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What you wish is what you get? The meaning of individual variability in desired affect and affective discrepancy
Abstract
The present research focuses on the meaning of desired affect and affective discrepancy, or the divergence between desired and actual affect, for affect regulation and psychological well-being. According to a control model of affect [Larsen, R. J. (2000). Toward a science of mood regulation. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 129-141], desired affect is a major factor influencing affect regulation around a person’s affective set-point. The high frequency of a critical discrepancy between desired and actual affect is assumed to foster affect regulation. Using three independent samples and different approaches to assess affect, desired affect and affective discrepancy were investigated together with personality, self-efficacy in affect regulation, life satisfaction, and depression. Apart from a general hedonistic motivation, we observed a meaningful interindividual variation in desired affect and affective discrepancy. The findings are discussed with regard to the role desired affect plays for interindividual differences in affect regulation and the appropriate assessment of affective discrepancy.
... People have a strong and often chronic desire to feel positive emotions (e.g., Larsen, 2000). When asked to reflect on the past day's events or their desired emotions throughout the day, people report wishing to feel more pleasant emotion and less unpleasant emotion (Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Riediger, Schmiedek, Wagner, & Lindenberger, 2009). Furthermore, most emotion regulation episodes involve trying to get rid of a negative emotion (Gross, Richards, & John, 2006), a trend which is reflected in emotion regulation science: A comprehensive meta-analysis of experimental tests of the efficacy of emotion regulation strategies found that more than 90% examined people's attempts to reduce the intensity of negative emotions (Webb, Miles, & Sheeran, 2012), and a recent meta-analytic examination of people's dispositional tendencies to engage in emotion regulation strategies focused exclusively on strategies meant to help rid people of negative emotional experiences (Naragon-Gainey, McMahon, & Chacko, 2017). ...
... On the other hand, inauthenticity might not have the same pernicious effect for negative emotions as it does for positive emotions. This is because people have an intuitive lay understanding that negative emotions are typically undesirable and maladaptive (Gross et al., 2006;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Riediger et al., 2009). As a result, if one feels inauthentic while experiencing a negative emotion, this inauthenticity might signal that the negative emotional episode is not really so bad after all, particularly if the person deliberately chose to feel the negative emotion for instrumental purposes. ...
... The present findings indicate that although people are aware of the contexts in which positive emotions typically function as tools, this is less the case for negative emotions. People's intuitions of when to use positive emotions as tools is likely explained in part by people's general desire to feel positive emotions (e.g., Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Riediger et al., 2009), and this ever-present goal to feel more positive and less negative emotion may hamper people's ability to recognize that negative emotions are useful to feel in certain contexts. The end result is that people use positive emotions as tools much more frequently than negative emotions. ...
Emotions such as anger, gratitude, envy, and pride can be thought of as tools: They tend to serve context-specific functions in daily life. Prior work has shown that people can use emotions as tools in laboratory contexts, yet it is unclear whether people do use emotions as tools in daily life by intentionally trying to feel or express emotions that could yield context-specific beneficial outcomes. We examined this issue in 6 studies (total N = 1,409) in which participants (a) identified scenarios where specific emotions typically function as tools, (b) recalled episodes of emotional tool use, and (c) reported on emotional tool use in daily life via experience-sampling under experimental instructions. We found that people regularly used emotions as tools in daily life, but that people used positive emotions as tools much more frequently than negative emotions. Yet, when people used positive emotions as tools, this led to less beneficial outcomes than when participants felt positive emotions reactively-in part because using positive emotions as tools felt inauthentic-whereas using negative emotions as tools led to more beneficial outcomes than feeling negative emotions reactively. These findings point to a fascinating paradox: Although people are more willing to use positive (vs. negative) emotions as tools, these choices may not lead people to garner maximal possible benefits of positive emotions, while preventing people from capitalizing on the benefits of using negative emotions as tools. We discuss implications of this work for incorporating emotional tool use into theories of emotion regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
... Recent research suggests that extraversion is related to which emotional states people want to have and value having. Although people have a general preference for positive over negative affect (Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Västfjäll, Gärling, & Kleiner, 2001), individuals also differ in the value they place on various emotional states. ...
... Consistent with the transactional approach, part of why extraverts experience greater positive emotions may be because they want to, and actively seek out opportunities to experience positive emotions. For example, when participants rate typical affective experience and desired affective Personality and Positive Emotion 7 experience, those who score higher on extraversion report desiring greater pleasant affect than more introverted people, a pattern that matches what they report feeling on average (Augustine, Hemenover, Larsen, & Shulman, 2010;Rusting & Larsen, 1995;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). In a longitudinal study over the course of a semester, extraversion was related to greater desire for both low and high activation positive affect (Augustine et al., 2010). ...
... In particular, they are more likely to spend time with friends and seek out positive people in order to satisfy their goal of experiencing positive emotions, and more likely to savor the positive experiences when they do arise (Livingstone & Srivastava, 2008; see also Bryant, 2003). These conscious actions may explain why higher extraversion has been linked with a smaller discrepancy between desired and actual affect (e.g., Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). We will return to this research in more detail later in this chapter when we discuss positive emotion regulation. ...
... Both explanations imply that people might consider not only short-term effects of helping but also more long-term consequences of doing "the right thing" in light of potential hedonistic tendencies (Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Larsen, 2000). Wegener and Petty (1994) propose that the results reported by Manucia et al. (1984) do not falsify the assumption of the instrumentality of helping to maintain positive mood, as only short-term but not long-term effects of helping were considered. ...
... 3. The empathic feelings experienced facilitate positive thoughts and cognitions and prompt positive behavior that is likely to be felt as rewarding . Thus, a motivation may arise to further increase and prolong the empathically sparked pleasant affect, because the experience of pleasant affect can be considered a general human pursuit (Augustine, Hemenover, Larsen, & Shulman, 2010;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Larsen, 2000). 4. Hence, when an opportunity to help arises either spontaneously (e.g., Guéguen, 2012) or is directly formulated (e.g., Isen & Levin, 1972), the likelihood that such an opportunity is seized increases. ...
... The desire to maintain a pleasant positive affective state draws on the general assumption that people have hedonistic tendencies. They are thought to pursue happiness and aim to increase pleasant affect while decreasing unpleasant affect (Augustine et al., 2010;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Larsen, 2000). This hedonistic principle has, however, been qualified by the claim that under certain circumstances people attenuate their pleasant affective state due to social constraints such as the presence of other people (Erber, Wegner, & Therriault, 1996). ...
Empathy facilitates everyday social interactions and has often been linked in the literature to prosocial behavior. Robust evidence has been found for a positive relationship between experiencing empathy and behaving prosocially. However, empathy, and the empathy-prosocial behavior relationship in particular, has been studied mostly in combination with negative emotions. Less research has been conducted on empathy for positive emotions, and the link between positive empathy and displayed prosocial behavior has not been intensively investigated so far. The purpose of the present article is thus twofold: first, we review and summarize research evidence on empathy for positive emotions, and second, we propose that people’s motivation to maintain an experienced positive affect is a viable mechanism linking positive empathy and prosocial behavior.
... For instance, several experience-sampling studies have tracked the frequency with which people wanted to decrease, maintain, or increase pleasant and unpleasant emotions. Such research found that most of the time people seek to maintain or increase pleasant emotions and decrease unpleasant emotions (81% of the time according to Gross, Richards, & John, 2006; 92% according to Riediger, Schmiedek, Wagner, & Lindenberger, 2009; and 70% according to Kampfe & Mitte, 2009). Other times, however, people are motivated to regulate their emotions in the opposite direction (9%-19% of the time according to Gross et al., 2006; 15% according to Riediger et al., 2009;and 56% according to Kampfe & Mitte, 2009). ...
... Such research found that most of the time people seek to maintain or increase pleasant emotions and decrease unpleasant emotions (81% of the time according to Gross, Richards, & John, 2006; 92% according to Riediger, Schmiedek, Wagner, & Lindenberger, 2009; and 70% according to Kampfe & Mitte, 2009). Other times, however, people are motivated to regulate their emotions in the opposite direction (9%-19% of the time according to Gross et al., 2006; 15% according to Riediger et al., 2009;and 56% according to Kampfe & Mitte, 2009). ...
... Evidence for prohedonic motives in emotion regulation. Studies have repeatedly shown that the desirability of emotions varies by valence, such that pleasant emotions are rated as desirable and unpleasant emotions are rated as undesirable (e.g., Barrett, 1996;Kampfe & Mitte, 2009;Rusting & Larsen, 1995;Sommers, 1984;Tsai et al., 2006;Västfjäll, Garling, & Kleiner, 2001). Furthermore, when examining actual regulation attempts, people most frequently report attempts to increase pleasant emotions or decrease unpleasant emotions (e.g., Gross et al., 2006;Riediger et al., 2009). ...
Emotion regulation involves the pursuit of desired emotional states (i.e., emotion goals) in the service of superordinate motives. The nature and consequences of emotion regulation, therefore, are likely to depend on the motives it is intended to serve. Nonetheless, limited attention has been devoted to studying what motivates emotion regulation. By mapping the potential benefits of emotion to key human motives, this review identifies key classes of motives in emotion regulation. The proposed taxonomy distinguishes between hedonic motives that target the immediate phenomenology of emotions, and instrumental motives that target other potential benefits of emotions. Instrumental motives include behavioral, epistemic, social, and eudaimonic motives. The proposed taxonomy offers important implications for understanding the mechanism of emotion regulation, variation across individuals and contexts, and psychological function and dysfunction, and points to novel research directions.
© 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
... In addition to the actual contribution of different emotional experiences to people's wellbeing, ''ideal affects'' have been construed as emotional goals that people strive for through their daily activities (Larsen 2000;Tsai et al. 2006). Not surprisingly, most people report that their ideal emotional states are pleasant, rather than unpleasant (Augustine et al. 2010;Kampfe and Mitte 2009). Nevertheless, noteworthy moderating factors such as cultural background (Tsai et al. 2006), individual differences such as level of extraversion (Rusting and Larsen 1995) and interpersonal goals (Tsai et al. 2007) have been observed. ...
... Nevertheless, noteworthy moderating factors such as cultural background (Tsai et al. 2006), individual differences such as level of extraversion (Rusting and Larsen 1995) and interpersonal goals (Tsai et al. 2007) have been observed. Discrepancies between these ideal emotional states and actual emotional states incur psychological cost such as depression (Tsai et al. 2006) and lowered life satisfaction (Kampfe and Mitte 2009). If we consider people's actions as habitual attempts to regulate discrepancies between ideal and actual emotions, knowing which emotions people desire and value will help us understand why people engage in certain emotion-inducing behaviors but not others (Larsen 2000;Kampfe and Mitte 2009 Eid and Diener (2001) assessed participants' desirability of four positive (affection, joy, pride, and contentment) and four negative (anger, fear, sadness, and guilt) emotions. ...
