Affect-Moored Purpose

Are Purpose and Affect Dynamically Coupled?

We are beginning to explore the within-person association between purpose and affect in daily life. There is significant within-person variability in both: how purposeful people feel, and how positive they feel, shifts across the hours and days of ordinary life. Much less considered is whether those patterns of variability co-vary within people over time.

We are also exploring whether the ability to feel purposeful when a person does not feel positive might be a unique predictor of positive adjustment, well-being, and health.