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Rumination means to perseveratively think about one's negative feelings and problems. It is a response to affective distress that is often referred to as maladaptive emotion regulation. According to the response styles theory and control theory, rumination may further prolong and exacerbate affective distress. This means that rumination can be viewed as both an antecedent and an outcome of negative affect (NA), and vice versa. However, at the level of short-term dynamics, state rumination and NA have previously mainly been examined as two separate outcomes. To model the reciprocal within-person effects and hence, to match theoretical assumptions, we combined the two interrelated time series in one model using dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM). Both effects (NA on subsequent rumination and rumination on subsequent NA) were modeled simultaneously while acknowledging the autoregressive nature of both states (inert properties). We used data from two experience sampling studies (NStudy 1 = 200 Belgian university students; NStudy 2 = 70 German university students). Participants were paged on smartphones several times a day (Study 1: 10; Study 2: 6) for several days (Study 1: 7; Study 2: 9-12). In both studies, we found evidence for reciprocal effects of NA and rumination, and both processes showed autoregressive relationships. Aside from central findings, higher levels of rumination were also associated with higher rumination inertia, pointing toward more habitual rumination also being associated with prolonged rumination. Together, using DSEM, we found reciprocal associations between rumination and NA, while providing new insights into the dynamics between the two processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved). ispartof: EMOTION vol:22 issue:8 pages:1773-1786 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Empathic accuracy is the ability to infer another person's inner states. While early findings suggested older adults to be less empathically accurate on average than younger individuals, the context dependency of such age differences was emphasized more recently. Comparable empathic accuracy was observed in older and younger empathizers when conversational topics were positive or personally relevant or when empathic judgments were solely based on prior knowledge of the target. Motivational and cognitive mechanisms are assumed to underlie this context-dependent pattern of findings. A refined future understanding of the sources of variation in empathic skills within and across age groups will require unraveling the contributions of the empathizer, the target person, and their relationship. Moreover, improved insights into the implications of empathic skills in various phases of adulthood, including older adults’ social functioning and health, will require joint consideration of cognitive and affective components of empathy and their accompanying physiological processes.

Abstract. The Density Distribution approach to personality characterizes traits using both mean levels and within-person variability of behaviors. Recent theory highlights that emotion regulation (ER) is inherently variable, and this Density Distribution approach seems particularly suitable to understand both average tendencies and dynamics of ER as person-specific characteristics. However, there is not yet empirical evidence for this suggestion. To fill this gap, we investigated the reliability of density distribution information gathered from repeated assessments of state ER (within-person mean levels and standard deviations). Specifically, we studied the reliability of ER strategy use in terms of internal consistency and short- and long-term stability within and across two waves of experience sampling ( N = 153, M = 70 measurement occasions). Across both average tendencies and within-person variation, we found that individuals used different ER strategies relatively consistently. Overall, within-person ER mean levels and standard deviations were stable within and across the waves. Taken together, this suggests that the person-specific overall pattern of ER use in daily life is captured reliably using experience-sampling methodology (ESM).

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

Empathy is a multifaceted trait. One facet is cognitive empathy, the ability to accurately infer others' thoughts and feelings (also referred to as empathic accuracy). It is associated with markers of positive adjustment, such as satisfaction with social relationships, in earlier phases of the lifespan. In previous research, empathic accuracy was less pronounced in older than in younger adults. We review evidence for such age differences and argue for the importance of ecological validity in age-comparative research. Furthermore, we discuss factors that may contribute to empathic accuracy, such as cognitive abilities or (assumed) similarity with a social partner, and discuss their potentially differential role in different age groups. We especially highlight the role of motivation (e.g., the age-relevance of a task). Assuming that older adults sometimes are less empathically accurate, there is little evidence that this particularly compromises older adults' social lives and overall adjustment. Moreover, a lack of longitudinal research raises the question whether age differences point to an age-related trajectory or to cohort differences. Thus, promising avenues for future research include the use of cohort-sequential, ecologically valid, and motivating paradigms to understand in which situations empathic failures impair older adults in their daily lives.