... Discrepancies between these ideal emotional states and actual emotional states incur psychological cost such as depression (Tsai et al. 2006) and lowered life satisfaction (Kampfe and Mitte 2009). If we consider people's actions as habitual attempts to regulate discrepancies between ideal and actual emotions, knowing which emotions people desire and value will help us understand why people engage in certain emotion-inducing behaviors but not others (Larsen 2000;Kampfe and Mitte 2009 Eid and Diener (2001) assessed participants' desirability of four positive (affection, joy, pride, and contentment) and four negative (anger, fear, sadness, and guilt) emotions. In the U.S., 83 % percent of respondents rated all positive emotions as desirable and 44 % rated all negative emotions as undesirable. ...
People generally seek out positive moods and avoid negative moods; however, it is unclear which motivation is more pronounced. Two studies addressed this issue by developing a value-based ranking of emotions based on the willingness to pay (WTP) approach. The approach utilizes money’s cardinal properties and assumes opportunity costs as with everyday purchases. In Study 1 British participants indicated they would be willing to pay more to experience positive than to avoid negative emotions. In Study 2 this positivity bias was replicated with another sample of British participants. However, Hong Kong Chinese participants did not show such a preference, and were willing to pay significantly less to experience positive emotions but more to avoid negative emotions when compared with British participants. Experiencing Love was given the highest WTP judgment in all samples. Thus, some emotions are universally valued, whereas preferences for others differ across cultural groups, perhaps shaped by norms. Implications concerning valuations of psychological states for policy purposes are discussed.
... When the comparison yields a discrepancy, the motivation to regulate emotions arises, and regulatory mechanisms are elicited to reduce the discrepancy. Naturally, individuals differ not only in the motivation and ability to reduce the discrepancy between the desired and current affective state, but also in their desired affective states themselves (i.e., emotion-regulatory goals;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Rusting & Larsen, 1995). Research on ideal affect (Tsai, 2007;Tsai et al., 2006) emphasizes the importance of considering arousal in understanding people's emotion-regulatory goals. ...
... Doing so highlights that it may not be sufficient to examine regulatory outcomes alone but rather one must also take into account potential age differences in the nature of emotion-regulatory goals. Most people want to feel positive rather than negative most of the time (see alsoKämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Rusting & Larsen, 1995;Tsai et al., 2006). However, affect valuation theory suggest that people differ in the types of positive affect states they ideally want to experience (Tsai et al., 2006). ...
... p .08) emerged, suggesting a drop of both types of actual affect in advanced old age. We could not meaningfully predict actual–ideal discrepancies because levels of actual affect lay above levels of ideal affect, contrary to all prior research on actual–ideal affect discrepancy (Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Tsai et al., 2006). This supports the contention that the chosen cut-off of 3 is more meaningfully describing instances of affect occurrence than a cut-off of 1.This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. ...
The experience of positive affect is essential for healthy functioning and quality of life. Although there is a great deal of research on ways in which people regulate negative states, little is known about the regulation of positive states. In the present study we examined age differences in the types of positive states people strive to experience and the correspondence between their desired and actual experiences. Adults aged 18-93 years of age described their ideal positive affect states. Then, using experience-sampling over a 7-day period, they reported their actual positive affect experiences. Two types of positive affect were assessed: low-arousal (calm, peaceful, relaxed) and high-arousal (excited, proud). Young participants valued both types of positive affect equally. Older participants, however, showed increasingly clear preferences for low-arousal over high-arousal positive affect. Older adults reached both types of positive affective goals more often than younger adults (indicated by a smaller discrepancy between actual and ideal affect). Moreover, meeting ideal levels of positive low-arousal affect (though not positive high-arousal affect) was associated with individuals' physical health, over and above levels of actual affect. Findings underscore the importance of considering age differences in emotion-regulatory goals related to positive experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
... We propose that although avoiding unpleasant emotions in general and pursuing pleasant emotions in general may be adaptive, there may be important benefits to pursuing emotions that are likely to be useful in the moment, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant to experience. tine, Hemenover, Larsen, & Shulman, 2010; Kampfe & Mitte, 2009;Rusting & Larsen, 1995). ...
... For instance, what people generally want to feel is related to their affective dispositions. For example, people who tend to feel more pleasant emotions (e.g., those higher in extraversion) show stronger preferences for pleasant emotions (e.g., Augustine et al., 2010;Kampfe & Mitte, 2009;Rusting & Larsen, 1995). The patterns are less consistent with respect to people who tend to feel more unpleasant emotions (e.g., those higher in neuroticism), although there is some indication that such people show stronger preferences for unpleasant emotions (Ford & Tamir, 2011;Kampfe & Mitte, 2009). ...
... For example, people who tend to feel more pleasant emotions (e.g., those higher in extraversion) show stronger preferences for pleasant emotions (e.g., Augustine et al., 2010;Kampfe & Mitte, 2009;Rusting & Larsen, 1995). The patterns are less consistent with respect to people who tend to feel more unpleasant emotions (e.g., those higher in neuroticism), although there is some indication that such people show stronger preferences for unpleasant emotions (Ford & Tamir, 2011;Kampfe & Mitte, 2009). General emotional preferences have also been linked to other individual differences, such as cultural differences (e.g., Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006) and self-esteem (e.g., Wood, Heimpel, Manwell, & Whitting, 2009). ...
Is it adaptive to seek pleasant emotions and avoid unpleasant emotions all the time or seek pleasant and unpleasant emotions at the right time? Participants reported on their preferences for anger and happiness in general and in contexts in which they might be useful or not (i.e., confrontations and collaborations, respectively). People who generally wanted to feel more happiness and less anger experienced greater well-being. However, when emotional preferences were examined in context, people who wanted to feel more anger or more happiness when they were useful, and people who wanted to feel less of those emotions when they were not useful, experienced greater well-being. Such patterns could not be explained by differences in the perceived usefulness of emotions, intelligence, perceived regulatory skills, emotional acceptance, social desirability, or general emotional preferences. These findings demonstrate that people who want to feel unpleasant emotions when they are useful may be happier overall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
... emotionally stable) experience more activated negative affects but wish to experience affects that are less activated. In contrast to these findings, Kampfe and Mitte (2009) found that neuroticism positively predicted a desire for unactivated unpleasant affects and negatively predicted desires for activated pleasant affect; this pattern is more consistent with the actual affective experience of the neurotic. In line with these findings for neuroticism, Tamir (2005) found that those high in neuroticism desire trait-consistent negative affect (i.e., higher negative affect) when driven by performance goals. ...
... While this difference, which is perhaps a measure of regulatory success, is certainly of great importance for the study of affect regulation behavior, it is not representative of a goal state. Recent research on the difference between actual and desired affect (affective discrepancy, Kampfe and Mitte 2009) supports this idea. Those higher in extraversion and lower in neuroticism show lower discrepancies between actual and desired affect (Kampfe and Mitte 2009), and this is consistent with the increased regulatory abilities of those individuals (Shulman et al. 2006;Hemenover et al. 2008). ...
... Recent research on the difference between actual and desired affect (affective discrepancy, Kampfe and Mitte 2009) supports this idea. Those higher in extraversion and lower in neuroticism show lower discrepancies between actual and desired affect (Kampfe and Mitte 2009), and this is consistent with the increased regulatory abilities of those individuals (Shulman et al. 2006;Hemenover et al. 2008). Thus, the extent to which certain personality and motivational constructs predict the DAS may depend on their relationships with actual affective experience and controlling actual affect degrades the ability to accurately examine desired affect. ...
Using longitudinal and experience sampling designs, the consistency and composition, and personality and motivational predictors, of the desired affective state are explored. Findings indicate that, while the desired affect is relatively malleable throughout one semester, it is relatively stable throughout 1 week. Personality and motivations/goals were related to the content of the desired affective state. Extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were related to the content of the desired affective state. In addition, higher-order goals predicted the content of the desired affective state. Our results suggest that the content of the desired affective state may be largely dependent on personality, motivation, and, potentially, an interaction between personality and motivation.
... This is perhaps due to these traits possessing a strong affective component (DeNeve and Cooper, 1998;Kotov et al., 2010;Brooks et al., 2020) in addition to their greater relevance to mental health and wellbeing when compared to other traits. In general, Extraversion is associated with greater tendency to experience pleasant and high-arousal affect (e.g., Costa and McCrae, 1989;Kampfe and Mitte, 2009) and is correlated positively with longer duration and stronger intensity of positive emotional episodes (Verduyn and Brans, 2012). Neuroticism, on the other hand, is typically associated with greater tendency to experience unpleasant affect (Watson and Clark, 1992;Rusting and Larsen, 1995) and is positively correlated with greater duration and intensity of negative emotional episodes (Verduyn and Brans, 2012). ...
... Extraversion is associated with greater interest in social interactions and a stronger tendency to experience positive and highly activated emotions compared to more introverted individuals (Kampfe and Mitte, 2009;Augustine et al., 2010;Verduyn and Brans, 2012;Kang et al., 2023). This trait is also associated with greater expression of emotions, including anger (King and Emmons, 1990;Martin et al., 1999). ...
Introduction
Emotion regulation is an important part of optimising performance and successful goal pursuit in practice-based tasks such as making music. Musicians may regulate their own emotions during the course of their musical practice in order to improve their performance and ultimately attain their practice-related goals. The specific emotions they target may depend upon their personality traits but may also relate to the nature of their goal orientation, and the interaction between the two. This study investigates whether the emotions desired by musicians in their musical practice were dependent on their personality traits and Mastery goal orientation (the desire to master musical and technical skills).
Methods
Via an online questionnaire, 421 musicians completed a personality scale and answered questions relating to their mastery practice goals. They also completed emotion scales indicating how strongly they desired to increase or decrease the intensity of specific emotions when practicing.
Results
Overall, musicians preferred to up-regulate positive rather than negative emotions [ paired t (420) = 58.13, p < 0.001]. Bayesian Mixed Effects models showed that personality traits affected musicians’ desire to regulate specific emotions. For example, higher levels of Agreeableness predicted greater desire to increase positive but not negative emotions, whereas Extraversion predicted greater desire to increase anger [ Est . = 0.05, SE = 0.03, Odds (Est. > 0) = 43.03] but not positive emotions. The inclusion of Mastery goal orientation either amplified or mitigated these effects in several cases, and also introduced new trait-emotion relationships. Findings confirm a general hedonic principle underlying the emotions musicians desired in their musical practice. However, predicted by personality traits, musicians also sometimes sought to increase the intensity of unpleasant emotions.
Discussion
These findings complement existing research that suggests that some Mastery-oriented musicians may seek an emotional state consisting of both positive and negative emotions. This and future studies on this topic may contribute to a better understanding of individual differences in emotion regulation ability as a potential aspect of individualised musical practice strategies.
... Much of the work in this space has focused on goals for hedonic emotional states, that is, goals to maximize positive emotion and minimize negative emotion (e.g., Diener, 2000;Fredrickson, 1998;Tsai, 2007;Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006), because this is generally assumed to be people's default desired emotional state (Tamir, 2009). Indeed, these goals are common in daily life: experience sampling research has demonstrated that people most often report wanting to decrease negative emotion and increase positive emotion (Gross, Richards, & John, 2006;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Riediger, Schmiedek, Wagner, & Lindenberger, 2009), even though such goals may sometimes ironically impede people's ability to achieve those emotion states (Bastian et al., 2012;Mauss, Tamir, Anderson, & Savino, 2011). ...
