The Importance of Positive Affect: the Role of Affective Personality in Predicting Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Previous research demonstrates inconsistent results in predicting how affect influences organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). This study aims to solve the inconsistency by taking the position that positive affect and negative affect are orthogonal, and their interaction produces four types of affective personality. They are ‘Self-fulfilling\u27 (high positive affect and low negative affect), ‘High affective\u27 (high positive affect and high negative affect), ‘Low affective\u27 (low positive affect and low negative affect) and ‘Self-destructive\u27 (low positive affect and high negative affect). The study hypothesizes that the self-fulfilling group displays the highest mean of OCB while the self-destructive displays the lowest. The high affective and low affective groups lie somewhere in between the two groups. The participants of this study were 227 employees, consisting of 151 males and 76 females with ages ranging from 20 to 60 years old (mean=38). They were measured using the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale (OCBS) and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Based on the scores of their positive and negative affect dimensions, they were classified into four groups of affective personality types. One-way ANOVA analysis supported the hypothesis. The self-fulfilling group revealed the highest mean of Organizational Citizenship Behavior while the Self-destructive group revealed the lowest. The High affective and Low affective groups were located in between the first two groups. This paper discusses this contribution and highlights how it is potential to explain organizational behavior

Positive Affect and Adjustment to Perceived Racism

This research provided the first empirical investigation of the role of positive affect in moderating the relationship between perceived racism and depressive symptoms. A sample of 215 racial and ethnic minority young adults completed measures of perceived racism, daily race–related stress, positive affect, optimism, and depressive symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that positive affect and perceived racism accounted for a significant portion of the variance in depressive symptoms. Most notably, above and beyond the effects of optimism, positive affect interacted with perceived racism to weaken its influence on depression. Implications for future research directions that build on these initial findings are discussed

Positive affect and behavior change

Affect and emotion have potent motivational properties that can be leveraged to promote desirable behavior change. Although interventions often employ fear appeals in an effort to motivate change, both theory and a growing body of empirical evidence suggest that positive affect and emotions can promote change by serving as proximal rewards for desired behaviors. This article reviews examples of such efforts in the domains of healthy diet and exercise, prosocial behavior, and pro-environmental behavior, documenting the strong potential offered by behavioral interventions using this approach. The extent to which positive affect experience prospectively drives behavior change (as distinct from rewarding the desired behavior) is less clear. However, a variety of possible indirect pathways involving incidental effects of positive affect and specific positive emotions deserve rigorous future study

Creativity and positive emotions in studying: Novel possibilities for improving students’ learning

Research on students’ learning identified that positive affect is a strong predictor of better academic performance even when statistically controlling for effects of prior academic performance and approaches to learning (e.g., Rogaten, Moneta & Spada, 2013). A variable that has been found to strongly link with positive affect in studying is use of creative cognition, which is the habit to deploy one’s own creative ability to an endeavour (Rogaten & Moneta, in press). Based on the broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson, 1998), the mood-as-input model (Martin et al., 1993), the control-process model (Carver & Scheier, 2001), and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), it was hypothesised that positive affect will be both an antecedent and a consequence of use of creative cognition in studying. 130 university students completed the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule - Short Form (I-PANAS-SF) and the Use of Creative Cognition Scale (UCCS) with reference to their overall studying experience in the first and second semesters of an academic year. A comparison of alternative structural equation models showed clear support for the reciprocal relationship between positive affect in studying and use of creative cognition in studying. This is the first study that found the longitudinal relationship between use of creative cognition in studying and subsequent positive affect in studying, which opens novel possibilities for interventions. Well-designed curricula, assessments and training programs that foster the use of creative cognition in studying may increase students’ positive affect and engagement in studying and, in turn, improve their learning and academic performance

Happy but still focused: failures to find evidence for a mood-induced widening of visual attention

In models of affect and cognition it is held that positive affect broadens the scope of attention. Consistent with this claim, previous research has indeed suggested that positive affect is associated with impaired selective attention as evidenced by increased interference of spatially distant distractors. However, several recent findings cast doubt on the reliability of this observation. In the present study we examined whether selective attention in a visual flanker task is influenced by positive mood induction. Across three experiments, positive affect consistently failed to exert any impact on selective attention. The implications of this null-finding for theoretical models of affect and cognition are discussed

