Abstract
In recent years there has been growing interest in determining the attentional basis of positive affectivity. Investigators have sought to evaluate the hypothesis that elevated positive affectivity is characterized by an attentional bias that favours the processing of positive information over neutral information. Unfortunately, in the studies carried out to date, the assessment procedures used by researchers to assess such attentional selectivity have either been methodologically limited or methodologically flawed. Hence, the validity of the hypothesis has remained indeterminate. To overcome the problems associated with attentional assessment procedures used in previous studies, and so shed light on the attentional basis of positive affectivity, we employed an appropriate variant of the attentional probe task. Our findings show that participants high in positive affectivity displayed greater relative attention to positive information compared to neutral information, than was the case for their low positive affectivity counterparts. Thus, the present results support the hypothesis that an attentional bias to positive information, relative to neutral information, is characteristic of elevated positive affectivity.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Australian Research Council Grants DP140104448 and DP140103713, and by a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS–UEFISCDI, Project Number PNII-ID-PCCE-2011-2-0045.
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Appendix
Appendix
Word pair (positive word/neutral word) | Word pair (positive word/neutral word) | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 | controlled/represents | 49 | certainty/telegraph |
2 | nonchalant/tabernacle | 50 | placid/wallet |
3 | imperturbable/residentially | 51 | relieve/statute |
4 | unfalteringly/thermoplastic | 52 | daring/manned |
5 | extrovert/regrouped | 53 | unruffled/scorecard |
6 | fearless/registry | 54 | snug/mead |
7 | safe/hole | 55 | secure/reveal |
8 | restful/pointer | 56 | lively/quoted |
9 | buoyant/spinach | 57 | brightness/respective |
10 | accomplish/functional | 58 | comfortable/profession |
11 | calm/knee | 59 | contented/inaugural |
12 | favourable/transition | 60 | gregarious/modulation |
13 | soothing/explorer | 61 | happier/consult |
14 | pleased/whereas | 62 | fun/cup |
15 | enchanting/delivering | 63 | friendly/contract |
16 | peaceful/narrative | 64 | tranquil/motorist |
17 | glad/punt | 65 | rejoice/focally |
18 | carefree/sideline | 66 | heroic/tailor |
19 | excited/plaster | 67 | passionate/nomination |
20 | ecstatic/mixtures | 68 | jovial/cohere |
21 | exuberant/inference | 69 | confident/passenger |
22 | blissful/dispense | 70 | cheerful/segments |
23 | successes/frequency | 71 | elated/kernel |
24 | bold/loop | 72 | stable/buying |
25 | harmless/pantheon | 73 | undisturbed/occupations |
26 | unwavering/bimolecular | 74 | unconcerned/supplements |
27 | resting/cottage | 75 | poised/ballot |
28 | steady/tissue | 76 | keen/pump |
29 | unstressed/decorators | 77 | assured/allotment |
30 | assertive/propeller | 78 | protected/recording |
31 | ease/wire | 79 | composed/treasury |
32 | charisma/flitting | 80 | eager/refer |
33 | cosy/digs | 81 | warmly/themes |
34 | serene/entity | 82 | sociable/instancy |
35 | zeal/dock | 83 | energetic/criterion |
36 | gentle/mirror | 84 | proudly/resembles |
37 | enjoy/acres | 85 | satisfaction/jurisdiction |
38 | zest/bean | 86 | enthusiastic/illustration |
39 | outgoing/reversed | 87 | achieving/alongside |
40 | merry/ankle | 88 | brave/tubes |
41 | rewarding/logistics | 89 | fulfilled/generated |
42 | relaxed/habitat | 90 | courageous/supersonic |
43 | thrilled/equating | 91 | triumphs/outfield |
44 | enjoyment/temporary | 92 | glee/cues |
45 | jubilation/impresario | 93 | euphoric/citywide |
46 | pleasure/speaking | 94 | delighted/maintains |
47 | overjoyed/applicant | 95 | joy/bob |
48 | docile/awhile | 96 | casual/trucks |
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Grafton, B., MacLeod, C. A Positive Perspective on Attentional Bias: Positive Affectivity and Attentional Bias to Positive Information. J Happiness Stud 18, 1029–1043 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9761-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9761-x