Looking at the eyes of happiness: Positive emotions mediate the influence of life satisfaction on attention to happy faces

Journal of Positive Psychology

Volumn 9, Issue 5, 2014, Pages 435-448

  Sanchez, Alvaro ^a   Vazquez, Carmelo ^b  

^a GHENT UNIVERSITY   (Belgium)

^b UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID   (Spain)

Author keywords

attention; cognition; cognitive bias; eye tracking; life satisfaction; positive emotions; positive mood; selective attention; subjective well being

Indexed keywords

EID: 84902850934     PISSN: 17439760     EISSN: 17439779     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2014.910827     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Anderson, E., Siegel, E., White, D., & Barrett, L. F. (2012). Out of sight but not out of mind: Unseen affective faces influence evaluations and social impressions. Emotion, 12, 1210-1221. doi:10.1037/a002751410.1037/a0027514
2. Armstrong, T., & Olatunji, B. O. (2012). Eye tracking of attention in the affective disorders: A meta-analytic review and synthesis. Clinical Psychology Review, 32, 704-723. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.09.00410.1016/j.cpr.2012.09.004
3. Ashby, F. G., Isen, A. M., & Turken, A. U. (1999). A neuropsychological theory of positive affect and its influence on cognition. Psychological Review, 106, 529-550.10.1037/0033-295X.106.3.529
4. Aviezer, H., Bentin, S., Dudarev, V., & Hassin, R. R. (2011). The automaticity of emotional face-context integration. Emotion, 11, 1406-1414. doi:10.1037/a002357810.1037/a0023578
5. Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2007). Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 1-24.10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.1
6. Biss, R. K., & Hasher, L. (2011). Delighted and distracted: Positive affect increases priming for irrelevant information. Emotion, 11, 1474-1478. doi:10.1037/a002385510.1037/a0023855
7. Bistricky, S. L., Ingram, R. E., & Atchley, R. A. (2011). Facial affect processing and depression susceptibility: Cognitive biases and cognitive neuroscience. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 998-1028. doi:10.1037/a002534810.1037/a0025348
8. Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psychologist, 36, 129-148.10.1037/0003-066X.36.2.129
9. Browning, M., Holmes, E. A., & Harmer, C. J. (2010). The modification of attentional bias to emotional information: A review of the techniques, mechanisms, and relevance to emotional disorders. Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, 10, 8-20. doi:10.3758/CABN.10.1.8
10. Bruyneel, L., Steenbergen, H., Hommel, B., Band, G. P. H., Raedt, R., & Koster, E. H. W. (2013). Happy but still focused: Failures to find evidence for a mood-induced widening of visual attention. Psychological Research, 77, 320-332. doi:10.1007/s00426-012-0432-110.1007/s00426-012-0432-1
11. Calvo, M. G., & Avero, P. (2005). Time course of attentional bias to emotional scenes in anxiety: Gaze direction and duration. Cognition & Emotion, 19, 433-451. doi:10.1080/0269993044100015710.1080/02699930441000157
12. Calvo, M. G., & Lundqvist, D. (2008). Facial expressions of emotion (KDEF): Identification under different display-duration conditions. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 109-115. doi:10.3758/BRM.40.1.10910.3758/BRM.40.1.109
13. Caseras, X., Garner, M., Bradley, B. P., & Mogg, K. (2007). Biases in visual orienting to negative and positive scenes in dysphoria: An eye movement study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 491-497. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.116.3.49110.1037/0021-843X.116.3.491
14. Cummins, R. A., & Nistico, H. (2002). Maintaining life satisfaction: The role of positive cognitive bias. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 37-69.10.1023/A:1015678915305
15. Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542-575.
16. Diener, E. (Ed.). (2009). Assessing well-being: The collected works of Ed Diener. New York, NY: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-2354-4_1110.1007/978-90-481-2354-4
17. Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_1310.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
18. Diener, E., Kahneman, D., Tov, W., & Arora, R. (2010). Income's association with judgments of life versus feelings. In E. Diener, D. Kahneman, & J. F. Helliwell (Eds.), International differences in well-being (pp. 3-15). Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732739.001.0001
19. Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. E. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276-302.10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276
20. Epp, A. M., Dobson, K. S., Dozois, D. J., & Frewen, P. A. (2012). A systematic meta-analysis of the Stroop task in depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 32, 316-328. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.02.00510.1016/j.cpr.2012.02.005
21. Fox, C. R., & Kahneman, D. (1992). Correlations, causes and heuristics in surveys of life satisfaction. Social Indicators Research, 27, 221-234.
22. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218-226. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.21810.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218
23. Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition & Emotion, 19, 313-332. doi:10.1080/0269993044100023810.1080/02699930441000238
24. Frewen, P. A., Dozois, D. J. A., Joanisse, M. F., & Neufeld, R. W. J. (2008). Selective attention to threat versus reward: Meta-analysis and neural-network modeling of the dot-probe task. Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 307-337. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2007.05.00610.1016/j.cpr.2007.05.006
25. Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2008). Approach-motivated positive affect reduces breadth of attention. Psychological Science, 19, 476-482. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02112.x10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02112.x
