Contentment and tranquility: Exploring their similarities and differences

ABSTRACT

Two studies explored the similarities and differences between contentment and tranquility. In Study 1, in a sample of college students (N = 154), we examined the degree to which contentment and tranquility were associated with different types of pleasurable activities. Whereas contentment was positively associated with mastery activities, tranquility was negatively associated with mastery activities. Tranquility was strongly positively associated with spiritual activities. In Study 2, in a sample of college students (N = 176), using both trait and daily diary assessments, we examined the degree to which contentment and tranquility were associated with the degree to which participants focused on the process–versus the outcome–of activities, as well as their level of acceptance. Both contentment and tranquility were positively associated with acceptance. Tranquility was also positively associated with a focus on process. Based on the results of the present research, we update our theories about contentment and tranquility.     

Personality and life satisfaction: a facet-level analysis

At the global level of the Big Five, Extraversion and Neuroticism are the strongest predictors of life satisfaction. However, Extraversion and Neuroticism are multifaceted constructs that combine more specific traits. This article examined the contribution of facets of Extraversion and Neuroticism to life satisfaction in four studies. The depression facet of Neuroticism and the positive emotions/cheerfulness facet of Extraversion were the strongest and most consistent predictors of life satisfaction. These two facets often accounted for more variance in life satisfaction than Neuroticism and Extraversion. The findings suggest that measures of depression and positive emotions/cheerfulness are necessary and sufficient to predict life satisfaction from personality traits. The results also lead to a more refined understanding of the specific personality traits that influence life satisfaction: Depression is more important than anxiety or anger and a cheerful temperament is more important than being active or sociable.     

"You're only as old as you feel": self-perceptions of age, fears of aging, and life satisfaction from adolescence to old age

We examined differences in subjective age identification from adolescence to old age and the relation between subjective age and fears about one's own aging and life satisfaction. Using a questionnaire format, 188 men and women from 14 to 83 years of age made judgments about how old they felt, looked, acted, and desired to be. Respondents also answered questions about their personal fears of aging and present life satisfaction. Results revealed that individuals in their teens held older subjective age identities, whereas during the early adult years, individuals maintained same age identities. Across the middle and later adult years, individuals reported younger age identities, and women experienced younger age identities than men across these adults years. Results also revealed that discrepancies between subjective and actual age were associated with personal fears of aging and life satisfaction, especially in younger men and women.     

A differentiated approach to the link between positive emotion,motivation, and eudaimonic well-being

Many studies have highlighted the role that positive emotions play in promoting eudaimonic well-being, yet often fail to differentiate between discrete positive emotions (e.g. gratitude, compassion, pride, and contentment). As such, potential functional differences among positive emotions in contributing to eudaimonic well-being may have been overlooked. The present study (N = 273) differentiated communion from agency motivation as well as other-focused from self-focused eudaimonic well-being. In line with a hypothesized model, pride contributed positively to self-focused eudaimonic well-being indirectly via agency motivation, and contentment was directly linked positively to self-focused eudaimonic well-being. Compassion contributed positively to other-focused eudaimonic well-being indirectly via communion motivation and gratitude was directly linked positively to other-focused eudaimonic well-being. While several other links were observed, hypothesized links were generally stronger. These findings highlight the potential utility of adopting approaches that differentiate among positive emotions in applied and theoretical work in the field of positive psychology.     

State mindfulness,rumination, and emotions in daily life: An ambulatory assessment study

While the majority of studies have focused on dispositional mindfulness and the efficacy of mindfulness meditation, there has been limited study exploring the effect of state mindfulness on emotions and its potential mechanism. Therefore, we conducted an ambulatory assessment study to monitor state mindfulness and emotions in daily life and examine the mediating effect of rumination in a natural context. One hundred Chinese university students rated their state mindfulness, rumination, and emotions (e.g., anxiety, depression, happiness) five times per day for a week. Using hierarchical linear models, we and found that at the within‐person level, higher current state mindfulness was associated with more subsequent positive emotions and less subsequent negative emotions. Current rumination partially mediated the relation between current state mindfulness and subsequent positive emotions (happiness, relaxation, contentment, interest) and negative emotions (depression, anger, boredom, sadness). At the between‐person level, higher state mindfulness was associated with more positive emotions and less negative emotions. Individuals’ overall rumination partially mediated the relation between state mindfulness and emotions (depression, anger, boredom, sadness, relaxation). We concluded that higher state mindfulness was associated with lower rumination, which in turn resulted in more positive emotions and less negative emotions. More important, state mindfulness also exerted a dynamic impact on daily emotions via rumination.     

