Effortful Control and Interpersonal Behavior in Daily Life

Abstract

The Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS) was used to examine effortful control (EC) as a moderator of daily interpersonal behavior. Participants (N = 240) were nonclinical young adults who completed a 7-day event-contingent experience sampling study of interpersonal perception and affect. Multilevel linear models indicated that EC moderated within-person covariation of interpersonal warmth and affect activation; high EC individuals reported greater momentary warm behaviors when perceiving others as affectively activated. EC also amplified between-person covariation of interpersonal warmth between self and others; high EC individuals generally responded to perceptions of another's warmth with a greater degree of warm behavior. Varying levels of EC predict responses to interpersonal perceptions and affect in daily life, suggesting an important dimension for interpersonal functioning.

An examination of the relations between effortful control in early childhood and risk for later externalizing psychopathology: A bi-factor structural equation modeling approach

“…Observed links between children's EC and later ADD were consistent with a broad literature characterizing the long-term implications of early regulatory difficulties (Eisenberg et al, 2004). Moreover, although inconsistencies regarding the relations between EC and CU traits exist in the literature, the current findings provide additional support for a growing number of studies that demonstrate predictive associations between children's EC and CU traits (Ezpeleta et al, 2013;Waller et al, 2015) including research linking enhanced EC with reduced CU traits in preschool (Ezpeleta et al, 2013) and phenotypic correlates of CU traits across childhood (Cain et al, 2019;Eisenberg et al, 2007;Gusdorf et al 2011;Kochanska et al, 2009).…”

“…Additionally, reduced EC abilities are associated with lower conscientiousness (Nigg, 2006) and diminished affiliative warmth (Cain et al, 2019), each of which is characteristic of CU traits (Assary et al, 2015;Waller & Wagner, 2019). Increased EC may also be a protective factor against behavior problems for preschoolers with low guilt (Kochanska et al, 2009).…”

Embodied Cognition in Performance: The Impact of Michael Chekhov’s Acting Exercises on Affect and Height Perception

“…In the four corners of the Grid, the dimensions of pleasantness and arousal intersect, producing four affective states: stress, excitement, depression, and relaxation. The Affect Grid is commonly used to gather reports of mood for self (Cain et al, 2019; Emmerdinger and Kuhbandner, 2019; Finisguerra et al, 2019; Ogawa and Nittono, 2019) and others (Cain et al, 2019; Chen and Whitney, 2019). The advantage for the present experiment is that it allowed for rapid and repeated measures of mood while the participant is engaged in other tasks.…”

Well-being in later life: a life course perspective

“…Personal control is also expected to have indirect effects on an aging person's well-being by affecting the skills, habits and adaptation strategies used in response to life changes. People with a solid sense of personal control tend to take responsibility for their own levels of life satisfaction by engaging in behaviors that promote satisfaction such as effectual research and problemsolving skills, seeking medical help in a timely manner, avoiding obviously risky behaviors and lifestyles, and asking for help and support from friends and family when needed (Cain et al, 2019).…”