Perspective on Thoughts and Feelings as a Predictor of Psychological Well-being in Daily Life, in a Community Sample

This project examines the psychological construct of decentering - a mindfulness-related
construct marked by an observer perspective on one's ongoing mental processes. Specifically,
this project seeks to explore the extent to which decentering modulates the relationship
between people's affective states and their momentary mental health and well-being, and to
test the psychological processes by which decentering might exert these effects. This study
includes a baseline assessment followed by a 7-day study completed from home where
participants respond to brief surveys about their current experiences six times per day
(i.e., an Ecological Momentary Assessment [EMA] design).

The investigators hypothesize that decentering moderates the association of extreme affect
with related symptoms (i.e., elevated negative affect with depression and anxiety; elevated
positive affect with mania, narcissism, and histrionic traits) and well-being, such that the
association is attenuated at high levels of decentering. This will be examined using the EMA
data, analyzing between-person levels (i.e., trait) as well as momentary within-person
processes (i.e., concurrent and prospective states).

Further, the investigators predict that broadened attentional focus and improved
self-regulation are mechanisms that contribute to the beneficial effects of decentering in
daily life. This hypothesis will be examined in two ways:

1. as individual differences, wherein greater self-regulatory abilities (e.g., higher heart
rate variability) and less attentional biases towards emotional stimuli mediate the
association between trait decentering and subsequent daily well-being/symptoms, and

2. as within-person momentary levels, wherein broader attentional processes and greater
self-regulation in daily life mediate the concurrent and prospective association between
momentary decentering and well-being/symptoms.

Note that the study uses a multimodal assessment of each of the proposed processes. For
attentional processes, a variety of parameters extracted from an emotional eye tracking
paradigm will be examined. For self-regulatory abilities, assessments will include
self-report, physiological (heart rate variability), and behavioral ("go / no-go" task)
measures of such abilities.