| Abstract: | 100 female undergraduates reviewed 1 of 5 sets of 45 self-statements representing manipulations of affect (positive somatic, positive self-evaluation, negative somatic, negative self-evaluation, or neutral) and then completed an ostensibly separate task involving self-regulation of difficult or easy mathematics problems to examine the influence of induced affect on Ss' self-regulated performance and related subjective responses. Before and after the affect induction, Ss completed several measures of affect and self-perception, including the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist and the Subjective Probability Questionnaire. Following the performance phase, Ss observed their problem-solving activities, evaluated them, and made attributional and other responses. It was hypothesized that (1) somatic affect inductions would prove most potent, (2) affect would have greater impact in the low-task-mastery context, and (3) positive vs negative affect inductions would produce differential effects, dependent on task-mastery condition. The somatic inductions more substantially influenced subjective reports and performance, in accord with Hypothesis 1, and the positive somatic induction significantly improved self-regulation only in the low-mastery condition, in partial support of Hypotheses 2 and 3. Discussion focuses on the importance of the arousal dimensions of affect and concomitant shifts in attentional foci as determinants of adult self-regulation. (93 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
