Mixed Emotions Within the Context of Goal Pursuit

Neural patterns associated with mixed valence feelings differ in consistency and predictability throughout the brain

Mixed feelings, the simultaneous presence of feelings with positive and negative valence, remain an understudied topic. They pose a specific set of challenges due to individual variation, and their investigation requires analtyic approaches focusing on individually self-reported states. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan 27 subjects watching an animated short film chosen to induce bittersweet mixed feelings. The same subjects labeled when they had experienced positive, negative, and mixed feelings. Using hidden-Markov models, we found that various brain regions could predict the onsets of new feeling states as determined by self-report. The ability of the models to identify these transitions suggests that these states may exhibit unique and consistent neural signatures. We next used the subjects' self-reports to evaluate the spatiotemporal consistency of neural patterns for positive, negative, and mixed states. The insula had unique and consistent neural signatures for univalent states, but not for mixed valence states. The anterior cingulate and ventral medial prefrontal cortex had consistent neural signatures for both univalent and mixed states. This study is the first to demonstrate that subjectively reported changes in feelings induced by naturalistic stimuli can be predicted from fMRI and the first to show direct evidence for a neurally consistent representation of mixed feelings.

Why are hedonists less happy than eudaimonists? The chain mediating role of goal conflict and mixed emotions

Introduction

Human motivation for happiness involves two main orientations of hedonia and eudaimonia. Numerous studies have shown that hedonic motivation has a much smaller effect on happiness outcomes than eudaimonic motivation, but little is known about the reasons for this. According to the Self-Determination Theory and the Levels of Valence Model, this may be related to the different goal conflicts and mixed emotions elicited by the two motivations. To demonstrate this, the study examined the mediating effect of the above two variables between happiness motivation and life satisfaction. Furthermore, it explained why hedonists are less happy than eudaimonists by comparing the two happiness motivations in terms of their respective path effects.

Methods

The study randomly selected 788 college students from 13 different provinces of China to examine the relationships between hedonic motivation, eudaimonic motivation, goal conflict, mixed emotions, and life satisfaction.

Results

The result showed that (1) the direct effect of hedonic motivation on life satisfaction was marginally significant, and the effect size was much smaller than that of eudaimonic motivation. (2) The direct and indirect effects of hedonic motivation were the opposite, with a large suppressing effect. In contrast, all paths of eudaimonic motivation positively affected life satisfaction. (3) Hedonic motivation negatively influenced life satisfaction through mixed emotions and the chain mediating effect of goal conflict and mixed emotions, whereas eudaimonic motivation positively influenced life satisfaction through these two mediating paths. (4) The effects on all paths of hedonic motivation were significantly smaller than those of eudaimonic motivation, except for the path mediated by goal conflict.

Discussion

This study explains why hedonists are less happy than eudaimonists from the perspective of goal pursuit, emphasizes the critical role of differences in goal pursuit state and experience between happiness motivation and life satisfaction, and provides new ideas for the study of the influence mechanism of happiness motivation. At the same time, the deficiencies of hedonic motivation and the advantages of eudaimonic motivation presented by the study provide directions for cultivating happiness motivation for adolescents in the practice field.

Specificity in the Study of Mixed Emotions: A Theoretical Framework

Research on mixed emotions is yet to consider emotion-specificity, the idea that same-valenced emotions have distinctive characteristics and functions. We review two decades of research on mixed emotions, focusing on evidence for the occurrence of mixed emotions and the effects of mixed emotions on downstream outcomes. We then propose a novel theoretical framework of mixed-emotion-specificity with three foundational tenets: (a) Mixed emotions are distinguishable from single-valenced emotions and other mixed emotions based on their emotion-appraisal relationships; (b) Mixed emotions can further be characterized by four patterns that describe relationships between simultaneous appraisals or appraisals that are unique to mixed emotions; and (c) Carryover effects occur only on outcomes that are associated with the appraisal characteristics of mixed emotion. We outline how mixed-emotion-specific effects can be predicted based on the appraisal tendency framework. Temporal dynamics, the application of mixed-emotion-specificity to individual difference research, methodological issues, and future directions are also discussed.

