The effect of validation and invalidation on positive and negative affective experiences

ABSTRACT

Validation communicates that another’s experiences make sense and are understood, while invalidation dismisses the validity of an individual’s experience. Validation has the potential to preserve positive affect in the face of interpersonal stressors. We aimed to assess and replicate the effect of validation/invalidation on changes in affective experiences. We conducted three experimental studies in which participants were randomized to have their experiences of anger either validated or invalidated. We examined the effects of condition on changes in positive and negative affect as well as global mood. Participants in the validation conditions reported lower decreases in positive affect and mood over the course of the experiment compared to participants in the invalidation conditions. We did not find significant between-condition differences on negative affect. These studies highlight the importance of validation as a communication strategy to buffer against decreases in positive affective experiences after a stressor.

KEYWORDS:

• Validation
• invalidation
• positive affect
• negative affect
• mood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. When outliers were included in the model, there was a marginally significant interaction of time by condition, F(1,116)= 3.60, p=.06, η²=.03. We also found a significant main effect of time, F(1,116)= 11.62, p<.01, η²=.09, and main effect of condition, F(1,116)= 6.71, p=.01, η²=.05.

2. Results did not change when outliers were included such that the main effect of time, F(1,116)=.01, p=.99, η²<.01, the main effect of condition, F(1,116)= 2.67, p=.10, η²=.02, and the interaction, F(1,116)=.23, p=.63, η²<.01, were all non-significant.