Positive Affect Research Articles

Examining Affordances of Outdoor Natural versus Built Environments

Whereas previous psychological research has examined the benefits of nature from a stress-reduction and attention-restoration perspective, the current studies focus on what possibilities for action are evoked by natural versus built environments. After a study pilot-testing a novel self-administration procedure for soliciting what individuals feel they “could do” in a built or natural outdoor site after walking in it, two studies were conducted to test quantitative differences in the action possibilities (i.e., affordances) that walkers detected when moving through a built or a natural site. A naturalistic study involved community participants who were recruited on-site at one of 12 built or natural sites within the same region of a community. A field experiment involved college students randomly assigned to walk one of four sites (forest or meadow, or one of two downtown areas in a downtown of a small town). No reliable differences were detected in number of responses to the prompt “I could…” completed by participants as a function of natural versus built sites. However, in the field experiment, participants in built rather than natural sites generated more verb and social content, and more total words. In the experiment, participants who walked natural sites had more improvement in positive affect than those who walked built sites.

Stacking bricks or building a cathedral? How affective shifts shape perceptions of daily task significance

One of the most fundamental experiences of deriving positive meaning from work stems from perceptions of task significance. Although interactions with managers and beneficiaries can provide inspirational cues that make the significance of employees' work tasks salient (Grant, 2012, 2008), relying solely on an understanding of these discrete experiences may limit an employee's ability to consistently perceive the significance of work tasks from day to day. To expand understanding of the influences that shape perceptions of daily task significance, we draw on personality systems interaction theory (Kuhl, 2000) to examine the influence of affective shifts. Using a daily diary design over 10 workdays, results from 292 daily observations nested within 38 employees showed that upshifts in positive affect and downshifts in negative affect were positively related to daily task significance. In turn, daily task significance was positively related to helping behaviors and negatively related to work withdrawal. Daily task significance also exhibited an indirect effect on the subsequent workday's start-of-day mood. Employees who perceived high significance today were more likely to start tomorrow off with lower negative mood due to higher helping behaviors the day before and with lower positive mood due to lower work withdrawal the day before. The results yield new insights into the experience of daily task significance and offer significant implications for theory and practice on affect, task significance, and work performance.

Preserving and strengthening physical culture by empowering multifaceted course engagement via individual interest in fitness and Sports

This present study determines the direct influence of individual interests of students toward fitness and sports via course engagement in the promotion and preservation of physical culture inside the university. This study surveyed a total sample of 231 students taking fitness, sports coaching, and management at a state university. The results revealed that individual interest, along with its three important factors (positive affect and willingness to engage, stored utility value, and stored attainment value and knowledge-seeking intentions), is directly related to course engagement and its four components (skills, participation/interaction, emotional, and performance engagement). Therefore, it can be concluded that individual interest in fitness and sports is an important determinant of course engagement that may lead students to practice healthy living, even outside the academe. Limitations and future recommendations are hereby presented.

Information seeking and subsequent affective well-being in Chinese young adults: the mediating effects of worry.

This study aimed to unravel micro-processes that link information seeking to subsequent affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect) at the within-person level, as well as the role of worry as a mediator in this relationship. Within the initial weeks following the Chinese government's relaxation of its epidemic control measures, 184 participants completed experience sampling methods on information seeking, COVID-related worry, and affective well-being three times a day for 14 days. According to dynamic structural equation models, information seeking was associated with high negative affect but not with low positive affect. COVID-related worry acted as a full mediator between information seeking at the previous time point (approximately 5 h ago) and the current negative affect, but not in positive affect. These findings suggested that the impact of information seeking on affective well-being was different for the two dimensions of affect. Furthermore, the persistent impact of information seeking on negative affect was attributed to the indirect effect of worry, suggesting that worry should be a point of focus for intervention to mitigate the potentially negative effects of information seeking within the context of the public health crises.

Latent structure and measurement invariance of the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children across sex and age.

