Hirt Edward R, Devers Erin E, McCrea Sean M
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405-7007, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008 Feb;94(2):214-30. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.2.94.2.214.
Three studies explored the role of hedonic contingency theory as an explanation for the link between positive mood and cognitive flexibility. Study 1 examined the determinants of activity choice for participants in happy, sad, or neutral moods. Consistent with hedonic contingency theory, happy participants weighted potential for creativity as well as the pleasantness of the task more heavily in their preference ratings. In Study 2, participants were given either a neutral or mood-threatening item generation task to perform. Results illustrated that happy participants exhibited greater cognitive flexibility in all cases; when confronted with a potentially mood-threatening task, happy participants were able to creatively transform the task so as to maintain positive mood and interest. Finally, Study 3 manipulated participants' beliefs that moods could or could not be altered. Results replicated the standard positive mood-increased cognitive flexibility effect in the nonmood-freezing condition, but no effects of mood on creativity were found in the mood-freezing condition. These studies indicate that the hedonic contingency theory may be an important contributing mechanism behind the positive mood-cognitive flexibility link.
三项研究探讨了享乐偶联理论在解释积极情绪与认知灵活性之间联系方面的作用。研究1考察了处于快乐、悲伤或中性情绪状态下的参与者活动选择的决定因素。与享乐偶联理论一致，快乐的参与者在偏好评分中更看重创造力潜力以及任务的愉悦性。在研究2中，参与者被给予一项中性或可能威胁情绪的项目生成任务。结果表明，快乐的参与者在所有情况下都表现出更大的认知灵活性；当面对一项可能威胁情绪的任务时，快乐的参与者能够创造性地改变任务，以保持积极情绪和兴趣。最后，研究3操纵了参与者关于情绪能否改变的信念。在非情绪冻结条件下，结果重现了标准的积极情绪增强认知灵活性的效应，但在情绪冻结条件下未发现情绪对创造力有影响。这些研究表明，享乐偶联理论可能是积极情绪与认知灵活性联系背后的一个重要促成机制。
