Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis.
Emotion. 2024 Jun;24(4):947-959. doi: 10.1037/emo0001311. Epub 2023 Nov 16.
People experience momentary fluctuations in how much they differentiate between emotions and how clear they are about what they are feeling. To better understand situational predictors of shifts in emotion differentiation and emotional clarity, we investigated whether individuals are more differentiated and clearer about their emotions in social situations (vs. alone) given that emotions fulfill important social functions. We tested if these within-person associations varied depending on socially relevant individual differences, including age, extraversion, and social connectedness. We also examined whether people are more differentiated and clearer in situations that have previously been processed (i.e., familiar situations) and if this effect was stronger for older (vs. younger) adults. Community adults ( = 290, aged 25-85 years) completed measures of extraversion and social connectedness and then were randomly prompted 6 times a day for 10 days to report on their current emotional experience and situation. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, social context was associated with less positive emotion differentiation and not associated with emotional clarity; these within-person associations did not differ by age, extraversion, or social connectedness. Individuals experienced more differentiated positive emotions and higher emotional clarity than usual when they were in more (vs. less) familiar situations. Familiarity was especially predictive of higher positive emotion differentiation among relatively older (vs. younger) adults. These findings suggest positive emotion differentiation, particularly in familiar situations could be a way in which the quality of one's emotional experience changes with age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
人们在情绪区分度和情绪清晰度方面会经历短暂的波动。为了更好地理解情绪区分度和情绪清晰度变化的情境预测因素，我们调查了个体在社会情境（与独处相比）中是否会对自己的情绪更加区分和清晰，因为情绪履行着重要的社会功能。我们测试了这些个体内的关联是否因与社会相关的个体差异（包括年龄、外向性和社交联系）而有所不同。我们还研究了人们在先前处理过的情境（即熟悉的情境）中是否更加区分和清晰，如果这种效应在老年人（相对于年轻人）中更强。社区成年人（n=290，年龄 25-85 岁）完成了外向性和社交联系的测量，然后在接下来的 10 天中每天随机被提示 6 次，报告他们当前的情绪体验和情境。使用多层次结构方程模型，社会情境与积极情绪区分度降低相关，与情绪清晰度不相关；这些个体内的关联不受年龄、外向性或社交联系的影响。当个体处于更加（相对于较少）熟悉的情境中时，他们会体验到更加区分的积极情绪和更高的情绪清晰度。熟悉度对相对较老（相对于较年轻）成年人的积极情绪区分度具有更高的预测性。这些发现表明，积极情绪的区分度，特别是在熟悉的情境中，可能是个体情绪体验随年龄变化的一种方式。
