Heather C Lench
Biographic Data
| ID | 1660943 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Heather C Lench |
| GIVEN NAMES | Heather C |
| FAMILY NAME | Lench |
| SIGNATURE | LENCH H C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Texas A&M University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6555-5811 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 54 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 25 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Voter emotional responses and voting behaviour in the 2020 US presidential election
Political polarisation in the United States offers opportunities to explore how beliefs about candidates - that they could save or destroy American society - impact people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Participants forecast their future emotional responses to the contentious 2020 U.S. presidential election, and reported their actual responses after the election outcome. Stronger beliefs about candidates were associated with forecasts of gr…
Experimental elicitations of awe
Anger has benefits for attaining goals
[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 126(4) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2024-93961-001). In the article (https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa 0000350), the first paragraph in the Method section of Study 4 has been revised. All paragraphs in the Results section of Study 4 have been revised. Table 1 and Figure 5 have been updated. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Functional ac…
You shall go forth with joy
People who are religious report more effective coping with negative events and greater satisfaction with life. These emotion judgments may reflect how religious people actually feel in the wake of negative events, or they may be aspirational and self-enhancing, reflecting how religious people hope or expect to feel as a member of their faith. To test this, in two studies, undergraduates reported their forecast and experienced emotional response t…
Medical residency match applicants undervalue factors that predict stress and burnout
In the medical residency match process, applicants' ranking decisions are influenced by multiple factors related to training, geography, and lifestyle expectations. Ranking decisions directly impact match results, with implications for emotional outcomes such as happiness and stress. The present study explored the decision factors considered most important by applicants when creating rank order lists (ROLs), and how match outcomes and program fac…
Remembering facts versus feelings in the wake of political events
Amid rising political polarisation, inaccurate memory for facts and exaggerated memories of grievances can drive individuals and groups further apart. We assessed whether people with more accurate memories of the facts concerning political events were less susceptible to bias when remembering how events made them feel. Study 1 assessed participants' memories concerning the 2016 U.S. presidential election ( N = 571), and included 33 individuals wi…
Optimistic expectations have benefits for effort and emotion with little cost
The present investigation examined the potential benefits and costs of optimistic expectations about future events through the lens of error management theory (EMT). Decades of evidence have shown that optimism about the likelihood of future events is pervasive and difficult to correct. From an EMT perspective, this perpetuation of inaccurate beliefs is possible because optimism offers benefits greater than the costs. The present investigation ex…
A meta-analysis of the facial feedback literature
When and why people misestimate future feelings
People try to make decisions that will improve their lives and make them happy, and to do so, they rely on affective forecasts-predictions about how future outcomes will make them feel. Decades of research suggest that people are poor at predicting how they will feel and that they commonly overestimate the impact that future events will have on their emotions. Recent work reveals considerable variability in forecasting accuracy. This investigatio…
Changes in subjective well-being following the U.S. Presidential election of 2016
This investigation examined predictors of changes over time in subjective well-being (SWB) after the 2016 United States presidential election. Two indicators of SWB-general happiness and life satisfaction-were assessed three weeks before the election, the week of the election, three weeks later, and six months later. Partisanship predicted both indicators of SWB, with Trump supporters experiencing improved SWB after the election, Clinton supporte…
Boredom as a seeking state
Building on functional models of emotion, we propose that boredom creates a seeking state that prompts people to explore new experiences, even if those experiences are hedonically negative. Specifically, as emotional responses fade, boredom motivates the pursuit of alternative experiences that differ from the experience that resulted in boredom. Participants who reported a higher degree of boredom after a neutral task were more likely to choose n…
Does expertise matter in replication? An examination of the reproducibility project
Forgetting feelings
Memory for feelings is subject to fading and bias over time. In 2 studies, the authors examined whether the magnitude and direction of bias depend on the type of feeling being recalled: emotion or mood. A few days after the U.S. Presidential elections in 2008 and 2012, participants reported how they felt about the election outcome (emotion) and how they felt in general (mood). A month after the elections, participants recalled their feelings. The…
Gender Gaps in Overestimation of Math Performance
Beliefs in moral luck
Belief in moral luck is represented in judgements that offenders should be held accountable for intent to cause harm as well as whether or not harm occurred. Scores on a measure of moral luck beliefs predicted judgements of offenders who varied in intent and the outcomes of their actions, although judgements overall were not consistent with abstract beliefs in moral luck. Prompting participants to consider alternative outcomes, particularly worse…
