Modifying the Trier Social Stress Test to Induce Positive Affect

Studies comparing the effects of positive and negative affect on psychological outcomes are limited by differences in the situations that evoke these states and in the resulting levels of arousal. In the present research, we adapted the speech portion of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) to create conditions with similar situational features that induce either positive, negative, or neutral affective states (N = 301). Pre-post emotion ratings showed that negative affect increased in the negative condition but decreased in the positive and neutral conditions. Positive affect increased in the positive condition, remained unchanged in the neutral condition, and decreased in the negative condition. Participants' post-speech ratings of their positive and negative emotions differed significantly between the positive and negative conditions, which has not been accomplished in previous attempts to create a non-stressful positive TSST. Importantly, participants in the positive and negative conditions did not differ in self-reported levels of arousal and showed similar changes in mean arterial pressure across the speech period, although heart rate was relatively higher during the speech for participants in the negative compared to positive and neutral conditions. Findings demonstrate the effectiveness of a modified TSST for inducing positive affect with similar levels of emotional arousal to the traditional negative TSST.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00074-6.