallowing the relaxation now to move into the front and the backof your neck, and allowing all the tension in your neck to disappear and be replaced by a feeling of relaxation, relaxing yourshoulders and letting that feeling spread down into your arms
and into your fingers. Notice the pleasurable sensation of heaviness that follows the relaxation, relaxed and heavy relaxed andheavy allow a pleasurable sensation of heaviness and warmthto spread throughout your entire body, allow your chest andstomach to relax, breathe into your stomach, allow each breathout passively allow your chest and stomach to relax as you continue to breathe out allow the relaxed feeling to go deeper eachtime you breathe out allow the relaxation to spread down further into your back and into your entire lower body, relaxing
your buttocks, thighs, lower legs and feet, allowing your feet tofall out to the side, and noticing how relaxed and heavy yourlower legs have become, noting how relaxed your entire bodyhas become, and how, as tensions disappear, your body feels
pleasant comfortable and relaxed. Allow the relaxation to increase each time that you breathe out.
Go ahead and relax on your own now for a few minutes.
Recognize that you have reached a place that is very special to
you that feels good to you. And I’ll make contact with you again

595

there shortly. Relax on your own now, each time you breatheout let it take you down to a calm beautiful and restful place.
When you wake up, you will feel relaxed calm and good inevery way.

Resilience track
Sit or lie down and make yourself as comfortable as possible,
and allow your eyes to close. I’m going to give you a few pictures and suggestions that will help you increase your self confidence, that will help you look at yourself in a more positive way,that will help you to value yourself even more than you alreadydo, that will help you respect yourself more, that will help you
to have an even better feeling when you think about yourself.
These suggestions and pictures that you receive while you arein this state are going to build up your self image, increase yourself confidence, and increase your good feelings about yourself.
These pictures and suggestions that you receive will affect theway you think, the way that you feel and the way that you act,
they’ll change your attitude to yourself and you’ll see yourself
in a more positive way. Afterwards you’ll notice each and everychange that is positive and this will make you happy. As you
continue to listen to this track relaxing deeply becoming more
and more relaxed with every breath out these suggestions andvisualisations will sink deeply into your unconscious mind andwill remain there and will give you increased energy, you’ll feel
more alert, energetic able to do more, you’ll be more effective
and resourceful, you’ll be able to take the initiative and better beable to accomplish whatever task you set for yourself, You’ll findthat your nerves are stronger, that you’re emotionally stronger,
and that you’ll feel more stable, your thoughts will be calmer
and clearer, more controlled, more collected and balanced,
more filled with satisfaction, and you’ll have an easier and easiertime focusing and concentrating and paying attention to whatever it is you’re doing at that moment, you’ll be able to detachyour thoughts from issues that are at that moment irrelevant,and you’ll have an increased ability to keep concentration andfocus in the midst of disturbances. You’ll be able to see things
exactly the way they are without making difficulties seem larger
than they really are, and without losing your sense of perspective. You’ll also be able to look at things that happen in a morepositive way. You’ll discover that there’s something positive to
be found in everything that happens you’ll find that you cannever ever fail and you’ll be able to learn from your mistakes,
you’ll experience that you’ll grow as a result of difficulties, you’ll
experience problems as solutions, hindrances as challenges, thismeans that you’ll be able to face the future with a deep feeling of calm assurance and self confidence. You’ll be able to lookat coming events with a feeling of confidence and positive expectation, you’ll be able to stand up for yourself more, You willrealize that you too have the right to become angry that you
too have the right to be sad, you will realize that your feelings
are as important as those of other people. You will more easily
express your own ideas, you will realize that your ideas are asimportant as those of other people, that you are as important aperson as anyone else. Every day you will experience an increaseof inner safety, inner security, and personal well being, you will
become more aware of your resources and your potential, dayby day your trust in your own abilities will increase, day by day
your feeling of safety and inner security will grow, day by day
your self esteem, your self respect and your self confidence will
steadily develop. You’ll experience that your picture of yourself

596 ﻿F. L. PHILIPPE ET AL.

and your personal resources will grow more and more and become more and more positive. You can allow yourself to relax on
your own now and absorb all this information, let it sink deep
down inside you. Allow yourself to picture yourself in some future situation and see how your increased self confidence enables you to handle this situation better than you ever have before. Allow yourself to move into this situation and experience
how much better you manage it than you ever have before.

When you wake up you will retain these feelings of calm
assurance and inner balance. You’ll feel rested and cheerful,
you’ll know that the suggestions and pictures that you’ve justreceived will rest within you and will affect the way of thinking
and feeling and acting that you now have at your command.
You will feel relaxed calm and good in every way.