Nonverbal channel use in communication of emotion: how may depend on why

This study investigated the hypothesis that different emotions are most effectively conveyed through specific, nonverbal channels of communication: body, face, and touch. Experiment 1 assessed the production of emotion displays. Participants generated nonverbal displays of 11 emotions, with and without channel restrictions. For both actual production and stated preferences, participants favored the body for embarrassment, guilt, pride, and shame; the face for anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness; and touch for love and sympathy. When restricted to a single channel, participants were most confident about their communication when production was limited to the emotion's preferred channel. Experiment 2 examined the reception or identification of emotion displays. Participants viewed videos of emotions communicated in unrestricted and restricted conditions and identified the communicated emotions. Emotion identification in restricted conditions was most accurate when participants viewed emotions displayed via the emotion's preferred channel. This study provides converging evidence that some emotions are communicated predominantly through different nonverbal channels. Further analysis of these channel-emotion correspondences suggests that the social function of an emotion predicts its primary channel: The body channel promotes social-status emotions, the face channel supports survival emotions, and touch supports intimate emotions.     

积极情绪影响任务转换的性别和发展特点

情绪研究中的性别和年龄因素一直是不容忽视的问题.已有研究表明,积极情绪能够提高认知的灵活性,任务转换是认知灵活性的主要成分.本研究以52名大学生3、6名高中生4、5名初中生为被试考察积极情绪影响任务转换的发展变化和性别差异.结果发现,对于女性,积极情绪促进任务转换的现象,在三个年龄段上具有发展上的稳定性;对于男性,只在初中阶段表现出此特点,在高中阶段和大学阶段,积极情绪促进任务转换的现象不再明显.     

The Montreal Affective Voices: A validated set of nonverbal affect bursts for research on auditory affective processing

The Montreal Affective Voices consist of 90 nonverbal affect bursts corresponding to the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, pain, sadness, surprise, happiness, and pleasure (plus a neutral expression), recorded by 10 different actors (5 of them male and 5 female). Ratings of valence, arousal, and intensity for eight emotions were collected for each vocalization from 30 participants. Analyses revealed high recognition accuracies for most of the emotional categories (mean of 68%). They also revealed significant effects of both the actors' and the participants' gender: The highest hit rates (75%) were obtained for female participants rating female vocalizations, and the lowest hit rates (60%) for male participants rating male vocalizations. Interestingly, the mixed situations--that is, male participants rating female vocalizations or female participants rating male vocalizations--yielded similar, intermediate ratings. The Montreal Affective Voices are available for download at vnl.psy.gla.ac.uk/ (Resources section).     

Happy people thrive on adversity: Pre-existing mood moderates the effect of emotion inductions on creative thinking

Past research on the relationship between affect and creativity has yielded contradictory results. Most of the evidence has tended to show that brief positive emotions as well as more enduring positive moods enhance creativity. No study to date, however, has attempted to determine whether the influence of momentary emotions on creativity depends on pre-existing moods. In the present study, 96 undergraduates completed one of two creative tasks (generating or evaluating captions for photographs) on three occasions, after watching videos designed to induce positive, neutral, or negative emotions. Participants also completed a questionnaire assessing depressed mood. Results confirmed that the effect of emotion inductions on creativity depended on pre-existing mood. Participants low in depression wrote more creative captions and rated captions more accurately with induced negative emotion than with induced positive emotion. In contrast, participants high in depression appeared impervious to the effect of emotion inductions.     

The Interaction of Emotional Valence and Arousal on Attentional Breadth and Creative Task Performance

Within the literature, there are two opposing views regarding the influencing role of emotions on the creative process. The most commonly held view contends that positive emotions enhance creativity and negative emotions stifle it; yet, some studies show an opposite trend. These contradictory findings can be explained by examining two aspects of the emotions: attention and creativity relationship. First, emotional valence and arousal levels interact to affect attention. Second, creativity is not a unitary cognitive process and some stages rely more on focused attention but others are aided by diffused or broad attention. To test this proposition, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (high vs. low) were manipulated and participants completed a series of attention and creativity tasks. Experiment 2 employed similar emotion induction procedure, but a different set of creative problems was used. The results of both experiments were consistent with the proposed explanation of the effects of emotions on creativity.     

