title: Affective synchrony: individual differences in mixed emotions.
abstract: Most models of affect suggest either inverse or null associations between positivity and negativity. Recent work has highlighted situations that sometimes lead to mixed positive-negative affect. Focusing on the counterpart to these situational factors, the authors explore the individual-difference tendency toward mixed emotions, which they term affective synchrony. In five studies, the authors show that some individuals demonstrate affective synchrony (overlapping experience of positive and negative moods), others a-synchrony (positive and negative mood that fluctuate independently), and still others de-synchrony (positive and negative moods that function as bipolar opposites). These tendencies are stable over time within persons, vary broadly across individuals, and are associated with individual differences in cognitive representation of self and of emotions.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA. erafaeli@barnard.columbia.edu
authors.forename: Eshkol
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rafaeli
authors.forename: Gregory M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Revelle
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001290:Attitude; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D014481:United States