Unit 1

researchers have established that two largely independent

factors—negative affect and positive
affect—constitute the basic dimensions of emotional
experience. These two broad dimensions
have been identified in both intra- and interindividual
analyses,
the Negative Affect dimension
represents the extent to which an individual
experiences negative emotional states
such as fear, anger, sadness, guilt, contempt,
and disgust; conversely, positive affect reflects
the extent to which one experiences positive
states such as joy, interest, confidence, and
alertness.
Both of these dimensions can be assessed
either as a short-term state or as a long term
trait (in which case they typically are referred
to as “negative affectivity” and “positive
affectivity,” respectively).
 
Therefore, positive affectivity,is a broad personality triat involves relativly stable tendency to
experience positive experiences . enthusiasm
Confidence
AlertnesS,
cheerfulnrss are the indicators of positive affectivity.
People with positive affectivity has stable positive mood and perceive stimulus positively.
People with positive affectivity has stable positive mood and they perceive stimulus positively
 
negative affect is a
component of the withdrawal-oriented behavioral
inhibition system. The essential purpose of
this system is to keep the organism out of trouble
by inhibiting behavior that might lead to
pain, punishment, or some other undesirable
consequence. In sharp contrast, positive affect is
a component of the approach-oriented behavioral
facilitation system, which directs organisms
toward situations and experiences that
potentially
may yield pleasure and reward. This
system is adaptive in that it ensures the procuring
of resources (e.g., food and water,
warmth and shelter, the cooperation of others,
sexual partners) that are essential to the survival
of both the individual and the species.
 
Measures of Positive Affectivity
 
The assessment literature in this area is difficult
to summarize briefly. This literature has never
been subjected to a thorough review, and convergent
and discriminant validity data are lacking
for many measures.
measures of positive
affectivity can be divided into two basic
types.
 
 
First, many widely used affect inventories
have a “general” form (in which respondents
rate their typical, average feelings) that
can be used to measure this trait. For instance,
the DES, the MAACL-R, and the PANAS-X(positive and negative affect schedule) all
have trait versions that allow one to assess various
aspects of the dimension. Unfortunately,
researchers have failed to examine the convergence
among these different trait instruments.
Second, many multi trait personality inventories
contain scales relevant to the construct;
examples include the Activity and Positive
Emotions facet scales of the Revised NEO Personality
Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & Mc-
Crae, 1992a), the Well-Being scale of the Multidimensional
Personality Questionnaire (MPQ;
Tellegen, in press), and the Positive Temperament
scale of the General Temperament Survey
(GTS; Clark & Watson, 1990).
 
Because of gaps in
the existing literature, however, it also will be
necessary to draw on evidence based on closely
related constructs. For instance, measures of
happiness and subjective well-being tend to be
strongly correlated with positive affectivity
scales. However, they also have a secondary
component of low negative affectivity (in other
words, happy people tend to report both high
positive affectivity and low negative affectivity),
so these indices do not represent pure measures
of positive affectivity (Myers & Diener, 1995;
Watson & Clark, 1997b). Similarly, global selfesteem
scales tend to be complex mixtures of
high positive affectivity and low negative affectivity
(Joiner, 1996; Lucas, Diener, & Suh,
1996).
Positive affectivity scales also are strongly
and systematically related to general traits of
personality, particularly extraversion .
It
will be helpful, in this regard, to examine positive
affectivity in relation to the complete fivefactor
(or “Big Five”) model of personality.
negative affectivity is
very strongly related to Neuroticism (overall r
.58) and more modestly correlated with the
other traits.
Extraversion obviously is highly relevant to
any discussion of positive affectivity;
 
Causes and Correlates of
Positive Affectivity
 
Genetic Evidence
 
 
First, this trait clearly is strongly
heritable. Most of the available data are based
on measures of Extraversion. Heritability estimates
for Extraversion derived from twin studies
generally fall in the .40 to .60 range, with a
median value of approximately .50 (Clark &
Watson, 1999). Adoption studies yield somewhat
lower heritability estimates, but this
largely may be due to their failure to assess
nonadditive genetic variance.
Finally,
based on results from both twin and adoption
studies, it appears that the common rearing environment
(i.e., the effects of living together in
the same household) exerts little influence on
this trait
 
Neurobiological Basis of
Positive Affectivity
 
Based on recent evidence, however, it
appears that positive affectivity primarily reflects
the level of resting activity in the left prefrontal
area, whereas negative affectivity is
more strongly associated with right frontal activation.
happy individuals tend to show relatively
greater resting activity in the left prefrontal cortex
than in the right prefrontal area; conversely,
dysphoric individuals display relatively greater
right anterior activity. Unfortunately, it has
proven difficult to isolate the specific effects of
left versus right prefrontal activity in these
studies.
This left prefrontal activity, in turn, can be
linked to the mesolimbic dopaminergic system,
which has been strongly implicated in the operation
of the behavioral facilitation system and
in the subjective experience of positive mood.
because
of these neurobiological differences, individuals
high in positive affectivity may be
more responsive to—and better able to derive
pleasure from—rewarding stimuli
 
 
Demographic and
Environmental Correlates
An enormous literature has examined how numerous
demographic variables—age, gender,
marital status, ethnicity, income and socioeconomic
status, and so on—are related to individual
differences in happiness, life satisfaction,
and trait affectivity
From these studies, it is clear that objective demographic
factors are relatively weak predictors
of happiness and positive affectivity.
Lykken and Tellegen (1996) reported that
income, educational attainment, and socioeconomic
status each accounted for less than 2%
of the variance in scores on the MPQ Well-
Being scale. Thus, an individual’s capacity for
positive affectivity is not seriously limited by
objective conditions such as age, wealth, and
status.
Developed countries, income and education not related to wellbeing. But in non developed countries
 
developmental psychologists found that women has greater life span and this findings could be
attributed to their higher positive affectivity. while analysing the rich content regarding this findings
researchers conclude that females are more happier than men but this difference are not significant
while comparing to the men's level of positive affectivity and happiness.
 
However, two variables consistently have
emerged as significant predictors of positive affectivity.
First, numerous studies have shown
that positive affectivity—but not negative affectivity—
is moderately correlated with various
indicators of social behavior, including number
of close friends, frequency of contact with
friends and relatives, making new acquaintances,
involvement in social organizations, and
overall level of social activity.
 
social activity and positive affectivity
mutually influencing each other (Watson,
2000; Watson & Clark, 1997a). On the one
hand, it is well established that social interaction
typically produces a transient elevation in positive
emotionality; conversely, it also is true
that feelings of cheerfulness, liveliness and enthusiasm
are associated with an enhanced desire
for affiliation and an increased preference for
interpersonal contact. Thus, positive affectivity
is both a cause and an effect of social behavior.
Relatedly, in analyses of large
U.S. national samples, married people are significantly
more likely to describe themselves as
“very happy” than are those who have never
married; moreover, contrary to popular belief,
this “happiness gap” (Myers & Diener, 1995) is
found in both men and women.
Married people with better family environment are more happy than unmarried.
There are two explanations for the
link between happiness and marriage. One explanation is that more happy people get
married while more unhappy people do not because happy people are more attractive as
marital partners than unhappy people. Another explanation is that marriage confers a
range of benefits on people that make them happy. Marriage provides psychological and
physical intimacy,