Abstract
The trait-consistent, affect regulation hypothesis states that people regulate their affect so that it is consistent with their traits. Thus neurotics are drawn to experience negative affect while extroverts are drawn to experience positive affect. The purpose of this research was to test the trait-consistent, affect regulation hypothesis with respect to entertainment choices. If this hypothesis is true neurotics should prefer entertainments that create negative affect while extroverts should prefer entertainments that create positive affect. In Study 1 participants filled out trait measures of neuroticism, extroversion, tendency to experience negative affect, and tendency to experience positive affect and then were asked to choose their three favorite songs, movies, novels, and TV shows and rate them with respect to whether they were sad and happy and whether they made the participant feel positive and negative affect. The results supported the hypothesis. Generally, extroverts and people who tended to experience positive affect chose happy entertainments and entertainments that produced positive affect while neurotics and people who tended to experience negative affect chose sad entertainments and entertainments that produced negative affect. The results were especially strong for songs and weak for TV shows. Study 2 replicated Study 1 for favorite song and tested an alternative explanation for the results of Study 1, that neurotics, extroverts, negative affect, and positive affect participants chose the same entertainments but experienced them differently so as to maintain trait-affect consistency. The results of Study 1 were replicated; support was not found for the alternative explanation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The study materials and datasets generated are available on the Open Science Framework.
References
Aronson, E., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1963). Effect of the severity of threat on the devaluation of forbidden behavior. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66, 584–588. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0039901
Bem, D. J. (1965). An experimental analysis of self-persuasion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1, 199–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(65)90026-0
Bryant, J., & Miron, D. (2003). Excitation-transfer theory. In J. Bryant, D. Roskos-Ewoldsen, & J. Cantor (Eds.), Communication and emotion: Essays in honor of Dolf Zillmann (pp. 31–59). Erlbaum.
Byrne, D. (1961). Interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 62, 713–715. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0044721
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Cuijpers, P., Van Straten, A., & Warmerdam, I. (2007). Behavioral activation treatments of depression: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 318–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr2006.11.001
Davies, S. (2005). Artistic expression and the hard case of pure music. In Kieran, M. (Ed.), Contemporary debates in aesthetics and the philosophy of art (pp. 179–91).
Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2008). The science of optimal happiness. Blackwell Publishing.
Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). New measures of well-being: Flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 39, 247–266. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2354-4_12
Eerola, T., & Vuoskoski, J. K. (2011). A comparison of the discrete and dimensional models of emotion in music. Psychology of Music, 39, 18–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735610362821
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7, 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 203–210. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0041593
Ford, B. Q., & Tamir, M. (2013). Preferring familiar emotions: As you want (and like) it? Cognition & Emotion, 28, 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.823381
Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48, 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.48.1.26
Hargreaves, D. J., & North, A. C. (1999). The functions of music in everyday life: Redefining the social in music psychology. Psychology of Music, 27, 71–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735699271007
Harmon-Jones, E., & Mills, J. (2019). An introduction to cognitive dissonance theory and an overview of current perspectives on the theory. In E. Harmon-Jones (Ed.), Cognitive dissonance: Re-examining a pivotal theory in psychology (pp. 3–24). American Psychological Association.
Hemenover, S. H., & Harbke, C. R. (2020). Individual differences in motives for regulating affect intensity: Positive trait affect and the value of trait-consistent affect. Motivation and Emotion, 44, 755–771. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-020-09844-4
Huron, D. (2001). Is music an evolutionary adaptation? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 930, 43–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb05724.x
Ito, T. A., Chiao, K. W., & Devine, P. G. (2006). The influence of facial feedback on race bias. Psychological Science, 17, 256–261. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01694.x
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big-Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (Vol. 2, pp. 102–138). Guilford Press.
