A Provisional Taxonomy of Subjectively Experienced Positive Emotions

Are Self-transcendent Emotions One Big Family? An Empirical Taxonomy of Positive Self-transcendent Emotion Labels

In the past decade, there has been a growing amount of research on so-called self-transcendent emotions, mainly in the domain of positive emotions. However, most candidate self-transcendent emotions (e.g., Awe, Gratitude, Being Moved, Wonder) have been studied in isolation, leaving the commonalities and the differences of their phenomenology unknown. In the present paper, we sought to identify the phenomenological nature of main families of self-transcendent emotions. We drew on two large datasets (N1 = 3,113; N2 = 1,443) in which participants had to recall an emotional episode or to watch emotional videos and had to report their emotions through a list of 40 emotion labels. Participants were also presented with a large list of items probing their cognitive appraisals, bodily feelings, and action tendencies. Using a principal component analysis, we identified three main dimensions of positive emotions: hedonic, social, and epistemic states. Candidate self-transcendent emotions were distributed across two dimensions, suggesting that at least two main different families of self-transcendent emotions should be distinguished. Our results also allowed us to identify self-reported cognitive appraisals, bodily feelings, and action tendencies characteristic of each family.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-023-00194-1.

The bright side of words: Norms for 9000 Spanish words in seven discrete positive emotions

In recent years, assumptions about the existence of a single construct of happiness that accounts for all positive emotions have been questioned. Instead, several discrete positive emotions with their own neurobiological and psychological mechanisms have been proposed. Of note, the effects of positive emotions on language processing are not yet properly understood. Here we provide a database for a large set of 9000 Spanish words scored by 3437 participants in the positive emotions of awe, contentment, amusement, excitement, serenity, relief, and pleasure. We also report significant correlations between discrete positive emotions and several affective (e.g., valence, arousal, happiness, negative discrete emotions) and lexico-semantic (e.g., frequency of use, familiarity, concreteness, age of acquisition) characteristics of words. Finally, we analyze differences between words conveying a single emotion ("pure" emotion words) and those denoting more than one emotion ("mixed" emotion words). This study will provide researchers a rich source of information to do research that contributes to expanding the current knowledge on the role of positive emotions in language. The norms are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21533571.v2.

Emotional Well-Being: What It Is and Why It Matters

Psychological aspects of well-being are increasingly recognized and studied as fundamental components of healthy human functioning. However, this body of work is fragmented, with many different conceptualizations and terms being used (e.g., subjective well-being, psychological well-being). We describe the development of a provisional conceptualization of this form of well-being, here termed emotional well-being (EWB), leveraging prior conceptual and theoretical approaches. Our developmental process included review of related concepts and definitions from multiple disciplines, engagement with subject matter experts, consideration of essential properties across definitions, and concept mapping. Our conceptualization provides insight into key strengths and gaps in existing perspectives on this form of well-being, setting a foundation for evaluating assessment approaches, enhancing our understanding of the causes and consequences of EWB, and, ultimately, developing effective intervention strategies that promote EWB. We argue that this foundation is essential for developing a more cohesive and informative body of work on EWB.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00163-0.

Negative Emotion Differentiation Predicts Psychotherapy Outcome: Preliminary Findings

Emotion differentiation (ED), the extent to which same-valenced emotions are experienced as distinct, is considered a valuable ability in various contexts owing to the essential affect-related information it provides. This information can help individuals understand and regulate their emotional and motivational states. In this study, we sought to examine the extent to which ED can be beneficial in psychotherapy context and specifically for predicting treatment response. Thirty-two prospective patients with mood and anxiety disorders completed four daily assessments of negative and positive emotions for 30 days before receiving cognitive-behavioral treatment. Depression, stress, and anxiety symptoms severity were assessed pre- and post-treatment using self-reports and clinical interviews. We conducted a series of hierarchical regression models in which symptoms change scores were predicted by ED while adjusting for the mean and variability. We found that negative ED was associated with greater self-reported treatment response (except for anxiety) when negative emotional variability (EV) was included in the models. Probing negative ED and EV's interactive effects suggested that negative ED was associated with greater treatment response (except for anxiety) for individuals with lower EV levels. Results were obtained while controlling for mean negative affect. Our findings suggest that negative ED can benefit psychotherapy patients whose negative emotions are relatively less variable. We discuss the meaning of suppression and interactive effects between affect dynamics and consider possible clinical implications.

The relations between pleasurable emotions and depression: Exploring the potential significance of contentment

BACKGROUND

Previous research has found that the diminished ability to experience pleasure is a common feature of depression, but has not examined whether depression is associated equally strongly with the different types of pleasurable emotions. Contentment, which has been found to be especially strongly associated with life satisfaction and is associated with a sense of completeness or completion, was expected to be especially relevant to depression.

METHODS

In two studies, participants (N = 70, and N = 109), who were receiving outpatient treatment, completed self-report measures of depression, contentment, tranquility, and cheerfulness. Worry and suicidality were also measured, in Studies 1 and 2, respectively.

RESULTS

As hypothesized: (a) contentment was associated as strongly with depression as was cheerfulness; (b) contentment was more strongly associated with depression than was tranquility; (c) contentment was more strongly associated with depression than it was with worry; and (d) contentment was associated with suicidality even after taking into account depression severity, cheerfulness and tranquility.

LIMITATIONS

The present research relied on self-report. Because both studies employed cross-sectional designs, conclusions regarding causality cannot be drawn.

CONCLUSIONS

Contentment is associated with depression, even after taking into account other pleasurable emotions. The present findings raise the possibility that attending to different types of pleasurable emotions, such as contentment, may be important for understanding the different potential pathways to depression, and may be capable of predicting differential responses to alternative treatments for depression.