Sammendrag
The aim of the current study was to explore the relation between extraversion, emotion crafting and well-being. The results showed positive associations between all three variables. The strongest relation was found between emotion crafting and well-being, between emotion crafting and extraversion, and additionally a moderate relation between extraversion and well-being. The first hypothesis therefore gained support; that there would be a positive relation between all three variables. These results support previous research, which found that when individuals engage in emotion crafting, they will benefit in various ways (Van der Kaap-Deeder et al., 2022) and that extraverted individuals scores higher on well-being (e.g., Keyes et al., 2015; González Gutiérrez et al., 2005). In summary, the first hypothesis adds further support to previous findings between the variables. A primary purpose of the study was to test the second hypothesis stating that Extraversion mediates the relation between emotion crafting and well-being. The theoretical underpinning for this hypothesis is that the description of extraverted individuals are generally energetic, mostly good-humored and optimistic, and are described as assertive and alert to their direct environment (Hoekstra et al., 2002). The possibility that extraversion, with its characteristics exerts its effects on well-being via mechanisms of emotion crafting held considerable promise for greater understanding of the concept. However, in contrary to the second hypothesis, extraversion was not found to be a significant mediator between emotion crafting and well-being. One reason for this may be that there were other variables that could not be controlled for when the participants answered the online surveys, which may have had influence on the results. Another reason might be that emotion crafting is a new concept and therefore the least empirically explored variable of the three, which can make it more challenging in a study like this to establish new theoretical insight. Of what it known so far, no other study has found extraversion to mediate the relation between emotion crafting and well-being, perhaps because emotion crafting is a new concept. However, the findings do provide evidence of a connection between extraversion and emotion crafting and between those two constructs and well-being. If, as proposed, extraversion leads to a greater emotion crafting, this provides information regarding one possible process where emotion crafting could exert its beneficial effects.