... As well as using retrospective designs, our model could be assessed using ecological momentary assessment designs. These methods have been used to assess emotion experience goals in past work (Gross et al., 2006;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Riediger et al., 2009), although to our knowledge, daily life research has not yet investigated emotion expression goals. Researchers could adapt the items outlined in Tables 3 and 4 for a momentary assessment context (e.g., "Right now, are you aiming to influence your emotional experience?"). ...
Experience and expression are orthogonal emotion dimensions: we do not always show what we feel, nor do we always feel what we show. However, the experience and expression dimensions of emotion are rarely considered simultaneously. We propose a model outlining the intersection of goals for emotion experience and expression. We suggest that these goals may be aligned (e.g., feeling and showing) or misaligned (e.g., feeling but not showing). Our model posits these states can be separated into goals to 1) experience and express, 2) experience but not express, 3) express but not experience, or 4) neither experience nor express positive and negative emotion. Considering intersections between experience and expression goals will advance understanding of emotion regulation choice and success.
... One key aspect of the Big Five is that they capture consistent patterns of feeling (Costa & McCrae, 1980). For instance, extraverts more strongly experience positive emotions, such as happiness (e.g., Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Shiota, Keltner, & John, 2006). Meanwhile, people higher in Neuroticism tend to experience more negative emotions, such as anger (Watson & Clark, 1992). ...
... Most research suggests that people prefer trait-consistent states (Costa & McCrae, 1980;Ford & Tamir, 2014;Lucas, Le, & Dyrenforth, 2008;Tamir, 2005Tamir, , 2009. For example, extraverts report more strongly wanting to experience positive emotions (e.g., Larsen & Ketelaar, 1989;Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006), and individuals higher in Neuroticism want to feel more negative emotions, such as worry when performing a demanding task (e.g., taking a test; Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Tamir, 2005;cf. Augustine, Hemenover, Larsen, & Shulman, 2010;Rusting & Larsen, 1995, on how neurotic individuals sometimes want to feel more positively). ...
Objective: We investigated how the Big Five traits predict individual differences in five theoretically important emotion regulation goals that are commonly pursued – pro-hedonic, contra-hedonic, performance, pro-social, and impression management.
Method: We conducted two studies: (1) a large survey study consisting of undergraduates (N = 394; 18-25 years; 69% female; 56% European-American) and community adults (N = 302; 19-74 years; 50% female; 75% European-American) who completed a newly developed global measure of individual differences in emotion regulation goals and (2) a 9-day daily diary study with community adults (N = 272; 50% female; 84% European-American) who completed daily reports of emotion regulation goals. In both studies, participants completed a measure of the Big Five.
Results: Across global and daily measures, pro-hedonic goals and pro-social goals were positively associated with agreeableness, performance goals were positively associated with openness, and impression management goals were positively associated with neuroticism. Globally, contra-hedonic goals were also negatively associated with agreeableness and conscientiousness.
Conclusions: The Big Five systematically predict the emotion regulation goals people typically pursue. These findings have important implications for understanding why people engage in certain forms of regulatory behavior and why personality has consequences for well-being.
... Much of the work in this space has focused on goals for hedonic emotional states, that is, goals to maximize positive emotion and minimize negative emotion (e.g., Diener, 2000;Fredrickson, 1998;Tsai, 2007;Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006), because this is generally assumed to be people's default desired emotional state (Tamir, 2009). Indeed, these goals are common in daily life: experience sampling research has demonstrated that people most often report wanting to decrease negative emotion and increase positive emotion (Gross, Richards, & John, 2006;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Riediger, Schmiedek, Wagner, & Lindenberger, 2009), even though such goals may sometimes ironically impede people's ability to achieve those emotion states (Bastian et al., 2012;Mauss, Tamir, Anderson, & Savino, 2011). ...
... As well as using retrospective designs, our model could be assessed using ecological momentary assessment designs. These methods have been used to assess emotion experience goals in past work (Gross et al., 2006;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Riediger et al., 2009), although to our knowledge, daily life research has not yet investigated emotion expression goals. Researchers could adapt the items outlined in Tables 3 and 4 for a momentary assessment context (e.g., "Right now, are you aiming to influence your emotional experience?"). ...
Experience and expression are orthogonal emotion dimensions: we do not always show what we feel, nor do we always feel what we show. However, the experience and expression dimensions of emotion are rarely considered simultaneously. We propose a model outlining the intersection of goals for emotion experience and expression. We suggest that these goals may be aligned (e.g., feeling and showing) or misaligned (e.g., feeling but not showing). Our model posits these states can be separated into goals to (a) experience and express, (b) experience but not express, (c) express but not experience, or (d) neither experience nor express positive and negative emotion. We contend that considering intersections between experience and expression goals will advance understanding of emotion regulation choice and success.
... Some key studies have described the fluctuation of emotion goals in daily life. For example, experience sampling research has demonstrated that people often, but not always, want to decrease negative emotions and maintain or increase positive emotions (Gross, Richards, & John, 2006;Kampfe & Mitte, 2009;Riediger, Schmiedek, Wagner, & Lindenberger, 2009). However, emotion regulation motives have been rarely examined outside the laboratory. ...
... We targeted the Big Five personality traits (John, Naumann, & Soto, 2008) as our dispositional predictors. We chose the Big Five traits because they are considered broad and comprehensive representations of key traits (John & Srivastava, 1999), and have also been associated to differences in emotion goals (e.g., Ford & Tamir, 2014;Kampfe & Mitte, 2009;Tamir, 2005). First, we hypothesized that performance motives would be positively associated with conscientiousness, because conscientiousness involves planning ahead, working hard, and meeting achievement expectations (John & Srivastava, 1999). ...
People regulate their emotions not only for hedonic reasons but also for instrumental reasons, to attain the potential benefits of emotions beyond pleasure and pain. However, such instrumental motives have rarely been examined outside the laboratory as they naturally unfold in daily life. To assess whether and how instrumental motives operate outside the laboratory, it is necessary to examine them in response to real and personally relevant stimuli in ecologically valid contexts. In this research, we assessed the frequency, consistency, and predictors of instrumental motives in negative emotion regulation in daily life. Participants (N = 114) recalled the most negative event of their day each evening for 7 days and reported their instrumental motives and negative emotion goals in that event. Participants endorsed performance motives in approximately 1 in 3 events and social, eudaimonic, and epistemic motives in approximately 1 in 10 events. Instrumental motives had substantially higher within- than between-person variance, indicating that they were context-dependent. Indeed, although we found few associations between instrumental motives and personality traits, relationships between instrumental motives and contextual variables were more extensive. Performance, social, and eudaimonic motives were each predicted by a unique pattern of contextual appraisals. Our data demonstrate that instrumental motives play a role in daily negative emotion regulation as people encounter situations that pose unique regulatory demands. (PsycINFO Database Record
... Some studies have found that people higher (vs. lower) in extraversion tend to show stronger preferences for positive affect (Augustine, Hemenover, Larsen, & Shulman, 2010;Kampfe & Mitte, 2009;Rusting & Larsen, 1995;Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006). Such findings show that the more familiar someone is with positive affect, the more they want to experience it. ...
... Some studies have found that people higher (vs. lower) in neuroticism show stronger preferences for negative affect (Kampfe & Mitte, 2009;Tamir, 2005), other studies have found that people higher (vs. lower) in neuroticism show stronger preferences for positive affect and do not differ in preferences for negative affect (Augustine et al., 2010;Rusting & Larsen, 1995), and still other studies have found that people higher (vs. ...
Do people want to feel emotions that are familiar to them? In two studies, participants rated how much they typically felt various emotions (i.e., familiarity of the emotion) and how much they generally wanted to experience these emotions. We found that, in general, people wanted to feel pleasant emotions more than unpleasant emotions. However, for both pleasant and unpleasant emotions, people more (vs. less) familiar with an emotion also wanted to experience it more. Links between the familiarity of an emotion and wanting to experience that emotion were not explained by the concurrent experience of familiar emotions. Also, we show that although familiar emotions were also liked more, liking did not fully account for wanting familiar emotions. Finally, the familiarity of emotions mediated the links between trait affect and the emotions people wanted to feel. We propose that people are motivated to feel familiar emotions, in part, because of their instrumental value.
... In addition to being one of the most well-established and well-validated domains of personality, neuroticism has important public health implications as it relates to various mental-health (e.g., mood disorders) and physical-health maladies (e.g., asthma, cardiac problems; Widiger & Oltmanns, 2017). There is some evidence that neuroticism relates more strongly to holding "contra-hedonic goals" (i.e., goals to feel negative relative to positive affect; e.g., Eldesouky & English, 2019;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). However, no research, to the best of our knowledge, has investigated whether people higher in neuroticism perceive their contextualized experiences of negative emotions as ego-syntonic from the perspective of viewing the emotions as consonant with the self and/or acceptable. ...
It has been assumed that personality disorders or constituent traits are ego-syntonic, but studies that have addressed this claim have revealed ego-dystonicity. Across three studies (two preregistered), we addressed some methodological weaknesses in these past studies that may conceal ego-syntonicity. Participants (total N = 1,331) completed measures of neuroticism and then imagined experiences that predominantly induced either fear, sadness, or anger (Studies 1 and 2) or recalled past experiences that predominantly elicited each emotion (Study 3). Subsequently, participants judged their emotional reactions on the two ego-syntonicity dimensions of (a) consonance with the self and (b) acceptance (evaluation). Across the studies, neuroticism generally had positive and about moderate-sized relations to consonance judgments and between trivial-sized and small-sized relations to acceptance judgments that were most often positive (Studies 1 and 2) but sometimes negative (Study 3); mean-level analyses suggested that people with relatively higher neuroticism indicated their emotional experiences were, most often, somewhat consonant with the self and acceptable. Regardless, in Study 3, the sample, including those relatively higher in neuroticism, indicated their recalled emotions were too extreme. Broadly, the data suggest that people relatively higher (vs. lower) in neuroticism may regard their contextualized negative emotion as more consonant with the self but not necessarily as more acceptable. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
... SWB is indicative of experiencing PA to the greatest degree and NA to the lowest degree, echoing the hedonic view of happiness valued in western or individualist societies (Diener, 2000(Diener, , 2012. A smaller but still substantial niche of researchers have indicated that the conception of individual well-being in eastern cultures may be a far cry from the hedonic view of happiness developed in western cultures (Kampfe and Mitte, 2009;Joshanloo, 2014;Disabato et al., 2015). ...
Introduction
The prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on a “New Normal” form, which necessitates a calm and peaceful social mentality. This study delves into the Chinese socioculturally oriented emotion construct of peace of mind (PoM) with regard to how it may affect employees’ work engagement in times of the pandemic. Based on the conversation of resource (COR) theory, we develop a model in which the relationship between PoM (i.e., a low-arousal positive affective state) and work engagement and the relationship between career calling (i.e., a high-arousal positive state) and work engagement are both mediated by social support.
Methods
A total of 292 employees from 18 companies in Wuxi and Dalian, China, were surveyed at two different time points during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results
The results show that both relationships were mediated by social support; furthermore, after the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between PoM and work engagement was controlled for, the relationship between career calling and social support failed to reach significance.