Measurement tools from which valid interpretations can be made are critical for assessing early emerging depressive symptoms, as depressive symptoms in childhood are associated with increased risk for early-onset depressive disorder, recurrence, suicidality, and other psychopathology. The Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRS) is a widely used self-report scale assessing youth depressive symptoms. The relatively few studies investigating the DSRS' latent structure have yielded mixed results, and measurement invariance (MI) based on sex and age has not been examined. We examined the factor structure and MI of the DSRS across sex and age in a community sample of 6-9-year-olds (N = 352; Mage = 7.57 years, SD = .70). Consistent with the largest prior structural study of the DSRS, a two-factor structure, with factors reflecting elevated negative affect (NA) and low positive affect (PA), showed strong model fit. Although this structure was consistent across sex and age (i.e., configural invariance), loadings of DSRS items varied across sex and age (i.e., metric noninvariance). Allowing the loadings of items contributing to noninvariance to vary across groups improved model fit. Implications for the clinical and research utility of the DSRS and suggestions for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Reciprocal relationships between posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and positive and negative affect in evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with elevated negative affect (NA; e.g., Badour et al., 2017) and diminished positive affect (PA; Nawijn et al., 2015). PTSD treatments reduce NA (e.g., Jerud et al., 2014), but changes in PA and relationships between changes in affect and PTSD symptoms remain unclear. This study examined changes in PA and NA in adults (N = 130) with PTSD receiving prolonged exposure (PE) or PE plus sertraline as part of a randomized controlled trial (NCT01600456). Participants completed measures of affect (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988) and PTSD symptoms at 10 weekly treatment sessions. Cross-lagged dynamic structural equation models examined associations between session-to-session fluctuations in affect and PTSD. PA increased moderately (d = 0.51) and NA decreased strongly (d = 0.78) across treatment sessions. Within-person fluctuations in PA and NA were generally reciprocal, PAt → NAt+1: effect size (ES) = -0.09, 95% CI [-0.15, -0.02]; NAt → PAt+1: ES = -0.20, 95% CI [-0.28, -0.13]. However, fluctuations in PTSD more strongly predicted next session NA (PTSDt → NAt+1: ES = 0.50, 95% CI [0.38, 0.60]) and PA (PTSDt → PAt+1: ES = -0.26, 95% CI [-0.34, -0.17]) than the reverse. PE augmentation with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor did not moderate temporal associations. Prolonged exposure produced substantial improvements in PA and NA. General affective changes may be more a consequence than a driver of PTSD improvement during PE, with improvements in NA and PA potentially linked to the extinction of negative emotional responses to trauma cues and increased engagement with rewarding activities, respectively. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Affect and Impact Neglect in Sustainable Decision-Making

In a recent special section on Sustainability and Emotion, Schneider and van der Linden present how sustainability science could benefit from affective science to address important unanswered questions about the psychological and affective antecedents of people's engagement in relatively high-impact sustainable behaviors. Here, we underline the importance of combining the motivational role of positive affect with an impact-focused research agenda to understand the causal role of affect in sustainable decision-making and to develop communication strategies harnessing affective mechanisms to promote impactful sustainable behaviors. We present potential links connecting affective experience with perceived impact and adoption of sustainable behaviors. Finally, we argue for communication strategies aiming to enhance positive affect associated with high-impact behaviors.

Differences in wayfinding inclinations among women and men: a matter of personality and affect, not just gender

Women report different levels of wayfinding inclinations than men. This study is an exploration of whether individual factors such as personality traits and affect can provide insights into the gender differences observed in wayfinding inclinations, such as in the attitudes toward exploring and spatial anxiety. The study involved 454 adults (271 women) who completed questionnaires on personality traits, affective state, attitudes toward exploring and spatial anxiety. Women reported lower positive attitudes toward exploring and higher spatial anxiety than men. Openness and positive affect were associated with positive attitudes toward exploring places in both genders whereas extraversion was associated with attitudes toward exploring places among men. Higher levels of extraversion were linked to lower spatial anxiety in both genders, higher levels of negative affect were associated with greater spatial anxiety among men, and lower levels of emotional stability were associated with greater spatial anxiety among women. Therefore, gender does not play a singular role in explaining differences in self-reported wayfinding inclinations. Instead, negative affect (at least for men) and low emotional stability (at least among women) tend to hinder such inclinations whereas openness and positive affect contribute to their promotion. These results provide insights into how the patterns of relationships among wayfinding inclinations, personality traits, and affect vary between men and women, with possible implications for assessment and intervention.

Can daily affect impact intentions and next day behavior of physical activity? A daily diary study

Background and aimsThis study investigated the role of incidental affect on the intention-behavior process of physical activity (PA). MethodsDaily positive (activated, relaxed, and safe/content) and negative (depressed, anxious, and low-aroused) incidental affects, intention to perform PA, and actual PA were assessed in a sample of 101 college students (17 males and 80 females, age = 21.09 ± 1.57) for 28 days. Bayesian generalized linear multivariate multilevel model was used to predict cross-day intention-behavior profiles (non-intention, exceeding non-intention, unsuccessful intention, and successful intention) with subtypes of affects. ResultsIncreased positive affect and decreased negative affect were related to PA intention formation, intention enactment, and exceeding non-intention. Safe/content positive affect was related to intention formation and translation of PA, while exceeding non-intention was uniquely related to activated positive affect. Negative affect showed a carry-over effect on intention translation of PA next day. ConclusionsOur study findings detailed the role of different incidental affects in the intention-behavior process of PA and we call for more intensive affect measures and rigorous PA intention and behavior assessments to further validate these findings. Practically, our study highlighted the importance that future research should consider incorporating strategies to induce appropriate affective experiences in different stages of intention-behavior process for effective PA interventions.

