Independence Revisited: The Relation between Positive and Negative Affect in a Naturalistic Setting

Abstract

Although most research supports Bradburn's 1969 finding that positive and negative affect are independent between situations, affect independence within a given situation has not been demonstrated convincingly. The relation between the two types of affect, within and between situations, was examined in a naturalistic setting. Subjects were students who participated in a longitudinal study of emotion. Separate measures of positive and negative affect were obtained at the beginning and end of three successive class sessions. A natural mood induction of test performance feedback separated the two measurements on the second day of the study. Results support the independence of positive and negative affect within and between situations: Success feedback increased positive affect but did not influence negative affect; failure feedback increased negative affect but did not influence positive affect. Within each measurement period, correlations between positive and negative affect were nonsignificant. Results offer support for a two-dimensional structure of affect.