Index to Volume 140

Abstract

University students from France and the United States completed the Hobart (1958) and Knox-Sporakowski (1968) scales measuring attitudes toward romantic love. Significant differences between the two samples were found, with the French placing higher value on chivalrous behavior by men and on jealousy as a measure of commitment. The French were also significantly more likely than the Americans to perceive love as irrational and as a cause of jealousy and clouded judgment, agreeing that it is too emotional an experience to be studied objectively. Gender differences interacted with cultural perspectives on several measured dimensions of romantic love.     

当代大学生婚恋观问卷的编制与验证

研究在文献分析、大学生访谈、专家反馈及理论建构的基础上,编制了大学生婚恋观初始问卷。研究者在50名大学生中征求了对于问卷内容的修改建议,对300名大学生实施了试测,进行了项目分析和探索性因素分析,初步确定出问卷的维度和项目。在正式测试中,将1608名大学生随机分成对等两组,分别进行了探索性和验证性因素分析。研究结果表明,大学生婚恋观问卷包含六个维度,分别为择偶条件、婚恋价值、情感需求、性爱道德、婚姻本质及夫妻地位。该问卷的六个维度与构想模型拟合较好,并具有良好的信度和效度指标,可以作为大学生婚恋观的测评工具。     

Discriminative vocal conditioning in rhesus monkeys: Evidence for volitional control?

Both emotional and volitional systems are invoked in explaining the control of human vocalizations, but vocal behavior of nonhuman primates is often believed to be totally under emotional control. Monkeys' poor performance on conditioning tasks, especially discriminative conditioning of vocalization (DCV), has been cited as evidence against volitional control. In Experiment 1, rhesus monkeys failed a DCV task in which food was given for vocalizations emitted during an arbitrary visual stimulus, but in Experiment 2, monkeys showed clear discriminative performance when an otherwise comparable shock-avoidance DCV procedure was used. This evidence that monkeys possess some degree of volitional control has implications for the relation between animal vocalizations and the origin of human speech.     

The recognition of pure and blended facial expressions of emotion from still photographs

The article considers volitional facial expressions as emotional messages. The following two questions were posed: Is it possible for an actor to express pleasure, surprise, hate, fear, and sorrow, and pairwise combinations of these, plus additionally love, making 16 different shades of meaning altogether? Can these pure and blended expressions be recognized from still photographs? The repertoire of one actor was studied. The judgemental study of recognition was based on a multimethod approach, which included both judgements of the expressions using verbal labels and non-verbal judgements planned to reveal the cluster structure of the stimuli. Five experiments are reported. In the main the actor succeeds in the task, though there are some systematic limitations in his repertoire. The results depend systematically on the way the task has been structured. Still photographs are seen as useful for specific purposes.     

Overcoming the loss of a love: preventing love addiction and promoting positive emotional health

Counseling and clinical observations clarify views commonly made about the pain of breaking-up a love relationship. Anecdotal reports as presented in popular music, novels, movies, and television programs illustrate the public's general awareness of the emotional dilemma of ending a relationship. Love is a strong pleasurable emotional state. Behavioral and emotional problems can result from rejection and the pain due to the loss of a love. The term "love addiction" has been applied to persons who obsessively seek to regain the pleasurable love state which existed with a former love relationship. Dysfunctional emotional conditions such as distrust, feelings of rejection, loss of self-worth, deep-seated anger, feelings of failure, loss, and an array of other emotional distress and self-defeating behaviors arise in the emotionally hurt person. Emotional distress must be dealt with. Rational self-counseling and psychotherapy can be effective in helping a jilted person work through periods of distress and may help to reestablish emotional well being and good mental health. Counseling can assist the person in moving into new relationships, help the hurt person abandon dysfunctional behaviors and feelings, and aid the client in resuming a normal life.     

