Facets of affective experiences: A framework for investigations of trait affect

Research on the relation between personality and affect is concerned with t he nature of affect dispositions. The authors propose that the general noti on of trait affect is too broad and propose a more refined framework that d ifferentiates facets of affect-related traits. Each facet is a combination of a type (e.g., mead, emotion), an aspect (e.g., frequency, intensify, dur ation), and a quality (e.g., pleasure, displeasure) of affective experience s. Previous research on the relation between pleasant trait affect and unpl easant trait affect has yielded inconsistent results. In the present articl e, the authors demonstrate that these inconsistencies are resolved once the theoretical distinctions between facets are recognized. In particular, the y show that the facets "frequency of pleasant emotions" and "frequency of u npleasant emotions" are positively correlated. In contrast, the amount of t ime that people are in a pleasant mood is negatively correlated with the am ount of time that people are in an unpleasant mood.