26. Gable, P. A., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2010). The blues broaden, but the nasty narrows: Attentional consequences of negative affects low and high in motivational intensity. Psychological Science, 21, 211-215. doi:10.1177/095679760935962210.1177/0956797609359622
27. Gamble, A., & Gärling, T. (2012). The relationships between life satisfaction, happiness, and current mood. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13, 31-45. doi:10.1007/s10902-011-9248-8.
28. Grafton, B., Ang, C., & MacLeod, C. (2012). Always look on the bright side of life: The attentional basis of positive affectivity. European Journal of Personality, 26, 133-144. doi:10.1002/per.184210.1002/per.v26.2
29. Greenhoot, A. F., & McLean, K. C. (2013). Introduction to this special issue Meaning in personal memories: Is more always better? Memory, 21, 2-9. doi:10.1080/09658211.2013.75661110.1080/09658211.2013.756611
30. Griskevicius, V., Shiota, M. N., & Neufeld, S. L. (2010). Influence of different positive emotions on persuasion processing: a functional evolutionary approach. Emotion, 10, 190-206. doi:10.1037/a001842110.1037/a0018421
31. Gross, C. G. (2005). Processing the facial image: A brief history. American Psychologist, 60, 755-763. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.60.8.75510.1037/0003-066X.60.8.755
32. Hallion, L. S., & Ruscio, A. M. (2011). A meta-analysis of the effect of cognitive bias modifi{ligature}cation on anxiety and depression. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 940-958. doi:10.1037/a0024355
33. Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
34. Helliwell, J. F., & Putnam, R. D. (2004). The social context of well-being. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 359, 1435-1446.10.1098/rstb.2004.1522
35. Isaac, L. (2012). Facing the future: Face-emotion processing deficits as a potential biomarker for various psychiatric and neurological disorders. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 171. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00171
36. Isaacowitz, D. M. (2005). The gaze of the optimist. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 407-415. doi:10.1177/014616720427159910.1177/0146167204271599
37. Isaacowitz, D. M. (2006). Motivated gaze: The view from the gazer. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 68-72. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2006.00409.x10.1111/cdir.2006.15.issue-2
38. Isen, A. M. (2002). Missing in action in the AIM: Positive affect's facilitation of cognitive flexibility, innovation, and problem solving. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 57-65.
39. Isen, A. M. (2004). Some perspectives on positive feelings and emotions: Positive affect facilitates thinking and problem solving. In A. S. R. Manstead, N. Frijda, & A. Fischer (Eds.), Feelings and emotions (pp. 263-281). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511806582
40. Johnson, D. R. (2009). Goal-directed attentional deployment to emotional faces and individual differences in emotional regulation. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 8-13. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2008.09.00610.1016/j.jrp.2008.09.006
41. Kellough, J., Beevers, C. G., Ellis, A., & Wells, T. T. (2008). Time course of selective attention in clinically depressed young adults: An eye tracking study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 1238-1243. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.07.00410.1016/j.brat.2008.07.004
42. Koster, E. H. W., Crombez, G., Verschuere, B., & De Houwer, J. (2004). Selective attention to threat in the dot probe paradigm: Differentiating vigilance and difficulty to disengage. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1183-1192. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2003.08.00110.1016/j.brat.2003.08.001
43. Leyman, L., De Raedt, R., Vaeyens, R., & Philippaerts, R. (2011). Attention for emotional facial expressions in dysphoria: An eye-movement registration study. Cognition & Emotion, 25, 111-120. doi:10.1080/0269993100359382710.1080/02699931003593827
44. Lundqvist, D., Flykt, A., & Öhman, A. (1998). The Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF). Stockholm: Department of Neurosciences Karolinska Hospital.
45. Lyubomirsky, S., King, L. A., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803-855. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.131.6.80310.1037/0033-2909.131.6.803
46. MacLeod, C., & Mathews, A. (2012). Cognitive bias modification approaches to anxiety. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 189-217. doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032511-14305210.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032511-143052
47. MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 15-20.10.1037/0021-843X.95.1.15
48. Mallinckrodt, B., Abraham, W. T., Wei, M., & Russell, D. W. (2006). Advances in testing the statistical significance of mediation effects. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 372-378. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.53.3.37210.1037/0022-0167.53.3.372
49. Mason, K. A. (1969). Control apparatus sensitive to eye-movement. US Patent #3,462,604.
50. Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (2005). Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 167-195. doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.14391610.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143916
51. Matt, G. E., Vázquez, C., & Campbell, W. K. (1992). Mood-congruent recall of affectively toned stimuli: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 12, 227-255.10.1016/0272-7358(92)90116-P
52. Mauer, N., & Borkenau, P. (2007). Temperament and early information processing: Temperament-related attentional bias in emotional Stroop tasks. Personality and individual Differences, 43, 1063-1073. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.02.02510.1016/j.paid.2007.02.025
