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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–10Cite as

Emotional Lability

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Synonyms

Affective instability; Affective lability; Emotional impulsivity; Emotional instability; Emotional variability; Mood instability; Mood lability

Definition

Emotional lability is a distinct emotional process characterized by frequent, excessively rapid, and intense changes in emotions resulting in an inability to maintain a consistent emotional state over time.

Introduction

Emotional lability is a distinct maladaptive pattern of emotion dysregulation characterized by frequent, rapid, and intense shifts in emotional states. Greater emotional lability tends to indicate that an individual has a more emotionally reactive response style to positive and negative events (Larsen et al. 2000). This reactive response style likely contributes to emotion dysregulation both immediately and longitudinally. Immediately, it may manifest through rapid and intense emotional shifts in response to an encountered emotional stimulus. The rapidity and intensity of such emotional shifts may prevent...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Kirsten D. Leaberry, Danielle M. Walerius, Paul J. Rosen & Nicholas D. Fogleman

Authors
  1. Kirsten D. Leaberry
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  2. Danielle M. Walerius
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  3. Paul J. Rosen
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  4. Nicholas D. Fogleman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirsten D. Leaberry .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, Smugowa 10/12, 91-433, Lodz, Poland

    Monika Wróbel

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Leaberry, K.D., Walerius, D.M., Rosen, P.J., Fogleman, N.D. (2017). Emotional Lability. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_510-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_510-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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