Work-related resilience, engagement and wellbeing among music industry workers during the Covid-19 pandemic: A multiwave model of mindfulness and hope.

We surveyed workers in the performing arts sector to explore the role of positive mindsets in facilitating work-related resilience, engagement and reduced stress using retrospective reporting surveys during the Covid-19 work shut down period. Integrating conservation of resources theory with research on metacognitive self-regulation, we controlled for the severity of the Covid-19 impact and negative affect and found that hope (but not mindfulness) predicted professional engagement, resiliency and reduced tension and distress over time. Further, the relationships between hope and outcomes were mediated by positive affect (PA). Mindfulness was not indirectly (via PA) related to outcomes (i.e., engagement, resiliency, job tension, distress) but was directly and negatively related to job tension and distress. These findings suggest that in times of intense stress or adversity, future-oriented thinking such as hope may be more effective than mindfulness in sustaining positive mindsets and action-oriented outcomes such as engagement. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Accentuate the positive: Cultivating positive affect during treatment for stimulant use disorder can regulate the immune system

Accentuate the positive: Cultivating positive affect during treatment for stimulant use disorder can regulate the immune system

Dynamics between affect and social acceptance as a function of social anxiety: A person-specific network approach.

Social acceptance and rejection are salient experiences, especially during adolescence. Acceptance and rejection relate to changes in positive and negative affect, although directionality of the relation remains unclear. The ability to regulate affect following social experiences may be part of the etiology of social anxiety disorder. With the importance of social cues in adolescence, as well as adolescence as a key window for the onset of social anxiety, we used daily diary data collected in a sample ranging from 9 to 18 years to examine daily changes in acceptance, rejection, positive affect, and negative affect. Taking a person-centered approach, we constructed networks directionally linking social experiences and affect, which served as behaviors of interest ("nodes") in the network for each individual. From these networks, we extracted recovery times from different nodes, that is, the number of days it took for a node to return to baseline when (a) the node itself was perturbed and (b) when a connected node was perturbed. We examined associations between network metrics and social anxiety, age, gender, and their interaction. We found that the recovery time of positive affect when social acceptance was perturbed was inversely related with social anxiety and age, suggesting benefits of acceptance may be shorter lasting for those with more (vs. less) social anxiety symptoms and for older (vs. younger) adolescents. We conclude that positive affect may be a critical yet understudied piece in understanding why adolescence is a developmental period of increased risk for psychopathology and for understanding the etiology of social anxiety disorder. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Supporting treatment adherence for resilience and thriving (START): protocol for a mHealth randomized controlled trial

BackgroundAlthough behavioral interventions show some promise for reducing stimulant use and achieving durable viral suppression in sexual minority men (SMM) with HIV, scalable mHealth applications are needed to optimize their reach and cost-effectiveness.MethodsSupporting Treatment Adherence for Resilience and Thriving (START) is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a mHealth application that integrates evidence-based positive affect regulation skills with self-monitoring of adherence and mood. The primary outcome is detectable HIV viral load (i.e., > 300 copies/mL) from self-collected dried blood spot (DBS) specimens at 6 months. Secondary outcomes include detectable DBS viral load at 12 months, self-reported stimulant use severity, anti-retroviral therapy (ART) adherence, and positive affect over 12 months. A national sample of up to 250 SMM with HIV who screen positive for stimulant use disorder and reporting suboptimal ART adherence is being recruited via social networking applications through April of 2024. After providing informed consent, participants complete a run-in period (i.e., waiting period) including two baseline assessments with self-report measures and a self-collected DBS sample. Those who complete the run-in period are randomized to either the START mHealth application or access to a website with referrals to HIV care and substance use disorder treatment resources. Participants provide DBS samples at baseline, 6, and 12 months to measure HIV viral load as well as complete self-report measures for secondary outcomes at quarterly follow-up assessments over 12 months.DiscussionTo date, we have paid $117,500 to advertise START on social networking applications and reached 1,970 eligible participants ($59.77 per eligible participant). Although we identified this large national sample of potentially eligible SMM with HIV who screen positive for a stimulant use disorder and report suboptimal ART adherence, only one-in-four have enrolled in the RCT. The run-in period has proven to be crucial for maintaining scientific rigor and reproducibility of this RCT, such that only half of consented participants complete the required study enrollment activities and attended a randomization visit. Taken together, findings will guide adequate resource allocation to achieve randomization targets in future mHealth research SMM with HIV who use stimulants.Trial RegistrationThis protocol was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05140876) on December 2, 2021.

