Executive Functioning and Positive Psychological Characteristics: A Replication and Extension

Summary.—Positive psychological characteristics and executive function are correlated with gratitude, satisfaction with life, and forgiveness. The goal of this study was to replicate these findings while examining two additional constructs, namely, hope and optimism. 113 students (25 men, 88 women) between the ages of 17 to 24 years (M = 19.4, SD = 1.5) volunteered to participate. Positive correla tions between executive function and gratitude were found but mixed results were obtained for forgiveness and satisfaction with life. Hope and optimism correlated positively with executive function and hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that they contributed significantly to the explanation of executive func tioning. Further investigation into relationships between executive functioning, its neurobiological substrates, and positive psychological attributes is recommended. Executive functioning refers to goal-directed functions such as planning, problem solving, self-monitoring, motivation, and self-assessment. These functions are either directly or indirectly attributed to the frontal lobes, especially the prefrontal cortex which is regarded as the center of higher-order regulation of behavior (Rains, 2002). As the frontal lobes have many connections with other areas of the brain, executive function ing could relate not only to cognitive abilities but also to positive and neg ative emotional and social behaviors. Executive functioning could thus have implications on most levels of human functioning (Zillmer, Spiers, & Culbertson, 2008). Numerous studies have associated negative psychological character istics with executive functioning, mainly by focusing on certain behaviors displayed by clinical patients after damage to the prefrontal cortex (for reviews, see Phan, Wager, Taylor, & Liberzon, 2002; Stuss & Levine, 2002). Fewer studies have focused on positive affect and behaviors associated with executive functioning in noninstitutionalized individuals. In one of these studies, Carvalho and Ready (2010) presented a sample of noninstitutionalized participants with an emotion judgment task and the verbal and design fluency subtasks of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System. Positive affect was associated with better verbal fluency, while no sig nificant correlations between negative affect and verbal or design fluency