Influence of affect on cognitive social learning person variables.

Abstract

This study examined the influence of feeling states on person variables viewed as central mediators of self-regulation and performance within a cognitive social learning formulation of personality. Subjects generated either positive, neutral, or negative affective states through their own ideation and were then exposed to success or failure outcomes over a series of trials. Positive affect resulted in increased expectations, higher estimates of past successes, and more favorable global selftevaluations. Conversely, negative affect led to lower expectations, lower estimates of previous successes, and more negative general self-assessments. The combination of negative affect and negative outcomes led to the lowest selfevaluations and to self-defeating patterns of goal setting (in which minimal goals exceeded expectations). The results demonstrate how affect may bias the processing of self-relevant information and help to clarify the links between affect and person variables in the cognitive social learning framework.

The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?

“…For example, students induced into experiencing a positive mood thereafter describe themselves in more positive terms (Sarason, Potter, & Sarason, 1986), assess their task performance as superior (Barsade, 2002), report more favorable global self-evaluations, and recall more positive experiences and successes from their past (M. S. Clark & Waddell, 1983;Wright & Mischel, 1982). Happy moods also appear to increase feelings of self-efficacy.…”

“…Those put in a good mood report higher self-efficacy (Baron, 1990;Samson & Rachman, 1989;Schuettler & Kiviniemi, in press) and set higher goals for themselves (Baron, 1990;Hom & Arbuckle, 1988). Induced positive moods also lead people to expect more success on laboratory tasks (Brown, 1984;Wright & Mischel, 1982). Finally, positive mood leads individuals to attribute their successes to stable factors within themselves (Brown, 1984).…”

Does Happiness Promote Career Success?

“…For example, when compared with a neutral affect group, people induced to experience positive affect set higher goals for themselves (Baron, 1990;Hom & Arbuckle, 1988), persist at a difficult task longer (Sarason, Potter, & Sarason, 1986), evaluate themselves more positively (Sarason et al, 1986), and rate their performance as stronger (Barsade, 2002;Wright & Mischel, 1982). On laboratory tasks, people experiencing positive emotions are also more optimistic about the outcomes (Brown, 1984;Wright & Mischel, 1982). It is interesting that such positive evaluations are not merely unjustified impressions; people in a happy mood often perform better than those in a sad mood (Hom & Arbuckle, 1988; see below for contradictory findings regarding performance on complex mental tasks).…”

Dysphorics can control depressive mood’s informational impact on effort mobilization

“…Recently, it has been demonstrated that depressed mood also influences people's effort mobilization in terms of their cardiovascular response during execution of various mental tasks Gendolla 2007, 2008). These findings have been interpreted as a mood-congruent informational impact on individual's task demand appraisals (see e.g., Gendolla et al 2001;Kavanagh and Bower 1985;Wright and Mischel 1982), which in turn determine effort mobilization. However, these recent studies cannot provide clear evidence that an informational mood impact is responsible for the effects of depressed mood on cardiovascular reactivity.…”