Implicit emotion regulation under demanding conditions: The moderating role of action versus state orientation

Action orientation is a volitional mode that promotes flexible self-regulation of emotional and motivational states; state orientation represents the conceptually opposite volitional mode that promotes fixation on (particularly negative) emotional and motivational states (Kuhl & Beckmann, 1994a). The present research investigated the link between action versus state orientation and implicit emotion regulation under demanding conditions. After inducing a demanding context, action-oriented participants displayed reduced affective priming effects of negative primes relative to state-oriented individuals (Studies 1–3). Action versus state orientation did not moderate affective priming effects of positive prime words (Studies 1–3). Effects of action versus state orientation emerged only for a limited number of trials (Study 2) and were reversed under low-demanding conditions (Study 3). These findings support the notion that implicit emotion regulation is closely linked to volitional action control.     

Implicit emotion regulation under demanding conditions: the moderating role of action versus state orientation

Action orientation is a volitional mode that promotes flexible self-regulation of emotional and motivational states; state orientation represents the conceptually opposite volitional mode that promotes fixation on (particularly negative) emotional and motivational states (Kuhl & Beckmann, 1994a). The present research investigated the link between action versus state orientation and implicit emotion regulation under demanding conditions. After inducing a demanding context, action-oriented participants displayed reduced affective priming effects of negative primes relative to state-oriented individuals (Studies 1-3). Action versus state orientation did not moderate affective priming effects of positive prime words (Studies 1-3). Effects of action versus state orientation emerged only for a limited number of trials (Study 2) and were reversed under low-demanding conditions (Study 3). These findings support the notion that implicit emotion regulation is closely linked to volitional action control.     

On the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in phonation: A case report

A 41-year-old male patient is presented with a lesion in the anterior cingulate cortex, medial orbital cortex, and rostral striatum bilaterally and supplementary motor area on the left side. The patient first exhibited a state of akinetic mutism which lasted about 6 weeks. During this state, no volitional vocal utterances were made; there were, however, occasional groans of pain. During recovery, the mute phase was replaced by a state in which the patient could whisper but not phonate verbal utterances. About 10 weeks after the accident, phonation was restored. The speech was characterized, however, by monotonous intonation and a very low frequency of spontaneous utterances. While the frequency of spontaneous speech improved noticeably during the following months, emotional intonation remained permanently defective. A comparison of the present case with other cases from the literature as well as experimental monkey data suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex is involved in the volitional control of emotional vocal utterances.     

Possession and Applicability of Signature Character Strengths: What Is Essential for Well-Being,Work Engagement,and Burnout?

Signature character strengths can foster health-related outcomes in work and private life, thus being particularly important for endangered occupational groups like physicians. However, situational circumstances need to allow character strengths demonstration (applicability) first to enable their application. Therefore, this study addresses the role of (1) applicability of signature character strengths in work and private life beyond their possession and (2) relationships with well-being, work engagement, and burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment). Hospital physicians (N = 274) completed an online survey examining their signature character strengths and applicability, well-being, work engagement, and burnout dimensions. The top-five individual signature character strengths were fairness, honesty, judgment, kindness, and love. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions revealed that the possession as well as the applicability of signature character strengths was important in work and private life, but to different degrees. Possessing fairness, honesty, or kindness indicated significant positive relations with subjective well-being, whereas judgment and kindness seemed to negatively interact with reduced personal accomplishment. Hospital physicians’ applicability of fairness, honesty, judgment, and love was particularly essential for their psychological well-being and work engagement, whereas the applicability of fairness (reduced personal accomplishment) and judgment (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization) at work interacted negatively with the respective outcomes. Therefore, creating awareness for individual signature character strengths as well as providing applicability in hospitals and private life could be a promising approach to improve physicians’ well-being and consequently patient care as well as the performance of the health-care system in general.

