Background

To improve and target positive interventions, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying their effects. Past research indicated that an active-constructive responding intervention (teaching participants to respond to positive news with enthusiastic support) can increase responders’ positive affect and identifies the perception of more positive feelings in the sharer as underlying mechanism of the effect (Conoley et al., 2015). 

Aims

If this was the only mechanism driving the interventions’ effect, it would mean that it should not be beneficial in contexts where sharers’ positive responses are not (sufficiently) present (e.g., online communication). The aim of the present study was to test, whether positive effects can also be found in online communication. Drawing from associative network theory (Bower, 1981; Collins & Loftus, 1975), we propose that the mere act of responding more active-constructively (independent of the following interaction with the sharer) can already serve as mechanism driving the effect of the ACR intervention on responders’ positive affect.

Method

To test this assumption, we used data from 244 university students who randomly received either an active-constructive responding intervention or conducted a control activity. While all participants were asked to respond to positive news of an alleged sender in an electronical communication, only participants of the intervention group were instructed to respond in an active-constructive way. As dependent variables, we assessed participants’ actual active-constructive responding by rating their electronical communication with a newly developed and validated code book for analyzing responses to positive events. Additionally, we assessed participants’ perception of their own active-constructive responding and their positive affect. 

Results

Mediation analyses revealed that the active-constructive responding group responded more active-constructively (perceived and actual) than the control group, both of which were associated with more positive affect.  

Conclusion

Implications for the mechanisms underlying the active-constructive responding intervention are discussed, as well as resulting recommendations for the targeted use of the intervention in (online) communication practice.