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Lay JC, Ho YW, Tse DCK, Tse JTK, Jiang D. Misremembering Solitude: The Role of Personality and Cultural Self-Concepts in Shaping Discrepancies Between Recalled and Concurrent Affect in Solitude. J Pers 2024. [PMID: 39149879 DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2024] [Revised: 07/16/2024] [Accepted: 07/27/2024] [Indexed: 08/17/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Affect recall is key to psychological assessment and decision-making. However, self-concepts (self-beliefs) may bias retrospective affect reports such that they deviate from lived experiences. Does this experience-memory gap apply to solitude experiences? We hypothesized that individuals misremember how they feel overall and when in solitude, in line with self-concepts of introversion, self-determined/not-self-determined solitude motivations, and independent/interdependent self-construal. A pilot study comparing retrospective to daily affect reports captured over 2 weeks (N = 104 UK university students) provided preliminary evidence of introversion and not-self-determined solitude shaping affect recall. METHODS In the main pre-registered study, participants aged 18-49 in the UK (N = 160) and Hong Kong (N = 159) reported their momentary affective states and social situations 5 times per day over 7 days, then recalled how they felt over the week. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Individuals higher in self-determined solitude were more prone to retrospectively overestimate their high- and low-arousal positive affect in solitude and showed less overestimation/more underestimation of negative affect in solitude. Higher not-self-determined solitude was associated with overestimating loneliness, and higher interdependent self-construal with overestimating loneliness and energy levels, in solitude. Comparisons based on residence/ethnicity suggest culture influences solitude-seeking and affective memory. Implications for well-being and affect measurement are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer C Lay
- Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Yuen Wan Ho
- Department of Psychology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Dwight C K Tse
- Department of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - Jimmy T K Tse
- Centre for Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, London, UK
- Barts the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Da Jiang
- Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
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Devarayapuram Ramakrishnan S, Kausar H, Barber SJ. Younger and older adults' memory of past feelings surrounding an election. Memory 2024; 32:11-24. [PMID: 37930779 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2272780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
People often misremember their past feelings, especially when recalling their prior mood as opposed to their specific emotions in response to events. A previous study also found that the direction of memory errors varies based on feeling type; younger adults overestimated the intensity of prior moods but underestimated the intensity of prior event-specific emotions. This study aimed to replicate these patterns and test whether they vary with age. In doing so, we also tested whether an age-related positivity effect would emerge, such that older adults would be relatively more likely to overestimate past positive feelings and underestimate past negative feelings. Using a sample of American voters, who reported their feelings following the 2020 United States presidential election, we found that both younger and older adults subsequently overestimated the intensity of their past mood in the week following the election but were relatively accurate in recalling the intensity of their prior emotions about the election result. Unexpectedly, among election losers, we also observed an age-related negativity effect in recall for prior mood. When faced with negative real-world events, older adults may not show the same positivity biases that are observed in lab studies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hiba Kausar
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Sarah J Barber
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
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Schmidt P, Jendryczko D, Zurbriggen CLA, Nussbeck FW. Recall bias of students' affective experiences in adolescence: The role of personality and internalizing behavior. J Adolesc 2023. [PMID: 36945192 DOI: 10.1002/jad.12162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Adolescence is characterized by multiple biopsychosocial changes, associated with a high intraindividual variability of emotional experiences. Previous findings suggest that this intraindividual variability is reflected in a recall bias of adolescents' emotion reports. However, corresponding findings are scarce and inconclusive. Studies on predictors of recall bias in adulthood indicate that personality traits, especially neuroticism and extraversion, as well as specific internalizing disorders might affect recall bias of emotion reports. METHODS The sample consists of 118 Swiss adolescent students in grade 8 and 9 (Mage = 15.15, SDage = 0.89). The students' momentary affective experience was recorded using smartphones over seven consecutive days in situ at 42 randomly generated occasions (six per day), with a total of 1059 protocols on current events. At the end of the experience-sampling phase, students filled out an online questionnaire, providing information about their personality and typical behavior as well as their retrospective affective experience. In addition, the students' behavior was evaluated by their teachers. We applied two-level structural equation modeling with latent difference variables. RESULTS Adolescents high in extraversion showed retrospective overestimation of positive affective experiences and underestimation of negative affective experiences. Adolescents with high neuroticism tended to overestimate negative affect retrospectively, showing no significant effects for positive affect. However, internalizing behavior did not predict a negative recall bias in adolescents' affective experience. CONCLUSIONS Retrospective self-reports about adolescents' affective experience are biased by relatively stable individual factors, whereas less stable individual factors did not seem to have any influence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Schmidt
- Faculty of Educational Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - David Jendryczko
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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The age-related positivity effect in cognition: A review of key findings across different cognitive domains. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.plm.2022.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Leertouwer IJ, Cramer AOJ, Vermunt JK, Schuurman NK. A Review of Explicit and Implicit Assumptions When Providing Personalized Feedback Based on Self-Report EMA Data. Front Psychol 2021; 12:764526. [PMID: 34955984 PMCID: PMC8693716 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.764526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) in which participants report on their moment-to-moment experiences in their natural environment, is a hot topic. An emerging field in clinical psychology based on either EMA, or what we term Ecological Retrospective Assessment (ERA) as it requires retrospectivity, is the field of personalized feedback. In this field, EMA/ERA-data-driven summaries are presented to participants with the goal of promoting their insight in their experiences. Underlying this procedure are some fundamental assumptions about (i) the relation between true moment-to-moment experiences and retrospective evaluations of those experiences, (ii) the translation of these experiences and evaluations to different types of data, (iii) the comparison of these different types of data, and (iv) the impact of a summary of moment-to-moment experiences on retrospective evaluations of those experiences. We argue that these assumptions deserve further exploration, in order to create a strong evidence-based foundation for the personalized feedback procedure.
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Affiliation(s)
- IJsbrand Leertouwer
- Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
| | - Angélique O J Cramer
- Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
| | - Jeroen K Vermunt
- Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
| | - Noémi K Schuurman
- Department of Methodology and Statistics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
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Junghaenel DU, Broderick JE, Schneider S, Wen CKF, Mak HW, Goldstein S, Mendez M, Stone AA. Explaining age differences in the memory-experience gap. Psychol Aging 2021; 36:679-693. [PMID: 34516172 PMCID: PMC8442980 DOI: 10.1037/pag0000628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Emotions and symptoms are often overestimated in retrospective ratings, a phenomenon referred to as the "memory-experience gap." Some research has shown that this gap is less pronounced among older compared to younger adults for self-reported negative affect, but it is not known whether these age differences are evident consistently across domains of well-being and why these age differences emerge. In this study, we examined age differences in the memory-experience gap for emotional (positive and negative affect), social (loneliness), and physical (pain, fatigue) well-being. We also tested four variables that could plausibly explain age differences in the gap: (a) episodic memory and executive functioning, (b) the age-related positivity effect, (c) variability of daily experiences, and (d) socially desirable responding. Adults (n = 477) from three age groups (21-44, 45-64, 65+ years old) participated in a 21-day diary study. Participants completed daily end-of-day ratings and retrospective ratings of the same constructs over different recall periods (3, 7, 14, and 21 days). Results showed that, relative to young and middle-aged adults, older adults had a smaller memory-experience gap for negative affect and loneliness. Lower day-to-day variability partly explained why the gap was smaller for older adults. There was no evidence that the magnitude of the memory-experience gap for positive affect, pain or fatigue depended on age. We recommend that future research considers how variability in daily experiences can impact age differences in retrospective self-reports of well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Doerte U. Junghaenel
- Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, CA, USA
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, CA, USA
| | - Joan E. Broderick
- Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, CA, USA
| | - Stefan Schneider
- Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, CA, USA
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, CA, USA
| | - Cheng K. F. Wen
- Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, CA, USA
| | - Hio Wa Mak
- Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, CA, USA
| | - Sarah Goldstein
- Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, CA, USA
| | - Marilyn Mendez
- Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, CA, USA
| | - Arthur A. Stone
- Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science and Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, CA, USA
- Deparment of Psychology, University of Southern California, CA, USA
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Hur J, DeYoung KA, Islam S, Anderson AS, Barstead MG, Shackman AJ. Social context and the real-world consequences of social anxiety. Psychol Med 2020; 50:1989-2000. [PMID: 31423954 PMCID: PMC7028452 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291719002022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Social anxiety lies on a continuum, and young adults with elevated symptoms are at risk for developing a range of psychiatric disorders. Yet relatively little is known about the factors that govern the hour-by-hour experience and expression of social anxiety in the real world. METHODS Here we used smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to intensively sample emotional experience across different social contexts in the daily lives of 228 young adults selectively recruited to represent a broad spectrum of social anxiety symptoms. RESULTS Leveraging data from over 11 000 real-world assessments, our results highlight the central role of close friends, family members, and romantic partners. The presence of such close companions was associated with enhanced mood, yet socially anxious individuals had fewer confidants and spent less time with the close companions that they do have. Although higher levels of social anxiety were associated with a general worsening of mood, socially anxious individuals appear to derive larger benefits - lower levels of negative affect, anxiety, and depression - from their close companions. In contrast, variation in social anxiety was unrelated to the amount of time spent with strangers, co-workers, and acquaintances; and we uncovered no evidence of emotional hypersensitivity to these less-familiar individuals. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide a framework for understanding the deleterious consequences of social anxiety in emerging adulthood and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juyoen Hur
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Kathryn A. DeYoung
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
- Department of Family Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
- Department of Center for Healthy Families, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Samiha Islam
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Allegra S. Anderson
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240 USA
| | - Matthew G. Barstead
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
USA
| | - Alexander J. Shackman
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
- Department of Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
USA
- Department of Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
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Zygar-Hoffmann C, Schönbrodt FD. Recalling Experiences: Looking at Momentary, Retrospective and Global Assessments of Relationship Satisfaction. COLLABRA: PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1525/collabra.278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Relationship satisfaction can be assessed in retrospection, as a global evaluation, or as a momentary state. In two experience sampling studies (N = 130, N = 510) the specificities of these assessment modalities are examined. We show that 1) compared to other summary statistics like the median, the mean of relationship satisfaction states describes retrospective and global evaluations best (but the difference to some other summary statistics was negligible); 2) retrospection introduces an overestimation of the average annoyance in the relationship reported on a momentary basis, which results in an overall negative mean-level bias for retrospective relationship satisfaction; 3) this bias is most strongly moderated by global relationship satisfaction at the time of retrospection; 4) snapshots of momentary relationship satisfaction get representative of global evaluations after approximately two weeks of sampling. The findings extend the recall bias reported in the literature for retrospection of negative affect to the domain of relationship evaluations and assist researchers in designing efficient experience sampling studies.
