The Self-Contaminating Nature of Repeated Reports of Negative Emotions

Three experiments examined effects of measuring self-reported emotional intensity on sub- sequent self-reported emotional intensity. Across 3 experiments, we induced sadness, envy, and happiness and manipulated the number of emotional intensity measurements. In all experiments, repeated measurement led to weaker intensity of negative emotions than did a single measurement. Although the intensity of happiness was unaffected by repeated measurement, data suggest that measurements interfered with ongoing emotional experi- ence. We suggest that our findings have methodological, conceptual, and practical implica- tions, but perhaps foremost is the warning that social scientists may have greater cause for caution regarding repeated self-report measures than previously thought.