On the Function of Boredom
Boredom is frequently considered inconsequential and has received relatively little research attention. We argue that boredom has important implications for human functioning, based on emotion theory and empirical evidence. Specifically, we argue that boredom motivates pursuit of new goals when the previous goal is no longer beneficial. Exploring alternate goals and experiences allows the attainment of goals that might be missed if people fail to…
Searching for evidence, not a war
Lindquist, Siegel, Quigley, and Barrett (2013) critiqued our recent meta-analysis that reported the effects of discrete emotions on outcomes, including cognition, judgment, physiology, behavior, and experience (Lench, Flores, & Bench, 2011). Lindquist et al. offered 2 major criticisms-we address both and consider the nature of emotion and scientific debate. Their 1st criticism, that the meta-analysis did not demonstrate emotion-consistent and emo…
Like Schrödinger’s cat, the impact bias is both dead and alive
Accuracy and artifact
Research on affective forecasting shows that people have a robust tendency to overestimate the intensity of future emotion. We hypothesized that (a) people can accurately predict the intensity of their feelings about events and (b) a procedural artifact contributes to people's tendency to overestimate the intensity of their feelings in general. People may misinterpret the forecasting question as asking how they will feel about a focal event, but …
Focalism and the underestimation of future emotion
People typically exaggerate the emotional impact of future events. This occurs because of focalism, the tendency to focus on one event and neglect to consider how emotion will be mitigated by the surrounding context. Neglecting context, however, should lead people to underestimate future emotion when context focuses attention on the event. In Study 1, participants underestimated the intensity of their future negative emotions when they reported r…
Discrete emotions predict changes in cognition, judgment, experience, behavior, and physiology
Metacognitive emotion regulation
Metacognitive emotion regulation strategies involve deliberately changing thoughts or goals to alleviate negative emotions. Adults commonly engage in this type of emotion regulation, but little is known about the developmental roots of this ability. Two studies were designed to assess whether 5- and 6-year-old children can generate such strategies and, if so, the types of metacognitive strategies they use. In Study 1, children described how story…
Automatic optimism
The effect of target group size on risk judgments and comparative optimism
In 5 experiments, college students exhibited a group size effect on risk judgments. As the number of individuals in a target group increased, so did participants' judgments of the risk of the average member of the group for a variety of negative life events. This happened regardless of whether the stimuli consisted of photographs of real peers or stick-figure representations of peers. As a result, the degree to which participants exhibited compar…
Incremental Validity of New Clinical Assessment Measures.
The authors address conceptual and methodological foundations of incremental validity in the evaluation of newly developed clinical assessment measures. Incremental validity is defined as the degree to which a measure explains or predicts a phenomenon of interest, relative to other measures. Incremental validity can be evaluated on several dimensions, such as sensitivity to change, diagnostic efficacy, content validity, treatment design and outco…
Discrete emotions predict changes in cognition, judgment, experience, behavior, and physiology
Gender Gaps in Overestimation of Math Performance
Beliefs in moral luck
Belief in moral luck is represented in judgements that offenders should be held accountable for intent to cause harm as well as whether or not harm occurred. Scores on a measure of moral luck beliefs predicted judgements of offenders who varied in intent and the outcomes of their actions, although judgements overall were not consistent with abstract beliefs in moral luck. Prompting participants to consider alternative outcomes, particularly worse…
A meta-analysis of the facial feedback literature
Does expertise matter in replication? An examination of the reproducibility project
Automatic optimism
Accuracy and artifact
Research on affective forecasting shows that people have a robust tendency to overestimate the intensity of future emotion. We hypothesized that (a) people can accurately predict the intensity of their feelings about events and (b) a procedural artifact contributes to people's tendency to overestimate the intensity of their feelings in general. People may misinterpret the forecasting question as asking how they will feel about a focal event, but …
The effect of target group size on risk judgments and comparative optimism
In 5 experiments, college students exhibited a group size effect on risk judgments. As the number of individuals in a target group increased, so did participants' judgments of the risk of the average member of the group for a variety of negative life events. This happened regardless of whether the stimuli consisted of photographs of real peers or stick-figure representations of peers. As a result, the degree to which participants exhibited compar…
When and why people misestimate future feelings
People try to make decisions that will improve their lives and make them happy, and to do so, they rely on affective forecasts-predictions about how future outcomes will make them feel. Decades of research suggest that people are poor at predicting how they will feel and that they commonly overestimate the impact that future events will have on their emotions. Recent work reveals considerable variability in forecasting accuracy. This investigatio…
Like Schrödinger’s cat, the impact bias is both dead and alive
Incremental Validity of New Clinical Assessment Measures.
