Cited by 276Mental Health Research TopicsChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPersonality Disorders and Psychopathology

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 41 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Affective Dynamics in Psychopathology

Open access
Trull, Timothy J., Lane, Sean P., Koval, Peter, Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich W.·2015·Emotion Review

Abstract

We discuss three varieties of affective dynamics ( affective instability, emotional inertia, and emotional differentiation). In each case, we suggest how these affective dynamics should be operationalized and measured in daily life using time-intensive methods, like ecological momentary assessment or ambulatory assessment, and recommend time-sensitive analyses that take into account not only the variability but also the temporal dependency of reports. Studies that explore how these affective dynamics are associated with psychological disorders and symptoms are reviewed, and we emphasize that these affective processes are within a nexus of other components of emotion regulation.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This review argues that affective instability, emotional inertia, and emotional differentiation are dynamic processes best captured with time-intensive assessment (e.g., EMA/ambulatory assessment) and time-sensitive analyses rather than retrospective or variance-only indices. It links these dynamics to psychopathology, especially borderline personality disorder and depression, and recommends decomposing variability from temporal dependency.

Key findings

  • Affective instability should combine variability and temporal dependency; a standard deviation alone is not time-sensitive. BPD consistently shows heightened instability, and Santangelo et al. (2014) found PTSD and bulimia nervosa patients showed similarly heightened instability of emotional valence and distress as BPD patients; instability is more extreme in BPD than MDD, with BPD showing higher variability and MDD showing higher temporal dependency.
  • Emotional inertia, estimated as within-person autocorrelation of affect, is linked to depression vulnerability markers including neuroticism, low self-esteem, trait rumination, subclinical depressive symptoms, and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism. Kuppens et al. (2012) found heightened inertia prospectively predicted MDD onset among adolescents even after adjusting for mean negative affect and gender, suggesting inertia may be an “early warning signal.”
  • Emotional differentiation findings are mixed by disorder and valence: MDD showed lower negative emotion differentiation than controls but no positive differentiation difference; schizophrenia showed lower overall emotion differentiation but not for negative emotion; BPD showed less negative emotional differentiation than controls. Tomko et al. (in press) found greater momentary and average daily differentiation predicted lower momentary impulsivity, whereas a global 28-day measure of negative differentiation did not.
  • The review concludes that affective dynamics are intraindividual and time-sensitive, should be assessed at momentary, daily, or weekly levels, and should not extend beyond daily levels unless testing periodicity hypotheses; it also notes that RDoC-style classifications often ignore dynamic emotional processes.

Methods

  • Narrative review of three affective dynamics: affective instability, emotional inertia, and emotional differentiation. No primary sample or original data are reported.
  • Synthesizes prior studies using ecological momentary assessment, ambulatory assessment, daily diaries, and laboratory methods, with emphasis on repeated momentary affect assessments.
  • Main analysis is conceptual and methodological synthesis, recommending time-sensitive indices such as multilevel models of squared successive differences, probability of acute changes, multilevel autoregressive models, and intraclass correlations for differentiation; no systematic search or meta-analysis is described.

Limitations

  • Stated in the paper: retrospective questionnaires and classical statistical indices are not well suited to within-person processes and introduce bias; standard deviation/variance is not time-sensitive; sampling frequency and timescale must match the process; average interitem correlations are less desirable than between-person ICCs; differentiation estimates confound systematic variability from time of day, day of week, and emotion-evoking events and ignore temporal dependencies; whether emotional inertia remains elevated during a current MDD episode remains unclear.
  • Stated in the paper: Santangelo et al. (2014) argue that events/triggers of emotional episodes, appraisals/metacognitions, and subcomponents of dynamic processes are understudied.
  • Evident from the text: this is a narrative review without a systematic search strategy or meta-analysis, reports no primary numerical effect sizes, and explicitly excludes other affective dynamics such as variability from its main focus.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/1754073915590617

Cites

57 of 57 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Claims the paper makes

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Show all 27 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 12
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 7
17 of 17
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Most psychological disorders show some kind of altered affective experience, deficient emotion regulation, or dysfunctional behavior to regulate emotions.

    “However, most psychological disorders show some kind of altered affective experience, deficient emotion regulation, or dysfunctional behavior to regulate emotions.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Events and triggers of emotional episodes are rarely assessed in psychopathology research.

    “First, events and triggers of emotional episodes are rarely assessed.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Emotional experience is dynamic, not static.

    “Emotional experience is dynamic, not static, and methods that provide multiple microassessments of emotional experience across time and situations can shed light on the dynamic nature of various affective processes that are theorized to be central to the development and course of psychopathology.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Optimal mental health is not simply a function of experiencing more positive than negative affect, on average.

    “Optimal mental health is not simply a function of experiencing more positive than negative affect, on average.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Monitoring and analyzing dynamic processes can be challenging.

    “This is not surprising because monitoring and analyzing dynamic processes can be challenging.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The appraisal of events and the metacognitions of the associated affective processes have been largely neglected in psychopathology research.

    “Second, the appraisal of events and the metacognitions of the associated affective processes have been largely neglected in psychopathology research (but see Thompson et al., 2012).”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Human emotions and behavior are dynamic processes that unfold over time in everyday life.

    “human emotions and behavior are dynamic processes that unfold over time in everyday life”
7 of 7

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Citations

Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Lane S. P., Operationalizing emotional differentiation: A generalizability theory approach

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Metadata

Authors
Trull, T. J., Lane, S. P., Koval, P., & Ebner-Priemer, U. W.
Affiliations
  • University of Missouri (US)
  • Australian Catholic University (AU)
  • Department of Sport and Sport Science and House of Competence, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Corresponding author
Trull, Timothy J.
Venue
Emotion Review
Published
2015-07-09
Volume
7
Issue
4
Pages
355-361
ISSN
  • 1754-0739 (ISSN-L)
  • 1754-0747
OpenAlex
W2283355370
Cited by
274
References
57
Citations by year
2026: 30 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5
FWCI
24.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Emotion Review (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Lirias (KU Leuven) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (P60AA011998, R21AA022099)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
Keywords
emotional dynamics, neuroticism, emotional inertia, emotion differentiation, psychopathology, emotion regulation, ecological momentary assessment, ambulatory assessment

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