IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v19y2018i7d10.1007_s10902-017-9909-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Fabian Gander

    (University of Zurich)

  • René T. Proyer

    (Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg)

  • Willibald Ruch

    (University of Zurich)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabian Gander & René T. Proyer & Willibald Ruch, 2018. "A Placebo-Controlled Online Study on Potential Mediators of a Pleasure-Based Positive Psychology Intervention: The Role of Emotional and Cognitive Components," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(7), pages 2035-2048, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:19:y:2018:i:7:d:10.1007_s10902-017-9909-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-017-9909-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-017-9909-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-017-9909-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keiko Otake & Satoshi Shimai & Junko Tanaka-Matsumi & Kanako Otsui & Barbara Fredrickson, 2006. "Happy People Become Happier through Kindness: A Counting Kindnesses Intervention," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 361-375, September.
    2. Holly Schiffrin & S. Nelson, 2010. "Stressed and Happy? Investigating the Relationship Between Happiness and Perceived Stress," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 33-39, March.
    3. Fabian Gander & René Proyer & Willibald Ruch & Tobias Wyss, 2013. "Strength-Based Positive Interventions: Further Evidence for Their Potential in Enhancing Well-Being and Alleviating Depression," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 1241-1259, August.
    4. Fabian Gander & René T. Proyer & Willibald Ruch, 2017. "The Subjective Assessment of Accomplishment and Positive Relationships: Initial Validation and Correlative and Experimental Evidence for Their Association with Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 743-764, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard Douglass & Ryan Duffy, 2015. "Strengths Use and Life Satisfaction: A Moderated Mediation Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 619-632, June.
    2. Tohar Dolev-Amit & Avinadav Rubin & Sigal Zilcha-Mano, 2021. "Is Awareness of Strengths Intervention Sufficient to Cultivate Wellbeing and Other Positive Outcomes?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 645-666, February.
    3. Selda Koydemir & Aslı Bugay Sökmez & Astrid Schütz, 2021. "A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Randomized Controlled Positive Psychological Interventions on Subjective and Psychological Well-Being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 1145-1185, June.
    4. Holli-Anne Passmore & Ying Yang & Sarena Sabine, 2022. "An Extended Replication Study of the Well-Being Intervention, the Noticing Nature Intervention (NNI)," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2663-2683, August.
    5. Su Kye & Keeho Park, 2014. "Health-related determinants of happiness in Korean adults," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 59(5), pages 731-738, October.
    6. Shiri Lavy, 2020. "A Review of Character Strengths Interventions in Twenty-First-Century Schools: their Importance and How they can be Fostered," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 573-596, April.
    7. Andrew Denovan & Ann Macaskill, 2017. "Stress and Subjective Well-Being Among First Year UK Undergraduate Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 505-525, April.
    8. Jacolyn Norrish & Dianne Vella-Brodrick, 2008. "Is the Study of Happiness a Worthy Scientific Pursuit?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 87(3), pages 393-407, July.
    9. Sarinda Taengnoi, 2014. "Economic man and social woman: Determinants of immigrants' life satisfaction," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(3), pages 1530-1549.
    10. Dariusz Drążkowski & Radosław Trepanowski, 2022. "A Longitudinal Experimental Study Examining How and Whether Practicing Acts of Kindness Affects Materialism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Qaiser Suleman & Ishtiaq Hussain & Saqib Shehzad & Makhdoom Ali Syed & Sadaf Ayub Raja, 2018. "Relationship between perceived occupational stress and psychological well-being among secondary school heads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, December.
    12. Carmem M. Cunha & Nathalie Dens & Georg D. Granic, 2023. "University Students’ Well-Being and Engagement in Activities in the Early Days of Covid-19," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 279-303, February.
    13. Joseph Lanfranchi & Mathieu Narcy, 2022. "How do prosocial motivation and performance‐related pay interact in the workplace context? Evidence from the non‐profit sector," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 436-455, August.
    14. Esther I. Bruin & Dominik S. Sieh & Bonne J. H. Zijlstra & Anne-Marie Meijer, 2018. "Chronic Childhood Stress: Psychometric Properties of the Chronic Stress Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (CSQ-CA) in Three Independent Samples," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(4), pages 1389-1406, August.
    15. Débora Godoy-Izquierdo & Raquel Lara Moreno & María Vázquez Pérez & Francisco Araque Serrano & Juan Godoy García, 2013. "Correlates of Happiness Among Older Spanish Institutionalised and Non-Institutionalised Adults," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 389-414, April.
    16. Andrea LeFebvre & Veronika Huta, 2021. "Age and Gender Differences in Eudaimonic, Hedonic, and Extrinsic Motivations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 2299-2321, June.
    17. Kaplan, Deanna M. & deBlois, Madeleine & Dominguez, Violeta & Walsh, Michele E., 2016. "Studying the teaching of kindness: A conceptual model for evaluating kindness education programs in schools," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 160-170.
    18. Razvan-Alexandru CALIN, 2023. "About Kindness As A Character Trait. An Exploratory Study," Annals of the University of Craiova, Series Psychology, Pedagogy, Teacher Training Department, University of Craiova, vol. 45(2), pages 70-79, December.
    19. Pedro Vazquez-Marin & Francisco Cuadrado & Isabel Lopez-Cobo, 2023. "Connecting Sustainable Human Development and Positive Psychology through the Arts in Education: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, January.
    20. Tammie Ronen & Dorit Kerret, 2020. "Promoting Sustainable Wellbeing: Integrating Positive Psychology and Environmental Sustainability in Education," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-19, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:19:y:2018:i:7:d:10.1007_s10902-017-9909-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.