Afecto positivo y negativo: ¿Una dimensión bipolar o dos dimensiones unipolares independientes?

Abstract

RESUMENDesde los trabajos pioneros de Bradburn (1969) el afecto positivo y el afecto negativo han sido concebidos como dos dimensiones unipolares independientes, aunque todavía se mantiene hoy en día la controversia teórica entre defensores de un modelo unidimensional bipolar y los de un modelo bidimensional unipolar. El objetivo de este artículo es revisar la problemática que rodea esta controversia tomando en consideración por un lado, los dos estados afectivos (el humor o tono afectivo y las emociones) y por otro lado, revisando los estudios y modelos teó-ricos provenientes de distintas áreas tales como Psicometría, Psicología Básica, neurociencia, Psicología Clínica y Psicología de la Salud. Finalmente, se ofrece una posible explicación a los datos contradictorios obtenidos en los distintos estudios. Se sugiere la conveniencia de hacer estudios claramente diferenciados sobre el humor y las emociones. Sobre el humor existen pocos trabajos, pero éstos ofrecen mayor apoyo a un modelo unidimensional bipolar. Sin embargo, sobre las emociones hay mayor cantidad de estudios que ofrecen mayor apoyo a un modelo bidimensional unipolar.Palabras clave: Afecto positivo; Afecto negativo; Estado afectivo; Humor; Emociones. ABSTRACTSince the seminal contribution of Bradburn (1969), positive and negative affect have been

Validation and Measurement Invariance of the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) in a Spanish General Sample

“…On one hand, it uses response options in terms of the amount of time the person experiences each emotion (always, never, etc. ), focusing on frequency rather than on the intensity of affect [ 56 ], which reduces cognitive bias [ 7 , 18 ] and is more strongly related to well-being measures such as life satisfaction than the intensity of those feelings [ 17 ]. On the other hand, the timeframe is limited to the past four weeks, which is short enough to allow the respondent to recall actual experiences rather than rely on general self-concept [ 7 ].…”

“…The emotions used in the SPANE allow for capturing the major emotions included in most affect theories [ 7 ]. The authors of the SPANE incorporated two aspects to improve the assessment of affect: (1) framing response options in terms of the amount of time the person experiences each emotion, which is more related to well-being [ 16 , 17 ] and (2) limiting the time frame to the past four weeks, which improves recall of affect compared to other timeframes [ 18 ]. This scale is short enough to allow the respondent to recall actual experiences but avoids recalling only short-term emotions.…”

Transdiagnostic Model of Anxiety and Depression According to the Relationship with Affect, Intolerance of Uncertainly, and Anxiety Sensitivity

“…Watson y Clark (1984) define it as temperamental sensitivity to negative stimuli such as fear, anxiety, sadness, guilt, hostility, dissatisfaction, hopelessness, somatic complaints, and a negative view of oneself; while positive affect (PA), correlates with social engagement and is characterized by responses such as enthusiasm, activity, alertness, energy, and rewarding participation. This bipolarity has generated controversy about the independence of these two aspects of affect, although studies of emotion from basic and clinical psychology show that these are two independent factors (positive and negative emotions), the contributions from psychometry support a one-dimensional model of affect in two extreme poles (Padrós-Blázquez, Soriano-Mas, & Navarro-Contreras, 2012) that adjust with greater precision to the understanding of affect at a transdiagnostic level since its beginnings (Feldman-Barrett & Russell, 1998).…”

Affective Profiles and Anxiety or Non-Anxiety-Related Reasons for School Refusal Behavior: Latent Profile Analysis in Spanish Adolescents

“…Scientific evidence supports a two-dimensional model in the basic structure of affect, distinguishing two large independent dimensions called positive affect and negative affect (Watson and Tellegen, 1985;Watson et al, 1988;Watson and Clark, 1994;Padrós et al, 2012). High positive affect is characterized by energy, joy, concentration, interest, enthusiasm, and rewarding participation, while low positive affect alludes to apathy, slowness, and lethargy (Watson and Clark, 1984).…”