Affect & Conflict 1 Pleasure and Displeasure in Reaction to Conflicting Picture Pairs: Examining Appealingness and Appallingness Appraisals

We examined affective reactions to conflicting (i.e., appealing and appalling) pairs of emotional pictures. In Studies 1 and 2, participants rated the intensity of pleasure and displeasure. Conflicting picture pairs elicited reports of both pleasure and displeasure (i.e., mixed feelings). However, the appalling picture reduced the intensity of pleasure and the appealing picture reduced the intensity of displeasure. We propose the Distributed Attention Theory of Emotion (DATE) to explain these findings. DATE assumes that affective reactions to conflicting picture pairs depend on the distribution of attention to the pictures. When attention is allocated to both pictures, people experience mixed feelings but at reduced intensities. Study 3 provided support for DATE with behavioral and neuropsychological measures.