     

What is this thing called love? Defining the love that supports marriage and family

The aim of this article was to define, on the basis of theorizing and research, the love that supports marriage and the family, or the type of love that is related to high levels of satisfaction in relationships, to the psychological well-being of family members and to stable family relationships. Literature is reviewed that explores the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of both mature and immature love, and I conclude that all three aspects of love can be either mature or immature. With regard to the emotional component, I have noted that feelings of both passion and companionship can continue throughout life. Immature love is exemplified in such constructs as limerence, love addiction, and infatuation. Given that love is socially constructed, I note that it can be strongly affected by the beliefs about love that are present in the culture, and that these beliefs can be either functional or dysfunctional. Particularly dysfunctional beliefs include those emphasizing that love is blind, external, and beyond the control of the lovers. Behaviors characteristic of mature and immature love are also explored. It seems that mature love may be best conceptualized as creating an environment in which both the lovers and those who depend on them can grow and develop. This type of love supports marriage and family life.     

clinically formulated principles of morality

Starting with the classic philosophical notion that moral principles are a set of guidelines for making choices that have genuine happiness or emotional well-being as their effect, this study explores the relationship between volitional behavior and the quality of human life. Examining the case histories of 100 individuals drawn from a clinical population, the author identifies seven types of volitional behavior that undermine a person's happiness. Six basic principles for making choices that maximize the potential for becoming and remaining happy are described. The implications of clinically formulated principles of morality for prevention, education, and public policy are explored.     

Perceptual asymmetries reflect developmental changes in the neuropsychological mechanisms of emotion recognition

To study how perceptual asymmetries in the recognition of emotion reflect developmental changes in processing affective information, a fused rhyming dichotic word test with positive, negative, and neutral stimuli was administered to adults and children. Results suggested that the hemisphere in which affective information is initially processed affects the strength of perceptual asymmetry and that children's perceptual processing of emotional information is constrained by limited computational resources. Another experiment ruled out effects of volitional shifting of attention to emotional stimuli. These data further confirm that emotional processing involves integration of neural systems across brain regions, including distributed systems that support arousal and recognition. General developmental factors, such as processing capacity, contribute to the coordination of multiple systems responsible for processing emotional information.     

Don’t make me angry,you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry: Volitional choices to act or inhibit are modulated by subliminal perception of emotional faces

Volitional action and self-control—feelings of acting according to one’s own intentions and in being control of one’s own actions—are fundamental aspects of human conscious experience. However, it is unknown whether high-level cognitive control mechanisms are affected by socially salient but nonconscious emotional cues. In this study, we manipulated free choice decisions to act or withhold an action by subliminally presenting emotional faces: In a novel version of the Go/NoGo paradigm, participants made speeded button-press responses to Go targets, withheld responses to NoGo targets, and made spontaneous, free choices to execute or withhold the response for Choice targets. Before each target, we presented emotional faces, backwards masked to render them nonconscious. In Intentional trials, subliminal angry faces made participants more likely to voluntarily withhold the action, whereas fearful and happy faces had no effects. In a second experiment, the faces were made supraliminal, which eliminated the effects of angry faces on volitional choices. A third experiment measured neural correlates of the effects of subliminal angry faces on intentional choice using EEG. After replicating the behavioural results found in Experiment 1, we identified a frontal-midline theta component—associated with cognitive control processes—which is present for volitional decisions, and is modulated by subliminal angry faces. This suggests a mechanism whereby subliminally presented “threat” stimuli affect conscious control processes. In summary, nonconscious perception of angry faces increases choices to inhibit, and subliminal influences on volitional action are deep seated and ecologically embedded.     

Considering love: Implications for critical political psychology

Within psychology, love is typically understood in fundamentally psychological terms. Even those critical psychologists who have interrogated the sociopolitical dimensions of love seem unable to break from conceptions of love as romantic, familial, and/or private. In this article, I argue that in understanding love as a disposition, rather than a feeling, political psychologists are able to bring nuance to mainstream psychology's engagement with the emancipatory potentialities of love while, simultaneously, instating a critical reorientation of political psychology. To this end, I offer two pathways through which political psychologists can work with love: rooting counter-hegemonies in the love ethic, and enunciating love knowledges across contexts. I conclude by reflecting on future directions for critical political psychologists who are concerned with a multifaceted, materialist, psychopolitical and contextually-bound notion of love.     

