Positive affect, self-access, and health

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 139-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Quirin ◽  
Julius Kuhl

Abstract. Based on the framework of Personality Systems Interactions theory, this article addresses the functional mechanisms by which positive affect influences motivational and self-regulatory determinants of health-relevant behavior on an elementary level of processing. Research encompassing experimental procedures such as the Stroop task will be presented which suggest that positive affect is necessary not only to facilitate self-regulation of negative emotions but also to facilitate self-motivation, i.e., the enactment of difficult intentions that entail the risk of procrastination. We also highlight the role of state and trait accessibility of self-referential information (”self-access”) in generating such positive affect. The relevance of the findings for health maintenance is addressed.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Adam Wilt ◽  
Jessie Sun ◽  
Rowan Jacques-Hamilton ◽  
Luke D. Smillie

Extraverts report higher levels of authenticity and extraverted behavior predicts increased feelings of authenticity. Why? Across three studies, we examined positive affect as a mediator of the associations between extraversion and authenticity. In Study 1 (N = 205), we tested our mediation model at the trait level. Study 2 (N = 97) involved a ten-week lab-based experience sampling protocol, whereas Study 3 (N = 147) involved a preregistered week-long daily-life experience sampling protocol. These studies allowed us to test our mediation model at the state level. Positive affect explained moderate to very high proportions of the effects of extraversion on authenticity (Study 1 = 29%, Study 2 = 38%, Study 3 = 87%). We interpret these findings through the lens of cybernetic self-regulation, feelings-as-information, positive psychology, and humanistic perspectives, and propose that increased PA could also explain why extraversion is connected with other eudaimonic components of wellbeing.


2020 ◽  
pp. 026540752097218
Author(s):  
Heleen S. Koppejan-Luitze ◽  
Reine C. van der Wal ◽  
Esther S. Kluwer ◽  
Margreet M. Visser ◽  
Catrin Finkenauer

In this study, we examined whether regular divorces can be distinguished from complex divorces by measuring the intensity of negative emotions that divorced parents report when thinking about their ex-partner. We recruited two groups of parents: n = 136 in a regular divorce, and n = 191 in a complex divorce. Based on the existing literature, we predicted that parents in complex divorces experience more intense negative emotions than parents in regular divorces; especially emotions that motivate emotional distancing (contempt, disgust, anger, hatred, and rage) and emotions that impair self-regulation (fear, shame, guilt, and sadness). We also predicted that these emotions would hamper co-parenting, particularly in complex divorces. The results provided support for our predictions, except for fear and sadness. We found that parents in a complex divorce reported more co-parenting concerns than parents in a regular divorce. In contrast to our expectations, the relation between negative emotions and coparenting concerns was stronger among parents in a regular divorce than in a complex divorce. These findings underline the importance of emotions in the divorce trajectory and suggest that especially the intensity of emotional distancing emotions may serve as a screening tool to identify parents at risk for a complex divorce.


Author(s):  
Denise de Ridder ◽  
Catharine Evers

This chapter discusses the relationship between affect and eating behavior from two points of view—how affect shapes eating behavior and how eating behavior generates affect—arguing that appreciating how affect influences eating behavior depends on understanding in what way eating generates affect. It first discusses biological and social-cultural perspectives on the pleasure of eating and posits that the inherently rewarding experience of eating is compromised by concerns about the health consequences of eating too much or by eating the wrong foods. The second part of this chapter explains in what way both negative and positive affect influences consumption and highlights the contrast between theoretical notions on the phenomenon of emotional eating and empirical findings. It elaborates on new avenues for investigating the association between affect and eating, including the role of positive emotions, emotions as justifications for overeating, and eating as a coping strategy for dealing with negative emotions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Da Costa ◽  
Dario Páez

An experimental study contrast the effects of inducing positive affect on creativity and the mediational role of positive emotions. High and low positive affect was induced by asking subjects to write three poems Haikus about high (<em>N = </em>28) and low positive connotation stimuli (<em>N = </em>28). Then people wrote about their more intense infatuation experience and answered a scale on the emotions felt when writing the text, a measure of personal growth or benefits, and a measure of achievement of adaptive goals after the episode. In high positive affect condition was reported more positive and less negative emotions in recounting the experience, more personal growth and a better adjustment. Last poem and narration of experience were evaluated as more original in high positive condition by independent judges. A mediational analysis showed that positive emotions explain partially the influence of the manipulation on personal growth and perceived adjustment.


In the last twenty to thirty years, research on affective determinants of health behavior has proliferated. For the first time, this burgeoning area of research is reviewed and discussed in a single volume, with chapters from leading experts in their respective areas. Authors focus on a range of affective concepts, including, but not limited to, hedonic response, incidental affect, perceived satisfaction, anticipated affect, affective attitudes, and affective associations. In the first part of the book (chapters 2–10), the role of affective concepts is highlighted and expanded in multiple theories of health behavior, including theories of action control, self-regulation, self-determination, dual-processing, affective associations, and hedonic motivation. The second part of the book (chapters 11–20) focuses on the role of affective concepts in specific health behavior domains, including physical activity, eating, smoking, substance use, sex, tanning, blood donation, performance of health professionals, cancer screening, and cancer control. Each chapter offers a summary of existing research, as well as the authors’ insights on possible new directions and implications for intervention.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasida Ben-Zur

Abstract. The current study investigated the associations of psychological resources, social comparisons, and temporal comparisons with general wellbeing. The sample included 142 community participants (47.9% men; age range 23–83 years), who compared themselves with others, and with their younger selves, on eight dimensions (e.g., physical health, resilience). They also completed questionnaires assessing psychological resources of mastery and self-esteem, and three components of subjective wellbeing: life satisfaction and negative and positive affect. The main results showed that high levels of psychological resources contributed to wellbeing, with self-enhancing social and temporal comparisons moderating the effects of resources on certain wellbeing components. Specifically, under low levels of mastery or self-esteem self-enhancing social or temporal comparisons were related to either higher life satisfaction or positive affect. The results highlight the role of resources and comparisons in promoting people’s wellbeing, and suggest that self-enhancing comparisons function as cognitive coping mechanisms when psychological resources are low.


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