We conducted an integrative data analysis to examine the hedonic character of nostalgia. We combined positive and negative affect measures from 41 experiments manipulating nostalgia (N = 4,659). ...Overall, nostalgia inductions increased positive and ambivalent affect, but did not significantly alter negative affect. The magnitude of nostalgia’s effects varied markedly across different experimental inductions of the emotion. The hedonic character of nostalgia, then, depends on how the emotion is elicited and the benchmark (i.e., control condition) to which it is compared. We discuss implications for theory and research on nostalgia and emotions in general.
Dampening responses to positive affect have been posited to confer vulnerability to depression, but longitudinal studies have not consistently shown dampening tendencies to predict follow-up ...depression. The cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cross-lagged relationships between dampening and depression were determined using meta-analytic methods. A systematic literature search of the PsycINFO and PubMed databases supplemented by Google Scholar yielded 60 samples suitable for inclusion in the cross-sectional analyses and 12 samples meeting criteria for the longitudinal analyses. In the first meta-analytic study to examine the relationship between dampening and depression, we found dampening to be associated with depression both cross-sectionally (r = .45) and prospectively (r = 0.34). Crucially, dampening at baseline remained a significant predictor of follow-up depression even after controlling for baseline levels of depression in cross-lagged analyses (β = .09). A bidirectional effect was also found, with baseline levels of depression predicting follow-up tendencies to engage in dampening (r = 0.36). This relationship was again diminished but remained significant after controlling for initial levels of dampening (β = .14). These results suggest that dampening responses to positive affect are a risk factor for the development of depression and highlight the importance of targeting dampening cognitions in treatment.
•Dampening responses to positive affect are associated with depression.•However, evidence is mixed as to whether dampening predicts depression over time.•Effect sizes for the relationships between dampening and depression were computed.•Dampening predicted increases in depression over time and vice versa.•Results suggest dampening is a risk factor for the development of depression.
Positive affect synchrony, or the reciprocal exchange of positive affect during free play, can scaffold infants’ socioemotional development. However, parental stress may compromise the expression and ...exchange of positive affect within families. The current study assesses whether parenting stress and hair cortisol are associated with positive affect synchrony during a triadic play interaction.
Within 70 different-sex dyads consisting of first-time parents and their six-month-old infants who participated in a four-minute laboratory-based free-play task, facial affect of each member of the triad was observationally microcoded at the second-by-second level. Hair samples were collected from mothers and fathers for cortisol assay, and parents completed a self-report measure of parenting stress.
Using dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM), we found positive between-level and within-level affect synchrony across all family members, with one exception: infants’ affect did not predict fathers’ affect at the following timepoint. Mother-to-infant affect synchrony was greater in mothers with higher hair cortisol. Similarly, mothers with higher parenting stress tended to have greater infant-to-mother affect synchrony, and had infants that displayed less overall positive affect across the interaction.
We found evidence for bidirectional, time-lagged synchrony in the momentary positive affect of mothers, fathers, and infants. Maternal hair cortisol concentration and parenting stress seem to increase affect synchrony between mothers and infants– suggesting that parental stress may correlate with greater affective attunement, but less overall positive affect in infants.
•We use dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) to measure affective synchrony in family triads.•We found evidence for bidirectional, moment-to-moment affect synchrony in mothers, fathers, and infants.•Parental stress may correlate with greater affective attunement, but less overall positive affect in infants.
The relationship between mindfulness and well-being has received considerable importance in positive psychological research. The aim of the present study was to examine whether self-esteem mediates ...the relationship between mindfulness and well-being. A sample of 318 Indian undergraduate university students in the age range of 18–23years completed self-report measures of mindfulness, self-esteem, affect and mental well-being. Correlation results indicated that mindfulness was associated with self-esteem, affect, and mental well-being and self-esteem was associated with affect and mental well-being. Analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between mindfulness and positive affect and mental well-being. Furthermore, self esteem partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and negative affect. Moreover, a multi-group analysis showed that the mediational model was not moderated by gender. The limitations and implications of the results are discussed.
•Mindfulness predicted affect and mental well-being.•Mindfulness predicted self-esteem.•Self-esteem fully mediated the mindfulness–positive affect relationship.•Self-esteem fully mediated the mindfulness–mental well-being relationship.•Self-esteem partially mediated the mindfulness–negative affect relationship.
•Simultaneously examines the temporal and longitudinal contributions of self-compassion to resilience in early adolescents.•Identifies self-compassion, positive affect, and negative affect as ...predictors of both current and future resilience.•Demonstrates positive and negative affect's partial mediating roles in the relationship between self-compassion and resilience, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.
Self-compassion and resilience, though distinct, have been mainly independently explored in adolescents with links to various well-being and mental health outcomes. This study simultaneously investigates the temporal and longitudinal contributions of self-compassion to resilience by exploring potential mediation roles of positive and negative affects in early adolescents. The sample of the study consisted of early adolescents studying in secondary schools in Turkey. The first-wave data (T1) was collected in May 2023, involving 259 students (M = 10.92, SD = 0.70). The second-wave data (T2) was collected in September 2023 from 253 participants (M = 11.26, SD = 0.71). The results revealed that self-compassion, positive affect and negative affect predicted current and future resilience. The mediation analysis showed partial mediating roles of positive and negative affect in the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between self-compassion and resilience. This suggests that interventions focusing on enhancing self-compassion, with the potential to increase positive affect and reduce negative affect, could positively impact both current and future resilience in early adolescents.
