Thinking positively: Optimism and emotion regulation predict interpretation of ambiguous information

Figures & data

Figure 1. Effect of ER on mean (95% CI) negative affect scores across MIPs.

**Level of significant at p < .001

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of dispositional variables

	Mean	SD	Obs. range
STAXI
Trait	16.83	4.70	10–34
State	17.31	4.83	15–46
MASQ
Anxiety	21.52	7.05	11–45
Anxious arousal	23.25	8.09	16–58
Depression	24.95	9.04	12–51
Anhedonia	51.00	11.01	28–84
LOT-R	15.95	4.07	4–24
DERS	76.31	18.64	37–117

Table 2. Zero-order correlations with response type across conditions

	Anger –Trait	Anger –State	Anxiety	Anx. Arousal	Dep.	Anhed.	LOT-R	DERS	ERQ-SF Reapp.	ERQ-SF Supp.
Baseline (N = 96)
Positive	−.293**	−.083	−.078	.014	−.097	−.358***	.343**	−.381***	–	–
Negative	.225*	.269**	.107	.033	.119	.272**	−.283**	.249*	–	–
Neutral	.140	−.164	−.005	−.055	.005	.158	−.132	.230*	–	–
Angry-Attend (N = 102)
Positive	−.193	−.320**	−.098	.056	−.177	−.319**	.477***	−.235*	–	–
Negative	.221*	.374***	.102	.049	.238*	.247**	−.357***	.265**	–	–
Neutral	−.011	−.026	.004	−.116	−.048	.106	−.172	−.010	–	–
Angry-Reappraise (N = 102)
Positive	−.151	−.166	−.080	.083	−.152	−.333**	.409***	−.266**	.286**	−.013
Negative	.219*	.280**	.190	−.048	.283**	.321**	−.368***	.290**	−.383***	−.079
Neutral	−.092	−.128	−.088	−.013	−.092	.088	−.088	.006	.044	.063

^* Level of significant at p < .05.

^** Level of significant at p < .01.

^*** Level of significant at p < .001.

Table 3. Summary of multiple regression analysis for participant variables predicting positive responses (N = 96)

	Angry-Attend						Angry-Reappraise
	Model 1			Model 2			Model 1			Model 2
	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β
Baseline positive responses	.47	.12	.39***	.32	.11	.27**	.25	.11	.22*	.07	.12	.07
State Anger				−.06	.03	−.20*				–	–	–
Anhedonia				.01	.01	.08				−.01	.01	−.08
Optimism				.13	.04	.38***				.07	.04	.21
DERS				–	–	–				−.01	.01	−.09
ERQ-SF				–	–	–				0.1	.05	.21*
R^2	.15			.33			.05			.21
F for change in R^2	16.50***			8.25***			4.65*			4.63**

* Level of significant at p < .05.

** Level of significant at p < .01.

*** Level of significant at p ≤ .001.

Table 4. Summary of multiple regression analysis for participant variables predicting negative responses (N = 96)

	Angry-Attend						Angry-Reappraise
	Model 1			Model 2			Model 1			Model 2
	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β
Baseline negative responses	.37	.13	.28**	.17	.13	.13	.37	.13	.29**	.12	.13	.1
State Anger				.07	.03	.27**				.01	.03	.04
Depression				–	–	–				.03	.02	.21
Anhedonia				−.01	.01	−.07				−0.01	.01	−.07
Optimism				−.10	.04	−.30**				−0.06	.04	−.19
DERS				.01	.01	.08				.00	.01	.04
ERQ-SF				–	–	–				−.12	.04	−.29**
R^2	.08			.26			.08			.29
F for change in R^2	7.66**			5.58**			8.37**			4.11**

* Level of significant at p < .05.

** Level of significant at p < .01.