Positive emotion dispositions differentially associated with Big Five personality and attachment style

Abstract Although theorists have proposed the existence of multiple distinct varieties of positive emotion, dispositional positive affect is typically treated as a unidimensional variable in personality research. We present data elaborating conceptual and empirical differences among seven positive emotion dispositions in their relationships with two core personality constructs, the “Big Five” and adult attachment style. We found that the positive emotion dispositions were differentially associated with self- and peer-rated Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Neuroticism. We also found that different adult attachment styles were associated with different kinds of emotional rewards. Findings support the theoretical utility of differentiating among several dispositional positive emotion constructs in personality research. Keywords: Emotionpositive emotionpositive psychologypersonalityBig Fiveattachment Acknowledgements Manuscript preparation was supported by NIH grant 1-R01-AG17766-1. Deep appreciation is expressed to Ariel Malka for his assistance with data collection, and to Chris Soto for his assistance with data analyses. Many thanks also to Barbara Fredrickson and an anonymous reviewer for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.