Discussion
The findings attest to the unique advantages of PoM in boosting employees’ resource conservation and interpersonal communication in public crises. Possible implications on applying the incentive mechanism of PoM in the workplace are discussed.
... These, however, do not need to affect all patients in a universal manner. Indeed, it has been proposed that extraversion, a factor involving sociability, assertiveness and high energy levels [9,59], could moderate the relationship between measure stringency and mental health problems e.g., [59][60][61][62][63]. Hence, although research to date is scarce and yields conflicting results [64][65][66][67], there are likely disadvantages to being an extravert in situations where severe restrictions and social distancing are in place (or even anticipated), as they inhibit their natural urges for social engagement [68], pleasure and excitement [69], or new and exciting surroundings [70]. Incidentally, our findings are in keeping with research which demonstrates that extraversion might moderate the relationship between measure stringency and depressive symptoms [71], as the constraints of an inpatient alcohol rehabilitation treatment may in many ways resemble those imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
Given the high global incidence and disabling nature of alcohol use disorders, alongside high relapse rates, we sought to investigate potential predictors of abstinence, considered a prerequisite of full remission. With an aim to examine (i) the effect of personality, alcohol abstinence self-efficacy, and depressive symptomatology on abstinence status as our primary objective, and (ii) interactions between these three factors, as well as (iii) their changes over time as two secondary objectives, we recruited 51 inpatients at an alcohol rehabilitation center to complete the International Personality Item Pool, the Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory, and to provide information on abstinence attainment 2 months post-treatment. Although regression analyses revealed no evidence for the effect of the investigated factors (personality, self-efficacy, or depressive symptoms) on post-therapy abstinence, other findings emerged, demonstrating (i) a significant reduction in the severity of depressive symptoms, (ii) the effect of personality and alcohol abstinence self-efficacy on depressive symptom severity, and (iii) the role of personality in predicting the temptation to use alcohol in recovering drinkers. These preliminary indications of links between personality, self-efficacy, and subjective well-being mark a promising area for future research on powerful and relevant cues of relapse and abstinence efficacy.
... Man kan argumentera för att det inte finns någon absolut skillnad mellan emotion och motivation: (att eftersträva) lycka är både ett betydande motiv och ursprung till positiva emotioner. 82 (Augustine m.fl., 2010;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Larsen & Ketelaar, 1989;Rusting & Larsen, 1995;Tamir, 2009) 83 Ex. eng. achievement, hedonism, stimulation (Roccas, Sagiv, Schwartz & Knafo, 2002, grundläggande sociala motiv (Neel, Kenrick, White & Neuberg, 2016). ...
Ett av de mest robusta fynden inom personlighets- och välbefinnandeforskning är det starka sambandet mellan personlighetsdraget extraversion och positiva emotioner, lycka samt subjektivt och psykologiskt välbefinnande. Vad som kunde förklara varför extraverta är lyckligare har i årtionden ingående undersökts, om än osystematiskt och från skilda utgångspunkter. Detta har även noterats på fältet, och för att underlätta fortsatt forskning belyser denna litteraturöversikt hur frågeställningen undersökts till dags dato. Utifrån McCraes och Costas (1991) ursprungliga uppdelning i instrumentella och temperamentella modeller samt Hampsons (2012) indelning av medierande och modererande personlighetsprocesser identifieras, systematiseras och presenteras
de huvudsakliga förklaringarna som förekommer i litteraturen för sambandet mellan extraversion och lycka. Resultatet består av ett konceptuellt diagram (se Figur 1 s. 20–21) med två övergripande förklaringsmodeller, sex distinkta mekanismer, tio personlighetsprocesser och tretton hypoteser som redovisas med tillhörande forskningslitteratur. Förutom en historisk överblick över tillvägagångssätt i forskningen presenteras även aktuell metodik för personlighetsprocesser. Vidare behandlas även hur resultaten är symptomatiska för den rådande problematiken kring konceptualisering, operationalisering samt metodologi inom personlighets- och lyckoforskning, samt resultatens och socialpsykologins relevans för fortsatt forskning och befrämjande av lycka och välbefinnande.
[One of the most robust findings in personality and well-being research is the strong relationship between the personality trait extraversion and positive emotions, happiness, and subjective and psychological well-being. The factors explaining why extraverts are happier has been investigated in depth for decades, albeit unsystematically and from different points of view. This has also been noted in the field, and to facilitate further research, this literature review highlights how the issue has been investigated to date. Based on the original division into instrumental and temperamental models by McCrae and Costa (1991), and the division of mediating and moderating personality processes by Hampson (2012), the main explanations that appear in the literature for the relationship between extraversion and happiness are identified, systematized, and presented. The result consists of a conceptual diagram (see Figure 1, pp. 20–21) with two overall explanatory models, six distinct mechanisms, ten personality processes, and thirteen hypotheses, which are reported with associated research literature. In addition to a historical overview of research approaches, current methodology for personality processes is also presented. Furthermore, the issue of how the results are symptomatic of the prevailing problems around conceptualization, operationalization, and methodology in personality and happiness research is also discussed, as well as the relevance of the results and social psychology for continued research and the promotion of happiness and well-being.]
... People differ in how they value and pursue happiness regarding the specific definitions of happiness they endorse (Joshanloo 2019;Kämpfe and Mitte 2009;McMahan and Estes 2011;Peterson et al. 2005) as well as regarding motivations, emotions, cognitions, and behaviors toward happiness as a desired goal (Catalino et al. 2014;Fergus and Bardeen 2016;Luhmann et al. 2016;Luong et al. 2016). In this paper, we focus on the latter and are particularly interested in individual differences in orientations toward happiness as a desired goal. ...
Previous research has provided contradicting findings on whether valuing and pursuing happiness is beneficial or detrimental to one’s level of well-being. These contradicting findings might be resolved by considering these so-called Happiness Goal Orientations (HGO) as a multidimensional construct. The goals of this paper were (1) to present a new multidimensional scale to measure HGO and (2) to investigate whether the different dimensions of the scale are differentially related to well-being. Inspired by theories that distinguish between different dimensions of motivational systems and goal pursuit, we developed and validated the HGO Scale in four independent studies. The scale distinguishes two dimensions: Happiness-Related Strivings represent the propensity to move actively and persistently toward the desired level of happiness. Happiness-Related Concerns represent the propensity to worry about and to focus on threats to one’s level of happiness. Happiness-Related Strivings are associated with approach-related constructs, positivity, successful strategies to regulate one’s moods and emotions, endorsing a broad range of happiness definitions, and the intention to pursue different happiness definitions in everyday life. Happiness-Related Concerns are associated with avoidance-related constructs, anxiety, poor strategies to regulate one’s moods and emotions, defining happiness solely as the absence of negativity, and having no intentions to pursue happiness in everyday life. Happiness-Related Strivings are positively associated with well-being, whereas Happiness-Related Concerns are negatively associated with well-being. These differential associations with well-being demonstrate the importance of considering HGO as a multidimensional construct and that HGO can be both beneficial and detrimental to one’s level of well-being.
... More specifically, they argue that there are potential advantages to being an introvert and potential disadvantages to being an extravert in countries where stringent measures are in place. The lifestyle associated with social distancing would feel more unnatural to extraverts than to introverts, as it inhibits extraverts to satisfy their strong urges to seek out social engagement (Woodcock et al., 2013), to experience pleasure and excitement (Kämpfe and Mitte, 2009), and to live in new and exciting surroundings (Oishi and Choi, 2020). Introverts, in contrast, would fare better, as the lifestyle allows them to shamelessly be alone more often and decide when and where to connect with others. ...
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists are theorizing that, as compared to introverts, extraverts experience more profound negative social consequences from protective measures (e.g., travel restrictions and bans on public gatherings). As the empirical evidence for this claim is lacking, this study tested the hypothesis that extraversion moderates the relationship between the stringency of COVID-19 protective measures and depressive symptoms. Our results were based on survey data from 93,125 respondents collected in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 20–April 6, 2020) across 47 countries and publicly available data on measure stringency. Findings demonstrate that extraversion moderates the relationship between measure stringency in the early days of the pandemic and depressive symptoms. For introverts, measure stringency has a negative effect on depressive symptoms, while for extraverts, it has a positive, but non-significant effect on depressive symptoms. This study suggests that, although stringent measures generally help people to worry less and feel safer, the lifestyle associated with such measures feels more natural to introverts than to extraverts.
... Accordingly, emotion regulation was considered as the ability to reduce negative emotions and maintain or increase positive ones (e.g., Tice et al., 2004). Although, in general, people typically want to experience positive emotions more than negative emotions, people vary in the extent to which they want to feel different emotions (e.g., Augustine, Hemenover, Larsen, & Shulman, 2010;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Klimstra & Denissen, 2017;Tamir, 2009Tamir, , 2016Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006). ...
Psychopathy is associated with profound emotional disturbances. Yet little is known about associations between psychopathic traits and what individuals want to feel (i.e., emotion goals). Associations between psychopathy and emotion goals were investigated in two studies with nonclinical samples (N = 148 undergraduate students; N = 520 community sample). Four emotions often studied in psychopathy research were targeted: anger, fear, sadness, and joy. Furthermore, perceived utility and perceived pleasantness of emotions were assessed to investigate whether potential associations between psychopathy and emotion goals could be partly explained by instrumental or hedonic considerations, respectively. Psychopathic traits were positively related to negative emotion goals (primarily anger). Although joy was the most wanted emotion on average, psychopathy was negatively but less robustly related to the emotion goal of joy. Mediation analyses suggested differential motivational (hedonic and/or instrumental) mechanisms for different emotion goals. These findings provide preliminary evidence for motivated emotion regulation in psychopathy.
... A growing body of evidence supports trait consistent affect regulation (e.g., Tamir 2016;Millgram et al. 2015). For instance, numerous studies have found that extraversion positively predicts the desire for pleasant affect, especially if it is highly activated, and that neuroticism positively predicts the desire for unpleasant states low in activation (Augustine et al. 2010;Kämpfe and Mitte 2009;Rusting and Larsen 1995). Ford and Tamir (2014) found that familiarity with anger, happiness, and fear mediated between trait anger, extraversion, and neuroticism and the desire to experience each emotion, respectively. ...
We examined individual differences in the motivation to regulate affect intensity. In three samples (total n = 1082) we used structural equation modeling and found support for a serial mediation model in which positive trait affect predicted the motivation to increase the intensity of positive affect and decrease the intensity of negative affect, indirectly, through the commonality and value of positive affect. These findings indicate that trait affect drives regulation motives for multiple parameters of affect: people most value, and are motivated to feel, moods and emotions that match their typical experiences on intensity as well as valence.
... They may want to change specific emotions (e.g., sadness; Millgram, Joormann, Huppert, & Tamir, 2015) or components within that emotion (e.g., experience, expression; Greenaway & Kalokerinos, 2019). For instance, older adults often want to feel positively (Scheibe, English, Tsai, & Carstensen, 2013;Riediger, Schmiedek, Wagner, & Lindenberger, 2009) and neurotic individuals often want to feel negatively (Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Tamir, 2005; but see Augustine, Hemenover, Larsen, and Shulman (2010) and Eldesouky and English (2018a)). Furthermore, people may change their emotion state for hedonic reasons (e.g., wanting to feel happy because it is pleasant; Gross et al., 2006), or for instrumental reasons (e.g., wanting to feel happy to effectively collaborate with others; Tamir, 2016). ...
