Inducing positive affect and orientations to happiness: Is matching better?

Online mood induction procedures (MIPs) for happiness have shown inconsistent and often modest effects, and the potential benefit of personalizing such inductions remains unclear. This study evaluated an online, film-based MIP that targeted three orientations to happiness: engagement, meaning, and pleasure. This study further investigated whether matching film clips to participants’ dominant orientations to happiness enhanced the effectiveness of the MIP. Data was collected via MTurk. Participants (N = 166) were randomly assigned to a matched condition, in which they watched a film clip that targeted their dominant orientation(s) to happiness, or an unmatched condition. Mixed ANOVA was used to test the hypothesis that happiness can be induced via an online, film-based MIP and that a matched film MIP would be more effective at inducing happiness than an unmatched film MIP. Results indicated that happiness can be induced online, but the effect size is modest (d = 0.43). A sizeable proportion of the sample did not report an increase in happiness. In primary analyses including all participants, increases in happiness did not differ between matched and unmatched conditions. These results corroborate recent findings that online positive or happiness inductions are effective but underscore the importance of considering success rate in study analyses and sample size planning. These results also contribute to the growing database of film clips validated to induce positive affect in an online setting. Future research is needed to identify factors that may enhance the effect of positive affect MIPs.