Responses to positive affect,life satisfaction and self‐esteem: A cross‐lagged panel analysis during middle adolescence

During middle adolescence, elevated stress and a greater presence of psychological disorders have been documented. The research has paid little attention to the regulation of positive affective states. Fredrickson's broaden‐and‐build theory suggests that cultivating positive emotions helps to build resources that boost well‐being. The current research aimed to examine the longitudinal associations between responses to positive affect (emotion‐focused positive rumination, self‐focused positive rumination, and dampening) and psychological adjustment (self‐esteem and life satisfaction) during middle adolescence. A longitudinal study with two waves separated by one year was conducted, assessing 977 adolescents (M = 13.81, SD = 0.79; 51.5% boys) with self‐report measures. A cross‐lagged panel analysis was performed by including within the same model the relationships between all of the variables in the two assessment points. The results indicated cross‐lagged positive relationships of self‐focused positive rumination with both self‐esteem and life satisfaction, while dampening showed a negative cross‐lagged relationship with self‐esteem. Moreover, higher self‐esteem predicted more emotion‐focused positive rumination, and more dampening predicted lower life satisfaction. Thus, the use of adaptive responses to positive affect and a better psychological adjustment were found to be prospectively interrelated at the one‐year follow‐up during middle adolescence. The discussion argues for the need to implement programmes to promote more adaptive responses to positive affect to enhance psychological adjustment in the adolescent transition to adulthood.     

Optimism as a mediator between resilience and affective states in older adults / El optimismo como mediador entre la resiliencia y estados afectivos en adultos mayores

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore whether resilience is associated with and a predictor of depression, anxiety, negative and positive affect, life satisfaction and subjective happiness in older adults, and whether these relationships are mediated by optimism. To analyse this, different scales were administered to a sample of 240 elderly people and correlational and mediational analysis was carried out. The results showed relationships between all the variables. Similarly, we found that optimism is a partial mediator of the relationship between resilience and the aforementioned variables. Our results evidenced that increasing resilience and optimism in elderly people could be favourable to successful ageing.     

Fear of evaluation unpacked: day-to-day correlates of fear of negative and positive evaluation

Background and objectives: Social interactions inevitably go along with repeated evaluations. Some individuals are particularly sensitive to social evaluations: Psychometric studies suggest stable and distinct individual differences on fear of negative evaluations (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE). However, little is known about day-to-day correlates of FNE and FPE, particularly their respective contribution to positive/negative affect level and affect reactivity to different stressor types.

Design: Two studies naturalistically assessed the level of negative/positive affect and its reactivity to different stressor types (from distant or close social network, work and daily hassles, assessed daily) as a function of FNE/FPE.

Method: Ecological Momentary Assessment employed five daily prompts during 12/10 days in convenience samples of 50/59 participants.

Results: FNE predicted lower positive affect level only in Study 2. Consistent across studies negative affect reactivity to stressors emanating from the distant social network was increased in individuals high in FNE or FPE.

Conclusions: Results document the relevance of both types of evaluation fears (FNE/FPE) for day-to-day affect and stress reactivity. They further specify whose evaluations are well tolerated (close network) or feared (distant network), thereby refining current psycho-evolutionary accounts of FNE/FPE.     

Positive affect as a moderator of liking effects on trust and attraction

Attitude similarity effects on attraction appear to be mediated sequentially by positive affect, inferred attraction, and trust. That is, the first two supposedly distal mediators influence each other in building trust, a mediator proximal to attraction. However, the correlational nature of data reported heretofore precludes definitive conclusions about sequential dependency between the two distal mediators. In the research reported, therefore, the authors manipulated positive affect in the participants (Time 1) and liking of the partner for them (Time 2), and measured trust before attraction. As predicted, liking effects on trust and attraction were stronger when positive affect in the participants was high than when it was low. Importantly, the interaction effect in trust fully mediated the interaction effect in attraction.     

从固定到可变：情感对认知影响的再认识

情感-认知领域的最新研究发现,已有研究通常认为的积极和消极情感对认知加工的固定影响,会在某些条件下发生反转。这致使情感-认知联系的固定观受到挑战,而情感-认知反馈假说（AACF）的出现则从联系可变的视角上为上述冲突提供了有效的解释。该假说认为,情感对认知之所以存在可变影响,其关键在于个体具备认知加工的预先准备状态,即可通达策略的存在。后续研究围绕众多认知现象,验证并支持了AACF的观点。针对这一理论构想,未来研究还应结合对概念本质的哲学反思以及不同视角的实证研究,对情感与认知的内在关系进行更为深入的探索。     

Viral videos and virtue: Moral elevation inductions shift affect and interpersonal goals in daily life

Laboratory studies suggest that witnessing virtuous acts triggers moral elevation, an emotion characterized by feeling uplifted and increased prosocial motives. However, it remains unknown whether regular inductions can increase elevation and prosocial motives in daily life without being vulnerable to habituation or adaptation effects. Participants (total N = 181) were randomly assigned to elevating vs. neutral or amusing inductions (video or recall tasks) for seven days (Study 1), ten days (Study 2), or 12 days over one month (Study 3). Multilevel growth models showed that relative to comparison conditions, elevation inductions increased daily elevation, positive affect, and prosocial outcomes (compassionate goals and affiliation), and decreased self-protective motives (self-image goals). Adaptation effects occurred for immediate responses when exercises occurred daily, but not when spaced out over time, and not for outcomes measured later each day. Results suggest benefits of brief, regular elevation experiences and have implications for interventions targeting specific emotions.     

The relationship between therapeutic engagement,cognitive errors,and coping action patterns: An exploratory study

Aim: This exploratory study examined the relationship between clients’ involvement in therapy and their cognitive errors (CE) and coping action patterns (CAP). Method: Therapy sessions from N = 26 clients were rated for CE and CP using the CE and CAP methods. Client involvement was measured with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, as well as the . Results: The CEs’ ‘magnification of the negative or minimisation of the positive’ and ‘labelling’ were associated with measures of affective therapeutic engagement. The coping styles ‘negotiation’, ‘opposition’, ‘submission’, ‘isolation’, ‘support seeking’, ‘information seeking’, ‘delegation’, and ‘escape’ were found to be associated with affective and behavioural dimensions of therapeutic involvement. Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary supporting evidence that CE and CP are related to the extent to which clients engage in the work of therapy. Implications for researchers and therapists are discussed.     

Attention-Affect Check List: A self-report measure of acute mental stress

Given a hint from Lang, Bradley, and Cutbert's (1997) defense cascade, two cognitive processes, instead of passive versus active behavioral coping, which seem to have differential effects on the provocation of vascular- versus cardiac-dominant reaction pattern during mental stress were advocated: attention (Attent) versus unpleasant affect (UnplAff). Based on this notion the Attention-Affect Check List (AACL) was developed as a self-report measure. In addition, items on uncontrollability (Uncontr) were prepared for the purpose of checking whether heightened Attent and UnplAff are accompanied by alterations in Uncontr. Two hundred and eighty-four students underwent two kinds of mental stress, which seemed to specifically heighten Attent and UnplAff. Four factors with four items each were extracted from the AACL item pool: concentrated and allocated Attent, UnplAff, and pleasant affect. Also, one factor with four items was extracted from the Uncontr item pool. For both the mental stresses, each scale, although very brief, had quite reasonable alpha reliability. Accountability of each scale for the total variance was reasonably high. Some problems are discussed in relation to the validity of AACL.