Goals are widely understood to be central to the initiation, maintenance, and cessation of emotion regulation (ER). Recent studies have shown that there are profound individual differences in the types of ER goals people pursue and the extent to which they pursue them. Here, we highlight the importance of taking an individual difference approach to studying ER goals. First, we use the extended process model of ER to provide conceptual clarity on what ER goals are and describe the crucial role of goals in each stage of ER. We then identify five promising directions for future research using an individual difference approach to ER goals.
... People differ in how they value and pursue happiness regarding the specific definitions of happiness they endorse (Joshanloo, 2019;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;McMahan & Estes, 2011;Peterson et al., 2005) as well as regarding motivations, emotions, cognitions, and behaviors toward happiness as a desired goal (Catalino et al., 2014;Fergus & Bardeen, 2016;Luhmann et al., 2016;Luong et al., 2016). In this paper, we focus on the latter and are particularly interested in individual differences in orientations toward happiness as a desired goal. ...
Previous research has provided contradicting findings on whether valuing and pursuing happiness is beneficial or detrimental to one’s level of well-being. These contradicting findings might be resolved by considering these so-called Happiness Goal Orientations (HGO) as a multidimensional construct. The goals of this paper were (1) to present a new multidimensional scale to measure HGO and (2) to investigate whether the different dimensions of the scale are differentially related to well-being. Inspired by theories that distinguish between different dimensions of motivational systems and goal pursuit, we developed and validated the HGO Scale in four independent studies. The scale distin- guishes two dimensions: Happiness-Related Strivings represent the propensity to move actively and persistently toward the desired level of happiness. Happiness-Related Concerns represent the propensity to worry about and to focus on threats to one’s level of happiness. Happiness-Related Strivings are associated with approach-related con- structs, positivity, successful strategies to regulate one’s moods and emotions, endorsing a broad range of happiness definitions, and the intention to pursue different happiness definitions in everyday life. Happiness-Related Concerns are associated with avoidance- related constructs, anxiety, poor strategies to regulate one’s moods and emotions, defining happiness solely as the absence of negativity, and having no intentions to pursue happiness in everyday life. Happiness-Related Strivings are positively associated with well-being, whereas Happiness-Related Concerns are negatively associated with well- being. These differential associations with well-being demonstrate the importance of considering HGO as a multidimensional construct and that HGO can be both beneficial and detrimental to one’s level of well-being.
... Although people are often motivated to experience pleasant emotions and avoid unpleasant ones, people vary in how motivated they are to experience particular emotions (e.g., Gross, Richards, & John, 2006;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). For instance, people with lower (vs. ...
Difficulties with emotion regulation in depression may be linked not only to emotion regulation strategies but also to the motivation to experience certain emotions. We assessed the degree of motivation to experience happiness or sadness in major depressive disorders outside the laboratory and prospective links to clinical outcomes over time. Depressed individuals were consistently less motivated to experience happiness and more motivated to experience sadness than nondepressed individuals. The less motivated participants were to experience happiness, the less they tried to upregulate happiness in an emotion regulation task and downregulate negative emotions during real-life stress. Importantly, the less motivated depressed participants were to experience happiness, the more clinical symptoms they exhibited months later during a stressful period, even after controlling for initial levels of symptoms. These findings demonstrate that individual differences in the degree of motivation to experience happiness in depression may carry clinical implications.
... The next step will be to use a theory-driven approach to develop a multidimensional scale of valuing happiness. Several literatures suggest that two possible ways in which people may value happiness are (a) valuing the presence of happiness and pleasure versus (b) valuing the absence of unhappiness and pain (e.g., Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). This distinction is similar to the distinction between promotion and prevention orientation as proposed in regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997). ...
Recent studies suggest that valuing happiness is negatively associated with well-being. Most of these studies used the Valuing Happiness Scale (Mauss, Tamir, et al., 2011). In the present paper, we examined the factor structure of this scale using data pooled from six independent samples (Ntotal = 938). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Valuing Happiness Scale is not unidimensional and that only one of its three factors correlates negatively with various indicators of well-being, whereas non-significant or positive correlations were found for the other factors. These findings indicate that valuing happiness may not necessarily be bad for one’s well-being, and call for a better definition, theoretical foundation, and operationalization of this construct.
... The adaptive function of the Identification stage is to activate an emotion regulation goal whenever the current emotion conflicts with a superordinate goal (Tamir, 2015). The latter is often the hedonic goal to experience pleasure and not pain (Gross, Richards, & John, 2006;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). However, people also strive for counter-hedonic emotions (e.g., to be angrier during a confrontation) suggesting that emotions serve goals other than hedonic value (Tamir, Mitchell, & Gross, 2008). ...
A chapter to appear in The Routledge Handbook of Emotion Theory
... Secondly, the present findings are consistent with the idea that cognitive reappraisal leads to more desirable patterns of emotional experiences. People are generally motivated to feel positive emotions and avoid negative emotions (e.g., Augustine et al. 2010;Kämpfe and Mitte 2009;Rusting and Larsen 1995). Nonetheless, although we did not examine it directly, it is also possible that the emotions that are considered desirable vary by religion (see Kim-Prieto and Diener 2009;Tsai et al. 2007;Vishkin et al. 2014). ...
People who are more religious tend to experience more positive affect and higher levels of life satisfaction. Current explanations for this relation include social support, meaning in life, and more positive emotional experiences. Adding cognitive reappraisal as a new mechanism, we propose that religion consistently trains people to reappraise emotional events, making the devout more effective in applying this emotion regulation practice, which cultivates more positive affect and greater life satisfaction. In two studies, involving Israeli Jewish (N = 288) and American Christian (N = 277) participants, we found that more frequent use of cognitive reappraisal mediated the relationship between religiosity and affective experiences, which in turn, were associated with greater life satisfaction. Religiosity was associated with more frequent cognitive reappraisal (in both samples) and less frequent expressive suppression (in the Christian sample). Cognitive reappraisal mediated the link between religiosity and positive affect (in both samples) as well as negative affect (in the Christian sample). We discuss implications for understanding the link between religion and emotional well-being.
... There is some support for this prediction. On average, smaller absolute discrepancies between actual affect and desired affect were linked to greater life satisfaction (Kampfe & Mitte, 2009). Similarly, we found that across diverse cultural contexts, smaller absolute discrepancies between actual and desired emotions were linked to higher life satisfaction and to lower depression . ...
A motivational analysis of emotion regulation focuses on understanding what motivates people to regulate emotions, and how such motivating factors operate and shape the process and outcomes of emotion regulation. We consider emotion regulation as a process that occurs within a larger motivational network. Within this network, people use emotion regulation strategies to achieve desired emotional states (i.e., emotion goals) in the service of higher-order goals (i.e., motives in emotion regulation). We review the lessons learned about motives, goals, and their interconnections. First, we identify possible motives in emotion regulation. Second, we discuss how motives in emotion regulation can give rise to various emotion goals. Third, we discuss how emotion goals may prioritize certain emotion regulation strategies. Next, we review empirical research derived from the motivational analysis of emotion regulation and its implications for understanding emotional experiences, social interactions, psychopathology, and well-being. Finally, we explore how a motivational analysis can inform future studies of emotion regulation.
... In line with this, it has been shown that individuals higher in neuroticism and those who report more (vs. less) frequent experiences of fear are more motivated to experience fear (Ford & Tamir, 2014;Kämpfe and Mitte, 2009), indicating that people may be motivated to experience emotions that confirm their knowledge of themselves, whether positive or negative (Tamir, 2016). Thus, individuals high in neuroticism might be more motivated to experience negative emotions rather then controlling them via cognitive reappraisal. ...
The experience of emotions and their cognitive control are based upon neural responses in prefrontal and subcortical regions and could be affected by personality and temperamental traits. Previous studies established an association between activity in reappraisal-related brain regions (e.g., inferior frontal gyrus and amygdala) and emotion regulation success. Given these relationships, we aimed to further elucidate how individual differences in emotion regulation skills relate to brain activity within the emotion regulation network on the one hand, and personality/temperamental traits on the other. We directly examined the relationship between personality and temperamental traits, emotion regulation success and its underlying neuronal network in a large sample (N = 82) using an explicit emotion regulation task and functional MRI (fMRI). We applied a multimethodological analysis approach, combing standard activation-based analyses with structural equation modeling. First, we found that successful downregulation is predicted by activity in key regions related to emotion processing. Second, the individual ability to successfully upregulate emotions is strongly associated with the ability to identify feelings, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. Third, the successful downregulation of emotion is modulated by openness to experience and habitual use of reappraisal. Fourth, the ability to regulate emotions is best predicted by a combination of brain activity and personality as well temperamental traits. Using a multimethodological analysis approach, we provide a first step toward a causal model of individual differences in emotion regulation ability by linking biological systems underlying emotion regulation with descriptive constructs.
... NS fit is illustrated by the fit between needs and supplies that gives a general perception of needs fulfilment (Edwards & Shipp, 2007). For Kämpfe and Mitte (2009), neither the individual's current state, nor his or her goals are sufficient to predict well-being; it is more a question of the discrepancies between these. According to this view, the wider the gap, the greater the likelihood of negative consequences on mental and physical well-being; conversely the greater the match, the greater the likelihood of positive consequences such as engagement at work and job satisfaction (e.g. ...
Orientation: Knowing that it is imperative to better understand the antecedents and consequences of needs-supplies fit, the present research had two main objectives. Firstly we wanted to extend our knowledge about traditional psychological needs, for example highlighted through the Self-Determination Theory, by presenting more specific work-related needs. Secondly, following the new directions of organisational fit theories, we wanted to better understand how individuals make sense of fit.
Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose more specific work-related needs in terms of employment quality and to test job crafting as an antecedent of needs-supplies fit (NS fit). We tested the double mediating role of NS fit (i.e. specific: based on more specific work-related needs, and general: based on global job perceptions) between job crafting and individual outcomes namely burnout and work engagement.
Motivation for the study: By taking into account more specific work-related needs, this study aimed to add more specific information to better help predict well-being at work. Moreover, the present research responds to the need to better understand how individuals make sense of fit.
Research design, approach, and method: Data were collected in a Belgian Public Federal Service (N = 1500). Our research model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling with Mplus.
Main findings: Results show, (1) that specific NS fit perception was positively related to a global NS fit perception and (2) the partial mediating role (specific and general) of NS fit between job crafting and burnout and work engagement.
Practical/managerial implications: Managers should encourage crafting behaviours and should know their team and that team’s specific needs.
Contribution/added-value: By taking into account more specific work-related needs, our study suggests that needs-supplies may have more than one dimension. Moreover, it shows that job crafting is a way to increase NS fit.
... The next step will be to use a theory-driven approach to develop a multidimensional scale of valuing happiness. Several literatures suggest that two possible ways in which people may value happiness are (a) valuing the presence of happiness and pleasure versus (b) valuing the absence of unhappiness and pain (e.g., Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). This distinction is similar to the distinction between promotion and prevention orientation as proposed in regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997). ...
