Positively biased appraisals in everyday life: When do they benefit mental health and when do they harm it?

Abstract

To promote optimal mental health, is it best to evaluate negative experiences accurately or in a positively biased manner? In an attempt to reconcile inconsistent prior research addressing this question, we predicted that the tendency to form positively biased appraisals of negative experiences may reduce the motive to address those experiences and thereby lead to poorer mental health in the context of negative experiences that are controllable and severe but lead to better mental health in the context of controllable negative experiences that are less severe by promoting positive feelings without invoking serious consequences from unaddressed problems. In 2 longitudinal studies, individuals in new marriages were interviewed separately about their ongoing stressful experiences, and their own appraisals of those experiences were compared with those of the interviewers. Across studies, spouses' tendencies to form positively biased appraisals of their stressful experiences predicted fewer depressive symptoms over the subsequent 4 years among individuals judged to be facing relatively mild experiences but more depressive symptoms among individuals judged to be facing relatively severe experiences. Furthermore, in Study 2, these effects were mediated by changes in those experiences, such that the interaction between the tendency to form positively biased appraisals of stressful experiences and the objectively rated severity of initial levels of those experiences directly predicted changes in those experiences, which in turn accounted for changes in depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that cognitive biases are not inherently positive or negative; their implications for mental health depend on the context in which they occur.

Sexual Narcissism and Infidelity in Early Marriage

“…Finally, own grandiose sense of sexual skill was marginally positively associated with infidelity across both studies, indicating the spouses who were more confident about their sexual skill were more likely to commit an infidelity. This latter finding joins other research suggesting that a sense of confidence and optimism is not always beneficial (see Baker & McNulty, 2013; Gibson & Sanbonmatsu, 2004; Isaacowitz & Seligman, 2002; McNulty & Karney, 2004; Norem, 2001; O’Mara, McNulty, & Karney, 2011; Shepperd & McN-ulty, 2002). Rather, the implications of a sense of skill likely depend on the context in which it is held and the outcome in question (McNulty, 2010; McNulty & Fincham, 2012; McNulty & Karney, 2004).…”

The Future of Emotion Regulation Research

“…In the next section, I discuss each component by describing their underlying dimensions, and I provide suggestions for manipulations that will facilitate the study of variability at the level of dimensions and components. Following that, I provide initial guidelines for how to combine such dimensions and & Gross, 2004;Kokkonen & Pulkkinen, 2001;Nolen-Hoeksema & Aldao, 2011;Soto, Perez, Kim, Lee, & Minnick, 2011;Zlomke & Hahn, 2010) as well as experimental studies (e.g., age: Larcom & Isaacowitz, 2009;McRae, Ciesielski, & Gross, 2011;Winecoff, LaBar, Madden, Cabeza, & Huettel, 2010;gender: McRae, Ochsner, Mauss, Gabrieli, & Gross, 2008;ethnicity: Gross & John, 2003;Roberts, Levenson, & Gross, 2008;trait affect: Dalgleish, Yiend, Schweizer, & Dunn, 2009; life stressors: O'Mara, McNulty, & Karney, 2011;Shallcross, Troy, Boland, & Mauss, 2010; and habitual use of emotion regulation strategies: Burns, Quartana, & Bruehl, 2007;Geraerts, Merckelbach, Jelicic, & Smeets, 2006;Gilliam et al, 2010;Ray et al, 2005;Wolgast, Lundh, & Viborg, 2011). However, most of these investigations have examined only one or two person-level characteristics at a time, therefore falling short of modeling the complex interactions among the various aspects of demographic characteristics, personality facets, and psychological processes.…”

Automatic and controlled antecedents of suicidal ideation and action: A dual-process conceptualization of suicidality.

“…Further, self-enhancement can improve psychological health over time (i.e., reduce depressive symptoms and increase subjective well-being; O’Mara et al, 2012). That said (and consistent with the complex interplay of motives, automatic processes, and opportunities), overly positive self-reported evaluations of the self can also be a mental health liability among people facing particularly negative circumstances that could be ameliorated with self-directed effort (O’Mara et al, 2011).…”