The interplay between short-term affective and cognitive dynamics and relationships with well-being and maladjustment

• Applicant: Dr. Annette Brose
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology ; Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: from 2013 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 241323218

The way people feel when they experience stressful moments is not merely a function of the situation they encounter. People are not passive slaves of their emotions but can do something about the emotions they experience - that is, they can regulate emotions. Emotion regulation is cognitively effortful as it requires controlled processing, in particular, the control of thoughts and attention. For example, one can direct attention away from distressing stimuli and this potentially reduces an emotional perturbation. Not being able to manage one´s feelings may have severe consequences. For instance, impaired emotion regulation capacities have been linked to poor mental and physical health, social maladjustment, poor job performance and burnout.The importance of cognitive control, also referred to as executive functioning (EF), for affective experiences was mainly revealed by experimental and clinical research. Experimental studies revealed, for example, that more successful emotion regulation is related to higher levels of EF, but also that cognitive performance levels may be reduced subsequent to emotion regulation. Clinical research suggests that the way individuals regulate emotions plays a crucial role for the etiology and persistence of mood disorders like depression and that emotion regulation in depression is associated with disturbances in EF.Yet, to date the role of EF for affect and affect regulation has only very rarely been investigated in the context in which they impact people´s lives, namely throughout daily experience. Secondly, EF has been shown to vary considerably over time, yet such variation has not been included in examinations of how people regulate their affect across time. Such research could for instance identify critical periods of vulnerability for depressive episodes characterized by depletion of EF. Thirdly, research is needed that examines the dynamic interplay and directional links between cognitive and affective processes and how they are a function of individual differences in well-being and (mal)adjustment.This research proposal suggests addressing these issues by examining the links between affect, affect regulation, and EF throughout daily life using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), an approach that has the potential to reveal the importance of EF for emotional experiences as individuals go about their daily lives. Moreover, the proposal suggests establishing links between these short-term dynamics and well-being. Thereby, it may contribute to the development of early prevention and intervention programs for mood disorders. Given the increasing societal challenge of psychiatric diseases and mood disorders (with mood disorders and depression in particular being projected to become the number one burdensome disease in terms of disability-adjusted life years) the importance of revealing what underlies individual differences in risk concerning emotional dysfunctioning can hardly be underestimated.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Belgium
• Host: Professor Dr. Peter Kuppens