Emotional Experience in Daily Life: Valence, Variability, and Rate of Change

Measurements of 3 basic affective phenomena-valence of emotion, intraindividual variability, and rate of change-were derived from self-reports of emotion gathered from 123 participants (68 females, 55 males) sampled 4 times daily over 8 days. Self-reports and acquaintances' descriptions of personality were also obtained. The 3 emotion variables were not significantly intercorrelated and yielded different personality correlates. Valence of emotion positively correlated with extraversion, intraindividual variability with repression, and rate of change with fearfulness and hostility toward others, but not all results were consistent across gender. It is suggested that future research pay increased attention to patterns of emotional change over time and to the relations between gender and emotional experience.