Momentary Emotion Differentiation: The Derivation and Validation of an index to Study Within-Person Fluctuations in Emotion Differentiation

Emotion differentiation refers to the tendency to label emotions in a granular way. While differentiation is an important individual difference in the context of psychological well-being, it is unknown how it fluctuates within individuals. Such a within-person measure is important, since it would allow the study of how changes in differentiation predict subsequent levels of other variables of interest. Here, we present a framework to study emotion differentiation at the within-person level by introducing a momentary emotion differentiation index. This index is directly derived from the classical emotion differentiation index, the intraclass correlation. We first give a theoretical derivation of this index. Next, using data from two experience sampling studies, we show how this new momentary index is related to other momentary indicators of well-being, and take the first steps in building its nomological network. A better understanding of within-person fluctuations in emotion differentiation will allow us to identify the causes and consequences of these fluctuations, and search for ways to teach individuals to increase their level of emotion differentiation.

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Momentary Emotion Differentiation: The derivation and validation of a framework to study within-person fluctuations in emotion differentiation

10.31234/osf.io/v6u7t ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yasemin Erbas ◽

Elise Katherine Kalokerinos ◽

Peter Kuppens ◽

Sjoerd van Halem ◽

Eva Ceulemans

Keyword(s):

Individual Difference ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Well Being ◽

Nomological Network ◽

Theoretical Derivation ◽

Intra Class Correlation ◽

Emotion Differentiation ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Using Data ◽

Differentiation Index

Emotion differentiation refers to the tendency to label emotions in a granular way. While differentiation is an important individual difference in the context of psychological well-being (Kashdan et al., 2015), it is unknown how it fluctuates within individuals. Such a within-person measure is important, since it would allow the study of how changes in differentiation predict subsequent levels of other variables of interest. Here, we present a framework to study emotion differentiation at the within-person level by introducing a momentary emotion differentiation index. This index is directly derived from the classical emotion differentiation index, the intra-class correlation. We first give a theoretical derivation of this index. Next, using data from two experience sampling studies, we show how this new momentary index is related to other momentary indicators of well-being, and take the first steps in building its nomological network. A better understanding of within-person fluctuations in emotion differentiation will allow us to identify the causes and consequences of these fluctuations, and search for ways to teach individuals to increase their level of emotion differentiation.

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Differentiate to Regulate: Low Negative Emotion Differentiation Is Associated With Ineffective Use but Not Selection of Emotion-Regulation Strategies

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797619838763 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 863-879 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Elise K. Kalokerinos ◽

Yasemin Erbas ◽

Eva Ceulemans ◽

Peter Kuppens

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Well Being ◽

Emotion Regulation Strategies ◽

Emotion Differentiation ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Regulation Strategies ◽

Selection Of

Emotion differentiation, which involves experiencing and labeling emotions in a granular way, has been linked with well-being. It has been theorized that differentiating between emotions facilitates effective emotion regulation, but this link has yet to be comprehensively tested. In two experience-sampling studies, we examined how negative emotion differentiation was related to (a) the selection of emotion-regulation strategies and (b) the effectiveness of these strategies in downregulating negative emotion ( Ns = 200 and 101 participants and 34,660 and 6,282 measurements, respectively). Unexpectedly, we found few relationships between differentiation and the selection of putatively adaptive or maladaptive strategies. Instead, we found interactions between differentiation and strategies in predicting negative emotion. Among low differentiators, all strategies (Study 1) and four of six strategies (Study 2) were more strongly associated with increased negative emotion than they were among high differentiators. This suggests that low differentiation may hinder successful emotion regulation, which in turn supports the idea that effective regulation may underlie differentiation benefits.

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Investigating the Relationships between Mobility Behaviours and Indicators of Subjective Well–Being Using Smartphone–Based Experience Sampling and GPS Tracking

European Journal of Personality ◽

10.1002/per.2262 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (5) ◽

pp. 714-732

Author(s):

Sandrine R. Müller ◽

Heinrich Peters ◽

Sandra C. Matz ◽

Weichen Wang ◽

Gabriella M. Harari

Keyword(s):

Experience Sampling ◽

Movement Patterns ◽

Past Research ◽

Well Being ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

Future Research ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Personality Psychology ◽

Physical Environments ◽

Using Data

People interact with their physical environments every day by visiting different places and moving between them. Such mobility behaviours likely influence and are influenced by people's subjective well–being. However, past research examining the links between mobility behaviours and well–being has been inconclusive. Here, we provide a comprehensive investigation of these relationships by examining individual differences in two types of mobility behaviours (movement patterns and places visited) and their relationship to six indicators of subjective well–being (depression, loneliness, anxiety, stress, affect, and energy) at two different temporal levels of analysis (two–week tendencies and daily level). Using data from a large smartphone–based longitudinal study ( N = 1765), we show that (i) movement patterns assessed via GPS data (distance travelled, entropy, and irregularity) and (ii) places visited assessed via experience sampling reports (home, work, and social places) are associated with subjective well–being at the between and within person levels. Our findings suggest that distance travelled is related to anxiety, affect, and stress, irregularity is related to depression and loneliness, and spending time in social places is negatively associated with loneliness. We discuss the implications of our work and highlight directions for future research on the generalizability to other populations as well as the characteristics of places. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