Associations between Daily Stressors, Health, and Affective Responses among Older Adults: The Moderating Effect of Age

Introduction: Reactivity to daily stressors may change as a function of stressor type and age. However, prior research often excludes older adults or compares them to younger age groups (e.g., younger and middle-aged adults). Recognizing older adults as a heterogeneous population with shifting motivations, this study focused on individuals aged ≥65 years and tested age differences in associations between different types of daily stressors, affect, and physical symptoms. Methods: A total of 108 older adults aged 65–92 years (M = 73.11, SD = 5.92; 58% women) completed daily dairy questionnaires on daily stressors, positive and negative affect, and physical symptoms for 14 consecutive days. Multilevel models were employed, adjusting for sex, age, education, living situation, and day-in-study. Results: Findings revealed age-dependent variations in the associations between daily stressors and affect and physical symptoms. Specifically, external stressors (e.g., finance and traffic stressors) and health stressors were more strongly associated with daily affective states and with overall physical symptoms (respectively) among older age adults. Age did not moderate associations between social stressors and affect or physical symptoms. Conclusion: These findings underscore the heterogeneous nature of older adults’ responses to daily stressors based on stressor type and age. Specifically, the oldest-old might benefit from personalized support for dealing with challenges such as health and financial stressors.

Response styles to positive affect during a positive psychology intervention for veterans with PTSD and moral injury: Preliminary results from a moral elevation intervention pilot trial.

Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or moral injury are at risk of maladaptive response styles to positive emotions, such as emotional numbing. A potential pathway to target problematic responses to positive affect is a positive psychology intervention that elicits moral elevation-feeling inspired after witnessing someone perform a virtuous act. This study aims to examine responses to positive affect in a pilot trial of a web-based moral elevation intervention titled, MOVED: Moral Elevation Online Intervention for Veterans Experiencing Distress Related to PTSD and Moral Injury. Method: Veterans who reported moral injury distress and probable PTSD were randomized into an intervention or control condition (n = 48). We examined repeated measures data during the trial and focused on three subscales of the Response to Positive Affect Questionnaire: rumination on positive mood and somatic experiences (emotion-focus), rumination on positive aspects of the self and pursuit of relevant goals (self-focus), and efforts to dampen positive moods (dampening). Three multilevel models were fitted with time and condition as predictors and subscale scores as outcomes. Qualitative data reported at intervention sessions was also reviewed and coded based on the three subscales. Veterans in the MOVED condition reported more positive rumination than the control condition for both emotion-focus (b = 2.70, p = .023) and self-focus styles (b = 2.90, p = .003). There was no group difference in the dampening style. Qualitative responses after elevation-eliciting exercises and session-based goals were most frequently coded as including emotion-focused positive rumination, followed by dampening, then self-focused rumination. These results provide preliminary evidence that a moral elevation intervention might contribute to positive responses to positive affect in a sample predisposed to emotional numbing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Responding responsively: Benefits of responsive racism-specific support for Black college students in same- and cross-race friendships.

Black people seek racism-specific support (RSS)-social support in response to racism-from same-race (vs. cross-race) friends because they feel more understood by Black friends. The present study tested whether supportive and responsive (i.e., validating) RSS from Black or non-Black friends differentially influenced friendship dynamics and factors associated with Black support-seekers' psychological well-being (e.g., affect). Same-race (Black/Black; ndyad = 17) and cross-race (Black/non-Black; ndyad = 29) friendship dyads (Mage = 20.25, SD = 3.26) discussed an experience of racism. Both friends rated the supportiveness and responsiveness of RSS (or support) and completed pre- and postconversation measures (e.g., affect, emotional closeness). Supportive and responsive RSS predicted increased closeness between same- and cross-race friends. Responsive RSS predicted increased postconversation positive affect for Black support-seekers talking to same-race (vs. cross-race) friends. Exploratory analyses revealed support-providers also perceived support-seekers as providing responsiveness during exchanges. Responsive and supportive RSS predicted positive cross-race friendship outcomes, and responsive RSS, especially among same-race friends, predicted improvement in Black support-seekers' affective reactions associated with psychological well-being. Moreover, the role of seeking and providing support might be dynamic, particularly when Black friends talk about racism with other friends of color. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Does Perceiving the Authentic Self Affect the Meaning of Life?

