The bright side of brooding: State orientation increases positive emotions about positive outcomes

Abstract

Research has by and large shown the negative effects of state orientation, that brooding over past events (i.e., state orientation) leads to more negative emotions and less well-being than quickly getting over past events (i.e., action orientation). However, this past research has primarily focused on how people cope with negative events and bad outcomes. The present research focuses on how people cope with positive events with good outcomes. Study 1 found that state-oriented people felt better after a windfall than action-oriented people. Study 2 found that state-oriented people felt not only worse when things turned out bad but also better when things turned out well than action-oriented people. Study 3 replicated the positive effect of state orientation on positive emotions with an experimental induction of action vs. state orientation. These results show that in positive situations state orientation can have emotional benefits – in other words, they show the bright side of brooding.

Keywords:

• Positive emotions
• Action orientation
• State orientation
• Decoupling
• Gain
• Windfall

I would like to thank Dr Wilco van Dijk and Dr Karl Teigen for their comments and discussions on earlier drafts of this paper.

I would like to thank Dr Wilco van Dijk and Dr Karl Teigen for their comments and discussions on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

¹ Regression analyses of condition and action orientation on the difference scores were done using the two subscales of the Action Orientation Scale separately; AOD (α = .61, M = 6.21, SD = 2.51) and AOF (α = .70, M = 5.34, SD = 2.74).

AOD. The results on the difference scores with the AOD subscale showed main effect of outcome (β = –.24, p = .02), no main effect of AOD (β = .16, p = .12) and a marginally significant interaction effect (β = –.23, p = .09).

AOF. The results on the difference scores with the AOF subscale showed only a main effect of outcome (β = .24, p = .02), no main effect of AOF (β = .05, p = .67) and no interaction effect (β = –.02, p = .91). The effects of action orientation in this experiment thus seem to be driven by the Decision subscale, which measures the difficulty to initiate new projects and make tough decisions and not by the Failure subscale, which measures coping with failures and negative events.

² The same regression analyses were done using the two subscales separately; AOD (α = .70, M = 6.65, SD = 2.64) and AOF (α = .71, M = 5.77, SD = 2.92).

AOD. The results on the negative emotions with the AOD subscale showed main effect of outcome (β = –.80, p < .001), no main effect of AOD (β = –.12, p = .11) and no interaction effect (β = –.01, p = .95). The results on the positive emotions with the AOD subscale showed a main effect of outcome (β = .94, p < .001), no main effect of AOD (β = –.04, p = .30) and an interaction effect (β = –.14, p = .01).

AOF. The results on the negative emotions with the AOF subscale showed a main effect of outcome (β = –.81, p < .001), a main effect of AOF (β = –.18, p = .01) and an interaction effect (β = .28, p = .01). The results on the positive emotions with the AOF subscale showed a main effect of outcome (β = .93, p < .001), a main effect of AOF (β = –.08, p = .03) and a marginally significant interaction effect (β = –.09, p = .10). The effects of action orientation in this experiment on the negative emotions were mainly driven by the failure subscale, which measures coping with failures and negative events, and not so much by the decision subscale, which measures the difficulty to initiate new projects and make tough decisions. The effects of action orientation in this experiment on positive emotions are driven by both subscales, but more strongly by the decision subscale.