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ABSTRACT. The PAD (Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance) Emotion Model was used to summarize existing data and to investigate emotional correlates of satisfaction-dissatisfaction at work and in marriage. Ages of the married and employed participants were as follows: Study 1: M = 35.7, SD = 10.5; Study 2: M = 36.6, SD = 9.6. For all participants in both studies, Work Satisfaction (WSS) was correlated positively (p < .OS) with pleasure, r(289) = .60; arousal, r(289) = .45; and dominance, r(289) = .51. Similarly, across both studies, Marital Satisfaction (MSS) was correlated positively (p < .OS) with pleasure, r(289) = .72; and arousal, r(289) = .45; but was not significantly related to dominance, r(289) = .11. The relation of dominance to satisfaction at work but not in marriage was interpreted in terms of the greater likelihood of adversarial and competitive relationships at work versus greater prevalence of shared values and goals in marriage. WSS/MSS correlations were positive and significant in both studies: Study 1, r(148) = .28; Study 2, r(139) = .30. Similarities of the emotional correlates of satisfaction-dissatisfaction in marriage and work could have accounted for part of the carryover of satisfaction from marriage to work and vice versa.
TO INVESTIGATE THE EMOTIONAL CORRELATES of satisfaction-dissatisfaction at work and, separately, in marriage, I designed two studies using the following descriptive framework for the general assessment of emotional reactions.
The PAD Emotion Model (Mehrabian, 1995) includes the dimensions of pleasure-displeasure (P), arousal-nonarousal (A), and dominance-submissiveness (D) as basic factors of emotional response. Pleasure-displeasure distinguishes positive affective states from negative ones. Arousal-nonarousal is defined in terms of a combination of mental alertness and physical activity. Dominance-submissiveness is defined in terms of control versus lack of control over events, one's surroundings, or other people.
Any emotional state can be viewed as a point in three-dimensional emotion space, with the three coordinates of the point corresponding to the pleasure-displeasure, arousal-nonarousal, and dominance-submissiveness values of that emotion. Approximate descriptions of various emotion categories can be achieved by dichotomizing each of the three axes in emotion space. The resulting octants and emotion categories correspond to various combinations of high versus low pleasure, arousal, and dominance, as shown in the Appendix. The notations +P and -P for pleasure and displeasure, +A and -A for...