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Category: Project

Description: Emotional granularity describes an individual’s ability to create instances of emotion that are diverse and context-specific. Considerable evidence suggests that higher emotional granularity is a protective factor for mental and physical well-being, yet little work has examined whether emotional granularity can be increased. Emotional granularity is typically measured using experience sampling protocols in which participants are asked to repeatedly rate the intensity of their emotional experience on a variety of pre-populated terms. Recent work suggests that experience sampling itself may facilitate increases in emotional granularity (Widdershoven et al., 2019), such that it may serve both empirical and interventional functions. In this project, we replicate these findings using data from an intensive ambulatory assessment study including experience sampling, peripheral physiological monitoring, and end-of-day diaries. We then identify factors that may potentially distinguish individuals who showed greater increases over the course of experience sampling, and examine the extent of their impact.