Affective Synchrony: Individual Differences in Mixed Emotions
Eshkol Rafaeli*,
Gregory M. Rogers,
William Revelle
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: erafaeli{at}barnard.columbia.edu.
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Abstract |
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Most models of affect suggest either inverse or null associations between positivity and negativity. Recent work (e.g., Larsen, McGraw, & Cacioppo, 2001; Zautra, Reich, Davis, Potter, & Nicolson, 2000) has highlighted situations that sometimes lead to mixed positive-negative affect. Focusing on the counterpart to these situational factors, we explore the individual-difference tendency towards mixed emotions, which we term affective synchrony. In five studies, we show that some individuals demonstrate affective synchrony (overlapping experience of positive and negative moods), others a-synchrony (positive and negative mood that fluctuate independently), and still others de-synchrony (positive and negative moods that function as bipolar opposites). These tendencies are stable over time within persons, vary broadly across individuals, and are associated with individual differences in cognitive representation of self and of emotions.
