Explaining the Extraversion/Positive Affect Relation: Sociability Cannot Account for Extraverts' Greater Happiness
Address correspondence to Richard E. Lucas, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. E-mail: [email protected].
The data included in Study 1 come from a large, semester-long project on personality and subjective well-being coordinated by Ed Diener. Additional analyses from this project have been published in a number of studies by Diener and colleagues, including Study 4 of Lucas, Diener, Grob, Suh and Shao (2000) and Study 6 of Lucas and Baird (2004). This study was also included in Richard E. Lucas's Dissertation.
Abstract
ABSTRACT The association between Extraversion and positive affect is one of the most robust findings in the study of personality and emotion. Temperament models posit that the association is direct; instrumental models posit that the association is mediated by additional processes. Two experience sampling studies were conducted to test instrumental mechanisms that might underlie the effect. According to a mediation model, extraverts' greater social activity can account for their increased positive affect when compared to introverts. According to a person-by-situation interaction model, extraverts react more positively to social situations than do introverts, and this interaction can account for the association. Only weak support for the instrumental models was found; consistent with temperament models, a moderate direct association remained even after controlling for these effects.
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