Recent studies suggest that valuing happiness is negatively associated with well-being. Most of these studies used the Valuing Happiness Scale (Mauss, Tamir, et al., 2011). In the present paper, we examined the factor structure of this scale using data pooled from six independent samples (Ntotal = 938). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Valuing Happiness Scale is not unidimensional and that only one of its three factors correlates negatively with various indicators of well-being, whereas non-significant or positive correlations were found for the other factors. These findings indicate that valuing happiness may not necessarily be bad for one’s well-being, and call for a better definition, theoretical foundation, and operationalization of this construct.
... In this latter case, personal objectives may experience a diminished salience relative to the objectives of others (Salovey & Gruell, 2005). As a final example of how the benefits of emotion regulation accrue depending upon the degree to which particular facets are implemented, deficits of emotional control and awareness are linked to narcissism whereas excesses are characteristic of anxiety and depression (Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). ...
The present study investigated relations among parenting styles and emotion regulation, trait emotion, and general well-being among 153 emerging adults. Two path models were tested, finding that parenting styles contributed to multiple pathways to emotional regulation. As expected, not only did participants who reported high levels of authoritative parenting endorse high levels of positive emotion, they also reported lower levels of emotional control and emotional self-awareness. These low levels were, in turn, associated with emotional well-being. Permissive parenting positively predicted negative emotion. Because authoritarian parenting did not directly predict trait emotion, a closer examination was conducted, showing that outcomes associated with this parenting style depended upon self-reported emotional control and trait emotion. The findings suggest that the effects of authoritarian parenting depend upon the emotional climate established in the family, a factor that may help to explain variability in outcomes for children of authoritarian parents depending upon socioeconomic status and ethnicity.
... In line with this idea, results from various studies suggest that the higher people score on neuroticism, the less motivated they are to ameliorate negative affective experiences. In contrast, the higher individuals score on extraversion, the more motivated they are to reduce or eliminate negative affective experiences, and to seek or maintain positive affect (e.g., Kämpfe and Mitte, 2009;Ng and Diener, 2009). ...
Affect-regulation motivation refers to how people want to influence their affective experiences. It is typically prohedonic, but can at times also be directed at the enhancement or maintenance of negative, or the dampening of positive affect. This article reviews the current state of research on the following questions: Why are psychologically healthy people occasionally inclined to seek negative, or to dampen positive affective experiences? Does such contra-hedonic motivation require cognitive resources? Are there individual differences in pro- and contra-hedonic affect-regulation motivation? What roles do the individual's age, personality disposition, or cultural background play in this respect?
... Indeed, across a variety of studies, reports of actual affect and ideal affect are only moderately correlated Tsai, 2007;Tsai et al., 2006;Tsai, Louie, Chen, & Uchida, 2007;Tsai, Miao, Seppala, Fung, & Yeung, 2007), and structural equation modeling has revealed that actual affect and ideal affect are distinct constructs (Koopmann-Holm & Tsai, 2014;Tsai et al., 2006). Across cultures, most people ideally want to feel positive more than negative, but people vary between and within cultures in the specific types of positive affect that they ideally want to feel (Barrett, 1996;Chow & Berenbaum, 2012;Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009;Koopmann-Holm, Sze, Ochs, & Tsai, 2013;Ruby, Falk, Heine, Villa, & Silberstein, 2012;Rusting & Larsen, 1995;Scheibe, English, Tsai, & Carstensen, 2013;Tsai, 2007;Tsai et al., 2006;Tsai, Louie, et al., 2007;Tsai, Sims, Jiang, Thomas, & Fung, 2014;Västfjäll, Gärling, & Kleiner, 2001). For instance, although some people want to feel excitement and other high arousal positive (HAP) states more, others want to feel calm and other low arousal positive (LAP) states more. ...
Previous findings suggest that patients choose physicians whose affective focus matches how they ideally want to feel (Sims et al., 2014). For instance, the more people wanted to feel excitement, the more likely they were to hypothetically choose a new physician who promoted excitement. What remains unknown is whether this match shapes how patients actually respond to physicians after being assigned to them (i.e., whether they adhere to physicians' recommendations more and evaluate physicians more positively). To this end, community adults reported their global ideal affect and actual affect (how they ideally want to feel and actually feel during a typical week, respectively), and were randomly assigned to receive health recommendations from either a physician who expressed and promoted high arousal positive states (HAP) (e.g., excitement), or one who expressed and promoted low arousal positive states (LAP) (e.g., calm). For the next 5 days, participants reported their daily adherence to the recommendations and their daily ideal and actual affect. At the end of the week, participants evaluated their physician. As predicted, the more participants wanted to feel HAP, the more they adhered to the "HAP-focused" physician's recommendations, and the more participants wanted to feel LAP, the more they adhered to the "LAP-focused" physician's recommendations. Participants also evaluated their physician more positively when his affective focus matched their ideal affect. Neither global nor daily actual affect systematically predicted how patients responded to their physicians. These findings suggest that patients respond better to physicians whose affective focus matches their ideal affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
... In addition, previous studies also found that the discrepancy between ideal and actual affect (how people actually feel) correlates positively with depression and negatively with life satisfaction (Kampfe and Mitte 2009;Tsai et al. 2006). Specifically, the further an individual's emotional experiences depart from the emotions he or she values, the lesser well-being that individual experiences. ...
Previous studies have shown that Asian American or Chinese individuals value low-arousal positive affect and a harmonious state of happiness more than European Americans do. However, the affective component of subjective well-being has mostly been defined as the presence of positive affect and the absence of negative affect. This definition emphasizes the importance of hedonic pleasure but fails to include the affect valued in Chinese culture. The present study developed the construct of peace of mind to describe the affective well-being valued in Chinese culture. Peace of mind was defined as an internal state of peacefulness and harmony. To develop a measure to assess peace of mind, three studies were conducted. Study 1 developed the Peace of Mind Scale (PoM), Study 2 established its validity as an affective well-being measure, and Study 3 found that individuals from Chinese cultures score higher on this scale than those from Western cultures. The results indicate that the PoM has good reliability and validity for measuring affective well-being. The cross-cultural validation also found that Taiwanese individuals scored higher on the PoM than European Americans, which provides further evidence of good construct validity of the PoM.
... Thus, introverts might avoid acting extraverted because they prefer lower arousal states. 7 That said, Rusting and Larsen's data did not show introverts desiring low arousal states more than extraverts, and another similar study found that trait extraversion was significantly associated with a higher desire for all pleasant states, even low arousal ones (Kämpfe & Mitte, 2009). In terms of affect, it appears that introverts do not want to be happy as much as extraverts do (though this may be less true in some Asian cultures; see Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006). ...
People report enjoying momentary extraverted behavior, and this does not seem to depend on trait levels of introversion-extraversion. Assuming that introverts desire enjoyment, this finding raises the question, why do introverts not act extraverted more often? This research explored a novel explanation, that trait introverts make an affective forecasting error, underpredicting the hedonic benefits of extraverted behavior. Study 1 (n = 97) found that trait introverts forecast less activated positive and pleasant affect and more negative and self-conscious affect (compared to extraverts) when asked to imagine acting extraverted, but not introverted, across a variety of hypothetical situations. Studies 2-5 (combined n = 495) found similar results using a between-subjects approach and laboratory situations. We replicated findings that people enjoy acting extraverted and that this does not depend on disposition. Accordingly, the personality differences in affective forecasts represent errors. In these studies, introverts tended to be less accurate, particularly by overestimating the negative affect and self-consciousness associated with their extraverted behavior. This may explain why introverts do not act extraverted more often (i.e., they overestimate hedonic costs that do not actually materialize) and have implications for understanding, and potentially trying to change, introverts' characteristically lower levels of happiness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a process in which learners take control of their own learning, managing their own cognitive, motivational, and behavioral processes to achieve academic success. It is an approach that has gained considerable attention in educational psychology because of its profound implications for improving academic performance and lifelong learning skills. Self-regulated learning also refers to the process by which learners set goals for their learning, monitor their progress, and regulate their cognitive, motivational, and behavioral strategies to achieve these goals.
Do emotions happen inside separate hearts and minds, or do they operate across the spaces between individuals? This book focuses on how emotions affect other people by changing their orientation to what happens in the social world. It provides the first sustained attempt to bring together literature on emotion's social effects in dyads and groups, and on how people regulate their emotions in order to exploit these effects in their home and work lives. The chapters present state-of-the-art reviews of topics such as emotion contagion, social appraisal and emotional labour. The book then develops an innovative and integrative approach to the social psychology of emotion based on the idea of relation alignment. The implications not only stretch beyond face-to-face interactions into the wider interpersonal, institutional and cultural environment, but also penetrate the supposed depths of personal experience, making us rethink some of our strongly held presuppositions about how emotions work.
Current statistics show that the attrition rate among PhD candidates is high (i.e. from 30% to 40% depending on the discipline and the country). This high-attrition rate has an impact on both economic (e.g. negative impact on the return-on investment in doctoral education) and human levels (e.g. negative consequences on candidates’ self-esteem and well-being). Therefore, it seems important to better understand and to prevent the attrition among PhD candidates. Based on the needs–supplies fit theory, the present research focused on the perception of a fit between several PhD candidates’ work-related needs in terms of employment quality and the characteristics of their job to explain their intention to quit their PhD thesis process. This study was based on 160 Belgian PhD candidates, viewed as traditional workers in the Belgian doctoral system, who were still in their thesis process. Data were collected in one Belgian university. Globally, results shown that only the fit perception between the needs for fairness/recognition from the supervisor and the current job situation was significantly associated with lower intention to quit. Thus, we encourage Universities to develop and boost fairness and recognition from thesis supervisors through notably specific training programmes including supportive and justice-based practices.
Which emotional experiences should people pursue to optimize happiness? According to traditional subjective well-being (SWB) research, the more pleasant emotions we experience, the happier we are. According to Aristotle, the more we experience the emotions we want to experience, the happier we are. We tested both predictions in a cross-cultural sample of 2,324 participants from eight countries around the world. We assessed experienced emotions, desired emotions, and indices of well-being and depressive symptoms. Across cultures, happier people were those who more often experienced emotions they wanted to experience, whether these were pleasant (e.g., love) or unpleasant (e.g., hatred). This pattern applied even to people who wanted to feel less pleasant or more unpleasant emotions than they actually felt. Controlling for differences in experienced and desired emotions left the pattern unchanged. These findings suggest that happiness involves experiencing emotions that feel right, whether they feel good or not.
Drawing on self-discrepancy, social comparison, and affect valuation theories, this cross-cultural investigation explores the associations of actual–other and actual–deal discrepancies in positive affect with psychological functioning (i.e., psychological distress, satisfaction with life). Across White American (n = 157) and Taiwanese (n = 220) samples, results indicated that individuals reported poorer psychological functioning the more that the positive affect they wanted to feel (actual–deal discrepancies) or believed others felt (actual–other discrepancies) exceeded their own. Moreover, the magnitude of association between low-arousal positive affect (LAPA; for example, peaceful) and psychological functioning was generally stronger for the Taiwanese sample. Moderated mediation models further indicated cross-cultural variations. Specifically, lower independent self-construal was linked to greater actual–deal and actual–other LAPA discrepancies, which were associated with poorer psychological functioning for both samples; but these mediation effects were stronger for the Taiwanese sample than the American sample. A similar moderated mediation effect was significant for actual–deal high-arousal positive affect (HAPA; for example, excited) in relation to psychological distress but countered predictions based on affect valuation theory. The potential merits and limitations of theoretical assumptions in light of these findings are discussed. Results extend current knowledge on possible correlates (e.g., LAPA discrepancies) of poor psychological functioning among individuals in different cultural contexts.
