Long- and short-term affective states in happiness: Model, paradigm and experimental evidence

• DOI: 10.1007/bf00354836
• Publication Date: 2004-10-31T07:41:50Z
• Authors: Albert Kozma; Susan Stone; M. J. Stones; T. E. Hannah; Kevin McNeil
• Keywords: Affect; Subjective Well-Being

The present paper evaluates relevant findings on long- and short-term affective states in subjective well-being and argues for a componential model that combines the two into the more general concept of happiness. Two age parameters, one for long-term and one for short-term affect are added to the simple model to account for age changes in happiness. Measures of long- and short-term affect are presented, as is a paradigm for separating the components. Support for the simple model is provided by an experimental investigation with 64 college students who were exposed to positive and/or negative mood induction. As expected, the induction had substantially greater effect on short- than on long-term affect measures, particularly the negative induction procedure. These findings are consistent with predictions. However, multiple age cohorts will have to be assessed within a longitudinal framework to obtain values for the age parameters.