Turning gold into lead: Dampening appraisals reduce happiness and pleasantness and increase sadness during anticipation and recall of pleasant activities in the laboratory

Abstract

Two studies examined whether use of dampening appraisals (e.g., thinking "this is too good to last") or amplifying appraisals (e.g., thinking "I deserve this") modulated affective experience when remembering (Study One) and anticipating (Study Two) positive events. Both studies used a mixed within-between participants design, with participants completing an uninstructed positive recall/anticipation task before being randomized to either control, dampening, or amplifying instructions during a second positive recall/anticipation task. During memory recall (Study One), instructed dampening increased dampening appraisals and led to a reduction in happiness and pleasantness and an increase in sadness, significantly differing from the control and amplifying conditions. While the amplifying condition significantly increased amplifying appraisals, it did not alter affective experience (relative to the control condition). During anticipation (Study Two), identical findings emerged for the dampening manipulation. The amplifying manipulation did not significantly increase amplifying appraisals, precluding conclusions being drawn about the impact of amplifying in this study. These results suggest that dampening appraisals contribute to altered affective experience when imagining and recalling positive activities and may account for why attempts to do so can have paradoxically negative effects in clinical populations. Moreover, the studies preliminarily validate a novel scale measuring state appraisal of positive experiences.

Savoring the moment: A link between affectivity and depression

“…This is despite the fact that reductions in PA were more marked than elevated NA in the samples tested, indicating that PA may be a more pressing intervention target (Dunn et al, 2019). Novel treatments have theorized that increased use of dampening appraisals may be a psychological mechanism of reduced PA (Dunn et al, 2018). This implicates positive emotion regulation and savoring, which is underscored by literature illustrating that greater savoring beliefs are correlated with lower levels of depressive symptoms (Bryant, 2003;Eisner et al, 2009;Hou et al, 2016;Ramsey & Gentzler, 2014;Smith & Hollinger-Smith, 2015).…”

Changes in Positive and Negative Affect During Pharmacological Treatment and Cognitive Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder: A Secondary Analysis of Two Randomized Controlled Trials

“…Adapted forms of psychotherapy targeting PA and broader well-being are emerging, including positive cognitive-behavioral therapy (Geschwind, Arntz, Bannink, & Peeters, 2019), positive-affect treatment (Craske et al, 2019), well-being therapy (Ruini & Fava, 2012), augmented depression therapy (Dunn et al, 2019), and adaptations of positive psychology interventions (e.g., Chaves, Lopez-Gomez, Hervas, & Vazquez, 2017). These novel treatments are informed by a better understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms driving PA deficits, including elevated use of dampening appraisals and reduced experiential processing (e.g., Burr, Javaid, Jell, & Werner-Seidler, 2017; Dunn et al, 2018; Gadeikis, Bos, Schweizer, Murphy, & Dunn, 2017), opening up new avenues for intervention (see Dunn, 2017).…”

A qualitative study exploring adolescents’ experience of brief behavioural activation for depression and its impact on the symptom of anhedonia

“…It is important to note that for some participants clinical improvement was short-lived, and thus, participants may have benefitted from additional or alternative strategies. A number of treatments have been recently developed to specifically target anhedonia in depression [Augmented Depression Therapy (ADePT;Dunn et al, 2018)] and across disorders [Positive Affect Treatment (PAT; Craske et al, 2016, Craske et al, 2019], and these may contain elements could be adapted for adolescents and incorporated into Behavioural Activation.…”