Self-authenticity and the meaning of life are important for an individual’s psychological well-being. However, studies on the relationship between authenticity and the meaning of life using a quantitative approach have been largely carried out in Western countries, with minimum research being conducted in the Indonesian context. However, several studies have found differences in self-authenticity among different social and cultural conditions. The purpose of this study was to unveil the influence of perceived authenticity on the meaning of life by controlling for self-esteem and positive affect in Indonesian adults. These control variables were added to see the influence of the two variables more precisely. This study involved 369 adult Indonesians (aged 18-64 years old, M=32.2 years). The instruments used were the Authenticity Scale, Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Test. Data collection was carried out online, and multilevel regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis. The findings indicate that, by controlling for self-esteem and positive affect, feeling authentic influences the person’s meaning in life. Perceived authenticity in the 18-35 age group is lower than in the 36-45 and 46-55 age groups. The study also found that the married group perceives themselves as more authentic than the unmarried. The findings of this study can be a basis for future studies on authenticity in Indonesia and help build awareness about the importance of authenticity for Indonesian adults.

Make or break: The influence of expected challenges and rewards on the motivation and experience associated with cognitive effort exertion.

Challenging goals can induce harder work but also greater stress, in turn potentially undermining goal achievement. We sought to examine how mental effort and subjective experiences thereof interact as a function of challenge level and the size of the incentives at stake. Participants performed a task that rewarded individual units of effort investment (correctly performed Stroop trials) but only if they met a threshold number of correct trials within a fixed time interval (challenge level). We varied this challenge level (Study 1, N = 40), and the rewards at stake (Study 2, N = 79), and measured variability in task performance and self-reported affect across task intervals. Greater challenge and higher rewards facilitated greater effort investment but also induced greater stress, while higher rewards (and lower challenge) simultaneously induced greater positive affect. Within intervals, we observed an initial speed up then slowdown in performance, which could reflect dynamic reconfiguration of control. Collectively, these findings further our understanding of the influence of task demands and incentives on mental effort exertion and wellbeing.

Can sensory and semantic priming enhance the effects of guided self-compassion meditation? A proof-of-concept study.

Self-compassion is a fundamental aspect of psychological health and well-being that can be cultivated through self-compassion meditations, but it remains unclear how to facilitate this most effectively. This study is the first to explore whether sensory and semantic priming introduced prior to a guided self-compassion meditation could enhance the effects of meditation in comparison with a control condition. The study was conducted with 3 × 3 repeated measures between-group design, including three groups (sensory priming, semantic priming and control group), and three assessment time points of state self-compassion, self-criticism, and positive and negative affect (at baseline, after priming, and after guided meditation). Additionally, a meditation appeal questionnaire was used. The total sample size included 71 students who underwent a 3-min priming intervention followed by a 15-min self-compassion guided meditation session. First, prior to guided meditation, sensory priming significantly decreased state self-criticism more than the control condition or semantic priming, although some reliability issues of the applied self-criticism scale must be taken into consideration. Second, neither sensory nor semantic priming changed state self-compassion, positive affect or negative affect. Third, neither semantic nor sensory priming significantly enhanced the effects of guided self-compassion meditation either in positive and negative affect, self-compassion states, self-criticism states, or in the appeal of the meditation experience. Although this study is underpowered (estimated post hoc power ranges from 0.20 to 0.42), the findings provide preliminary insights into the potential priming has as a tool to enhance meditation effects and provide guidelines for future studies.

The Moderating Role of Dietary Quality and Dietary Fibre Intake on the Mood Effects of Positive Expressive Writing: A Pilot Study.

Positive expressive writing is associated with enhanced psychological wellbeing. Several individual differences are known to moderate the enhancement effects of positive expressive writing, but no studies to date have investigated the optimal dietary conditions under which expressive writing effects occur. In this pilot study, we sought to investigate whether diet quality and dietary fibre intake moderate the effects of positive writing on mood. The participants (12 males, 25 females, Mage = 33.0, SDage = 13.1) completed self-reported measures of dietary quality, dietary fibre intake, and positive and negative affect. They were then randomly allocated to complete either a positive expressive writing or neutral writing activity for 10 min. Positive and negative affect were measured again immediately after each activity. Those participants who reported better diet quality and greater dietary fibre intake exhibited a significantly greater increase in positive affect following positive expressive writing relative to neutral writing. No significant effects were observed for negative affect. For the first time, we report that the effects of positive expressive writing on positive mood are enhanced under optimal dietary conditions. Further replication studies are needed to determine whether dietary factors can influence the conditions under which positive expressive writing benefits occur. We speculate that dietary influences on the gut-brain axis are a potential mechanism.