The authors address conceptual and methodological foundations of incremental validity in the evaluation of newly developed clinical assessment measures. Incremental validity is defined as the degree to which a measure explains or predicts a phenomenon of interest, relative to other measures. Incremental validity can be evaluated on several dimensions, such as sensitivity to change, diagnostic efficacy, content validity, treatment design and outco…
The effect of target group size on risk judgments and comparative optimism
In 5 experiments, college students exhibited a group size effect on risk judgments. As the number of individuals in a target group increased, so did participants' judgments of the risk of the average member of the group for a variety of negative life events. This happened regardless of whether the stimuli consisted of photographs of real peers or stick-figure representations of peers. As a result, the degree to which participants exhibited compar…
Automatic optimism
Metacognitive emotion regulation
Metacognitive emotion regulation strategies involve deliberately changing thoughts or goals to alleviate negative emotions. Adults commonly engage in this type of emotion regulation, but little is known about the developmental roots of this ability. Two studies were designed to assess whether 5- and 6-year-old children can generate such strategies and, if so, the types of metacognitive strategies they use. In Study 1, children described how story…
Focalism and the underestimation of future emotion
People typically exaggerate the emotional impact of future events. This occurs because of focalism, the tendency to focus on one event and neglect to consider how emotion will be mitigated by the surrounding context. Neglecting context, however, should lead people to underestimate future emotion when context focuses attention on the event. In Study 1, participants underestimated the intensity of their future negative emotions when they reported r…
Discrete emotions predict changes in cognition, judgment, experience, behavior, and physiology
Accuracy and artifact
Research on affective forecasting shows that people have a robust tendency to overestimate the intensity of future emotion. We hypothesized that (a) people can accurately predict the intensity of their feelings about events and (b) a procedural artifact contributes to people's tendency to overestimate the intensity of their feelings in general. People may misinterpret the forecasting question as asking how they will feel about a focal event, but …
On the Function of Boredom
Boredom is frequently considered inconsequential and has received relatively little research attention. We argue that boredom has important implications for human functioning, based on emotion theory and empirical evidence. Specifically, we argue that boredom motivates pursuit of new goals when the previous goal is no longer beneficial. Exploring alternate goals and experiences allows the attainment of goals that might be missed if people fail to…
Searching for evidence, not a war
Lindquist, Siegel, Quigley, and Barrett (2013) critiqued our recent meta-analysis that reported the effects of discrete emotions on outcomes, including cognition, judgment, physiology, behavior, and experience (Lench, Flores, & Bench, 2011). Lindquist et al. offered 2 major criticisms-we address both and consider the nature of emotion and scientific debate. Their 1st criticism, that the meta-analysis did not demonstrate emotion-consistent and emo…
Like Schrödinger’s cat, the impact bias is both dead and alive
Forgetting feelings
Memory for feelings is subject to fading and bias over time. In 2 studies, the authors examined whether the magnitude and direction of bias depend on the type of feeling being recalled: emotion or mood. A few days after the U.S. Presidential elections in 2008 and 2012, participants reported how they felt about the election outcome (emotion) and how they felt in general (mood). A month after the elections, participants recalled their feelings. The…
Gender Gaps in Overestimation of Math Performance
Beliefs in moral luck
Belief in moral luck is represented in judgements that offenders should be held accountable for intent to cause harm as well as whether or not harm occurred. Scores on a measure of moral luck beliefs predicted judgements of offenders who varied in intent and the outcomes of their actions, although judgements overall were not consistent with abstract beliefs in moral luck. Prompting participants to consider alternative outcomes, particularly worse…
Does expertise matter in replication? An examination of the reproducibility project
Changes in subjective well-being following the U.S. Presidential election of 2016
