Striving to feel good: Ideal affect, actual affect, and their correspondence across adulthood.

Abstract

The experience of positive affect is essential for healthy functioning and quality of life. Although there is a great deal of research on ways in which people regulate negative states, little is known about the regulation of positive states. In the present study we examined age differences in the types of positive states people strive to experience and the correspondence between their desired and actual experiences. Adults aged 18–93 years of age described their ideal positive affect states. Then, using experience-sampling over a seven-day period, they reported their actual positive affect experiences. Two types of positive affect were assessed: low-arousal (calm, peaceful, relaxed) and high-arousal (excited, proud). Young participants valued both types of positive affect equally. Older participants, however, showed increasingly clear preferences for low-arousal over high-arousal positive affect. Older adults reached both types of positive affective goals more often than younger adults (indicated by a smaller discrepancy between actual and ideal affect). Moreover, meeting ideal levels of positive low-arousal affect (though not positive high-arousal affect) was associated with individuals’ physical health, over and above levels of actual affect. Findings underscore the importance of considering age differences in emotion-regulatory goals related to positive experience.

Stability and change in affective experience across the adult life span: Analyses with a national sample from Germany.

“…Thus, although happiness may decrease in old age, other positive emotions may remain stable or increase. For example, a recent study conducted by Scheibe, English, Tsai, and Carstensen (2012) suggests that whereas positive emotions characterized by high arousal (i.e., excited, proud) decline with age, positive emotions characterized by the absence of arousal (i.e., calm, relaxed) remain stable (for similar evidence see Kessler & Staudinger, 2009). …”

Ideal affect in daily life: implications for affective experience, health, and social behavior

“…Since this original report, various studies have also found links between actual and ideal affect discrepancies and other indices of health (i.e., physical symptoms [43], as well as depression and life satisfaction [44–45]) across a variety of cultures. However, it is less clear whether there are cultural differences in the types of discrepancies that matter for health.…”

Emotions and Aging

“…Indeed, age-related decreases in negative emotion are most apparent for high arousal states (e.g., anger, rage, despair; Lawton et al, 1992;Phillips et al, 2008;Ross and Mirowsky, 2008;Schieman, 1999). Additionally, Scheibe et al (2013) recently reported an age-related increase in daily low arousal positive emotions in a sample spanning young adulthood to old age, while high arousal positive emotions were age invariant. They also asked participants about preferences for specific emotions and found that older people preferred low arousal positive states (e.g., calm) over high arousal positive states.…”