According to hedonic approaches to psychological health, healthy individuals should pursue pleasant and avoid unpleasant emotions. According to instrumental approaches, however, healthy individuals should pursue useful and avoid harmful emotions, whether pleasant or unpleasant. We sought to reconcile these approaches by distinguishing between preferences for emotions that are aggregated across contexts and preferences for emotions within specific contexts. Across five days, we assessed daily confrontational and collaborative demands and daily preferences for anger and happiness. Somewhat consistent with hedonic approaches, when averaging across contexts, psychologically healthier individuals wanted to feel less anger, but not more happiness. Somewhat consistent with instrumental approaches, when examined within contexts, psychologically healthier individuals wanted to feel angrier in more confrontational contexts, and some wanted to feel happier in more collaborative contexts. Thus, although healthier individuals are motivated to avoid unpleasant emotions over time, they are more motivated to experience them when they are potentially useful.
Surprisingly little is known about the suggested mediator role of emotional intelligence and mood-regulation regarding the relationship between personality and subjective well-being. Three independent samples were administered to investigate whether EI and mood-regulation served as mediators for subjective well-being beyond personality. Using structural equation modelling, the authors demonstrated the superior role of extraversion and neuroticism in explaining satisfaction with life, happiness, positive and negative affect. Consistent mediation effects were found for the trait meta-mood of repair. Contrary to expectations, the remaining variables (attention, clarity, self-efficacy of affect regulation) did not mediate the relationship between personality and well-being; neither did they show substantial incremental validity in explaining variance in SWB. Results are discussed with regard to methodological issues and practical implications. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
One must consider both trait and state affect to predict individual differences in emotional processing. The present results document a novel trait-state interaction that is consistent with proposals concerning the epistemic functions of affect (A. R. Damasio, 1994). Four studies tested the effects of extraversion and mood on motivation-relevant processing. Study 1 measured naturally occurring mood, whereas Studies 2-4 manipulated mood. Extraverts were faster to link events to their personal motivations when in a positive mood state, whereas introverts were faster to do so in a neutral or negative mood state. Further findings indicate that this interaction affects attitude accessibility rather than event elaboration. Overall, the authors suggest that there are pragmatic benefits to trait-consistent moods, particularly for processing motivation-relevant stimuli.
People approach pleasure and avoid pain. To discover the true nature of approach–avoidance motivation, psychologists need to move beyond this hedonic principle to the principles that underlie the different ways that it operates. One such principle is regulatory focus, which distinguishes self-regulation with a promotion focus (accomplishments and aspirations) from self-regulation with a prevention focus (safety and responsibilities). This principle is used to reconsider the fundamental nature of approach–avoidance, expectancy–value relations, and emotional and evaluative sensitivities. Both types of regulatory focus are applied to phenonomena that have been treated in terms of either promotion (e.g., well-being) or prevention (e.g., cognitive dissonance). Then, regulatory focus is distinguished from regulatory anticipation and regulatory reference, 2 other principles underlying the different ways that people approach pleasure and avoid pain.
Factor-analytic evidence has led most psychologists to describe affect as a set of dimensions, such as displeasure, distress, depression, excitement, and so on, with each dimension varying independently of the others. However, there is other evidence that rather than being independent, these affective dimensions are interrelated in a highly systematic fashion. The evidence suggests that these interrelationships can be represented by a spatial model in which affective concepts fall in a circle in the following order: pleasure (0), excitement (45), arousal (90), distress (135), displeasure (180), depression (225), sleepiness (270), and relaxation (315). This model was offered both as a way psychologists can represent the structure of affective experience, as assessed through self-report, and as a representation of the cognitive structure that laymen utilize in conceptualizing affect. Supportive evidence was obtained by scaling 28 emotion-denoting adjectives in 4 different ways: R. T. Ross's (1938) technique for a circular ordering of variables, a multidimensional scaling procedure based on perceived similarity among the terms, a unidimensional scaling on hypothesized pleasure–displeasure and degree-of-arousal dimensions, and a principal-components analysis of 343 Ss' self-reports of their current affective states. (70 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In Study 1, 53 college students were asked to appraise their affective experiences in terms of typically and atypically experienced emotions. Results reveal a strong trend toward the delineation of positive affects as typical and negative affects as atypical. Studies 2 and 3, with 101 college students, examined forms of response set that might have contributed to the findings of Study 1, with a particular focus on the effects to conventions of feelings. The results of both studies suggest that the designation of positive affects as typical and negative affects as atypical might have stemmed from widely shared beliefs about the emotions. To further examine the nature of these biases, Study 4 assessed preferences and acceptance in viewing the emotions among 82 college students. Findings indicate strong preferences for positive emotions and view with disapproval the negative emotions. It is argued that the acceptable emotional range appears to be narrow, strongly favoring positive affective experiences. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
D. Watson and A. Tellegen (1985) proposed a "consensual" structure of affect based on J. A. Russell's (1980) circumplex. The authors' review of the literature indicates that this 2-factor model captures robust structural properties of self-rated mood. Nevertheless, the evidence also indicates that the circumplex does not fit the data closely and needs to be refined. Most notably, the model's dimensions are not entirely independent; moreover, with the exception of Pleasantness–Unpleasantness, they are not completely bipolar. More generally, the data suggest a model that falls somewhere between classic simple structure and a true circumplex. The authors then examine two of the dimensions imbedded in this structure, which they label
Negative Activation (NA) and
Positive Activation (PA). The authors argue that PA and NA represent the subjective components of broader biobehavioral systems of approach and withdrawal, respectively. The authors conclude by demonstrating how this framework helps to clarify various affect-related phenomena, including circadian rhythms, sleep, and the mood disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
On the basis of discrepancy theories of satisfaction, it was hypothesized that satisfaction with specific job facets is uniquely related to discrepancies between current job facet experiences and desired levels of those same job facet experiences (i.e., between what employees now get from their jobs and what they want from their jobs). Seventy-eight employed college students provided questionnaire data to test this hypothesis for each of 13 separate job facets (e.g., hourly pay, customer/client contact, promotion opportunities). Results based on 2 methods of operationalizing the discrepancy concept generally supported the unique predictive capacity hypothesis. A second sample of 47 master's of business administration students provided similar results. Discussion focused on the value of the discrepancy concept in efforts to predict and explain satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Self-reports of mood are the most frequently used measure of subjective emotional experience in studies of human emotion. The present study evaluated the degree to which self-reports of mood re¯ ect the social desir-ability of an affective state, rather than the hedonic tone and the level of arousal associated with such states. The study produced three main ® ndings. First, the desirability of a mood and the hedonic quality of a mood are related, but not identical entities. Secondly, the desirability of a mood is also related to the level of arousal the mood denotes. Thirdly, desirability components are related to the self-report ratings of mood, but the ratings also re¯ ect the hedonic tone and level of arousal describing the internal state of the respondents. Social desirability does affect the self-report ratings that are often used in emotion research, but such ratings also re¯ ect something about the internal state of the respondents. I N T R O D U C T I O N For better or worse, self-report represents the most reliable and possibly only window that researchers have on conscious, subjective emotional experience. Self-report measures of mood are one of the most commonly used tools in research on human emotions. Such measures are quick, easy, inexpensive to collect, and offer a more direct measure of conscious COGNITION AND EMOTION, 1996, 10 (1), 47± 68
The greater power of bad events over good ones is found in everyday events, major life events (e.g., trauma), close relationship outcomes, social network patterns, interpersonal interactions, and learning processes. Bad emotions, bad parents, and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad information is processed more thoroughly than good. The self is more motivated to avoid bad self-definitions than to pursue good ones. Bad impressions and bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resistant to disconfirmation than good ones. Various explanations such as diagnosticity and salience help explain some findings, but the greater power of bad events is still found when such variables are controlled. Hardly any exceptions (indicating greater power of good) can be found. Taken together, these findings suggest that bad is stronger than good, as a general principle across a broad range of psychological phenomena.
Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether and how preference for current mood is related to the valence and activation dimensions of core affect. In Study 1, 100 undergraduates rated valence and activation of their naturally occurring current mood and preference for this mood. In Study 2, another 90 undergraduates performed the same ratings for various induced moods. The results showed as expected that preference for current mood is related to both valence and activation. Whereas the relation to valence is direct, the relation to activation is invertedly U-shaped with a maximum that increases with valence.
Reanalyses of a number of studies of self-reported mood indicate that Positive and Negative Affect consistently emerge as the first two Varimax rotated dimensions in orthogonal factor analyses or as the first two second-order factors derived from oblique solutions. The two factors emerged with varying sets of descriptors and were even replicated in several data sets characterized by possible methodological problems noted by earlier writers (acquiescence response bias, inappropriate response formats, and so on). The results thus strongly attest to the stability and robustness of Positive and Negative Affect in self-report. Because this same two-dimensional configuration has also been consistently identified in all of the other major lines of mood research, it is now firmly established as the basic structure of English-language affect at the general factor level.
People approach pleasure and avoid pain. To discover the true nature of approach-avoidance motivation, psychologists need to move beyond this hedonic principle to the principles that underlie the different ways that it operates. One such principle is regulatory focus, which distinguishes self-regulation with a promotion focus (accomplishments and aspirations) from self-regulation with a prevention focus (safety and responsibilities). This principle is used to reconsider the fundamental nature of approach-avoidance, expectancy-value relations, and emotional and evaluative sensitivities. Both types of regulatory focus are applied to phenomena that have been treated in terms of either promotion (e.g., well-being) or prevention (e.g., cognitive dissonance). Then, regulatory focus is distinguished from regulatory anticipation and regulatory reference, 2 other principles underlying the different ways that people approach pleasure and avoid pain.
Well-being is a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning. Current research on well-being has been derived from two general perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance; and the eudaimonic approach, which focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning. These two views have given rise to different research foci and a body of knowledge that is in some areas divergent and in others complementary. New methodological developments concerning multilevel modeling and construct comparisons are also allowing researchers to formulate new questions for the field. This review considers research from both perspectives concerning the nature of well-being, its antecedents, and its stability across time and culture.
The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) assesses how people spend their time and how they experience the various activities and settings of their lives, combining features of time-budget measurement and experience sampling. Participants systematically reconstruct their activities and experiences of the preceding day with procedures designed to reduce recall biases. The DRM's utility is shown by documenting close correspondences between the DRM reports of 909 employed women and established results from experience sampling. An analysis of the hedonic treadmill shows the DRM's potential for well-being research.