This investigation examined predictors of changes over time in subjective well-being (SWB) after the 2016 United States presidential election. Two indicators of SWB-general happiness and life satisfaction-were assessed three weeks before the election, the week of the election, three weeks later, and six months later. Partisanship predicted both indicators of SWB, with Trump supporters experiencing improved SWB after the election, Clinton supporte…
Boredom as a seeking state
Building on functional models of emotion, we propose that boredom creates a seeking state that prompts people to explore new experiences, even if those experiences are hedonically negative. Specifically, as emotional responses fade, boredom motivates the pursuit of alternative experiences that differ from the experience that resulted in boredom. Participants who reported a higher degree of boredom after a neutral task were more likely to choose n…
A meta-analysis of the facial feedback literature
When and why people misestimate future feelings
People try to make decisions that will improve their lives and make them happy, and to do so, they rely on affective forecasts-predictions about how future outcomes will make them feel. Decades of research suggest that people are poor at predicting how they will feel and that they commonly overestimate the impact that future events will have on their emotions. Recent work reveals considerable variability in forecasting accuracy. This investigatio…
Remembering facts versus feelings in the wake of political events
Amid rising political polarisation, inaccurate memory for facts and exaggerated memories of grievances can drive individuals and groups further apart. We assessed whether people with more accurate memories of the facts concerning political events were less susceptible to bias when remembering how events made them feel. Study 1 assessed participants' memories concerning the 2016 U.S. presidential election ( N = 571), and included 33 individuals wi…
Optimistic expectations have benefits for effort and emotion with little cost
The present investigation examined the potential benefits and costs of optimistic expectations about future events through the lens of error management theory (EMT). Decades of evidence have shown that optimism about the likelihood of future events is pervasive and difficult to correct. From an EMT perspective, this perpetuation of inaccurate beliefs is possible because optimism offers benefits greater than the costs. The present investigation ex…
You shall go forth with joy
People who are religious report more effective coping with negative events and greater satisfaction with life. These emotion judgments may reflect how religious people actually feel in the wake of negative events, or they may be aspirational and self-enhancing, reflecting how religious people hope or expect to feel as a member of their faith. To test this, in two studies, undergraduates reported their forecast and experienced emotional response t…
Medical residency match applicants undervalue factors that predict stress and burnout
In the medical residency match process, applicants' ranking decisions are influenced by multiple factors related to training, geography, and lifestyle expectations. Ranking decisions directly impact match results, with implications for emotional outcomes such as happiness and stress. The present study explored the decision factors considered most important by applicants when creating rank order lists (ROLs), and how match outcomes and program fac…
Experimental elicitations of awe
Anger has benefits for attaining goals
[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 126(4) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2024-93961-001). In the article (https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa 0000350), the first paragraph in the Method section of Study 4 has been revised. All paragraphs in the Results section of Study 4 have been revised. Table 1 and Figure 5 have been updated. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Functional ac…
Voter emotional responses and voting behaviour in the 2020 US presidential election
Political polarisation in the United States offers opportunities to explore how beliefs about candidates - that they could save or destroy American society - impact people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Participants forecast their future emotional responses to the contentious 2020 U.S. presidential election, and reported their actual responses after the election outcome. Stronger beliefs about candidates were associated with forecasts of gr…
Psychology (20 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Cognitive psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (6 works) · Cognition (5 works) · Feeling (5 works) · MEDLINE (5 works) · PsycINFO (5 works) · Clinical Psychology (4 works)