Torn Between Valences: Mixed Emotions Predict Poorer Psychological Well-Being and Job Burnout

Conflicting perspectives on whether mixed emotions are adaptive states which promote integrative processes or uncomfortable states which are agonizing make divergent predictions on whether mixed emotions in daily life are conducive towards psychological well-being. We examined this across three studies. Study 1 (N = 335, 135 males; M _age = 41.31) examined associations between state mixed emotions and psychological well-being. Study 2 (N = 389; 160 males; M _age = 40.86) examined associations between workplace-specific mixed emotions and workplace ill-being assessed based on burnout. Both direct measures and indirect measures were examined in Study 1 and 2, allowing some comparison of methodological issues related to their predictive validity. Study 3 (N = 3444; 1587 males; M _age = 55.34) examined bidirectional relationships between an index of emotional ambivalence and psychological well-being about ten years later, controlling for baselines. Demographic covariates, positive emotions, and negative emotions were controlled for in all studies. Analyses were performed using latent variable structural equation modelling. After adjusting for all covariates, the direct measures of mixed emotions predicted poorer psychological well-being (Study 1) and greater burnout (Study 2). However, indirect measures were found to suffer from relatively greater multicollinearity and poorer predictive validity upon controlling for positive and negative emotions. In Study 3, emotional ambivalence predicted poorer long-term psychological well-being, while psychological well-being also predicted lower emotional ambivalence, supporting bidrectionality. The findings provide preliminary evidence that naturalistically experienced mixed emotions may be conflicting and unpleasant, with potentially negative implications for psychological well-being over and above positive and negative emotions.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10902-021-00493-z.

Does Goal Conflict Necessarily Undermine Wellbeing? A Moderated Mediating Effect of Mixed Emotion and Construal Level

Development occurs through the process of setting and working toward goals, in which individuals are often working toward multiple goals that are likely to conflict with one another. Although motivation theories hold that goal conflict is a kind of potential stress that may damage individuals’ mental health and wellbeing, the empirical research results on the relationship between goal conflict and wellbeing are quite different. There may be unknown factors affecting the relationship between the two. Against this background, we conducted the exploration of the relationship between goal conflict and life satisfaction, mainly by analyzing the moderated mediating effect of mixed emotions and construal level. The results showed that the goal conflict did not directly affect life satisfaction (β = −0.01, p > 0.5) but indirectly influenced life satisfaction through mixed emotions (β = −0.17, p < 0.001). The construal level moderated the relationship between mixed emotions and life satisfaction (β = −0.08, p < 0.01), and the higher construal level will predict higher life satisfaction especially when mixed emotions were low (M − SD) or medium (M). Therefore, the hypothesis of moderated mediating effect is verified, and we can draw the following conclusions: (1) Goal conflict does not necessarily impair life satisfaction. (2) Goal conflict impairs life satisfaction conditional on the fact that it triggers mixed emotions. Since mixed emotions are often accompanied by feelings of ambivalence and discomfort, they reduce the individual’s evaluation of life satisfaction. (3) In the path of goal conflict reducing life satisfaction through mixed emotions, the higher construal level mitigates the adverse effects of mixed emotions to some extent.

Mixed Emotions, but Not Positive or Negative Emotions, Facilitate Legitimate Virus-Prevention Behaviors and Eudaimonic Outcomes in the Emergence of the COVID-19 Crisis

We report four studies (N=1419) examining emotional reactions from March to April 2020, when COVID-19 exhibited exponentially increasing infections and fatalities. Specifically, we examined associations between emotions with self-reported intentions to enact virus-prevention behaviors that protect oneself from COVID-19 and eudaimonic functioning. Study 1A, 1B, and Study 2 provided naturalistic evidence that mixed emotions predicted legitimate virus-prevention behaviors and eudaimonic functioning in the USA and Singapore, and Study 2 also supported receptivity as a mediator. Finally, Study 3 provided experimental evidence that mixed emotions causally increased legitimate virus-prevention behaviors relative to neutral, positive emotion, and negative emotion conditions, whereas eudaimonic functioning was increased only relative to the neutral condition. Across all studies, positive and negative emotions were unrelated to legitimate virus-prevention behaviors, while relationships with eudaimonic functioning were inconsistent. While self-reported measures do not represent actual behaviors, the findings suggest a potential role for mixed emotions in pandemic-related outcomes.

