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Emotion differentiation refers to the tendency to label emotions in a granular way. While differentiation is an important individual difference in the context of psychological well-being, it is unknown how it fluctuates within individuals. Such a within-person measure is important, since it would allow the study of how changes in differentiation predict subsequent levels of other variables of interest. Here, we present a framework to study emotion differentiation at the within-person level by introducing a momentary emotion differentiation index. This index is directly derived from the classical emotion differentiation index, the intraclass correlation. We first give a theoretical derivation of this index. Next, using data from two experience sampling studies, we show how this new momentary index is related to other momentary indicators of well-being, and take the first steps in building its nomological network. A better understanding of within-person fluctuations in emotion differentiation will allow us to identify the causes and consequences of these fluctuations, and search for ways to teach individuals to increase their level of emotion differentiation. ispartof: Assessment vol:29 issue:4 pages:700-716 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Emotion differentiation, the ability to describe and label our own emotions in a differentiated and specific manner, has been repeatedly associated with well-being. However, it is unclear exactly what type of differentiation is most strongly related to well-being: the ability to make fine-grained distinctions between emotions that are relatively closely related (e.g. anger and irritation), the ability to make larger distinctions between very distinct emotions (e.g. anger and sadness), or the combination of both. To determine which type of differentiation is most predictive of well-being, we performed a comprehensive meta-analysis across six datasets. We examined the correlations between these three types of differentiation and several indicators of well-being (depression, emotional clarity, and self-esteem). Results showed that individuals differentiated most between very distinct emotions and least between more related emotions, and that an index computed across emotions from both the same and different emotion categories was most strongly associated with well-being indicators. ispartof: Cognition & Emotion vol:33 issue:2 pages:258-271 ispartof: location:England status: published

Emotion differentiation, which involves experiencing and labeling emotions in a granular way, has been linked with well-being. It has been theorized that differentiating between emotions facilitates effective emotion regulation, but this link has yet to be comprehensively tested. In two experience-sampling studies, we examined how negative emotion differentiation was related to (a) the selection of emotion-regulation strategies and (b) the effectiveness of these strategies in downregulating negative emotion ( Ns = 200 and 101 participants and 34,660 and 6,282 measurements, respectively). Unexpectedly, we found few relationships between differentiation and the selection of putatively adaptive or maladaptive strategies. Instead, we found interactions between differentiation and strategies in predicting negative emotion. Among low differentiators, all strategies (Study 1) and four of six strategies (Study 2) were more strongly associated with increased negative emotion than they were among high differentiators. This suggests that low differentiation may hinder successful emotion regulation, which in turn supports the idea that effective regulation may underlie differentiation benefits.

Emotion differentiation, the ability to make fine-grained distinctions between emotional states, has mainly been studied as a trait. In this research, we examine within-person fluctuations in emotion differentiation and hypothesize that stress is a central factor in predicting these fluctuations. We predict that experiencing stress will result in lower levels of emotion differentiation. Using data from a 3-wave longitudinal experience sampling study, we examined the within-person fluctuations in the level of emotion differentiation across days and months and tested if these fluctuations related to changes in stress levels. On the day-level, we found that differentiation of negative emotions varied significantly within individuals, that high stress levels were associated with lower levels of emotion differentiation, and that stress on 1 day negatively predicted the level of differentiation of negative emotions on a next day (but not vice versa). On the wave-level, we found a concurrent, but not a prospective relationship between stress and emotion differentiation. These results are the first to directly demonstrate the role of stress in predicting fluctuations in emotion differentiation and have implications for our theoretical understanding of emotion differentiation, as well as for interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record ispartof: JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY vol:115 issue:2 pages:179-191 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is commonly associated with reduced ability to recognize emotions in others. It is less clear however, whether ASD is also associated with impaired knowledge of one's own emotions. In the current study we present a first examination of how much knowledge individuals with ASD have about their emotions by investigating their ability to differentiate between emotions. Across two lab tasks that measured to what extent and how people differentiate between their own feeling states and semantic emotion terms, results showed that ASD individuals differentiated less than typically developing individuals. Yet, both groups of participants similarly categorized emotions according to previously established theoretical categories. These findings indicate that while both give similar meaning to emotions, individuals with ASD make less subtle distinctions between emotions. With low levels of emotion differentiation being linked to reduced well-being, these findings may help to better understand the high prevalence of internalizing problems associated with ASD.

Emotion differentiation refers to the level of specificity with which people distinguish between their emotional states and is considered to play an important role for psychological well-being. Yet, not much is known about what characterizes people high or low in emotion differentiation and what underlies these differences. In 2 studies involving experience sampling (Studies 1-2) and lab based (Study 2) methods, we investigated how emotion differentiation is related to individual differences in valence focus and the overlap in appraisal patterns between emotions. In line with expectations, results showed that high levels of both positive and negative emotion differentiation are related to lower levels of valence focus and lower levels of appraisal overlap between emotions. These findings suggest that individuals who are low in emotion differentiation mainly emphasize the valence aspect of emotions while individuals who are high in emotion differentiation make stronger distinctions between emotions in terms of their underlying appraisal profiles.

Previous research has shown that individual differences in negative emotion differentiation may play a prominent role in well-being. Yet, many basic questions about negative emotion differentiation remain unanswered, including how it relates and overlaps with related and known dimensions of individual differences and what its possible underlying processes are. To answer these questions, in the current article we present three correlational studies that chart the nomological network of individual differences in negative emotion differentiation in terms of personality, difficulties in identifying and describing feelings, and several indicators of well-being, propose a novel paradigm to assess it in the lab, and explore relationships with a possible underlying mechanism in terms of the motivation to approach or avoid emotions. The results affirm consistent relations between negative emotion differentiation and indicators of adjustment like negative affect, self-esteem, neuroticism, depression and meta-knowledge about one's emotions, and show how it is related to the motivation to experience affective states.