Stuart W. Quirk, James Bomersbach, & Elizabeth Goss

To examine the role of depression symptoms and trait anticipatory and consummatory pleasure in both predicting and experiencing a pleasant or unpleasant event (emotional reactions to Valentine’s Day vis-à-vis dating status), 273 unselected undergraduates completed a number of screening instruments and also predicted their future emotional state for Valentine’s Day and the two subsequent days. They later reported on their actual emotional reactions on each of the three days. Among the 130 individuals without a date, higher levels of depression were associated with greater negative emotional impact bias surrounding their disappointment. Reported depression levels were not related to predicted or experienced positive reactions for those with a date. Higher levels of reported anticipatory and consummatory pleasure (using the TEPS; Gard et al., 2006) were associated with a greater positive impact bias among daters. The trait tendency to anticipate pleasure was strongly associated with higher predicted and experienced happiness whereas trait consummatory pleasure was more weakly associated with forecasts and experiences. Results for depression and over-predicted distress are consistent with other recent research and add further support to the theory of cognitive distortions in depression. To our knowledge this is the first effort to examine trait tendencies to anticipate and savor pleasure through the use of specific predictions and experiences.

Stuart W. Quirk, Ashley Linden, James Bomersbach, & Elizabeth Goss

To determine the role of social and trait anxiety upon predicted and subsequent emotional reactions to Valentine’s Day dating status, 423 unselected undergraduates completed a number of screening instruments and also predicted their future emotional state after Valentine’s Day (vis-a-vis date status). They later reported on their actual emotional state following Valentine’s Day. Among the 190 individuals without a date, a significant interaction was observed for trait anxiety by affect reports such that the heightened predictions of unhappiness among high trait anxiety individuals was aligned with subsequent experienced distress whereas lower trait anxiety participants demonstrated the typical impact bias of over-predicting their subsequent unhappiness. That is, the typical affective forecasting or impact bias of overestimating the impact of a future emotional event was not observed for high trait anxiety participants. It may be that those with high trait anxiety demonstrate a ‘fixed’ negativity evident in both predicted and experienced negative affect states or it may be that they more able to accurately predict their future unpleasant emotional experiences.

Aaron Kaiser, Stuart W. Quirk, Amie Paggeot, Thomas Quinn (CMU) and Greg Siegle, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine

Mindfulness is a skill used to create a non judgmental present awareness of a person’s environment. It shares similarities with meditative states and is currently used in several psychological treatment packages and has sparked theoretical interest in attempts to explain how mindfulness can ameliorate psychological distress. To determine if a single mindfulness meditative episode can influence subsequent attention to negative arousing stimuli (accusatory audio statements) in high trait anxiety participants, 1200 undergraduates were screened for trait anxiety and a high anxiety (n = 43) and normative range anxiety group (n = 58) subsequently participated in either a 15 minute mindfulness or relaxation exercise before listening to a set of accusatory and complementary statements. To measure the attentional arousal and sustained processing of statements, pupil dilation reactions were recorded for the 12 seconds following each of the 38 statements. Results to date are not consistent with the hypotheses. For example, greater anxiety was not associated with greater dilation reactivity to unpleasant statements. Additional analyses are planned to further explore possible relationships including those between dilation reactivity and reported concern regarding each of the statements

Sydney Walsh, Stuart W. Quirk, & Michael Hoerger

Alexithymia describes a cluster of emotional processing deficits thought to include deficient affective verbal production, facial display, and expressive gestures as well as cognitive processing deficits. Following the hypothesis that alexithymia is associated with poor ability to generate and use emotional symbols (Luminet et al., 2006), we hypothesized that those higher in alexithymia would be less able to accurately predict their future emotional states in reaction to a potentially emotional event. To determine if individual differences in emotional awareness influenced the predicted and experienced emotional reactions to the 2008 election, 158 undergraduates completed measures including trait anxiety and alexithymia and made predictions regarding their emotional reactions to the election a month before the election. Participants subsequently reported on their emotional state two days post election. McCain supporters higher in alexithymia demonstrated a bias in under predicting their subsequent distress regarding the outcome. Obama supporters higher in difficulty identifying feelings showed a similar underprediction of their subsequent pleasure at the outcome. Results suggest affective forecasting errors may be more pronounced among those with aspects of alexithymia. If such a deficit replicates, it may prove a fruitful domain of inquiry into the processes underlying self awareness of emotional information and accurate affective predictions and associated behavioral planning.