Attention to Emotion and the Thought-Feeling Relationship: Evidence From a Stream of Consciousness Paradigm.
Michael D Robinson, Hamidreza Fereidouni, Muhammad R Asad, Roberta L Irvin
Personality science 2026 DOI: 10.1177/27000710261445288 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental paradigm study (stream of consciousness paradigm) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 180 |
| Population | Adult participants reporting on thoughts and feelings during blank intervals |
| Keywords | Attention to emotion Emotional clarity Feelings Stream of consciousness Thoughts |
| Key findings | Thoughts about relationships and good things in life were linked to pleasant feelings, and thoughts about problems and uncertainties to unpleasant feelings. These thought-feeling relationships were stronger at higher levels of attention to emotion. Cross-level interactions tended not to be significant when emotional awareness was represented by emotional clarity, suggesting attention and clarity function differently. |
Abstract
Some people report attending to their feelings and valuing them, whereas others do not. Such individual differences, in attention to emotion, could alter the extent to which thoughts are related to feelings. In the present research, 180 participants completed a novel stream of consciousness paradigm in which they were asked to report on thoughts and feelings that occurred during 12 blank intervals. Thoughts related to relationships and good things in life were linked to pleasant feelings and thoughts related to problems in life and uncertainties were linked to unpleasant feelings. These thought-feeling relationships were more pronounced at higher, relative to lower, levels of attention to emotion. Cross-level interactions tended not to be significant when emotional awareness was represented by emotional clarity, suggesting that attention and clarity function differently. The results link attention to emotion, in particular, to a type of experiential openness that may benefit self-regulation.