Positive Affect and Group Decision Making

This paper presents a research model and empirical findings on the relationship between positive affect and group decision making. In the research model positive affect is posited to influence an individual’s willingness to communicate which in turn improves group decision making. Group cohesion is posited as moderating the relationship between positive affect and willingness to communicate. Results from an experiment involving teams in a group systems support (GSS) environment support the hypothesized relationships

Upholding Customer’s Loyalty through Customer’s Positive Affect

Loyalty is likely supposed as the key of any company’s success. Customers seemingly have no complain against price, even when the quality of a new product is under expectation. Purportedly, they close their eyes and ears, and believe everything will be fine. Apparently, this atmosphere is not easy to achieve. It needs such good quality perception of products in a particular period. Also it requires customer satisfaction, which leads of proud when using the product. While many similar products are available which in some extent they are also adjacent of quality, the effort of developing our product’s loyalty is tentative. It is supposed the loyalty is affected by factors, such as popularity, affection and pride. By other words, the customer’s mood plays a significant role. Can positive affect has an effect of customer’s loyalty, whether directly or indirectly through brand equity? The answer is obviously the purpose of the study. A sample which consists of 165 respondents is withdrawn by convenience and judgment method. Amos 16.0 and SPSS 16.0 are employed in analyzing data. The result shows that brand equity, satisfaction and customer’s loyalty are influenced by positive affect. In addition, both brand equity and satisfaction affect customer’s loyalty. Further, both brand equity and satisfaction post as mediator

Episodic Salutary Experiences (ESE): A New Type of Positive Affect and its Relationship to Physical Health

Prior work has shown that positive affect is related to and can foster physical health. Recently, a subtype of positive affect has been identified, known as episodic salutary experiences (ESE). These experiences seem to be a type of positive affect or, alternatively, may produce a type of affective state that has not previously been studied. ESE is defined as spontaneous episodes of inner peace and lack of conflict that are noticeably different from one’s normal state. A cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine if ESE is associated with physical health, and if so, which aspects of ESE are most close related to physical health. Measures of ESE, physical health, and potential correlates of the two primary variables were administered to a sample of participants recruited through online procedures. The results partially supported the ESE-health association and indicated that the experience of serenity during ESE probably contributes to the association in a central way

Perceived Maternal Invalidation and Drinking Behavior: The Role of Action Control

Alcohol use disorder is one of the most prevalent disorders worldwide. As such, researchers have examined factors contributing to alcohol use. Perception of emotional experiences in childhood as invalidating by parents is one factor that has been found to predict later alcohol use, though less is known about maternal invalidation specifically. Parental invalidation has also been found to predict difficulty regulating affective states (i.e., negative and positive affect), which is also a determinant of alcohol use. Further, researchers have studied temptation to drink and restraint from drinking as related to alcohol use to better understand drinking behavior. Though there appears to be a link, these variables have not been studied together. Thus, the current study aimed to fill this gap by examining the relationship between perceived maternal invalidation, the upregulation of positive affect and downregulation of negative affect, and temptation to drink as well as restraint from drinking. Participants were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk from a larger sample of US adults (n = 1128) who completed self-report measures on emotional tendencies. Participants who reported drinking alcohol in the last year were invited back to participate in the current study (n = 427, Mage = 34.08 and 54.3% female). Bivariate correlations were conducted to determine the association between perception of maternal invalidation, upregulation of positive affect (AOD) and downregulation of negative affect (AOF), temptation, and restraint regarding drinking behavior. A parallel mediator regression analysis was used to determine if greater upregulation of positive affect and greater downregulation of negative affect mediated the relationship between greater perception of maternal invalidation and greater difficulty resisting temptation to drink and restraining from drinking by evaluating direct and indirect effects using 95% bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals of 5000 samples. Results indicated moderate positive correlations for upregulation of positive affect and downregulation of negative affect scores. Negative correlations were found between both upregulation of positive affect scores and downregulation of negative affect scores and restraint, temptation, and perception of maternal validation scores. Further, AOD partially mediated the relationship between perception of maternal invalidation and difficulty resisting the temptation to drink. Perception of greater maternal invalidation was also found to predict greater difficulty restraining from drinking. Clinical implications as well as study limitations are discussed