The purpose of the study is to determine whether a short psychological intervention aiming at optimizing expectations is able to foster positive emotions and whether an intervention inducing positive emotions is able improve participants' expectations. Furthermore, the investigators will examine whether both interventions are effective in buffering the stress response after an acute stressor in a healthy sample compared to a control condition.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
74
Department of Psychology, Philipps University Marburg
Marburg, Hesse, Germany
Change in personal control expectation (Item of the Brief IPQ)
Time frame: Pre-intervention (baseline; T0) vs. Post-intervention (25 minutes after baseline assessment; T1)
Change in emotions (PANAS)
Time frame: Pre-intervention (baseline; T0) vs. Post-intervention (25 minutes after baseline assessment; T1)
Subjective stress ratings
Questionnaire items
Time frame: directly after completing the stress induction (approximately 50 minutes after baseline assessment; T2)
Change in Cortisol levels (saliva sample)
directly (T2), 15 min (T3) and 30 min (T4) after stress induction = 50 min, 65 min and 80 min after baseline assessment
Time frame: Pre-intervention (baseline; T0) vs.Post-intervention (25 minutes after baseline assessment; T1), directly (T2), 15 min (T3) and 30 min (T4) after stress induction
Change in Alpha-Amylase levels (saliva sample)
directly (T2), 15 min (T3) and 30 min (T4) after stress induction = 50 min, 65 min and 80 min after baseline assessment
Time frame: Pre-intervention (baseline; T0) vs. Post-intervention (25 minutes after baseline assessment; T1), directly (T2), 15 min (T3) and 30 min (T4) after stress induction
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