A Placebo-Controlled Online Study on Potential Mediators of a Pleasure-Based Positive Psychology Intervention: The Role of Emotional and Cognitive Components

Fabian Gander (), René T. Proyer () and Willibald Ruch ()
Additional contact information
Fabian Gander: University of Zurich
René T. Proyer: Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Willibald Ruch: University of Zurich

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2018, vol. 19, issue 7, No 9, 2035-2048

Abstract: Abstract While broad evidence exists that positive psychology interventions are effective in increasing well-being, less is known about the working mechanisms behind this process. We examine the impact of subjective changes in affectivity (i.e., elicitation of positive emotions) and cognitive processes (i.e., the gaining of insights) in three variants of a pleasure-based placebo-controlled online intervention (N = 509 adults). The variants were designed that they have (1) a cognitive focus, (2) an emotional focus, or (3) both cognitive and emotional foci. We assessed happiness and depressive symptoms before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and at follow-ups after two weeks, one month, and three months, and collected subjective ratings on potential working mechanisms. Findings indicated that both variants with a cognitive focus increased happiness in comparison to the control condition, whereas only those interventions that fostered the experience of positive emotions reduced depressive symptoms. Positive emotions mediated the effects of the intervention on happiness and depressive symptoms, whereas insights only mediated the effects on happiness. The findings support the important role of positive emotions in positive interventions and provide new evidence for the relevance of cognitive changes in such interventions.

Keywords: Positive psychology; Well-being; Positive emotions; Positive intervention; Working mechanisms; Online intervention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-017-9909-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:19:y:2018:i:7:d:10.1007_s10902-017-9909-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-017-9909-3

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().