Background

Perceptions of experiences change overtime (Kahneman & Riis, 2005; Zajchowski et al., 2017). Research also indicates that reflection influences experience impacts (Duerden et al., 2012). Accordingly, whether an experience is perceived as ordinary or extraordinary (i.e., memorable, meaningful, transformational) (Duerden et al., 2018) depends on a variety of potential factors including but not limited to time, social connection, and reflection.

Aims

The purpose of this experimental study was to assess how activity type, social connection, and reflection type influences experience type, ordinary versus extraordinary, perceptions overtime.

Method

Data was collected from 209 undergraduates using a 4x4 experimental design. Participants engaged in one of four different 20-minute activities based upon Melton’s (2017) family activity model (e.g., core:parallel, core:joint, balance:parallel, and balance:joint). Each activity was run for four different groups resulting in 16 different groups. The 16 groups were randomly assigned to four different reflection conditions (i.e., synchronous, asynchronous, solo, none) which occurred two weeks after the initial activities. All reflection conditions used the same question prompts. Synchronous reflection involved an in-person focus group. Asynchronous reflection involved posting responses to a private online chat board. Solo reflection involved emailing responses directly to the research team. The no reflection group did nothing. Participants completed a post-activity questionnaire directly after the initial and a final questionnaire two weeks after the reflection experiences. The same single item questions were used to measure social connection and perceived experience type (Duerden et al., 2018). Repeated measures ANOVAs will be conducted to assess the relationship overtime between activity type, social connection, and perceived experience type.

Results

Analysis is currently underway on the collected data and will be completed in time to share at the conference.

Conclusion

The results of this study stand to provide important insights into how perceptions of experiences change over time and how those perceptions are influenced by activity type, social connection, and reflection type.