Empathic accuracy is the ability to correctly identify others' thoughts and feelings. Based on evidence from past laboratory experiments, researchers concluded that this ability decreases throughout adulthood. This conclusion, however, was mostly based on evidence regarding isolated components of the ability to read others' thoughts and feelings (e.g., inferring thoughts or feelings from facial expressions presented without context). In contrast, empathic accuracy involves the integration of a multitude of such inferences from diverse sources of information that are available in everyday interactions (e.g., facial and bodily expressions, prosody, communication content, situational context, etc.). To strengthen empirical evidence on age differences in this integrative ability, we assessed empathic accuracy in dyadic interactions between 102 younger (20-31 years) and 106 older (69-80 years) women, paired in same-age or mixed-age dyads. In these interactions, older women were only less empathically accurate than younger women when judging their interaction partner's negative feelings and when judging thoughts that accompanied experiences of negative affect. In contrast, there were no age differences in empathic accuracy for positive feelings and for thoughts accompanying experiences of positive affect. These results were independent of the age of the interaction partner. The current study thus provides further evidence that age differences in empathic accuracy (a) may be qualified by situational properties, such as valence of inferred content, and (b) can be less pronounced when integration of multiple sources of information is possible than research investigating isolated information channels has thus far suggested.

Mindfulness is commonly defined as a multidimensional mode of being attentive to, and aware of, momentary experiences while taking a nonjudgmental and accepting stance. These qualities have been linked to 2 different facets of affective well-being: being attentive is proposed to lead to an appreciation of experiences as they are, and thus to positive affect (PA). Accepting unpleasant experiences in a nonjudgmental fashion has been hypothesized to reduce negative affect (NA). Alternatively, however, attention may increase both positive and negative affectivity, whereas nonjudgmental acceptance may modify how people relate to their experiences. Previous research has considered such differential associations at the trait level, although a mindful mode may be understood as a state of being. Using an experience-sampling methodology (ESM) with smartphones, the present research therefore links different state mindfulness facets to positive and NA in daily life. Seventy students (50% female, 20-30 years old) of different disciplines participated in the study. Based on multidimensional assessments of self-reported state mindfulness and state affect, the findings corroborate the hypotheses on the differential predictive value of 2 mindfulness facets: Participants experienced more PA when they were attentive to the present moment and less NA when they nonjudgmentally accepted momentary experiences. Furthermore, only nonjudgmental acceptance buffered the impact of daily hassles on affective well-being. The study contributes to a more fine-grained understanding of the within-person mechanisms relating mindfulness to affective well-being in daily life. Future interventions may be able to enhance different aspects of affective well-being by addressing specific facets of mindfulness. (PsycINFO Database Record

Cognitive empathy (the ability to infer another person's thoughts and feelings) and emotional empathy (the ability to emotionally resonate with another person's feelings) have been associated with social adjustment. Traditionally, these skills are assessed with self-report measures. However, these may not adequately reflect people's actual empathic abilities. There is only little and inconsistent empirical evidence on associations between performance-based empathy and positive social adjustment. In the study presented here, we gathered further evidence for such an association. Using a realistic interaction task in which unfamiliar women were paired into dyads and talked about positive and negative events in their lives, we assessed empathic accuracy (an indicator of cognitive empathy) and emotional congruence (an indicator of emotional empathy). Additionally, we obtained 2 indicators of social adjustment: participants' self-rated satisfaction regarding the communication with their partner in the interaction task, and their self-rated satisfaction with social relationships in general. We furthermore explored the role of potential moderators, which may help to explain discrepant past findings. To test for contextual and interindividual differences, we distinguished between positive and negative emotional valence in the empathy task and investigated 2 adult age groups (102 younger women: 20-31 years; 106 older: 69-80 years). For almost all analyses, only empathic skills for positive (not for negative) affect were predictive of social adjustment, and the associations were comparable for younger and older women. These results underline the role of valence in associations between empathic skills and social adjustment across the life span. (PsycINFO Database Record

On average, older adults are less accurate than younger adults at recognizing emotions from faces or voices. We challenge the view that such differences in emotion-recognition tasks reflect differences in empathic accuracy (the ability to infer other people’s feelings): Empathic accuracy relies not only on sensory cues (e.g., emotional expressions) but also on knowledge about the target person. Using smartphone-based measures, we assessed empathic accuracy in younger and older couples’ daily lives and found that younger adults’ empathic accuracy was higher than older adults’ empathic accuracy when their partners were visibly present. During the partners’ absence, however, when judgments relied exclusively on knowledge of those partners, no age differences emerged, and performance in both age groups was still more accurate than chance. We conclude that across adulthood, sensory information and knowledge differentially support empathic accuracy. Laboratory emotion-recognition tasks may therefore underestimate older adults’ empathic competencies.