Inhaltszusammenfassung

Background: The expression of emotions has been a central topic in emotion research from its very beginning. In contrast, the investigation of individual differences in expressing emotions is a comparatively new field. Since the 1980s, several researchers constructed self-report instruments that should tap a wide variety of aspects of emotional expressivity. These approaches, however, were developed in relative isolation from one another, which made the comparison of findings and the elaborat...Background: The expression of emotions has been a central topic in emotion research from its very beginning. In contrast, the investigation of individual differences in expressing emotions is a comparatively new field. Since the 1980s, several researchers constructed self-report instruments that should tap a wide variety of aspects of emotional expressivity. These approaches, however, were developed in relative isolation from one another, which made the comparison of findings and the elaboration of a comprehensive model of emotional expressivity difficult. Gross and John (1998) were the first authors who compared data collected with these instruments in order to identify higher order facets of emotional expressivity. These efforts resulted in a hierarchical model with General Expressivity as a general factor on top, and Expressive Confidence, Core Emotional Expressivity, and Masking as subordinate factors. Core Emotional Expressivity was again divided into the facets of Positive Expressivity, Negative Expressivity, and Impulse Intensity. Tausch and Krohne (in prep.; Study 1), using German adaptations of the scales administered by Gross and John, could only partly replicate the hierarchical model. In particular, an analysis of the dimension Core Emotional Expressivity resulted in a different factor structure, with four factors representing the best data fit. While three dimensions corresponded comparatively well to the three facets proposed by Gross and John, a fourth expressivity facet, describing calmness in the expression of negative emotions, added a new facet. These findings and an analysis of the personality characteristics supposed to influence the process of emotion generation and expression led to the elaboration of an extended model of expressivity. This model adds to Core Expressivity the two components of Social Expressivity and Cognitive Expressivity. Each component is, again, divided into several facets (Core Expressivity: Positive and Negative Expressivity, Positive and Negative Impulse Intensity; Social Expressivity: Public Performing Ability and Tendency, Other-directedness Ability and Tendency; Cognitive Expressivity: Ambivalence and Clarity). Especially the two facets of Cognitive Expressivity are relevant to the field of health and disease. The present study aimed at testing this model. Method: Specific items representing the – altogether – ten facets of the extended model were generated. In addition to these items, the Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire (BEQ), the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM), and the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ) were administered. – 198 participants (85 men, 113 women) responded to these scales, as well as to the NEO-FFI and to the Mainz Coping Inventory (MCI). Results and Conclusion: Analyses of the newly generated items yielded a structure in line with the extended model of emotional expressivity, i.e. the three proposed components and their respective facets were confirmed. All ten facets could be assessed distinctly and reliably with a sufficient number of items. Moreover, the scales representing these facets showed expected associations with other instruments of expressivity as well as with global personality traits and coping variables. For example, the Negative Impulse Intensity was significantly associated with neuroticism, Positive Expressivity correlated with extraversion, and Public Performing Tendency with cognitive avoidance. References: Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (1998). Mapping the domain of expressivity: Multimethod evidence for a hierarchical model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 170-191. – Tausch, A., & Krohne, H. W. (in prep.). Facets of emotional expressivity: an extended hierarchical model. » weiterlesen» einklappen

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DDC Sachgruppe:
Psychologie