Robinson, Michael D. and Moeller, Sara K. and Buchholz, Maria M. and Boyd, Ryan L. and Troop-Gordon, Wendy (2012) The regulatory benefits of high levels of affect perception accuracy:A process analysis of reactions to stressors in daily life. Emotion, 12 (4). pp. 785-795. ISSN 1528-3542
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Individuals attuned to affective signals from the environment may possess an advantage in the emotion-regulation realm. In two studies (total n = 151), individual differences in affective perception accuracy were assessed in an objective, performance-based manner. Subsequently, the same individuals completed daily diary protocols in which daily stressor levels were reported as well as problematic states shown to be stress-reactive in previous studies. In both studies, individual differences in affect perception accuracy interacted with daily stressor levels to predict the problematic outcomes. Daily stressors precipitated problematic reactions-whether depressive feelings (Study 1) or somatic symptoms (Study 2)-at low levels of affect perception accuracy, but did not do so at high levels of affect perception accuracy. The findings support a regulatory view of such perceptual abilities. Implications for understanding emotion regulation processes, emotional intelligence, and individual differences in reactivity are discussed.