Real-life Affective Forecasting in Young Adults with High Social Anhedonia: An Experience Sampling Study

Affective forecasting (AF), the ability to forecast emotional responses for future events, is critical for optimal decision-making and mental health. Most previous AF studies were conducted using laboratory-based tasks but overlooked the impacts of real-life situations and social interactions. This study used the experience sampling method to examine real-life AF in young healthy adults and individuals with high social anhedonia.

In Study 1, 109 young healthy adults reported anticipated and experienced emotions of personal events for 30 days on mobile phones. In Study 2, we examined real-life AF in 28 individuals with high social anhedonia (HSA) and 32 individuals with low social anhedonia (LSA).

In Study 1 (totaling 8031 real-life events), participants anticipated and experienced social events as more positive and more arousing than non-social events, but also with larger AF discrepancy. In Study 2 (totaling 2066 real-life events), compared with the LSA group, the HSA group anticipated less pleasure and displayed a larger valence discrepancy especially for social but not for non-social events. However, the HSA group reported less experienced pleasure for both social and non-social events.

Using an ecological method for assessing real-life AF, we extended the previous laboratory-based findings to real-life situations. These findings demonstrate the effects of sociality on real-life AF and elucidate the deficit in anticipating social pleasure among HSA individuals, which reflects liability to schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Altered AF may be a potential intervention target in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorder.