Research Seminar
Emotion augmentation and emotion blunting effect: The role of appraisal overlapsMadeline PeKU Leuven | |
| Abstract: | Specific emotional states like happiness or anxiety do not have a life of their own, but can mutually influence each other through time. Understanding this interplay between different emotional states can provide insight into phenomena like mixed emotions, emotional symptom comorbidity, mood spill-over effects, etc. In terms of how emotions influence one another, two possibilities exist: Emotion augmentation occurs when the current emotion heightens the experience of a subsequent emotion, while emotion blunting occurs when the current emotion reduces the experience of a subsequent emotion. In this study, we examined how one emotion dynamically influences the experience of a subsequent emotion in daily life, and the role of appraisals in this respect. In line with previous findings, we expected that emotion augmentation (resp. emotion blunting) happens between similar (resp. opposite) valence emotions. Based on an appraisal tendency framework, we hypothesized that individual differences in the degree of emotional augmentation and blunting are a function of the overlap between the idiosyncratic appraisal patterns underlying the studied emotions. Based on data from an experience sampling study, we investigated the dynamic interplay between four emotions (stressed, cheerful, relaxed, and depressed) using cross-lagged multilevel modeling. Results demonstrated that similar (opposite) valence emotions augment (blunt) experience from one moment to the next, and that this is stronger in people whose appraisal patterns for the emotions more strongly overlap (diverge). Findings suggest that individual differences in patterns of appraisals for emotions relate to the intensity of how one emotion affects the experience of another subsequent emotion. |
| Date: | Tue Apr 5, 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm |
| Place: | room 02.60 (Department of Psychology, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven) |