Juslin, P. N., & Laukka, P. (2004). Expression, perception, and induction of musical emotions: A review and a questionnaire study of everyday listening. Journal of New Music Research, 33, 217–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/0929821042000317813
Karimpour-Vazifehkhorani, A., Rudsari, A. B., Rezvanizadeh, A., Kehtary-Harzang, L., & Hasanzadeh, K. (2020). Behavior activation therapy on reward seeking behaviors in depressed people: An experimental study. Journal of Caring Science, 9, 195–202. https://doi.org/10.34172/jcs.2020.030
Kille, D. R., Eibach, R. P., Wood, J. V., & Holmes, J. G. (2017). Who can’t take a compliment? The role of construal level and self-esteem in accepting positive feedback from close others. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 68, 40–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.05.003
Lakens, D. (2016). Why you don’t need to adjust your alpha level for all tests you’ll do in your lifetime. http://daniellakens.blogspot.com/2016/02/why-you-dont-need-to-adjust-you-alpha.html
Larson, R. J., & Ketelaar, T. (1991). Personality and susceptibility to positive and negative emotional states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 132–140. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.61.1.132
Leippe, M. R., & Eisenstadt, D. (1994). Generalization of dissonance reduction: Decreasing prejudice through induced compliance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 395–413. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.3.395
Leung, A. K., Liou, S., Qui, L., Kwan, L. Y., Chiu, C., & Yong, J. C. (2014). The role of instrumental emotional regulation in the emotions-creativity link: How worries render individuals with high neuroticism more creative. Emotion, 14, 846–856. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036965
Marshall, G. N., Wortman, C. B., Kusulas, J. W., Hervig, L. K., & Vickers, R. R. (1992). Distinguishing optimism from pessimism: Relations to fundamental dimensions of mood and personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 1067–1074. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.62.6.1067
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.1.81
Millgram, Y., Joormann, J., Huppert, J. D., & Tamir, M. (2015). Sad as a matter of choice? Emotional-regulation goals in depression. Psychological Science, 26, 1216–1228.
Millgram, Y., Joormann, J., Jonathan, D., Huppert, J. D., Lampert, A., & Tamir, M. (2019). Motivations to experience happiness or sadness in depression: Temporal stability and implications for coming with stress. Clinical Psychological Science, 7, 143–161. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702618797937
Mohebi, L., & Bailey, F. (2020). Exploring Bem’s self-perception theory in an educational context. Encyolpaideia: Journal of Phenomenology and Education, 24, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1825.8670/9891
Newcomb, T. M. (1956). The prediction of interpersonal attraction. American Psychologist, 11, 575–586. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046141
Olson, J. M., & Stone, J. (2005). The influence of behavior on attitudes. In D. Albarracín, B. T. Johnson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), The handbook of attitudes (pp. 223–271). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Rolling Stone (2021). The 500 greatest songs of all time. Retrieved 2021–09–16.
Schacter, S. (1959). The psychology of affiliation: Experimental studies of the source of gregariousness. Stanford University Press.
Swan, W. J., & Brooks, M. (2012). Why threats trigger compensatory reactions: The need for coherence and quest for self-verification. Social Cognition, 30, 758–777. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2012.30.6.758
Swan, W. B., & Buhrmeister, M. D. (2012). Self-verification: The search for coherence. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangnery (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 405–424). Guilford press.
Swann, W. B., Stein-Seroussi, A., & Giesler, R. B. (1992). Why people self-verify. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 392–401. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.62.3.392
Tamir, M. (2005). Don’t worry, be happy? Neuroticism, trait-consistent affect regulation, and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 449–461. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.3.449
Tamir, M. (2009a). Differential preferences for happiness: Extraversion and trait-consistent emotion regulation. Journal of Personality, 77, 447–470. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00554.x
Tamir, M. (2009b). Why do people want to feel and why? Pleasure and utility in emotion regulation. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 101–105. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01617.x
Tamir, M. (2016). Why do people regulate their emotions? A taxonomy of motives in emotion regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20, 199–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868315586325
Tamir, M., Robinson, M. D., & Clore, G. L. (2002). The epistemic benefits of trait-consistent mood states: An analysis of extraversion and mood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 663–672. https://doi.org/10.10371/0022.3514.83.3.663
Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1992). Affects separable and inseparable: On the hierarchical arrangement of the negative affects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 489–505. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.62.3.489
Yoon, S., Verona, E., Schlauch, R., Schneider, S., & Rottenberg, J. (2020). Why do depressed people prefer sad music? Emotion, 20, 613–624. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000573
Zillmann, D. (1991). The logic of suspense and mystery. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Responding to the screen: Reception and reaction processes (pp. 281–303). Erlbaum.
Zillmann, D. (1996). Sequential dependencies in emotional experience and behavior. In R. D. Kavanaugh, B. Zimmerberg, & S. Fein (Eds.), Emotion: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 243–272). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Zillmann, D. (1998). Connections between sexuality and aggression (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval
This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of Western Illinois University (11/5/20, 10/30/21).
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in this study.
The manuscript contains no individual person’s data in any form (including any individual details, images or videos).
Conflict of interest
The author has no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Mathes, E.W. Do extroverts choose happy entertainments and neurotics, sad entertainments? A test of the trait-consistent affect regulation hypothesis. Curr Psychol 42, 30125–30137 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04023-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04023-9