Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine whether dispositional optimism and induced optimism are associated with an attentional bias for positive stimuli. Fifty-six healthy participants performed an eye-tracking task twice, while their gazing time at faces displaying joy, anger, pain, or a neutral expression was measured. Participants scoring high on dispositional optimism tended to gaze longer at joy faces during the first face-presentation trial compared to participants scoring lower on optimism, and this correlation became significant during the second face-presentation trial. In between the two presentations, participants received either an optimism manipulation or a control manipulation. There was no effect of type of manipulation on gazing behavior but post hoc analyses demonstrated that participants showing an increase in state optimism displayed a significant decrease in gaze duration for anger faces and a nearly significant increase in gaze duration for joy faces.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 258-269 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Journal of positive psychology |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 3 May 2016 |
Keywords
- optimism
- Best Possible Self manipulation
- attentional bias
- eye tracking
- emotional faces