The Hedonic Character of Nostalgia: An Integrative Data Analysis

We conducted an integrative data analysis to examine the hedonic character of nostalgia. We combined positive and negative affect measures from 41 experiments manipulating nostalgia ( N = 4,659). Overall, nostalgia inductions increased positive and ambivalent affect, but did not significantly alter negative affect. The magnitude of nostalgia’s effects varied markedly across different experimental inductions of the emotion. The hedonic character of nostalgia, then, depends on how the emotion is elicited and the benchmark (i.e., control condition) to which it is compared. We discuss implications for theory and research on nostalgia and emotions in general.

Bittersweet: The Neuroscience of Ambivalent Affect

Ambivalent affective states, such as bittersweetness, nostalgia, and longing, which are felt as having both positive and negative aspects, are an important component of human experience but have received little attention. The most influential theoretical frameworks in affective neuroscience focus largely on univalenced states. As a result, it is not known whether ambivalent affect corresponds to a simultaneously positive and negative valenced state or whether it results from a rapid vacillation between positive and negative states. Here we hypothesize that ambivalent affect involves both mechanisms, that is, rapid vacillation and simultaneity of positive and negative affect, albeit at different neurobiological levels. Rapidly vacillating univalent emotions could give rise to an ambivalent feeling, a mechanism that depends on brainstem nuclei that facilitate rapid action programs of emotional behavior while inhibiting opposing behaviors. This reciprocal inhibition prevents organisms from simultaneously implementing responses to conflicting emotions but also allows for rapid switching between emotions triggered by counterfactual thinking and rapid reappraisal of situations. We propose that as these transitions occur and respective interoceptive information reaches the insular cortex, further processing of this "emotional moment" would allow separate emotional events to be experienced as one "mixed" and integrated feeling.

Ambivalence: A Key to Clinical Trial Participation?

Trust exerts a multidimensional influence at the interpersonal level in the clinical trials setting. Trust and distrust are dynamic states that are impacted, either positively or negatively, with each participant-clinical trials team interaction. Currently, accepted models of trust posit that trust and distrust coexist and their effects on engagement and retention in clinical trials are mediated by ambivalence. While understanding of trust has been informed by a robust body of work, the role of distrust and ambivalence in the trust building process are less well understood. Furthermore, the role of ambivalence and its relationship to trust and distrust in the clinical trials and oncology settings are not known. Ambivalence is a normal and uncomfortable state in the complex decision making process that characterizes the recruitment and active treatment phases of the clinical trials experience. The current review was conducted to understand the constructs of ambivalence as a mediator of trust and distrust among vulnerable, minority participants through different stages of the oncology clinical trials continuum, its triggers and the contextual factors that might influence it in the setting of minority participation in oncology clinical trials. In addition, the researchers have sought to link theory to clinical intervention by investigating the feasibility and role of Motivational Interviewing in different stages of the clinical trials continuum. Findings suggest that ambivalence can be processed and managed to enable a participant to generate a response to their ambivalence. Thus, recognizing and managing triggers of ambivalence, which include, contradictory goals, role conflicts, membership dualities, and supporting participants through the process of reducing ambivalence is critical to successfully managing trust. Contextual factors related to the totality of one's previous health-care experience, specifically among the marginalized or vulnerable, can contribute to interpersonal ambivalence. In addition, changes in information gathering as a moderator of interpersonal ambivalence may have enormous implications for gathering, assessing, and accepting health information. Finally, motivational Interviewing has widespread applications in healthcare settings, which includes enabling participants to navigate ambivalence in shared-decision making with their clinician, as well as executing changes in participant behavior. Ultimately, the Integrated Model of Trust can incorporate the role of therapeutic techniques like Motivational Interviewing in different stages of the clinical trials continuum. Ambivalence is a key component of clinical trial participation; like trust, ambivalence can be managed and plays a major role in the management of trust in interpersonal relationships over time. The management of ambivalence may play a major role in increasing clinical trial participation particularly among the marginalized or the vulnerable, who may be more susceptible to feelings of ambivalence.