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Two Experience Sampling Studies Examining the Variation of Self-Control Capacity and Its Relationship with Core Affect in Daily Life

10.31234/osf.io/ta6bh ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Chao Zhang ◽

Karin Smolders ◽

Daniel Lakens ◽

Wijnand IJsselsteijn

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

Daily Life ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Self Control ◽

Diurnal Pattern ◽

Nomological Network ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Control Processes ◽

Core Affect

To facilitate a better understanding of the role of self-control capacity in self-control processes, we examined its variation at intraindividual and interindividual levels, and positioned it in a nomological network with core affect. In two experience sampling studies, 286 university students reported their self-control capacity and core affect for a week. Results revealed larger person-to-person than day-to-day variation in self-control capacity, while its moment-to-moment variation could be weakly modeled as a diurnal pattern. Interindividually, participants with higher self-control capacity were happier and less stressed, but intraindividually higher self-control capacity was mainly associated with higher alertness and energetic arousal. Our results imply that self-control capacity is better conceptualized as a composition of interrelated sub-constructs rather than as a unified resource.

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Other-Contingent Extraversion and Satisfaction

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001/a000339 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Jason L. Huang ◽

Dongyuan Wu

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Life Satisfaction ◽

Individual Difference ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Positive Association ◽

Well Being ◽

Implicit Theory ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

College Satisfaction ◽

Personality Research

Abstract. We conceptualize other-contingent extraversion as an individual difference in the tendency to elevate one’s state extraversion when interacting with friendly others. Using experience sampling data from 75 college students, we assessed other-contingent extraversion to predict subjective well-being, and further examined whether implicit theory of personality would moderate such a prediction. Results indicate that, despite a general positive association between others’ friendliness and one’s state extraversion, individuals differed in the degree to which they manifested state extraversion in response to others’ friendliness, allowing us to model this individual difference as other-contingent extraversion. Other-contingent extraversion interacted with implicit theory to predict college satisfaction but not life satisfaction. Specifically, other-contingent extraversion had a more positive association with college satisfaction for respondents with a stronger incremental perspective (malleable view) of personality. Our study contributes to personality research by introducing other-contingent extraversion as a unit of personality.

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Social Media and Well-being: Time to Abandon the Active-Passive Dichotomy

10.31234/osf.io/j6xqz ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Patti M. Valkenburg ◽

Irene Ingeborg van Driel ◽

Ine Beyens

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Media Use ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Well Being ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Valid Measurement

A recurring claim in the literature is that “active” social media use (ASMU) leads to increases in well-being, whereas “passive” social media use (PSMU) leads to decreases in well-being. The aim of this scoping review was to investigate the validity of this claim by comparing the results of studies that appeared after the meta-analysis of Liu et al. (2019). We found 27 studies focusing on 85 different associations of ASMU or PSMU with well-being. Results showed that studies used a hodgepodge of operationalizations of ASMU and PSMU. Some mixed up private (e.g., direct messaging) and public (e.g., posting, browsing) ASMU and/or PSMU, which is problematic, because private SMU is more synchronous and intimate than public SMU, which may lead to different effects. The majority of the cross-sectional, virtually all the longitudinal, and most of the experience sampling studies disconfirmed the hypothesized associations of ASMU and PSMU with well-being. Moreover, the experiments revealed that the effects of PSMU depend on the content and sender of the posts. Our results indicate that it is time to abandon the active-passive dichotomy and replace it with a more valid measurement of SMU that takes characteristics of SM content, senders, and receivers into account.

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Emotional Granularity Increases With Intensive Ambulatory Assessment: Methodological and Individual Factors Influence How Much

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704125 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Katie Hoemann ◽

Lisa Feldman Barrett ◽

Karen S. Quigley

Keyword(s):

Emotional Health ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Ambulatory Assessment ◽

Individual Factors ◽

Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Using Data ◽

Context Specific ◽

The Impact ◽

Over Time

Individuals differ in their ability to create instances of emotion that are precise and context-specific. This skill – referred to as emotional granularity or emotion differentiation – is associated with positive mental health outcomes. To date, however, little work has examined whether and how emotional granularity might be increased. Emotional granularity is typically measured using data from experience sampling studies, in which participants are prompted to report on their emotional experiences multiple times per day, across multiple days. This measurement approach allows researchers to examine patterns of responses over time using real-world events. Recent work suggests that experience sampling itself may facilitate increases in emotional granularity in depressed individuals, such that it may serve both empirical and interventional functions. We replicated and extended these findings in healthy adults, using data from an intensive ambulatory assessment study including experience sampling, peripheral physiological monitoring, and end-of-day diaries. We also identified factors that might distinguish individuals who showed larger increases over the course of experience sampling and examined the extent of the impact of these factors. We found that increases in emotional granularity over time were facilitated by methodological factors, such as number of experience sampling prompts responded to per day, as well as individual factors, such as resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia. These results provide support for the use of experience sampling methods to improve emotional granularity, raise questions about the boundary conditions of this effect, and have implications for the conceptualization of emotional granularity and its relationship with emotional health.

