Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: What makes something interesting? Appraisal research has proposed two appraisal structures for the emotion of interest. One model (Smith & Ellsworth, 1985) contends that appraised pleasantness is central to interest, whereas an alternative model (Silvia, 2005b) contends that pleasantness is unnecessary for interest. An experiment tested these competing predictions. Participants viewed calming and disturbing paintings, rated each picture for appraisals, and reported their experienced interest and pleasantness/ enjoyment. Within-person analyses found that (a) interest and pleasantness were essentially unrelated; (b) appraised novelty- complexity positively predicted interest, but negatively predicted pleasantness; and (c) disturbing pictures were highly interesting but unpleasant, whereas calming pictures were highly pleasant but uninteresting. The results thus strongly suggest that interesting things needn't be pleasant. Implications for in vivo (versus retrospective) tests of competing appraisal predictions are considered.
Source: Emotion
Authors: Samuel A. Turner, Paul J. Silvia
Institution: University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1989923731