AREA Model: Why Do Feelings Lose Their Impact? Pt.2
Previously I talked to you about the AREA model (look at the previous post). Now, I'll apply it!
What sort of things prolong emotions? These are just a few factors.
Uncertainty and Surprise--If something randomly and surprisingly happens to you, it's very confusing, and you spend more time attending and reacting to it. So if you are a poor student and you randomly get an A+, it is really surprising, so you will be more happy. I really like this study: Experimenters randomly give students a card in the library w/ a dollar attached. Half got a card that explains why they got it, half get a card that doesn't really explain it as well. Test to see who is happier? The people with the card that didn't explain it!
Another study I like: Have half of people write about how they met and started dating their significant other; have the other half write about how lucky they were to have their significant other and how they could have NOT met them or dated them. So who was happier at the end? The people who thought about NOT having their significant other and how lucky they were.
So you can get a happiness booster if you just take the time to think about how lucky you are and count your blessings!
Similarly, if you are unsure of what is going to happen, or in expectation of something, you attend and react to it more as well! So if you just ordered something from the Something Store (google it!), you are so happy and excited because you are unsure of what you are going to get, and you are expecting it in the mail! Also, this is why there are so many cliffhangers in TV shows.
Rumination--This is especially for my friend Nuhad, who wanted to know how people who are depressed are unable to recover from negative events. People who are depressed tend to fall into this cycle of rumination, where continually they spend time thinking of past failures and reliving them. This refers to the ATTENTION part of the AREA model, where people are continuously attending to the event. This leads to extended REACTion times, where they are just sad. What would really help would be to make it to the next step, EXPLAIN, where they can explain the negative event in a positive way (this is also key, so if depressed people are explaining this negative event negatively, then it will affect how they feel about themselves and their identities negatively) to themselves, and manage to stop thinking about it so much and ADAPT it into the background.
It is definitely hard, and there are ways to help with the EXPLAIN part of the process: There is a writing exercise known as the Pennebaker writing exercise that is great (google it!), and there is a distancing thing people can do where they actually distance themselves away from the negative event. Finally, just distracting yourself and preventing yourself from thinking about it helps.
(This significantly improves your health, working memory, and helps you cope and find yourself)
Bar-Anan, Y., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2009). The feeling of uncertainty intensifies affective reactions. Emotion, 9, 123-127.
Koo, M., Algoe, S. B., Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2008). It’s a wonderful life: Mentally subtracting positive events improves people’s affective states, contrary to their affective forecasts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1217-1224.