Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
Health Psychol. 2012 May;31(3):297-305. doi: 10.1037/a0025339. Epub 2011 Sep 19.
This study examined whether specific types of positive and negative emotional words used in the autobiographies of well-known deceased psychologists were associated with longevity.
For each of the 88 psychologists, the percent of emotional words used in writing was calculated and categorized by valence (positive or negative) and arousal (activated [e.g., lively, anxious] or not activated [e.g., calm, drowsy]) based on existing emotion scales and models of emotion categorization.
After controlling for sex, year of publication, health (based on disclosed illness in autobiography), native language, and year of birth, the use of more activated positive emotional words (e.g., lively, vigorous, attentive, humorous) was associated with increased longevity. Negative terms (e.g., angry, afraid, drowsy, sluggish) and unactivated positive terms (e.g., peaceful, calm) were not related to longevity. The association of activated positive emotions with longevity was also independent of words indicative of social integration, optimism, and the other affect/activation categories.
Results indicate that in writing, not every type of emotion correlates with longevity and that there may be value to considering different categories beyond emotional valence in health relevant outcomes.
本研究考察了已故知名心理学家自传中使用的特定类型的积极和消极情绪词汇是否与长寿有关。
对于 88 位心理学家中的每一位，根据现有的情绪量表和情绪分类模型，根据情绪的效价（积极或消极）和唤醒度（激活[如活泼、焦虑]或未激活[如平静、困倦]）计算并分类了用于写作的情绪词汇的百分比。
在控制了性别、出版年份、健康状况（根据自传中披露的疾病）、母语和出生年份后，使用更多激活的积极情绪词汇（如活泼、精力充沛、专注、幽默）与长寿有关。消极词汇（如生气、害怕、困倦、迟钝）和未激活的积极词汇（如平静、平静）与长寿无关。积极情绪的激活与长寿之间的关联也独立于表明社会融合、乐观和其他情感/激活类别的词汇。
结果表明，在写作中，并非每种类型的情绪都与长寿相关，并且在与健康相关的结果中，考虑超越情绪效价的不同类别可能具有价值。