Effect sizes are an important outcome of quantitative research, but few guidelines exist that explain how researchers can determine which effect sizes are meaningful. Psychologists often want to ...study effects that are large enough to make a difference to people's subjective experience. Thus, subjective experience is one way to gauge the meaningfulness of an effect. We propose and illustrate one method for how to quantify the smallest subjectively experienced difference—the smallest change in an outcome measure that individuals consider to be meaningful enough in their subjective experience such that they are willing to rate themselves as feeling different—using an anchor-based method with a global rating of change question applied to the positive and negative affect scale. We provide a step-by-step guide for the questions that researchers need to consider in deciding whether and how to use the anchor-based method, and we make explicit the assumptions of the method that future research can examine. For researchers interested in people's subjective experiences, this anchor-based method provides one way to specify a smallest effect size of interest, which allows researchers to interpret observed results in terms of their theoretical and practical significance.
•It is difficult to determine what a meaningful effect size should be.•Clinical/health research uses an anchor to establish clinically significant cutoffs.•The anchor-item can be used for more basic research on subjective experience.•We show how to use the anchor for positive and negative affect.•We determine a meaningful changed based on change that is subjectively experienced.
The present study examined the link between ability emotional intelligence (EI), positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction in a relatively wide sample of 721 Spanish undergraduate students. ...Data were collected using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Correlational results indicated that ability EI was significantly and positively associated with life satisfaction and positive affect, and inversely with negative affect. Thus, positive and negative affect were significantly associated with life satisfaction in the expected way. Importantly, path analyses indicated that both positive and negative affect played a fully mediating role in the link between EI and life satisfaction. These results add to the small but growing literature about EI, assessed by a performance-based measure, and well-being, and encourage further research about affective processes by which these emotional skills influence diverse well-being outcomes.
•Emotional intelligence was associated with life satisfaction.•Positive and negative affect were associated with life satisfaction.•Positive and negative affect fully mediated the emotional intelligence–life satisfaction link.
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex and life‐threatening eating disorder. Current models of AN onset and maintenance have largely focused on the role of negative affect, while fewer models have ...described the role of positive affect (PA). Given that these theoretical models have informed current treatment approaches, and that treatment remains minimally effective for adults with AN, we advocate that targeting PA is one avenue for advancing maintenance models and by extension, treatment. We specifically propose that AN may arise and be chronically and pervasively maintained as a function of dysregulated PA in response to weight loss and weight loss behaviors (e.g., restriction, excessive exercise), to a degree that is not accounted for in existing models of AN. We present evidence from multiple domains, including biological, behavioral, and self‐report, supporting the hypothesis that PA dysregulation in AN contributes to the maintenance of the disorder. We conclude with several specific avenues for treatment development research as well as a call for future work elucidating the biological correlates of PA.
Spirituality and religiosity have been found to be positive predictors of subjective well-being, even if results are not altogether consistent across studies. This mixed evidence is probably due to ...the inadequate operationalization of the constructs as well as the neglect of the moderation effect that the individuals' religious status can have on the relation between spirituality/religiosity and subjective well-being. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship of spirituality and religiosity with subjective well-being (operationalized as both life satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect) and to test whether differences exist according to individuals' religious status (religious, non-religious, and uncertain). Data were collected from 267 Italian adults aged 18-77 (
= 36.68; SD = 15.13), mainly women (59.9%). In order to test the role of spirituality (operationalized as Purpose, Innerness, Interconnection, and Transcendence) and religiosity (operationalized as three dimensions of the religious identity: Commitment, In-depth Exploration, and Reconsideration of Commitment) in subjective well-being, two path analysis models were run, one for each predictor. To test the invariance of the two models across the individuals' religious status, two multi-group models were run. The models concerning spirituality were tested on the entire sample, finding that spirituality had a positive impact on subjective well-being (except for the dimension of Interconnection) and that this relation is unaffected by the individual's religious status. The models concerning religiosity were instead tested only on religious and uncertain, finding that the relationship between religiosity and subjective well-being changes across religious status. In particular, the main difference we found was that religious identity commitment positively predicted satisfaction with life among religious, but not among uncertain individuals. An interpretation of the results and their implications are discussed.
Charities are constantly looking for new and more effective ways to engage potential donors in order to secure the resources needed to deliver services. The current work demonstrates that creative ...activities are one way for marketers to meet this challenge. Field and lab studies find that engaging potential donors in creative activities positively influences their donation behaviors (i.e., the likelihood of donation and the monetary amount donated). Importantly, the observed effects are shown to be context independent: they hold even when potential donors engage in creative activities unrelated to the focal cause of the charity (or the charitable organization itself). The findings suggest that engaging in a creative activity enhances the felt autonomy of the participant, thus inducing a positive affective state, which in turn leads to higher donation behaviors. Positive affect is demonstrated to enhance donation behaviors due to perceptions of donation impact and a desire for mood maintenance. However, the identified effects emerge only when one engages in a creative activity—not when the activity is noncreative, or when only the concept of creativity itself is made salient.
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