Pleasantness and Motivational Intensity of Experienced Emotion Influence Affect Labeling in Men and Women: Does Inhibitory Control Play a Role?

Affect labeling involves describing emotional experiences using words. It is not known how different aspects of emotional experience influence affect labeling. The primary objective of this study was to compare the number of affective labels generated in emotional situations varying in valence and motivational intensity. Given that previous studies suggest that women are more capable in describing their emotional experiences, we also considered gender differences in generating affective labels. Additionally, we investigated whether inhibitory control influences the number of generated affective labels. Participants (N = 72) were instructed to generate affective labels in anger, sadness, and happiness. They also completed a color-word Stroop task with negative priming. Our results revealed that the motivational intensity of the emotions significantly influenced the generation of labels in women. A similar trend, though non-significant, was observed in men. No relationship between inhibitory control and the number of generated labels was found.