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Smartphone tilt as a measure of well-being? Evidence from two experience sampling studies (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.30212 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tim Kuhlmann ◽

Ulf-Dietrich Reips

Keyword(s):

Experience Sampling ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Sensor Data ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

In The Wild ◽

Report Data ◽

Self Report Data ◽

Smartphone Sensor

BACKGROUND Smartphone usage is increasing around the globe. Smartphones offer considerable opportunities to researchers implementing experience sampling designs. Besides convenient gathering of self-report data, the availability of objective sensor data promises advantages for data collection. OBJECTIVE Previous research has shown the relation between body posture and well-being as well as an association between smartphone sensor data and posture. We investigated the association of the smartphone’s objective tilt measure with self-reported well-being in the field. METHODS Two experience sampling studies with 98 and 261 participants were conducted. They included self-reported measures of well-being and objective sensor gathered at the same points in time. The sample included Android and iOS smartphones. RESULTS Results of Study 1 show a within-person association between deviation from the usual tilt and well-being, t(3392)=-3.9, p<.001, d=.13. In Study 2 this association was only shown for Android users, t(3389)=-2.20, p=.03, d=.08, but not for iOS users. Comparison of the groups did reveal differences in the distribution of the sensor measured tilt. CONCLUSIONS An association between subjective well-being and smartphone sensor data was shown, but not consistently across devices and studies. Possible explanations for the differing results by smartphone platform include heterogeneity of the hardware implemented and differences in the software sensor values. Advice on precautions to consider when implementing app studies on differing devices and platforms in the wild are given. Implications for future studies, including objective validation of sensor data, are also discussed.

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Measuring Affect Dynamics: An Empirical Framework

10.31219/osf.io/x2ywa ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sergio Pirla ◽

Maxime Taquet ◽

Jordi Quoidbach

Keyword(s):

Psychological Health ◽

Scientific Progress ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Well Being ◽

Practical Significance ◽

Medium Size ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Dynamic Measures ◽

Study Designs ◽

Affect Dynamics

A fast-growing body of evidence from experience sampling studies suggests that affect dynamics are associated with well-being and psychological health. But heterogeneity in experience sampling approaches impedes reproducibility and scientific progress. Leveraging a large dataset of 7016 individuals, each providing over 50 affect reports, we introduce an empirically-derived framework to help researchers design well-powered and efficient experience sampling studies. Our research reveals three general principles. First, a sample of 200 participants and 20 observations per person yields sufficient power to detect medium size associations for most affect dynamic measures. Second, for trait and time-independent variability measures of affect (e.g., S.D.), distant sampling study designs (i.e., a few daily measurements spread out over several weeks) leads to more accurate estimates than close sampling study designs (i.e., several daily measurements concentrated over a few days), whereas differences in accuracy across sampling methods were inconsistent and of little practical significance for temporally dependent affect dynamic measures (i.e., RMSSD, autocorrelation coefficient, TKEO, and PAC). Third, across all affect dynamics measures, sampling exclusively on specific days or time windows leads to little to no improvement over sampling at random times. Because the ideal sampling approach varies for each affect dynamics measure, we provide a companion R-package, an online calculator, and a series of benchmark effect sizes to help researchers address three fundamental how’s of experience-sampling: How many participants to recruit? How often to solicit them? And for how long?

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Autonomy Matters: Experiential and Individual Differences in Chosen and Unchosen Solitary Activities From Three Experience Sampling Studies

Social Psychological and Personality Science ◽

10.1177/19485506211048066 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 194855062110480

Author(s):

Dwight C. K. Tse ◽

Jennifer C. Lay ◽

Jeanne Nakamura

Keyword(s):

Meaning In Life ◽

Quality Of Experience ◽

Satisfaction With Life ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Well Being ◽

Two Dimensions ◽

Total N ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Lower Productivity

Solitude––the absence of social interaction––can bring both positive and negative experiences. Drawing on self-determination theory, we conducted three experience sampling studies to investigate quality of experience and dispositions associated with activities varying on two dimensions––chosenness (chosen/unchosen) and social context (solitary/interactive). Participants (total N = 283) completed surveys 6–7 times each day over a 7-day period (total: 8,769 surveys). Multilevel modeling confirmed that participants reported the lowest quality momentary experiences when engaged in unchosen (vs. chosen) solitary activities. Further, individuals who spent more time on unchosen solitary activities reported lower meaning in life and satisfaction with life. Extraversion was positively associated with time spent on chosen interactive activities but negatively with chosen solitary activities. Post hoc analyses revealed that people low (vs. high) in extraversion reported lower productivity only during unchosen interactive activities. Chosen (vs. unchosen) solitary activities seem to have a relatively benign impact on quality of experience and well-being.

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