Abstract
We report the construction of the Inventory of Responses to Positive Affective States (IRPAS), a trait, self-report measure of response to positive affect. The IRPAS differs from existing measures by addressing a broad set of responses to positive affect, including but not limited to affect regulation strategies, and by considering relevance to a range of positive affective states. In Study 1, qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 individuals to inform item content. In Study 2, factor analysis of the final item set was conducted using data from 540 individuals. Study 3 investigated convergent and divergent validity and test–retest reliability of the resulting 59-item IRPAS. The IRPAS was found to be reliable and valid, and to make a unique contribution to the literature on response to positive mood. Further validation studies should be conducted; potential applications include exploration of positive affect functioning in both clinical and non-clinical populations.
Highlights
Relative to negative emotion functioning, the regulation of positive feelings is an understudied area
We differentiated savoring from responses that appeared to be better described as seeking connection with others and with higher entities
The Inventory of Responses to Positive Affective States (IRPAS) appears to measure some constructs not addressed by the other measures investigated, suggesting that it has the potential to make a novel contribution to the investigation of the regulation of positive emotion
Summary
Relative to negative emotion functioning, the regulation of positive feelings is an understudied area. “Emotion regulation” can be defined as a set of processes that individuals engage in either consciously or nonconsciously, and with or without deliberate effort (Gross & Thompson, 2007), that have the intention or effect of increasing, decreasing, or maintaining emotional state. Gross (1998) proposes five stages at which regulation processes may occur: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modification. The IRPAS is most closely concerned with the final stage, response modification. Processes at this stage emerge once the emotion has been elicited, and represent experiential, behavioral, or physiological attempts to modulate the emotional response
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