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- Title
Affective forecasting and individual differences: accuracy for relational events and anxious attachment.
- Authors
Tomlinson, Jennifer M; Carmichael, Cheryl L; Reis, Harry T; Aron, Arthur
- Abstract
We examined whether accuracy of affective forecasting for significant life events was moderated by a theoretically relevant individual difference (anxious attachment), with different expected relations to predicted and actual happiness. In 3 studies (2 cross-sectional, 1 longitudinal), participants predicted what their happiness would be after entering or ending a romantic relationship. Consistent with previous research, people were generally inaccurate forecasters. However, inaccuracy for entering a relationship was significantly moderated by anxious attachment. Predictions were largely unrelated to anxious attachment, but actual happiness was negatively related to attachment anxiety. Moderation for breaking up showed a similar but less consistent pattern. These results suggest a failure to account for one's degree of anxious attachment when making affective forecasts and show how affective forecasting accuracy in important life domains may be moderated by a focally relevant individual difference, with systematically different associations between predicted and actual happiness.
- Publication
Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 2010, Vol 10, Issue 3, p447
- ISSN
1931-1516
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1037/a0018701