Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2011 Apr;100(4):738-48. doi: 10.1037/a0022410.
It is now clear that positive emotion leads to enhanced psychological functioning. What is less clear, however, is just why this is so. Drawing on a social-functional perspective, we argue that positive emotional behavior that accurately signals to others the individual's internal state will enhance social connectedness. Positive emotional behavior that does not accurately signal a person's experience--such as a smile that is not felt--may impede social connectedness and, in turn, psychological functioning. This perspective suggests that (a) the degree to which experience and behavior are dissociated during positive emotional episodes, over and above level of positive behavior, should predict worse psychological functioning and (b) the effect of dissociation should be mediated by social connectedness. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a short-term prospective longitudinal study, with a baseline assessment of depressive symptoms and well-being at Time 1. Six months later, at Time 2, we used a novel within-individual laboratory paradigm to measure the degree to which positive emotional behavior was dissociated from (vs. coherent with) a participant's positive emotional experience. We also assessed level of positive behavior and experience. Then, another 6 months later, we assessed social connectedness as a mediator and depressive symptoms and well-being as outcomes at Time 3. Even when controlling for baseline functioning and for level of positive emotion behavior and experience, we found that greater positive experience-behavior dissociation at Time 2 predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of well-being at Time 3. As predicted, these associations were mediated by social connectedness.
现在很清楚，积极情绪会导致心理功能增强。然而，不太清楚的是为什么会这样。借鉴社会功能的观点，我们认为，积极的情绪行为如果能准确地向他人传达个体的内部状态，将增强社交联系。然而，如果积极的情绪行为不能准确地反映一个人的体验（例如，不是发自内心的微笑），可能会阻碍社交联系，并进而影响心理功能。这一观点表明：(a) 在积极情绪事件中，体验与行为的分离程度（超过积极行为的程度），应该预测更糟糕的心理功能；(b) 分离的影响应该通过社交联系来介导。为了检验这些假设，我们进行了一项短期前瞻性纵向研究，在第一次（Time1）时评估抑郁症状和幸福感。6 个月后，即第二次（Time2）时，我们使用一种新的个体内实验室范式来衡量积极情绪行为与参与者的积极情绪体验的分离程度（相对于一致程度）。我们还评估了积极行为和体验的水平。然后，6 个月后，即第三次（Time3）时，我们评估了社交联系作为中介，以及抑郁症状和幸福感作为结果。即使在控制基线功能以及积极情绪行为和体验的水平的情况下，我们发现，第二次（Time2）时积极体验-行为的分离程度越大，第三次（Time3）时的抑郁症状水平越高，幸福感水平越低。正如预测的那样，这些关联通过社交联系来介导。
