People enjoy acting extraverted, and this seems to apply equally across the dispositional introversion-extraversion dimension (Fleeson, Malanos, & Achille, 2002). It follows that dispositional introverts might improve their happiness by acting more extraverted, yet little research has examined potential costs of this strategy. In two studies, we assessed dispositions, randomly assigned participants to act introverted or extraverted, and examined costs-both emotional (concurrent negative affect) and cognitive (Stroop performance). Results replicated and extended past findings suggesting that acting extraverted produces hedonic benefits regardless of disposition. Positive affect increased and negative affect did not, even for participants acting out of character. In contrast, we found evidence that acting counterdispositionally could produce poor Stroop performance, but this effect was limited to dispositional extraverts who were assigned to act introverted. We suggest that the positive affect produced by introverts' extraverted behavior may buffer the potentially depleting effects of counterdispositional behavior, and we consider alternative explanations. We conclude that dispositional introverts may indeed benefit from acting extraverted more often and caution that dispositional extraverts may want to adopt introverted behavior strategically, as it could induce cognitive costs or self-regulatory depletion more generally.

People report enjoying momentary extraverted behavior, and this does not seem to depend on trait levels of introversion-extraversion. Assuming that introverts desire enjoyment, this finding raises the question, why do introverts not act extraverted more often? This research explored a novel explanation, that trait introverts make an affective forecasting error, underpredicting the hedonic benefits of extraverted behavior. Study 1 (n = 97) found that trait introverts forecast less activated positive and pleasant affect and more negative and self-conscious affect (compared to extraverts) when asked to imagine acting extraverted, but not introverted, across a variety of hypothetical situations. Studies 2-5 (combined n = 495) found similar results using a between-subjects approach and laboratory situations. We replicated findings that people enjoy acting extraverted and that this does not depend on disposition. Accordingly, the personality differences in affective forecasts represent errors. In these studies, introverts tended to be less accurate, particularly by overestimating the negative affect and self-consciousness associated with their extraverted behavior. This may explain why introverts do not act extraverted more often (i.e., they overestimate hedonic costs that do not actually materialize) and have implications for understanding, and potentially trying to change, introverts' characteristically lower levels of happiness.

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Although intuitive and predicted by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, previous research has not seriously tested the idea that positive moods can cause sociability. The authors developed a new measure to assess preferences for social (vs. nonsocial) situations, carefully controlling for the fact that social situations are, on average, also more pleasant. Across two additional experiments (combined n ¼ 237), the authors induced positive, negative, and neutral moods with film clips (betweensubjects) and found that participants in the positive conditions felt more social (adjective ratings) and indicated stronger preferences for social situations (on the new measure), compared to those in both negative and neutral conditions. Beyond filling an important gap in the empirical record, the authors also explore the implications of this finding for broaden-and-build theory and a large literature linking trait extraversion with happiness.

People behave differently from one moment to the next and thus are frequently behaving 'out of character' or counter to their dispositions. Previous research exploring acting out of character indicated that acting extraverted was associated with increases in positive affect for both trait introverts and trait extraverts, whereas acting introverted was associated with cognitive control costs, but only for trait extraverts. These asymmetrical negative consequences can be partially explained by counter-dispositional behaviour as it may consume mental resources through monitoring and modifying behaviour. I proposed that previous research exploring counter-dispositional behaviour has neglected the importance of situational effects. Research demonstrates that contra-normative behaviour is depleting. Previous findings of costs for acting 'out of character' were limited to when behaviour was also incongruent with situational norms. Thus, I extended this line of inquiry by using the acting paradigm in introverted situations. I posited that there would be negative costs associated with acting extraverted, as it was contra-situational. I also posited that there would be even greater costs for dispositional introverts as they were also behaving counter-dispositionally. In two studies, I created introverted situations and randomly assigned participants to one of three experimental conditions (act extraverted, act introverted or control condition). In study 1 (N = 158), participants in the acting extraverted condition reported more positive affect, enjoyment, valence, and authenticity. Furthermore, no effects of cognitive fatigue were found. Thus, the hypothesized costs of acting extraverted were not found. In study 2 (N = 85) acting instructions were modified to highlight the positive features of introversion and the negative features of extraversion.