Affect optimization and affect complexity: Modes and styles of regulation in adulthood.

Abstract

In this research, the authors hypothesize that affect regulation involves 2 independent strategies: affect optimization, the tendency to constrain affect to positive values, and affect complexity, the amplification of affect in the search for differentiation and objectivity. Community residents age 15 to 86 were assessed by using 2 convergent measurement domains: 1 based on measures of positive-negative affect and cognitive-affective complexity and 1 based on measures of coping and defense. Both domains yielded the hypothesized affect optimization and affect complexity dimensions. As predicted, the affect optimization dimensions are primarily related to relationship quality variables, and the affect complexity dimensions to socioeconomic status and education. Hence, positive affect and its maximization have different significance in the context of high- or low-affect complexity.

Emodiversity and the emotional ecosystem.

“…Along with people's explicit knowledge of their own emotions (i.e., emotional awareness; Lane & Schwartz, 1987), the richness and complexity in people's self-reported experience of emotion is a primary aspect of the broad concept of emotional complexity (e.g., Lindquist & Barrett, 2008), which has been linked to adaptive emotion regulation and mental health in adulthood and old age (Helson & Wink, 1987;Labouvie-Vief & Medler, 2002;Ryan & Deci, 2001). …”

Six-year change in affect optimization and affect complexity across the adult life span: A further examination.

“…The CPI was administered to participants age 15 and older three times over the course of 6 years : 1992, 1994, and 1998. 4 In our previous research (see Labouvie-Vief & Medler, 2002, Table 1), principal components analyses on select Coping and Defense scales derived from the CPI (Haan, 1977;Joffe & Naditch, 1977) yielded two orthogonal factors. Consistent with our theoretical predictions, one factor was related specifically to affect optimization, indicating a tendency to contain and dampen negative affect.…”

Divergent trajectories in the aging mind: Changes in working memory for affective versus visual information with age.

“…Alternatively, though, the bias of younger adults to judge the second state as higher could reflect that their emotional reactions have longer duration than those of older adults; perhaps their emotional reactions to the first image spilled over to the second. This explanation suggests that older adults are less affected by spillover effects, which could be a result of age differences in the duration, differentiation, or complexity of emotional experiences Charles, 2005;Labouvie-Vief, DeVoe, & Bulka, 1989;Labouvie-Vief & Medler, 2002). Teasing apart these hypotheses represents an exciting direction for future research.…”

“…For example, few age differences are apparent on measures of subjective reports and observations of facial expressions during controlled laboratory tasks (e.g., Levenson, Carstensen, Friesen, & Ekman, 1991;Tsai, Levenson, & Carstensen, 2000) and even in autonomic responding when stimuli are highly age relevant (Kunzmann & Grühn, 2005). Moreover, studies of everyday emotional experience suggest that a relatively positive emotional balance is associated with age (Carstensen, Pasupathi, Mayr, & Nesselroade, 2000;Labouvie-Vief & Medler, 2002;Mroczek Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Joseph A. Mikels, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Jordan Hall, Building 420, Stanford, CA 94305-2130. jmikels@psych.stanford.edu. & Kolarz, 1998).…”