Download link at: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/norbert.schwarz/day_reconstruction_method__time_use____well-being
The authors propose that how people want to feel ("ideal affect") differs from how they actually feel ("actual affect") and that cultural factors influence ideal more than actual affect. In 2 studies, controlling for actual affect, the authors found that European American (EA) and Asian American (AA) individuals value high-arousal positive affect (e.g., excitement) more than do Hong Kong Chinese (CH). On the other hand, CH and AA individuals value low-arousal positive affect (e.g., calm) more than do EA individuals. For all groups, the discrepancy between ideal and actual affect correlates with depression. These findings illustrate the distinctiveness of ideal and actual affect, show that culture influences ideal affect more than actual affect, and indicate that both play a role in mental health.
Five studies examined the hypotheses that when people experience positive affect, those low in self-esteem are especially likely to dampen that affect, whereas those high in self-esteem are especially likely to savor it. Undergraduate participants' memories for a positive event (Study 1) and their reported reactions to a success (Study 2) supported the dampening prediction. Results also suggest that dampening was associated with worse mood the day after a success (Study 2), that positive and negative affect regulation are distinct, that self-esteem is associated with affect regulation even when Neuroticism and Extraversion are controlled (Studies 3 and 4), and that self-esteem may be especially important for certain types of positive events and positive affect regulation (Study 5).
Numerous studies in organizational behavior research have examined the congruence (i.e., fit, match, agreement, similarity) between two constructs as a predictor of some outcome. The vast majority of these studies have operationalized congruence by collapsing two or more measures into a single index, such as an algebraic, absolute, or squared difference, or an index of profile similarity (D, D2, etc.). Unfortunately, these indices present numerous substantive and methodological problems that severely threaten the interpretability and conclusiveness of the obtained results. This article summarizes problems with congruence indices, presents an alternative approach that overcomes these problems, and illustrates this approach using data from two samples. Recommendations regarding the use and further development of this approach are offered.
People routinely regulate their emotions in order to function more effectively at work, to behave more appropriately in social situations, or simply to feel better. Recently, researchers have begun to examine how people shape their affective states using digital technologies, such as smartphones. In this article, we discuss the emergence of digital emotion regulation, both as a widespread behavioral phenomenon and a new cross-disciplinary field of research. This field bridges two largely distinct areas of enquiry: (a) psychological research into how and why people regulate their emotions, which has yet to systematically explore the role of digital technology, and (b) computing research into how digital technologies impact users’ emotions, which has yet to integrate psychological theories of emotion regulation. We argue that bringing these two areas into better contact will benefit both and will facilitate a deeper understanding of the nature and significance of digital emotion regulation.
D. Watson and A. Tellegen (1985) proposed a "consensual" structure of affect based on J. A. Russell's (1980) circumplex. The authors' review of the literature indicates that this 2-factor model captures robust structural properties of self-rated mood. Nevertheless, the evidence also indicates that the circumplex does not fit the data closely and needs to be refined. Most notably, the model's dimensions are not entirely independent; moreover, with the exception of Pleasantness–Unpleasantness, they are not completely bipolar. More generally, the data suggest a model that falls somewhere between classic simple structure and a true circumplex. The authors then examine two of the dimensions imbedded in this structure, which they label Negative Activation (NA) and Positive Activation (PA). The authors argue that PA and NA represent the subjective components of broader biobehavioral systems of approach and withdrawal, respectively. The authors conclude by demonstrating how this framework helps to clarify various affect-related phenomena, including circadian rhythms, sleep, and the mood disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The task performance-satisfaction relationship was examined from a control- theory perspective. We hypothesized that performance and satisfaction would be more highly related when goals were used as predictors than when per- formance alone was used to predict satisfaction, because goal-performance discrepancies rather than absolute performance should affect satisfaction. To test this hypothesis, data from two studies were analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses. Results strongly support the hypothesis, showing that performance and satisfaction are strongly related in a positive manner when goal level is considered. Practical implications and the extension of this ap- proach to understanding satisfaction with other job facets were discussed.
Pleasures of the mind are different from pleasures of the body. There are two types of pleasures of the body: tonic pleasures and relief pleasures. Pleasures of the body are given by the contact senses and by the distance senses (seeing and hearing). The distance senses provide a special category of pleasure. Pleasures of the mind are not emotions; they are collections of emotions distributed over time. Some distributions of emotions over time are particularly pleasurable, such as episodes in which the peak emotion is strong and the final emotion is positive. The idea that all pleasurable stimuli share some general characteristic should be supplanted by the idea that humans have evolved domain-specific responses of attraction to stimuli. The emotions that characterize pleasures of the mind arise when expectations are violated, causing autonomic nervous system arousal and thereby triggering a search for an interpretation. Thus pleasures of the mind occur when an individual has a definite set of expectations (usually tacit) and the wherewithal to interpret the violation (usually by placing it in a narrative framework). Pleasures of the mind differ in the objects of the emotions they comprise. There is probably a
Mood is distinguished from emotion, and mood regulation is distinguished from coping. A model of mood regulation is presented which draws on principles of control theory, which distinguishes between maximizing pleasure and minimizing psychic pain, and which emphasizes individual differences in several component subprocesses. A preliminary taxonomy of strategies and behaviors for remediating unpleasant affect is presented. Important topics for future research are discussed, including the assessment of successfulness of mood-regulation strategies, affective specificity in strategies (e.g., what works for anger might not work so well for sadness), and person specificity in strategies (e.g., socializing or helping others may be more effective strategies for extraverts than introverts). The relationship of mood regulation to overall life satisfaction and global happiness is discussed.
[centers] on the types of mood regulation and on the reasons that can motivate them / show how consideration of these motives broadens our understanding of self-regulation and influences our conception of the nature of mood itself / concentrates on why someone might want to regulate moods / [argues] that moods inherently involve a complex of cognitive and motivational tendencies as well as hedonic qualities (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
highlights specific issues that are most relevant to emotional well-being / [attempts] to determine what produces the experience of emotional well-being as defined from a respondent's own perspective
defining and measuring emotional well-being / correlates of emotional well-being / theories on the causes of emotional well-being (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Both anecdotal and empirical evidence suggest that characteristically happy and unhappy individuals seem to differ in the ways in which they respond to life events and daily situations. This paper reports two questionnaire studies and a laboratory study testing the hypothesis that happy people perceive, interpret, and think about the same events in more positive ways than do unhappy ones. The results of Study 1 showed that students nominated by their peers as very happy reported experiencing similar types of both positive and negative life events, as did peer-nominated unhappy students. However, self-rated happy students tended to think about both types of events more favorably and adaptively—e.g., by seeing humor in adversity and emphasizing recent improvement in their lives. This pattern of results was conceptually replicated in Study 2 using hypothetical events. In Study 3, self-rated happy students interacted with a female confederate in the laboratory, then watched a series of videotapes depicting a fellow (but unfamiliar) student in three different situations. Happy individuals liked the person they met, and recalled her in more favorable terms, more than did unhappy ones. The same pattern of results, albeit weaker, was found for liking of the videotaped target. Implications of our findings for the question of how happiness (or unhappiness) is maintained are discussed.
Personality has been found to be more strongly associated with subjective well-being in many instances than are life circumstances.
In part, this might be due to the fact that temperament and other individual differences can influence people’s feelings and
evaluations of their lives, but also because people’s emotions are an inherent part of personality. This chapter discusses
the heritability of “happiness,” that portion of subjective well-being that is due to genetic differences between individuals.
The stability of subjective well-being over time is substantial, and this is likely due in part to the stability of personality.
Specific personality traits are related to various types of well-being. For example, extroversion appears to be more strongly
related to positive emotions, while neuroticism is more related to negative feelings. Although personality is an important
correlate of subjective well-being, situations and life circumstances can in some cases have a considerable influence as well.
Furthermore, personality can to some degree change over time, and with it, levels of subjective well-being can change.
Theories of optimal arousal and stimulation seeking propose that individuals differ in the amount of stimulation they typically prefer. In the current study we propose that individuals differ in the moods they find desirable, due to the level of arousal inherent in different mood states. Are there meaningful individual differences in the types of moods people desire and, if so, are these predictable from various personality theories? To examine the structure and personality correlates of desired moods, subjects rated a list of 48 mood adjectives twice (the actual frequency of experience, and the desirability of experiencing each item), and completed a series of personality scales known from previous research to correlate with self-rated affect. Results indicate that, on average, desired moods conform primarily to the presence of pleasant and the absence of unpleasant affect, the hedonic dimension of mood. The activation or arousal dimension of desired moods showed strong correlations with personality. For example, extraversion correlated with the desire for activated affect, and neuroticism correlated with the desire for low activation emotions. Factor analyses indicate that the underlying structure of desired moods is similar, but simpler, than that of actual moods.
In this article we investigate relations between general and specific measures of self-rated affect and markers of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Replicating previous research, we found strong and pervasive associations between Neuroticism, its facets, and the various negative affects; and between Extraversion, its facets, and the positive affects. Conscientiousness also had a significant, independent relation with general positive affect, but this effect was entirely due to the specific affect of attentiveness, which was more strongly related to Conscientiousness than Extraversion. Conversely, only the achievement facet of Conscientiousness correlated broadly with the positive affects. Finally, hostility had a strong independent association with (low) Agreeableness. The results for Neuroticism and Extraversion further clarify the temperamental basis of these higher order trait dimensions; whereas those obtained for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness illustrate the importance of examining personality-affect relations at the lower order level.
One must consider both trait and state affect to predict individual differences in emotional processing. The present results document a novel trait-state interaction that is consistent with proposals concerning the epistemic functions of affect (A. R. Damasio, 1994). Four studies tested the effects of extraversion and mood on motivation-relevant processing. Study 1 measured naturally occurring mood, whereas Studies 2-4 manipulated mood. Extraverts were faster to link events to their personal motivations when in a positive mood state, whereas introverts were faster to do so in a neutral or negative mood state. Further findings indicate that this interaction affects attitude accessibility rather than event elaboration. Overall, the authors suggest that there are pragmatic benefits to trait-consistent moods, particularly for processing motivation-relevant stimuli.
Personality, as it is usually treated in psychological text-books, is a very uncertain and fuzzy topic. Textbook writers tend to treat it either with benevolent eclecticism, simply presenting eponymous chapters detailing the various virtues of models presented by writers, or by ferocious idiosyncrasy, the writer disregarding all models but his own. What is missing is a paradigm, universally accepted and giving rise to a kind of research which Kuhn characterised as “ordinary science.”
The present research tested the hypothesis that self-reactive influences exert differential impact on motivation as a function of the level and direction of discrepancy between a comparative standard and attainments. Subjects pursued a challenging standard in a strenuous activity and received preselected feedback that their effort fell either markedly, moderately, or minimally short of the standard, or that it exceeded the standard. They then recorded their perceived self-efficacy, self-evaluation, and self-set goals, whereupon their motivational level was measured. In accord with prediction, perceived self-efficacy contributes to motivation across a wide range of discrepancy conditions. Self-evaluation operates as an influential motivator only when attainments fall markedly or moderately short of a comparative standard. Self-set goals contribute to motivation at all discrepancy levels except when attainments are markedly discrepant from the standard. The relevant self-influences operating in concert at particular discrepancy levels explain a substantial amount of the variance in motivaion.
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Emotional attention, clarity, and repair: Exploring emotional intelligence using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale
- Salovey