A discrete emotion approach to dispositional positive affect

Research on dispositional affect has typically emphasized global positive vs. negative emotionality, rather than differences among discrete emotion dispositions (Pervin, 1993). Dispositional affect is operationalized in most empirical work by measures of global positive and/or negative affect, rather than measures of sadness, anger, love, compassion, etc. (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1980; Larsen & Ketelaar, 1989). The aim of this research is to demonstrate that discrete measures of dispositional positive affect (DPA) give substantial added value over global measures of positive affect in personality research. In five studies I examine relationships between DPA and a series of demographic, personality, and behavioral variables. In each study, using a discrete approach to measuring dispositional positive affect allows for more precise understanding of personality processes than offered by earlier results based upon global positive affect measures. Study I addresses demographic variability in DPA, using variables such as gender, ethnicity, and political orientation to predict the different ways in which people are happy. Study 2 examines relationships between DPA and the "Big Five," showing that there is far more to these than the oft-cited correlation between positive affect and Extraversion (e.g., John, 1990; McCrae & John, 1992; Watson & Clark, 1997). Studies 3 through 5 are all based on the interactionist model of person-environment correspondence (Buss, 1987; Caspi & Roberts, 1999), which argues that people selectively seek out, avoid, interpret, or alter situations in ways that facilitate expression of their personality. Study 3, "Heroes and Favorite Activities," examines the ways in which people with different positive affect dispositions construe or interpret their social and behavioral environment, by asking participants to describe their personal heroes and list their favorite activities. Study 4, "Activity and Social Interaction Diaries," addresses environment selection processes more proximally, examining the actual activities and social interaction partners reported by participants during a one-week period. Study 5, "Decoration of Personal Space," explores the ways in which participants with various positive affect dispositions create pleasurable personal spaces for themselves. In these studies I show that interaction processes in a range of domains are more clearly observed using discrete DPA measures than global ones. Implications of this work for future research in Personality Psychology and the Psychology of Emotion are discussed.