The effect of induced happiness versus sadness on three types of self-control tasks

Abstract

How can people succeed in situations that require self-control? One mechanism might be through positive emotions such as happiness, although previous studies are limited and have yielded inconsistent results. Three studies (total N = 424) therefore examined the effect of induced happiness versus sadness on three different self-control tasks that required delaying gratification (Study 1), persistence on an aversive task (Study 2), and breaking a habitual response (Study 3). Results showed that happiness improved performance on these tasks compared to sadness, while controlling for baseline emotions, practice performance, and trait self-control. This research advances our causal knowledge of the facilitating effect of happiness versus sadness on tasks that measure different self-control components, and has important practical implications that we discuss.

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