Emotion and personality

Question 2

What are the three components of emotion?

Answer 2

1. Distinct subjective feelings or affects
2. Bodily changes (e.g., heart rate, facial expressions)
3. Action tendencies (e.g., fight or flight)

Question 3

What are the two main approaches to studying emotion in personality psychology?

Answer 3

1. Dimensional approach (emotions vary along dimensions like pleasant–unpleasant and high–low arousal)
2. Categorical approach (emotions are distinct and basic, such as anger, joy, fear)

Question 4

What are the primary emotions considered by most researchers using the categorical approach?

Answer 4

Anger, joy, sadness, disgust, fear, and surprise

Question 5

How is happiness typically defined in personality psychology?

Answer 5

As a combination of life satisfaction and the predominance of positive over negative emotions

Question 6

What personality traits are most strongly related to happiness?

Answer 6

High extraversion and low neuroticism

Question 7

What is the indirect model of personality and emotion?

Answer 7

Personality influences how people appraise events, which in turn influences their emotional reactions

Question 8

What is the direct model of personality and emotion?

Answer 8

Personality traits directly influence emotional experience (e.g., extraverts feel more positive emotion)

Question 9

How does neuroticism relate to emotional experience?

Answer 9

Neuroticism is associated with more frequent and intense negative emotions like anxiety, fear, and sadness

Question 10

What is the diathesis-stress model of depression?

Answer 10

A psychological theory that suggests depression results from a vulnerability (diathesis) combined with stressful life events

Question 11

What cognitive factors are associated with depression according to Beck’s theory?

Answer 11

Cognitive distortions such as overgeneralising, arbitrary inferences, and personalising negative events

Question 12

What is the cognitive triad of depression?

Answer 12

Negative thoughts about the self, the world, and the future

Question 13

What is affect intensity?

Answer 13

A personality trait describing how strongly people typically experience their emotions

Question 14

How do high affect intensity individuals differ from low affect intensity individuals?

Answer 14

High affect intensity = experience emotions more strongly and frequently
Low affect intensity = experience emotions more mildly and gradually

Question 15

What is mood variability and how is it related to affect intensity?

Answer 15

Mood variability refers to how often and how strongly moods fluctuate; it tends to be higher in individuals with high affect intensity

Question 16

What is emotional content vs. emotional style?

Answer 16

Emotional content = what emotions a person frequently experiences (e.g., happiness, sadness)
Emotional style = how emotions are typically experienced (e.g., intensely or mildly, stably or variably)