Comparative risk and perceived control: implications for psychological and physical well-being among older adults

As older adults become more susceptible to certain health crises, their preoccupation with their risk of suffering such events increases. Understanding the implications of risk perceptions is critical because they may have consequences for psychological and physical well-being in later life. In the present study of older adults living in the community, the authors examined participants' comparative risk estimates (CREs)--their perceptions of their own risk relative to a similar other's risk--of suffering a hip fracture. Using multiple regression analyses, the authors examined the role of CREs on psychological well-being (negative emotions, life satisfaction) and self-rated physical well-being (general physical health, recent physical health). The authors expected perceived control (PC) to moderate the relationship between CREs and well-being. The predicted interaction did occur: Among individuals with high PC, comparative optimism (perceiving a comparatively low risk) was associated with better psychological well-being (fewer negative emotions and greater life satisfaction) and better physical well-being (general and recent physical health) relative to comparative pessimism (perceiving a comparatively high risk). Among individuals with low PC, there were no differences in well-being between comparative optimists and comparative pessimists. These findings suggest that the protective effect of comparative optimism on well-being is limited to older adults who have a strong sense of control.     

时间知觉在老年人跨期选择中的作用

随着人口老龄化速度的加快,老年人的跨期选择问题受到越来越多的关注。时间知觉是影响跨期选择的重要因素之一。然而,目前从时间知觉的角度来探讨老年人跨期选择的研究比较有限。本文在总结国内外相关研究的基础之上,试图分析时间知觉的随龄变化如何影响老年人的跨期选择。具体而言,本文从时间长度知觉、时间成本知觉以及时间知觉相关心理动机三个方面进行探讨,并指出了时间知觉视角的局限性及今后的研究方向。     

Reciprocal relationships between State gratitude and high- and low-arousal positive affects in daily life: A time-lagged ecological assessment study

ABSTRACT

This study assessed whether state gratitude and high and low-arousal positive affect show reciprocal relationships in daily life, and whether these relationships are dependent of inter-individual differences in positive mental health or psychopathology. 106 participants reported on momentary gratitude and positive affects throughout 7 consecutive days, using the Experience Sampling Method. Multilevel time-lagged regression analyses showed that state gratitude, cheerfulness and satisfaction reciprocally predict one another from one moment to the next. The strength of the prospective relationships between state gratitude(t-1) and both cheerfulness(t) and satisfaction(t) did not vary as a function of inter-individual differences in positive mental health or psychopathology. However, the prospective effects of both cheerfulness(t-1) and satisfaction(t-1) on state gratitude(t) were significantly stronger for individuals with low vs. high levels of psychopathology. In addition, the prospective effect of cheerfulness(t-1) on state gratitude(t) was significantly stronger for those with high vs. low positive mental health.     

Effects of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression on daily work-related outcomes: Comparison between younger and older Chinese workers

The existing models of emotion regulation (ER) do not make any specific prediction about the differential effects of the same ER strategy among individuals of different ages. However, such assumption may not be necessarily true, given that older adults emphasise emotional goals greater than their younger counterparts. Using a daily diary approach, this study investigated whether the effects of cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) on daily work-related outcomes would vary by age when individuals were experiencing negative events at work. A total of 141 Chinese managerial employees (M_age = 42.40, SD = 9.16) completed the diary report for 15 consecutive workdays by recording their daily work experiences. The results of the multilevel analyses showed that age moderated the effects of ES on daily negative emotions, perceived work stress, and job satisfaction. More beneficial effects were observed among older workers than among younger workers. By contrast, the use of CR significantly lowered the levels of negative emotions and perceived work stress for both younger and older workers. These findings revealed the importance of considering the role of age in evaluating the effects of ES on work-related outcomes, which provides important implications for future research and training programs in ER.     

The dynamics of daily events and well-being across cultures: when less is more

The authors examined cultural and individual differences in the relation between daily events and daily satisfaction. In a preliminary study, they established cross-cultural equivalence of 50 daily events. In the main study, participants in the United States, Korea, and Japan completed daily surveys on the 50 events and daily satisfaction for 21 days. The multilevel random coefficient model analyses showed that (a) the within-person association between positive events and daily satisfaction was significantly stronger among Asian American, Korean, and Japanese participants than among European American participants and (b) the within-person association between positive events and daily satisfaction was significantly weaker among individuals high in global life satisfaction than among those low in global life satisfaction. The findings demonstrate a weaker effect of positive events on daily well-being among individuals and cultures high in global well-being.     