个体对他人的权力感知与情绪体验

他人不同的权力水平会引发个体不同的权力感知,带来不同的情绪体验。以往关于权力与情绪的研究多关注的是个体自身作为权力目标时的情况,而研究通过两个实验来探究个体对他人的权力感知与情绪体验之间的关系。实验一采用回忆法,从情绪效价和趋近/回避动机的角度分析个体唤起的情绪反应,发现个体在与不同水平的权力目标交互过程中均表现出了明显的混合情绪,且相比于远距离的高权力目标,个体与近距离的权力目标进行交互时容易产生更多的积极情绪和趋近动机倾向; 实验二通过观看视频的方式启动被试的混合情绪,发现以积极情绪为主的混合情绪的唤起会影响个体对他人的权力感知,具体表现为对一定社会距离内的权力目标表现出更高水平的权力感知。     

Portrayals of Intimate Partner Violence in Music Videos: Effects on Perceptions of IPV Warning Signs

The present research examined the effects of viewing music videos containing intimate partner violence (IPV) on minimization of warning signs of IPV, that is, perceiving that psychologically controlling and demeaning behaviors are not abusive. One video portrayed overt IPV in a narrative form and the other contained overt IPV but no identifiable narrative. Lyrics for both included violent content, but the music was distinctly different—one song was rap interspersed with somber singing and the other had an upbeat pop sound. The video and audio channels were combined in a 2-×-2 factorial design with an external control group so that all combinations of narrative and non-narrative video with the rap and pop music were presented to college student participants (153 participants, 53% female) in a between-subjects design. Participants showed greater minimization, that is, they were less likely to perceive the psychologically controlling and demeaning behaviors as abusive to the extent that they were transported into the video and enjoyed it. Minimizing perceptions of abuse as a function of viewing music videos that portray IPV is discussed as a negative consequence of such videos.     

The co-witness misinformation effect: Memory blends or memory compliance?

For 30 years hundreds of researchers have shown participants videos and slide-sequences of events, presented the participants with misleading information, and found that this misinformation distorted their memories. The purpose of this study was to establish whether those misled participants are reporting a memory blend of the two sources of information or whether they are simply complying with the post-event information. A total of 92 participants were shown one of two versions of six different videos, which included some subtle differences. After having watched each video individually, participants were paired with someone who had seen the other version and they discussed the clips together. They then individually answered questions about the videos, and their responses showed that some of the distorted memories were blends of the original information and the post-event information. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The co-witness misinformation effect: memory blends or memory compliance?

For 30 years hundreds of researchers have shown participants videos and slide-sequences of events, presented the participants with misleading information, and found that this misinformation distorted their memories. The purpose of this study was to establish whether those misled participants are reporting a memory blend of the two sources of information or whether they are simply complying with the post-event information. A total of 92 participants were shown one of two versions of six different videos, which included some subtle differences. After having watched each video individually, participants were paired with someone who had seen the other version and they discussed the clips together. They then individually answered questions about the videos, and their responses showed that some of the distorted memories were blends of the original information and the post-event information. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

I know how you felt last night,or do I? Self- and external ratings of emotions in REM sleep dreams

We investigated whether inconsistencies in previous studies regarding emotional experiences in dreams derive from whether dream emotions are self-rated or externally evaluated. Seventeen subjects were monitored with polysomnography in the sleep laboratory and awakened from every rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage 5 min after the onset of the stage. Upon awakening, participants gave an oral dream report and rated their dream emotions using the modified Differential Emotions Scale, whereas external judges rated the participants’ emotions expressed in the dream reports, using the same scale. The two approaches produced diverging results. Self-ratings, as compared to external ratings, resulted in greater estimates of (a) emotional dreams; (b) positively valenced dreams; (c) positive and negative emotions per dream; and (d) various discrete emotions represented in dreams. The results suggest that this is mostly due to the underrepresentation of positive emotions in dream reports. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.     

情绪对连续事件定向遗忘的影响

本研究采用项目法定向遗忘范式以中性和负性连续事件的视频为实验材料, 通过2个实验考察了情绪对连续事件定向遗忘的影响, 并进一步探讨了情绪对细节记忆和要义记忆的定向遗忘的影响。结果发现, 情绪可以消除细节记忆的定向遗忘效应, 而仅有要义记忆的定向遗忘效应则主要受到事件连续性而非情绪的影响。     

情绪对学习不良青少年选择性注意和持续性注意的影响

以学习不良青少年为被试,采用成绩反馈法诱发情绪,考察了情绪对学习不良青少年选择性注意和持续性注意的影响,结果表明：（1）情绪会影响学习不良青少年的选择性注意,具有积极低唤醒情绪的学习不良青少年,他们的选择性注意的反应时显著短于消极情绪下的被试;(2)学习不良青少年的情绪会影响到他们的持续性注意能力,消极高唤醒的情绪能够增加虚报率,而积极高唤醒的情绪能够提高判断标准,降低虚报率     

More than words: Rethinking sustainability communications through neuroscientific methods

In the era when the overarching problem of climate change, threatening the entire humanity and all life on earth, demands actions and behavioural change from all of the societal agents, including governments, organizations, companies and individuals, the world fails to achieve unity on the matter of existence of the problem, cause of the problem and on the solution of the problem. Since the scientific consensus on climate change is achieved, this article tries to examine why it is so hard to convey the message of needed behavioural change. The neuromarketing study presented in this article focuses on marketing communications that try to convey the message that would lead to the consumers' mental, emotional and behavioural change. Effectiveness of the branded environmental videos was evaluated utilizing the neuroscience approach. Electroencephalogram and an eye-tracking device were used to register the implicit brain reactions of the study participants viewing the branded videos. For comparison reasons, the branded videos selected for the study use two different approaches for conveying the message. The first approach relies on narrative, words and logic, whilst the second one appeals primarily to emotions. The aim of the study was to answer the question whether the words are enough or is there more to it?     