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Doorley JD, Goodman FR, Disabato DJ, Kashdan TB, Weinstein JS, Shackman AJ. The momentary benefits of positive events for individuals with elevated social anxiety. Emotion 2020; 21:595-606. [PMID: 31944786 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Understanding how individuals with varying levels of social anxiety respond to daily positive events is important. Psychological processes that increase positive emotions are being widely used as strategies to not only enhance well-being but also reduce the symptoms and impairment tied to negative emotional dispositions and conditions, including excessive social anxiety. At present, it is unclear whether and how levels of social anxiety impact the psychological benefits derived from momentary positive events. We used ecological momentary assessment to examine the impact of trait social anxiety on momentary changes in emotions, sense of belonging, and social approach versus avoidance motivation following positive events in daily life. Over the course of a week, people with elevated social anxiety experienced greater momentary anxiety and social avoidance motivation and lower momentary happiness and sense of belonging on average. Despite these impairments, individuals with elevated social anxiety experienced greater psychological benefits-in the form of reduced anxiety and motivation to avoid social situations, and an increased sense of belonging-following positive events during the past hour that were rated as particularly intense. This pattern of findings was not specific to social anxiety, with evidence of similar effects for other forms of internalizing psychopathology (general anxiety and depression). These observations detail circumstances in which individuals with social anxiety, and other emotional disturbances, can thrive-creating potentially important targets for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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10
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Ottenstein C, Lischetzke T. Recall bias in emotional intensity ratings: investigating person-level and event-level predictors. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s11031-019-09796-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Neubauer AB, Scott SB, Sliwinski MJ, Smyth JM. How was your day? Convergence of aggregated momentary and retrospective end-of-day affect ratings across the adult life span. J Pers Soc Psychol 2019; 119:185-203. [PMID: 31070397 DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Daily diary studies and experience sampling studies examine day-to-day variations in affect using different rating types: The former typically collect retrospective affect reports at the end of the day, whereas the latter collects multiple momentary assessments across the day. The present study examined the convergence of (aggregated) momentary assessments collected repeatedly within a day and retrospective assessments collected at the end of the day. Building on prior research on the memory-experience gap and the peak-and-end rule we predicted that participants would report more intense retrospective affect than aggregated momentary affect, and that retrospective affect would be biased toward the peak and the most recent affect of the day. Based on socioemotional selectivity theory and the strength and vulnerability integration model, age differences in these convergence indicators were expected. Findings from 2 age-heterogeneous ecological momentary assessment/daily diary hybrid studies (N = 242, 25-65 years; and N = 175, 20-79 years) revealed (a) a memory-experience gap for negative affect (more intense retrospective ratings than aggregated momentary ratings) that is attenuated with advancing age; (b) only a small memory-experience gap for positive affect for very old adults (66-79 years), but not younger adults; (c) relatively high convergence of aggregated momentary ratings and retrospective ratings despite (d) small biases of retrospective negative affect ratings toward peak and most recent negative affect. Findings suggest that both rating types can discriminate "good days" from "bad days" and provide overlapping but not necessarily exchangeable information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Zhang J, Zheng Y. Neuroticism and extraversion are differentially related to between- and within-person variation of daily negative emotion and physical symptoms. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2019.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Shackman AJ, Weinstein JS, Hudja SN, Bloomer CD, Barstead MG, Fox AS, Lemay EP. Dispositional negativity in the wild: Social environment governs momentary emotional experience. Emotion 2018; 18:707-724. [PMID: 28604044 PMCID: PMC5726948 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Dispositional negativity-the tendency to experience more frequent or intense negative emotions-is a fundamental dimension of temperament and personality. Elevated levels of dispositional negativity have profound consequences for public health and wealth, drawing the attention of researchers, clinicians, and policymakers. Yet, relatively little is known about the factors that govern the momentary expression of dispositional negativity in the real world. Here, we used smart phone-based experience-sampling to demonstrate that the social environment plays a central role in shaping the moment-by-moment emotional experience of 127 young adults selectively recruited to represent a broad spectrum of dispositional negativity. Results indicate that individuals with a more negative disposition derive much larger emotional benefits from the company of close companions-friends, romantic partners, and family members-and that these benefits reflect heightened feelings of social connection and acceptance. These results set the stage for developing improved interventions and provide new insights into the interaction of emotional traits and situations in the real world, close to clinically and practically important end-points. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander J. Shackman
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
- Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | | | - Stanton N. Hudja
- Krannert School of Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 USA
| | - Conor D. Bloomer
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Matthew G. Barstead
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Andrew S. Fox
- Department of Psychology and California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 USA
| | - Edward P. Lemay
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
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