Moderating effects of gender and age on the relationship between self‐esteem and life satisfaction in mainland Chinese

Previous studies indicated that not only individual self‐esteem (e.g., Diener & Diener, 1995; Neto, 1993) but also collective self‐esteem (e.g., Crocker, Luhtanen, Blaine, & Broadnax, 1994; Zhang & Leung, 1999) contributed to prediction of life satisfaction. When the effects of individual and collective self‐esteems on life satisfaction have been demonstrated, a further question in life satisfaction research is that whether the relationship between self‐esteem and life satisfaction is subject to the influence of boundary conditions. The present investigation focused on moderating effects of gender and age on the relationship between self‐esteem and life satisfaction in Chinese people. Participants were 1347 Mainland Chinese (aged from 14 to 88 years, 52.3% female) from three generations. They finished the General Life Satisfaction Scale (Leung & Leung, 1992), Life Domain Satisfaction Scale (revised from Michalos, 1985), Self‐Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and Collective Self‐Esteem Scale (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992). Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the relationship between collective self‐esteem and general life satisfaction was stronger for the male participants than for the female participants. The effect of individual self‐esteem on life domain satisfaction was stronger in the male group than in the female group. The effect of individual self‐esteem on life domain satisfaction was stronger in the older people than in the younger people. However the effect of collective self‐esteem on life domain satisfaction was stronger in the younger people than in the older people. These results might reflect life task differences and social expectation differences between male and female, younger and older people. Additional research is needed with other types of samples, especially with samples from some individualist cultures to see whether the results could generalize to these cultures.     

Age and Trust as Moderators in the Relation between Procedural Justice and Turnover: A Large‐Scale Longitudinal Study

The current study investigated the moderating roles of age and trust in the relation of procedural justice with turnover. It was expected that the relation between procedural justice and turnover was weaker for older workers and those with high prior trust in their leader. Older workers are better at regulating their emotions, and focus more on positive aspects of their relationships with others, and therefore react less intensely to unfair treatment. Moreover, people with high trust are more likely to attribute unfair treatment to circumstances instead of deliberate intention than people with low trust. Finally, we expected a three‐way interaction between age, trust, and procedural justice in relation to turnover, where older workers with high trust would have less strong reactions than younger workers and older workers with low trust. Results from a three‐wave longitudinal survey among 1,597 Dutch employees indeed revealed significant interactions between trust and procedural justice in relation to turnover. Furthermore, the three‐way interaction was significant, with negative relations for younger workers, but a non‐significant relation was found for older workers with low trust. Contrary to expectations, negative relations were found between procedural justice and turnover for older workers with high trust.     

Effort-Shape and kinematic assessment of bodily expression of emotion during gait

The purpose of this study was to identify the movement characteristics associated with positive and negative emotions experienced during walking. Joy, contentment, anger, sadness, and neutral were elicited in 16 individuals, and motion capture data were collected as they walked while experiencing the emotions. Observers decoded the target emotions from side and front view videos of the walking trials; other observers viewed the same videos to rate the qualitative movement features using an Effort-Shape analysis. Kinematic analysis was used to quantify body posture and limb movements during walking with the different emotions. View did not affect decoding accuracy except for contentment, which was slightly enhanced with the front view. Walking speed was fastest for joy and anger, and slowest for sadness. Although walking speed may have accounted for increased amplitude of hip, shoulder, elbow, pelvis and trunk motion for anger and joy compared to sadness, neck and thoracic flexion with sadness, and trunk extension and shoulder depression with joy were independent of gait speed. More differences among emotions occurred with the Effort-Shape rather than the kinematic analysis, suggesting that observer judgments of Effort-Shape characteristics were more sensitive than the kinematic outcomes to differences among emotions.     

Neural activity,neural connectivity,and the processing of emotionally valenced information in older adults: links with life satisfaction

This study examines whether differences in late-life well-being are linked to how older adults encode emotionally valenced information. Using fMRI with 39 older adults varying in life satisfaction, we examined how viewing positive and negative images would affect activation and connectivity of an emotion-processing network. Participants engaged most regions within this network more robustly for positive than for negative images, but within the PFC this effect was moderated by life satisfaction, with individuals higher in satisfaction showing lower levels of activity during the processing of positive images. Participants high in satisfaction showed stronger correlations among network regions—particularly between the amygdala and other emotion processing regions—when viewing positive, as compared with negative, images. Participants low in satisfaction showed no valence effect. Findings suggest that late-life satisfaction is linked with how emotion-processing regions are engaged and connected during processing of valenced information. This first demonstration of a link between neural recruitment and late-life well-being suggests that differences in neural network activation and connectivity may account for the preferential encoding of positive information seen in some older adults.     

