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Affect intensity and individual differences in informational style

R J Larsen1, D W Billings, S E Cutler

  • 1University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-1109, USA.

Journal of Personality
|March 1, 1996
PubMed
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Individual differences in affect intensity (AI) are linked to cognitive processes. High AI individuals use more emotional arousal, focus on feelings, and generalize more when describing life events.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Affective Science

Background:

  • Individual differences in affective experience intensity are significant but poorly understood.
  • Prior research suggests affect intensity (AI) relates to interpreting emotional stimuli.
  • Mechanisms maintaining individual differences in affect intensity require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate cognitive activity during information generation about life events.
  • To extend previous findings on affect intensity (AI) and cognitive interpretation.
  • To explore the relationship between informational style and dispositional affect intensity.

Main Methods:

  • Participants generated free-response descriptions of 16 life events.
  • Descriptions were content-coded for five informational style variables.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analysis focused on differences in cognitive activity between high and low AI individuals.

    • Main Results:

    • High AI participants' descriptions included more references to emotional arousal and feelings.
    • High AI participants demonstrated greater use of generalization in their descriptions.
    • Informational style variables were found to be stable over time and across situations.

    Conclusions:

    • Specific cognitive activities, such as increased emotional arousal focus and generalization, are associated with dispositional affect intensity.
    • Informational style may mediate or explain gender differences in affect intensity.
    • Psychological mechanisms underlying individual differences in affect intensity are proposed.