Our minds frequently wander to internal thoughts unrelated to our current tasks or surroundings, a phenomenon known as mind wandering. These unprompted thoughts are common in daily life and significantly impact our everyday functioning.
Kam, J. W. Y., Wong, A. Y., Thiemann, R. F., Hasan, F., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., & Mills, C. (2024). On the relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 150(5), 621–641. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000428
Key Points
- This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized 76 reports examining the relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being.
- The study found an overall negative relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being, but this varied based on thought content, type, and assessment methods.
- Negative and unintentional unprompted thoughts were associated with worse affective well-being, while positive and freely moving thoughts were associated with improved affective well-being.
- The negative relationship was only significant in questionnaire-based studies, not experience-sampling studies.
- Understanding the nuanced relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being has important implications for mental health and emotion regulation.
Rationale
Unprompted thoughts, often referred to as mind wandering, are highly prevalent in daily life and have been linked to various outcomes, including effects on affective well-being (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010; Zedelius & Schooler, 2015).
However, the dominant narrative of a negative relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being has been challenged by findings suggesting that factors such as thought content, dynamics, and timing can modulate this relationship (Franklin et al., 2013; Mills, Porter, et al., 2021; Poerio et al., 2013; Ruby et al., 2013; Thiemann et al., 2023).
To clarify these variable findings, Kam et al. (2024) conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to provide a comprehensive overview of how and when unprompted thought relates to affective well-being.
Method
The systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. A comprehensive literature search was performed using APA PsycInfo (OVID), EMBASE (OVID), Medline (PubMed), and Scopus (Academic Search Complete) databases.
Search strategy and terms
Search terms related to unprompted thought (e.g., “mind wandering,” “task-unrelated thought”) and affective well-being (e.g., “positive affect,” “negative affect,” “well-being”) were used.
The initial search yielded 2,068 reports, of which 894 were unique. After a two-stage screening process based on the selection criteria, 76 reports were included in the systematic review, and 64 reports contained sufficient information for the meta-analysis.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: empirical studies involving (a) adults with or without mood or anxiety disorders, (b) self-report measures of unprompted thought, (c) self-report measures of affective well-being, (d) quantified or validated measures, and (e) quantitative assessment of the relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being.
Exclusion criteria: (a) studies involving participants under 18 years old or with substance abuse, neurological conditions, or psychiatric diagnoses other than mood disorders, (b) studies using reverse inference measures, (c) studies involving mood induction, (d) reanalyses of previously published data, and (e) non-quantitative studies.
Meta-Analysis
A multilevel mixed-model approach was used for the meta-analysis to account for dependent effect sizes.
The overall relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being was examined using a three-level, mixed-effects model.
Moderator effects were tested using pairwise comparisons, with subgroups filtered based on the moderator of interest. Publication bias was assessed using a funnel plot and Egger’s regression test.
Qualitative Review Procedure
The qualitative metasynthesis review complemented the meta-analysis by exploring additional moderators, such as thought content and analytic approaches, that may influence the relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being.
Results
- The meta-analysis included 78 samples with 386 measurements across 64 reports, totaling 23,168 participants.
- The overall analysis revealed a negative relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being. However, this relationship varied based on thought content, type, and assessment methods.
- Negative and unintentional unprompted thoughts were associated with worse affective well-being, while positive thoughts were associated with improved affective well-being.
- The negative relationship was stronger in questionnaire-based studies compared to experience sampling and posttask question studies.
- The qualitative review further contextualized these findings, revealing that future-oriented and freely moving thoughts were associated with improved affective well-being, while rumination and maladaptive daydreaming were associated with worse affective well-being.
Insight
The meta-analysis involving all measurements revealed an overall negative association between unprompted thought and affective well-being, consistent with the dominant narrative in the literature.
However, further analyses showed that this relationship varied depending on moderators, such as the content and types of unprompted thought and methodological approaches.
The negative association was observed for both positive aspects (e.g., positive affect, general well-being, life satisfaction) and negative aspects (e.g., negative affect, depression, anxiety) of affective well-being, suggesting that unprompted thought impacts both dimensions.
The content and type of unprompted thoughts play a crucial role in determining the relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being.
Negative unprompted thoughts, such as negatively valenced task-unrelated thoughts, daydreams characterized by fear or guilt, and ruminating thoughts, were associated with worse affective well-being, corroborating patterns observed in mood disorder populations.
In contrast, positive unprompted thoughts, including positively valenced task-unrelated thoughts, were associated with improved affective well-being.
The relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being may be partially accounted for by other preexisting variables, such as attentional control in individuals with ADHD. Future studies should consider existing conditions that may play a role in this relationship.
Strengths
- Adherence to PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews
- Comprehensive literature search using multiple databases
- Clearly defined inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Use of a multilevel mixed-model approach for the meta-analysis to account for dependent effect sizes
- Assessment of publication bias using funnel plot and Egger’s regression test
- Inclusion of both quantitative and qualitative analyses to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship
Limitations
- Variable definitions and measures of unprompted thought and affective well-being across included studies
- Insufficient number of studies examining specific content or types of unprompted thought using certain methodologies, precluding their inclusion in the meta-analysis
- Limited generalizability due to the majority of included studies being conducted in Western, industrialized, educated, rich, and democratic societies
- Potential publication bias from the search protocol, which did not actively seek out gray literature
Clinical Implications
The study’s findings have important implications for mental health and emotion regulation.
The types of thoughts we have are associated with how we feel, suggesting the possibility of regulating thoughts to positively impact affective well-being.
Directing thoughts away from negative content (e.g., rumination) and toward positive content (e.g., future-oriented and freely moving thoughts) can benefit both general and clinical populations.
Changing thoughts about events that elicit clinical symptoms is already incorporated in therapies for clinical disorders, such as cognitive reappraisal for mood disorders and mindfulness for reducing repetitive thinking.
The capacity to regulate unprompted thoughts may have broader implications across contexts and individuals.
References
Primary reference
Kam, J. W. Y., Wong, A. Y., Thiemann, R. F., Hasan, F., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., & Mills, C. (2024). On the relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 150(5), 621–641. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000428
Other references
Franklin, M. S., Mrazek, M. D., Anderson, C. L., Smallwood, J., Kingstone, A., & Schooler, J. W. (2013). The silver lining of a mind in the clouds: Interesting musings are associated with positive mood while mind-wandering. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, Article 583. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00583
Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), Article 932. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439
Mills, C., Porter, A. R., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Christoff, K., & Colby, A. (2021). How task-unrelated and freely moving thought relate to affect: Evidence for dissociable patterns in everyday life. Emotion, 21(5), 1029–1040. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000849
Poerio, G. L., Totterdell, P., & Miles, E. (2013). Mind-wandering and negative mood: Does one thing really lead to another? Consciousness and Cognition, 22(4), 1412–1421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2013.09.012
Ruby, F. J. M., Smallwood, J., Engen, H., & Singer, T. (2013). How self-generated thought shapes mood—The relation between mind-wandering and mood depends on the socio-temporal content of thoughts. PLOS ONE, 8(10), Article e77554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077554
Thiemann, R. F., Mills, C., & Kam, J. W. Y. (2023). Differential relationships between thought dimensions and momentary affect in daily life. Psychological Research, 87(5), 1632–1643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01766-9
Zedelius, C. M., & Schooler, J. W. (2015). Mind wandering “Ahas” versus mindful reasoning: Alternative routes to creative solutions. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 834. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00834
Keep Learning
- How might individual differences in cognitive profiles (e.g., attentional control, working memory capacity) influence the relationship between unprompted thought and affective well-being?
- In what contexts might unprompted thought be beneficial for affective well-being, and in what contexts might it be detrimental?
- How can the findings of this study be applied in clinical settings to help individuals regulate their thoughts and improve their affective well-being?
- What are some potential mechanisms through which the content and type of unprompted thought influence affective well-being?
- How might cultural differences in the perception and value of unprompted thought influence its relationship with affective well-being?
