The fading affect bias shows positive outcomes at the general but not the individual level of analysis in the context of social media

•Examined the fading affect bias (FAB) across social media events and non-social media events.•Found robust FAB effects across social media and non-social media events.•Found larger FAB effects for social media events than for non-social media events.•Found two-way interactions showing negative correlations of FAB and depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as a positive correlation of FAB and self-esteem.•Found a 3-way interaction where FAB negatively correlated to anxiety for non-social media events.•Found that rehearsal mediated the three-way interaction.

Unpleasant affect fades faster than pleasant affect (e.g., Walker, Vogl, & Thompson, 1997); this effect is referred to as the Fading Affect Bias (FAB; Walker, Skowronski, Gibbons, Vogl, & Thompson, 2003a). Research shows that the FAB is consistently related to positive/healthy outcomes at a general but not at a specific level of analysis based on event types and individual differences (e.g., Gibbons et al., 2013). Based on the positive outcomes for FAB and negative outcomes for social media (Bolton et al., 2013; Huang, 2010), the current study examined FAB in the context of social media events along with related individual differences. General positive outcomes were shown in the form of robust FAB effects across social media and non-social media events, a larger FAB for non-social media events than for social media events, negative correlations of FAB with depression, anxiety, and stress as well as a positive correlation of FAB with self-esteem. However, the lack of a negative correlation between FAB and anxiety for social media events in a 3-way interaction did not show positive outcomes at a specific level of analysis. Rehearsal ratings mediated the 3-way interaction. Implications are discussed.