Sense of humor, emotional intelligence, and social competence

Associations among sense of humor, emotional intelligence (EI), and social competence were examined in 111 undergraduate students using measures of humor styles, trait cheerfulness, social competence, and an ability test of EI. Emotional management ability was positively correlated with self-enhancing humor and trait cheerfulness, and negatively correlated with trait bad mood. Ability to accurately perceive emotions was negatively related to aggressive and self-defeating humor. Positive humor styles and trait cheerfulness were positively correlated with various domains of social competence, whereas negative humor styles and trait bad mood were negatively correlated with social competence. Finally, the emotional management facet of EI was positively correlated with several social competence domains.     

Anger and sadness in response to an emotionally neutral film: evidence for age-specific associations with well-being

When the association between emotion and well-being is being considered, positive emotions usually come to mind. However, negative emotions serve important adaptive functions and particular negative emotions may be especially adaptive at different stages of adult development. We examined the associations between self-reported negative emotions in response to an emotionally neutral, thematically ambiguous film and subjective well-being among 76 young (age 20-29), 73 middle-aged (age 40-49), and 73 older (age 60-69) adults. Results indicated that higher self-reported anger in response to the film was associated with higher well-being for middle-aged adults, but not for young and older adults. Higher self-reported sadness in response to the film was associated with higher well-being for older adults, but not for young and middle-aged adults. These findings were stronger for cognitive well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life) than for affective well-being (i.e., ratio of dispositional positive to negative affect) and were specific to these emotions (not found for self-reported disgust or fear) and to the emotionally neutral film (not found for sad or disgusting films). Results are discussed in terms of the functions that anger and sadness are thought to serve and the control opportunities afforded in midlife and late life that render these functions differentially adaptive.     

Job Satisfaction,Organizational Commitment,and Religious Commitment of Full-Time University Employees

This study investigated the relationship of job satisfaction and organizational and religious commitment among full time workers at Akra University (a pseudonym) based on a number of demographic factors. Analysis of variance using the Games-Howell procedure revealed that workers who were older than age 46 years had higher job satisfaction and organizational and religious commitment than younger employees. It was also noted that workers holding doctoral degrees had higher levels of job satisfaction and religious commitment than individuals with a high school diploma only. It was evident that the longer employees stayed at this institution, the higher the levels of organizational commitment and extrinsic job satisfaction, and administrators and sector managers had higher levels of intrinsic job satisfaction and religious commitment than those in other occupational areas.     

Engaging the aging workforce: the relationship between perceived age similarity, satisfaction with coworkers, and employee engagement

Business publications and the popular press have stressed the importance of creating conditions for meaningful employee expression in work roles, also known as engagement. Few empirical studies, however, have examined how individual or situational factors relate to engagement. Consequently, this study examines the interplay between employee age, perceived coworker age composition, and satisfaction with older (older than 55) and younger (younger than 40) coworkers on engagement using a sample of 901 individuals employed in the United Kingdom. Results indicated that satisfaction with one's coworkers related significantly to engagement. Moreover, perceived age similarity was associated with higher levels of engagement among older workers when they were highly satisfied with their coworkers over 55 and lower levels of engagement when they were not.     

调节聚焦对高中生毅力水平的影响:学业情绪的中介作用

对644名高一、高二学生进行调节聚焦、毅力和学业情绪的问卷调查,以探讨高中生毅力水平与调节聚焦和学业情绪之间的关系。结果显示:(1)高中男生的毅力水平显著高于女生,高一年级学生的毅力水平显著高于高二年级;(2)高中生的调节聚焦并不完全直接导致毅力的增强或降低,而是通过学业情绪作为中介而间接影响毅力的。促进定向通过高兴的中介作用而增强毅力,通过沮丧的中介作用而降低毅力;预防定向通过生气的中介作用而降低毅力,但是满足的中介作用不显著。     

Self-concealment and suicidal behaviors

Understanding self-concealment, the tendency to actively conceal distressing personal information from others, may be important in developing effective ways to help individuals with suicidal ideation. No published study has yet assessed the relation between self-concealment and suicidal behaviors. Additionally, most self-concealment research has been conducted solely with younger adults. The relation between self-concealment and depressive symptoms among older adults (age 65 and older), and between self-concealment and suicidal behaviors among both younger (college student) and older adults, was investigated in this study. As predicted, self-concealment was significantly related to suicidal behaviors in younger adults. Furthermore, self-concealment was significantly related to depressive symptoms in older adults. Interestingly, the association between self-concealment and suicidal behaviors in this age group was not significant.