53. Mobini, S., Reynolds, S., & Mackintosh, B. (2013). Clinical implications of cognitive bias modification for interpretative biases in social anxiety: An integrative literature review. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 37, 173-182. doi:10.1007/s10608-012-9445-810.1007/s10608-012-9445-8
54. Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164-172. doi:10.1037//1040-3590.5.2.16410.1037/1040-3590.5.2.164
55. Peckham, A. D., McHugh, R. K., & Otto, M. W. (2010). A meta-analysis of the magnitude of biased attention in depression. Depression and Anxiety, 27, 1135-1142. doi:10.1002/da.2075510.1002/da.v27.12
56. Philippe, F. L., Koestner, R., Beaulieu-Pelletier, G., Lecours, S., & Lekes, N. (2012). The role of episodic memories in current and future well-being. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 505-519. doi:10.1177/0146167211429805
57. Reicherts, P., Wieser, M. J., Gerdes, A. B. M., Likowski, K. U., Weyers, P., Mühlberger, A., & Pauli, P. (2012). Electrocortical evidence for preferential processing of dynamic pain expressions compared to other emotional expressions. Pain, 153, 1959-1964. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2012.06.01710.1016/j.pain.2012.06.017
58. Rowe, G., Hirsh, J. B., & Anderson, A. K. (2007). Positive affect increases the breadth of attentional selection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, 383-388. doi:10.1073/pnas.060519810410.1073/pnas.0605198104
59. Rusting, C. L., & DeHart, T. (2000). Retrieving positive memories to regulate negative mood: Consequences for mood-congruent memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 737-752. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.4.73710.1037/0022-3514.78.4.737
60. Sanchez, A., & Vazquez, C. (2013). Prototypicality and intensity of emotional faces: Normative data of 198 pictures from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF). The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 16, 1-11. doi:10.1017/S1138741613000097
61. Sanchez, A., Vazquez, C., Gomez, D., & Joormann, J. (2013). Gaze-fixation to happy faces predicts mood repair after a negative mood induction. Emotion, 14, 85-94. doi:10.1037/a0034500
62. Sanchez, A., Vazquez, C., Marker, C., LeMoult, J., & Joormann, J. (2013). Attentional disengagement predicts stress recovery in depression: An eye-tracking study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122, 303-313. doi:10.1037/a003152910.1037/a0031529
63. Schimmack, U., & Oishi, S. (2005). The influence of chronically and temporarily accessible information on life satisfaction judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 395-406. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.3.39510.1037/0022-3514.89.3.395
64. Schimmack, U., Schupp, J., & Wagner, G. G. (2008). The influence of environment and personality on the affective and cognitive component of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 89, 41-60. doi:10.1007/s11205-007-9230-310.1007/s11205-007-9230-3
65. Schmukle, S. C. (2005). Unreliability of the dot probe task. European Journal of Personality, 19, 595-605.10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0984
66. Segerstrom, S. C. (2001). Optimism and attentional bias for negative and positive stimuli. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1334-1343. doi:10.1177/0146167201271000910.1177/01461672012710009
67. Staugaard, S. R. (2010). Threatening faces and social anxiety: A literature review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 669-690. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.05.00110.1016/j.cpr.2010.05.001
68. Tamir, M., & Robinson, M. D. (2007). The happy spotlight: Positive mood and selective attention to rewarding information. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1124-1136. doi:10.1177/0146167207301030
69. Teachman, B. A., Joormann, J., Steinman, S. A., & Gotlib, I. H. (2012). Automaticity in anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 32, 575-603. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.06.00410.1016/j.cpr.2012.06.004
70. Tottenham, N., Tanaka, J. W., Leon, A. C., McCarry, T., Nurse, M., Hare, T. A., Nelson, C. (2009). The NimStim set of facial expressions: Judgments from untrained research participants. Psychiatry Research, 168, 242-249. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2008.05.00610.1016/j.psychres.2008.05.006
71. Tugade, M. M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 320-333. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.32010.1037/0022-3514.86.2.320
72. Vittersø, J., Oelmann, H. I., & Wang, A. L. (2009). Life satisfaction is not a balanced estimator of the good life: Evidence from reaction time measures and self-reported emotions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10(1), 1-17. doi:10.1007/s10902-007-9058-110.1007/s10902-007-9058-1
73. Wadlinger, H. A., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2008). Looking happy: The experimental manipulation of a positive visual attention bias. Emotion, 8, 121-126. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.8.1.12110.1037/1528-3542.8.1.121
74. Wadlinger, H. A., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2011). Fixing our focus: Training attention to regulate emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 75-102. doi:10.1177/108886831036556510.1177/1088868310365565
75. Wieser, M. J., & Brosch, T. (2012). Faces in context: A review and systematization of contextual influences on affective face processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 471. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00471
76. Williams, M. A., Moss, S. A., Bradshaw, J. L., & Mattingley, J. B. (2005). Look at me, I'm smiling: Visual search for threatening and nonthreatening facial expressions. Visual Cognition, 12, 29-50. doi:10.1080/13506280444000193