Emotional granularity and borderline personality disorder

This study examined the affective dysregulation component of borderline personality disorder (BPD) from an emotional granularity perspective, which refers to the specificity in which one represents emotions. Forty-six female participants meeting criteria for BPD and 51 female control participants without BPD and Axis I pathology completed tasks that assessed the degree to which participants incorporated information about valence (pleasant-unpleasant) and arousal (calm-activated) in their semantic/conceptual representations of emotions and in using labels to represent emotional reactions. As hypothesized, participants with BPD emphasized valence more and arousal less than control participants did when using emotion terms to label their emotional reactions. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

高确定性情绪（开心、愤怒）与低确定性情绪（悲伤）对信任的影响

本研究通过信任游戏的实验范式探讨了在与“受信任者”高/低可信赖性有关的信任线索时,具体情绪的确定性维度对信任行为的影响。实验一发现,当被试被告知“受信任者”在可信赖量表上的得分（高/低）时,个体在高确定性情绪（开心和愤怒）下的信任判断比低确定性情绪（悲伤）下的信任判断上更容易被受信任者的“可信赖性”水平的高低所影响;实验二发现,当告知被试“受信任者”的群体身份（内/外群）时,个体在高确定性情绪（开心和愤怒）下的信任判断比低确定性情绪（悲伤）下的信任判断更容易被受信任者的“内外群”身份所影响。上述结果表明,高确定性的情绪比低确定性的情绪更容易使被试的信任判断受到与“受信任者”是否值得信赖有关的线索所影响。     

Cognitive strategies for controlling emotional contagion

This study examined strategies for limiting susceptibility to “catching” negative emotions from others. Participants watched 3 videos of happy or sad individuals, as though they were therapists interacting with clients. The entire process was videotaped. Emotional contagion was measured by facial affect and self‐reports. Prior to viewing the videos, participants were assigned one of 4 cognitive strategies: (a) empathic imagery; (b) dissociation; (c) reflection; or (d) no instruction (control). Empathic imagery was expected to increase contagion vs. the control, while dissociation and reflection were expected to decrease contagion. Results indicated that only dissociation decreased contagion on both measures.     

Fat stigmatization on YouTube: a content analysis

YouTube.com is an internet website that is viewed by two billion individuals daily, and thus may serve as the source of images and messages regarding weight acceptance or weight bias. In the current study, a targeted sample of YouTube videos that displayed fat stigmatization were content rated on a variety of video characteristics. The findings revealed that men were the target of fat stigmatization (62.1%) almost twice as often as women (36.4%). When there was an antagonist present in the video, the great majority of the time, the aggressor was male (88.5%) rather than female (7.7%). These findings indicate that men were the antagonist 11.5 times the rate of women, but they were only 1.7 times more often stigmatized. Future research avenues, including an experimental analysis of viewing stigmatizing videos on body image, are recommended.     

Summarization of videos by analyzing affective state of the user through crowdsource

Video summarization is one of the key techniques to access and manage a huge chunk of videos. Video summarization is used to extract the effective contents of a video sequence to generate a concise representation of its content. The involvement of crowdsourcing models in recent years is effectively used by researchers in E-commerce domain to increase the quality of the data contents. In this paper, we present a video summarization framework based on users emotion while they watch videos by analyzing cerebral activities through Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Three emotions, namely happy, sad and neutral have been extracted from the EEG signals. Video frames have been synchronized with EEG signals and tagged with various emotions. Finally, a crowdsourcing model has been used for effective summarization of the videos. The qualitative assessment of video summarization has been conducted with the help of user ratings using online Google Forms application. EEG signals of 28 users have been recorded while video streams of different emotions. An average accuracy of 83.93% has been recorded in emotion classification using crowdsourcing. Output summarized videos include dynamic video skims and the corresponding audio stream for better understanding.     

The meaning of tears: Which sex seems emotional depends on the social context

The media coverage sometimes given to crying women points to the importance of understanding whether gender affects interpretations of crying. This article reports two studies that examined whether observers infer different emotions or dispositions from crying men and women. Study 1 showed that, in the absence of information about the social context of crying, participants inferred gender‐stereotypical traits and emotions. Study 2's manipulation of the social context of crying (relationship versus employment) affected participants' interpretations of crying by men and women. In employment contexts, participants perceived crying men as more emotional and sad than crying women as well as less competent. The emotionality inferences mediated the judgments of differing male and female competence. In relationship contexts, interpretations of crying women and men did not differ. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.