Investigating the relation between growth mindset of emotion and experiencing level

Abstract

An individual’s growth mindset of emotion level indicates the degree to which they believe that emotions can be changed, and an individual’s experiencing level indicates their ability to gain new insights by examining their emotions. Individuals with lower levels of growth mindset of emotion might also exhibit lower experiencing levels because they have a greater tendency to avoid their emotions, which limits the opportunity to gain insight from their emotions. However, this relation is yet to be examined. The present study examined the relation between the growth mindset of emotion and experiencing levels. A total of 116 participants were recruited via Prolific, an online psychology study platform; they completed several questionnaires and wrote about their most stressful event in the past 12 months and any associated thoughts or emotions that they experienced during the event, when thinking about it in the past, and when writing about it now. Experiencing levels were measured by applying the Experiencing Scale to code reflections. Growth mindset of emotion was measured with the Implicit Theories of Emotion. In addition, the negative affect experienced during the stressful event was assessed. Inconsistent with the hypothesis, growth mindset of emotion and experiencing levels were not significantly associated. Furthermore, negative affect during the stressful event did not moderate the relation between the growth mindset of emotion and experiencing level. Excluding the participants who did not feel at least “a little bit negative” when the event occurred did not change the results. The study’s findings might have been limited by poor Implicit Theories of Emotion reliability and a restricted range of experiencing levels. Future studies should investigate whether emotional avoidance might mediate a relation between growth mindset of emotion and experiencing levels.