Goicoechea, CarmenDakos, VasilisSanabria, DanielHeshmati, SaidaWesthoff, MarlonBanos, OrestiPomares, HectorHofmann, Stefan G.Perakakis, Pantelis2025-01-162025-01-162024Goicoechea, C., Dakos, V., Sanabria, D., Heshmati, S., Westhoff, M., Banos, O., Pomares, H., Hofmann, S. G., & Perakakis, P. (2024). Bistability and affect shift dynamics in the prediction of psychological well-being. Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo00014541528-354210.1037/emo0001454https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/114619How affective experiences, such as feelings, emotions, and moods, fluctuate over time is relevant for understanding and predicting psychological well-being. Here, we present a novel approach to investigate affect dynamics grounded on the concept of multistability, a common behavior of complex systems, characterized by abrupt shifts between two or more stable states. We analyze self-report measures in two ecological momentary assessment studies from Spain (N = 65) and Germany (N = 56). Participants were asked to rate how they feel on a single bipolar visual analogue scale ranging from very bad to very good, 6 times a day over the course of 29 days in the Spanish study and 5 times a day during 21 days in the German study. We observe bistable behavior in 61.5% of the Spanish and 46% of the German sample. Further, we introduce a range of metrics to quantify the frequency and magnitude of shifts between positive and negative affect and identify the positive to negative affect shift ratio as a robust predictor of psychological well-being. Our results suggest that affective bistability is a prevalent feature of affect dynamics and highlight the potential of positive to negative affect shift ratio as a valuable tool for predicting psychological well-being both in research and clinical settings.engAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/journal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001454https://doi.org/10.1037/10.17605/OSF.IO/XQM84https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cqpuzopen accessBistabilityAffect dynamicsAffect Shift RatioPsychological well-beingEcological momentary assessmentPsicología (Psicología)61 Psicología