The fly-on-the-wall replay

Replay a difficult event as if watching it from outside the room rather than from behind your own eyes.

Why it works

First-person visual recall of upsetting events tends to re-activate the emotional state associated with the event, extending the distress. Third-person visual replay (seeing yourself as a figure in the scene) triggers the observer-rather-than-experiencer mode of processing, which allows reflection without re-experience. Kross’s research specifically used this imagery technique and found it reduced negative affect during and after reflection more than first-person recall.

How to do it

1. Identify a recent upsetting interaction or event you have been ruminating on.
2. Close your eyes and replay the scene — but now position your viewpoint behind and above the scene, watching yourself and the other person as characters.
3. Observe the whole scene: what does the person who is you look like? How are both people behaving?
4. Ask from this position: "What was each person in this scene feeling? What did each person need?"
5. Write a brief summary from the observer position before returning to first-person.

Evidence

Kross and Ayduk demonstrated that adopting an observer perspective (vs. an immersed first-person perspective) during negative event recall reduced negative emotion and promotion of insight into the experience. (rct)

The lab technique uses guided imagery; whether self-directed fly-on-the-wall replay produces the same effect without facilitation is not directly established.

Sources

• Kross & Ayduk (2008), facilitating adaptive emotional analysis, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Common mistake

Using fly-on-the-wall replay to criticize the behavior of the person who is you — the technique is for gaining perspective, not for prosecuting yourself from above.