For whom is mind wandering stressful: The moderating role of dispositional emotionality and personality in predicting emotional experiences in everyday life

Abstract

This study tested whether dispositional emotionality and personality traits moderated the emotion a person experienced when engaging in mind wandering. Participants (n = 264) completed measures of dispositional emotionality and personality. Then on two separate days they completed a 24-hour ecological momentary assessment protocol, responding every 30 min during wake times if they were mind wandering, and how angry, sad, anxious, and happy they felt, for a total of 8,530 assessments. Using multilevel models, we found the following when mind wandering versus not: trait anger predicted more anger, depressive symptomatology more sadness, openness to experience less sadness, neuroticism more anger, and conscientiousness less happiness. Results indicate a synchrony between emotions experienced while mind wandering to one’s dispositional emotionality and personality.