189C. #Bittersweet: A Naturalistic Observation Study of Mixed Emotions Expressed on Twitter. #Bittersweet: A Naturalistic Observation Study of Mixed Emotions

Expressed ojsbfjbsjdbfn Twitter

Lead Presenter(s)

Maddie Williams

Abstract or Description

Maddie Williams

Can people feel happy and sad at the same time? The Circumplex Model of Core Affect contends that polar opposite emotions (such as happiness and sadness) cannot co-occur. However, when prompted by psychologists, people report mixed emotions such as after a bittersweet film. Nevertheless, it’s unclear whether people express mixed emotions in their everyday lives. To address this, we looked at the emotions people express on Twitter. We compared two research assistants’ emotion ratings about Tweets containing #bittersweet with #happy and #sad. We collected 100 Tweets per hashtag, totaling 300 Tweets and removed the hashtags to ensure the research assistants were blind to condition. As predicted, the research assistants detected more positive affect in #happy Tweets than  #sad and #bittersweet Tweets. Likewise, they detected more negative affect in #sad Tweets than #happy and #bittersweet Tweets. The research assistants also detected more mixed positive and negative affect in #bittersweet Tweets than #happy and #sad Tweets. Further, they detected more nostalgia, a feeling associated with mixed emotions, in #bittersweet Tweets than #happy and #sad Tweets. Our study suggests that polar opposite mixed emotions aren’t only possible in laboratory settings, but also occur in everyday lives.

Mentor

Dr. Jeff T. Larsen