Are mixed feelings good or bad? It may depend on context.

What is it about?

The present work examines whether day-to-day mixed emotions are linked to poorer subsequent well-being independently of positive and negative emotions, as well as whether this depends on whether individuals experienced stressful events. Within each day, feeling mixed emotions at one moment was linked to experiencing poorer physical well-being (e.g., greater fatigue and pain) in the next moment only when participants did not report undergoing a stressful event. If they did report undergoing a stressful event, mixed emotions were unrelated to next-moment physical wellness. Across days, feeling mixed emotions on one day was linked to experiencing poorer physical health on the next day, but only if participants did not report undergoing a stressful event that day. Conversely, if they did report undergoing a stressful event that day, mixed emotions were unrelated to next-day physical health. Social well-being at the day-level was also examined, though the same pattern was not found. Instead, better social well-being on one day appeared to predict fewer mixed emotions on subsequent days. The overall pattern of evidence suggests that context matters in the way mixed emotions could affect well-being, especially physical well-being. Specifically, mixed emotions are potentially more harmful to physical wellness when experienced in non-stressful contexts, given that mixed feelings tend to be conflicting and uncomfortable. In stressful contexts, however, mixed feelings seem to be less harmful. The findings are non-causal, but nevertheless provide indications of relationships between mixed emotions and subsequent well-being across time in our day-to-day experiences. These findings provide initial support for previous speculations that mixed emotions could be detrimental to well-being in daily life contexts but could be less detrimental to well-being in adversities, though more remains to be done to replicate and verify this pattern.

Featured Image

Photo by Iveri MODEBADZE on Unsplash

Photo by Iveri MODEBADZE on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Emotions are not always clearly dichotomized into positive or negative, and over the past few decades, there is increasing recognition that our emotional experiences can frequently be mixed - i.e., simultaneously positive and negative (e.g., Larsen et al., 2001, Larsen & McGraw, 2011, Berrios et al., 2015, and Barford et al., 2020 are among several influential works which have documented the occurrence of mixed emotions). However, there was substantial uncertainty about whether mixed emotions would be beneficial or damaging for well-being outcomes, with diverse findings seeming to suggest both. Many have therefore speculated about the moderating role of contextual factors. The present work provides empirical indications that contextual factors such as the occurrence of stressful events could indeed make a difference to whether mixed emotions are potentially harmful to one's well-being. There remains much that is unknown about mixed emotions, given that despite growing interest in them, research on mixed affective states has lagged behind research on positive or negative affective states. The present work adds to this growing pool of evidence which helps us better understand mixed emotions and their potential implications for various outcomes.

Perspectives