“Good things never last”: Dampening positive emotions influences our optimism levels

Despite the increasing interest in understanding positive emotion regulation (ER)strategies and their relation with mental health, the relationship between responses to positive affect and cognitive styles such as optimism has yet to be tested empirically. Therefore, the objective of the present stu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Etchemendy, Ernestina, Herrero, Rocío, Espinoza, Macarena, Molinari, Guadalupe, Corno, Giulia, Carrillo-Vega, Alba, Botella, Cristina, Baños, Rosa
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Murcia
Repositorio:DIGITUM. Depósito Digital Institucional de la Universidad de Murcia
OAI Identifier:oai:digitum.um.es:10201/143396
Acceso en línea:http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/analesps.32.3.261631
http://hdl.handle.net/10201/143396
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Response to positive affect
Emotion regulation
Respuesta al afecto positivo
CDU::1 - Filosofía y psicología::159.9 - Psicología
Descripción
Sumario:Despite the increasing interest in understanding positive emotion regulation (ER)strategies and their relation with mental health, the relationship between responses to positive affect and cognitive styles such as optimism has yet to be tested empirically. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to empirically assess whether the effect of positive ER strategies (tested by the Responses to Positive Affect questionnaire -RPA) on optimism could be mediated by positive mood. Two hundred and fifty participants completed RPA questionnaire, measures of optimism and positive affect and received a positive mood induction (PMI) through Internet. Results show that induced positive mood did not mediate the relation between ER strategies and optimism levels. Nevertheless, dampening strategy was the only ER strategy that predicted the post-induction optimism level. Our findings point out the necessity of further studies in order to better understand the mechanisms involved in the emotional regulation and optimismo.