Responses to negative interpersonal feedback: The role of affect valence and activation in promoting accommodation

On daily basis, individuals are faced with uncontrollable negative events. Accordingly, acceptance of and adjustment to one’s circumstance becomes paramount to the promotion and sustainment of positive psychological outcomes (Rothbaum, Weisz, & Snyder, 1982). The aim of the present study was to examine the ability of a person’s current affective state to promote the use of accommodation when challenged with an uncontrollable, negative environment. Following a brief online interaction with a confederate, participants rated their chat partner and received negative feedback regarding their likability. Affect valence and activation were manipulated through musical induction techniques, forming four conditions: low activation, positive affect; low activation, negative affect; high activation, positive affect; and high activation negative affect. It was expected that positive valence and low activation affective states would signal that the negative feedback was satisfactory or benign, and increase an individual’s ability to focus on the positive aspects of the situation. Therefore, main effects of affect valence and activation were predicted, such that positive valence and low activation affective states were expected to facilitate acceptance of and adjustment to the negative feedback. However, no significant main effects of affect valence or activation were observed. Despite this, a significant Valence X Activation interaction emerged, such that low activation, positive affect promoted accommodative responding through the acknowledgement that it is not possible to get along with everyone. The implications of this finding and future research required to investigate the ability of affect to promote accommodation are discussed