A CHALLENGE TO INTELLECTUAL VIRTUE FROM MORAL VIRTUE: THE CASE OF UNIVERSAL LOVE

Abstract: On the Aristotelian picture of virtue, moral virtue has at its core intellectual virtue. An interesting challenge for this orthodoxy is provided by the case of universal love and its associated virtues, such as the dispositions to exhibit grace, or to forgive, where appropriate. It is difficult to find a property in the object of such love, in virtue of which grace, for example, ought to be bestowed. Perhaps, then, love in general, including universal love, is not necessarily exhibited for reasons . This is the view that, with the help of Heidegger's notion of a fundamental emotional attunement ( Grundstimmung ), I defend. The problem is to show how universal love, and its manifestation in the virtues of universal love, can then be seen as rational. Showing this is the task of the essay.     

The emotional sequelae of nonmarital relationship dissolution: Analysis of change and intraindividual variability over time

This paper examined the emotional sequelae of nonmarital relationship dissolution among 58 young adults. Participants were recruited while in a serious dating relationship, and when it ended, were signaled randomly with beepers for 28 days to complete an emotions diary. Compared to participants in intact dating relationships, dissolution participants reported more emotional volatility, especially immediately following the breakup. Multilevel growth modeling showed a linear decline in love and curvilinear patterns for sadness, anger, and relief. Contact with a former partner slowed the decline for love and sadness, and attachment style and the impact of the breakup predicted the emotional start‐points and rate(s) of change over time. The results are discussed in terms of the functional role of postrelationship emotions as well as the importance of understanding patterns of intraindividual variability and differential predictors of emotional change.     

Cultural perspectives on romantic love

Culture-related dimensions contribute to a more complete understanding of romantic love. In particular, we suggest that the dimensions of individualism and collectivism, at both societal and psychological levels, offer insights into the nature of romantic love and its perceived importance for marriage. Changes In values pertaining to romantic love and its role In choosing a spouse are evident In several traditionally collectivistic societies and among persons from these societies emigrating to countries such as Canada, Australia, and the United States. Given these trends, we discuss the need to study individualism and collectivism at the psychological level and present findings from our own program of research.     

LOVING THE PATIENT AS THE BASIS FOR TREATMENT

The author’s conviction is that a successful treatment is based on feelings of love by the therapist/analyst toward his or her patients. One should differentiate between love that is based on biological erotic-sexual drives and emotional love without erotic biological drive. The treatment process, especially for severely disturbed personalities, should be regarded as a process of new birth and new kind of development. Thus what the patient needs most is a kind of parental “primary love” (according to Balint). This paper presents a full report of a session through which the basic love to the patient is illustrated as enabling the treatment.Yecheskiel Cohen, Ph.D., is a member of the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society and the International Psychoanalytic Association.A version of this paper was presented at a conference of the Israel Psychoanalytic Society, May 2004.     

Gender differences in emotional response among European Americans and Hmong Americans

The present study examined the effects of gender on the emotional responses (physiology, self-reports of emotion, and emotional facial behaviour) of European Americans (EA) and Hmong Americans (HA) while they relived past emotional events. Women were more emotionally reactive than men: They demonstrated greater changes in electrodermal reactivity overall, reported experiencing more intense emotion while reliving anger and love, and smiled more while reliving happiness and love. The pattern and magnitude of these differences were similar for EA and HA, suggesting that to some degree, the effects of gender on emotional response may hold across ethnic groups.     

Gender Differences in the Verbal Expression of Love Schema

This study attempts to supplement the investigations concerning the expression of narrative schema of love. The research question refers to the differences in the expression of narrative schema of love between men and women. A sample group of 100 Polish adults (50 men and 50 women) of average educational levels described their reaction to a photograph of a couple hugging each other. The narrative discourses about love, in terms of the syntactic, lexical, and formal elements, were compared. The results show that there were differences between the love schema produced by men and women—the latter using significantly more emotional words in their narrative than men. The narratives written by women were almost twice as long as those written by men.