Abstract
Research on social sharing of emotion suggested that talking about positive events were related to high-lightened positive affect, above and beyond the impact of the positive event itself (a phenomenon called “capitalization”). However, no significant affect changing was observed after sharing negative events. This study examined the relationship between social sharing of positive and negative events and daily affect, and considered the sharing level of daily events in two aspects: the sharing of information and the sharing of feelings. The authors’ purposes were to examine whether “capitalization” effect existed across nations, and whether communicating negative feelings with others was associated with increased daily positive or negative affect.
47 under-graduate and graduate students completed 314 daily diaries at the end of the day for a week. In the diaries, participants briefly described the most positive and stressful experience they had today and then rated the positivity and negativity of the experience on a 5-point scale. Sharing level of daily events was measured by a two-item composite(one is about information and the other is about feelings, both measured on a 5-point scale). The first item was “How much information(episode of the events not concerned with feelings) about this event did you talk about?”,and the second item was “To what degree have you talked about your feelings about this event with someone today?” Daily positive and negative emotion were assessed with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule(PANAS). All day-level data was analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.
The results were: (1) both positive sharing and negative sharing could positively predict daily positive affect (p<0.01),but could not predict daily negative affect.; (2) It was the sharing of feelings(both the positive and the negative), not the sharing of information that could positively predict daily positive affect (p<0.01); (3) The participants’ sex, depression level and distress disclosure index mediated the increasing of positive affect elicited by sharing of negative feelings(p<0.05).
From the results we concluded that either sharing of positive feeling or negative feeling could improve daily positive affect, could not predict daily negative affect . These findings first confirmed the “capitalization” effect of social sharing among Chinese participants in a daily context. Secondly, there was individual difference in the increasing of positive affect elicited by sharing of negative feelings. In general the social sharing of emotion has been linked to positive affect improving. This may be because social sharing of emotion allows one to receive validation and reassurance from others while building interpersonal relationships. Depression level reducing the improving effect of the social sharing of negative feelings on positive affect may be due to the deficiency in social skill for depression. In order to improve positive affect and weaken the negative affect in the social sharing of emotion it is necessary for the individuals’ to improve social skills and get a supportive environment and positive feedback during the sharing. Further study should investigate daily event sharing from a dyadic perspective(to examine the different outcomes resulted from different responses after sharing a negative events)and deepen the research on the possible mediators of personal traits between sharing of negative feelings and increased daily positive affect.
Key words
social sharing of emotion /
daily affect /
diary method
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Effects of Daily Social Sharing of Emotion on Daily Affect[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2014, 37(1): 166-171
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