Dispositional negativity-the tendency to experience more frequent or intense negative emotions-is a fundamental dimension of temperament and personality. Elevated levels of dispositional negativity have profound consequences for public health and wealth, drawing the attention of researchers, clinicians, and policy makers. Yet, relatively little is known about the factors that govern the momentary expression of dispositional negativity in the real world. Here, we used smart phone-based experience-sampling to demonstrate that the social environment plays a central role in shaping the moment-by-moment emotional experience of 127 young adults selectively recruited to represent a broad spectrum of dispositional negativity. Results indicate that individuals with a more negative disposition derive much larger emotional benefits from the company of close companions-friends, romantic partners, and family members-and that these benefits reflect heightened feelings of social connection and acceptance. These results set the stage for developing improved interventions and provide new insights into the interaction of emotional traits and situations in the real world, close to clinically and practically important endpoints.

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This study investigates the effect of arousal on visual selection processes. Arousal is predicted to narrow the window of attention surrounding a point of focus. BOLD response to a letter discrimination task was measured under aroused (aversive noise) and non-aroused conditions (n = 8). Results revealed spatially distinct responses for trials invoking a narrow versus wide attentional focus. Under arousal a wide focus showed posterior thalamic activation similar to that associated with the narrowed attentional focus. This reflects altered stimulus filtering and supported the hypothesis. Relevant neuroanatomy involving the locus coeruleus and a triangular circuit of selective attention is discussed. The data demonstrates the intersection of arousal and visual stimulus selection systems, identifies a cognitive consequence of arousal, and provides the first fMRI evidence for brain stem autonomic arousal.