The Self-Contaminating Nature of Repeated Reports of Negative Emotions

Three experiments examined effects of measuring self-reported emotional intensity on subsequent self-reported emotional intensity. Across 3 experiments, we induced sadness, envy, and happiness and manipulated the number of emotional intensity measurements. In all experiments, repeated measurement led to weaker intensity of negative emotions than did a single measurement. Although the intensity of happiness was unaffected by repeated measurement, data suggest that measurements interfered with ongoing emotional experience. We suggest that our findings have methodological, conceptual, and practical implications, but perhaps foremost is the warning that social scientists may have greater cause for caution regarding repeated self-report measures than previously thought.