The affective antecedents of cognitive social network activation

Abstract

How might people's moment-to-moment feelings influence the social network contacts they call to mind? Three datasets indicate that experiencing positive affect leads people to cognitively activate larger and more sparsely connected social network structures, while experiencing negative affect leads them to activate smaller, redundant social network structures. A preliminary association emerged between positive affect and activating large, diversified network structures in the General Social Survey. To isolate causality, we then conducted two experiments where we randomly assigned participants to experience either positive or negative affect. Both studies supported the hypothesized relationship between affect and cognitive network activation. These findings contribute to a burgeoning literature examining how psychological states shape the activation of social network structures.