Abstract

Bipolar symptoms(BS) may be associated with alternating excessive upward and downward responses to positive emotion(PE). This study aimed to compare positive rumination(PR) and dampening as maladaptive upward and downward regulation in each and savoring as an adaptive response to PE. We tried to verify the hypothesis that PR to heighten PE caused by uplifts and subsequent dampening to suppress such heightened moods will increase BS and decrease subjective well-being(SW), while savoring instead of PR will reduce the need for dampening, finally leading to the opposite results in BS and SW. To verify, Positive Life Events Scale, Extended Responses to Positive Affect Questionnaire(E-RPA), Savoring Beliefs Inventory(SBI), Internal State Scale(ISS), Bipolar Spectrum Diagnosis Scale(BSDS), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale(SWLS) were administered to 330 cyber university students via an online survey. The results supported our hypothesis. If the PE from uplifts is ruminated, the heightened mood would be suppressed by the subsequent dampening. The indirect effect leading to increased BS and decreased SW was significant. On the contrary, paying attention to PE’s and savoring them reduced the need for dampening, and indirect effects leading to a significant decrease in BS and increase in SW. Finally, we discussed the implications of a therapeutic approach that guides people to choose savoring over PR at the crossroads of responses to PE, and we presented the limitations of this study along with future research directions.