Reinforcement as positive or negative meaning-extension: An empirical demonstration

According to logical learning theory, a reinforcement involves the extension of meanings predicated by subjects who are asked to perform in a learning task. Based on this theoretical position, it is predicted that subjects who are administered a reinforcement following their successful anticipation of the second member of a paired-associates unit will acquire their liked trigrams more readily than their disliked trigrams (mixed lists). Conversely, it is predicted that subjects who are reinforced following their incorrect anticipations of the second paired-associates member will acquire their disliked trigrams more readily than their liked. College students (divided equally by sex) were exposed to one of three reinforcement conditions: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and no reinforcement (control). Trigrams reliably rated for likability by each subject were used as learnable materials. Although the control condition did not perform as expected, the remaining experimental conditions support the hypotheses.     

Fear of negative evaluation augments negative affect and somatic symptoms in social-evaluative situations

The aim of this study was to determine whether fear of negative evaluation (FNE) moderates effects of eye contact on mood, bodily symptoms and physiological activity during social-evaluative situations. Facial blood flow, skin conductance, heart rate and respiration rate were recorded in 42 participants while they sang a children's song, while they were observed or made direct eye contact with the experimenter, and while they listened to an audiotape of themselves singing. Physiological responses were similar in high and low FNE groups. However, differences lay in the perception of bodily symptoms and ratings of negative affect, with the high FNE group reporting greater ratings. In addition, prior eye contact enhanced the perception of bodily symptoms in the high FNE group when they listened to the audiotape. Concern about the social consequences of displaying bodily disturbances such as trembling, blushing and sweating may explain these findings.     

Fear of evaluation unpacked: day-to-day correlates of fear of negative and positive evaluation

Background and objectives: Social interactions inevitably go along with repeated evaluations. Some individuals are particularly sensitive to social evaluations: Psychometric studies suggest stable and distinct individual differences on fear of negative evaluations (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE). However, little is known about day-to-day correlates of FNE and FPE, particularly their respective contribution to positive/negative affect level and affect reactivity to different stressor types.

Design: Two studies naturalistically assessed the level of negative/positive affect and its reactivity to different stressor types (from distant or close social network, work and daily hassles, assessed daily) as a function of FNE/FPE.

Method: Ecological Momentary Assessment employed five daily prompts during 12/10 days in convenience samples of 50/59 participants.

Results: FNE predicted lower positive affect level only in Study 2. Consistent across studies negative affect reactivity to stressors emanating from the distant social network was increased in individuals high in FNE or FPE.

Conclusions: Results document the relevance of both types of evaluation fears (FNE/FPE) for day-to-day affect and stress reactivity. They further specify whose evaluations are well tolerated (close network) or feared (distant network), thereby refining current psycho-evolutionary accounts of FNE/FPE.     

Immediate source-monitoring, self-focused attention and the positive symptoms of schizophrenia

Previous research suggests that tendencies to misattribute one's own thoughts to an external source, as assessed by an immediate source-monitoring test, are associated with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs). However, recent research suggests that such tendencies are associated instead with symptoms of thought interference. The main aim of the present study was to examine whether such tendencies are differentially associated with different types of thought interference, with AVHs, or with both. It has also been suggested that external misattributions are especially likely to occur with emotionally salient material and if the individual's focus is on the self. These suggestions were also tested. The positive psychotic symptoms of 57 individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were assessed and they then completed the Self-Focus Sentence Completion blank. Immediately after completing each sentence they were asked to indicate to what extent the sentence was their own. The number of sentences that were not rated as completely their own served as their externalisation score. Externalisation scores correlated significantly with the severity of three symptoms: voices commenting, delusions of being controlled, and thought insertion. In a logistic regression analysis, all three of these symptoms were significantly and independently related to externalisation. Externalisation was not associated with either a negative or a neutral self-focus. Thus tendencies to misattribute one's own thoughts to an external source are associated with AVHs and some, but not all, symptoms of thought interference. The importance for externalisation of self-focused attention and of the emotional salience of the elicited thoughts was not supported.     

Suicide schema in schizophrenia: the effect of emotional reactivity, negative symptoms and schema elaboration

Suicide risk is thought to increase with a greater potential for activation of suicide-related schemas. Suicide schemas are less likely to be activated with reductions of emotional range associated with certain negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The study tested whether suicide risk would increase in patients with recent onset schizophrenia with increased potential for suicide schema activation as indicated by lower levels of specific negative symptoms that reflected emotional reactivity, namely emotional withdrawal and blunted affect. A logistic regression analysis of baseline data of 278 recent onset schizophrenic patients with a measure of suicide behaviour as the dependent variable and negative symptoms, delusions, hallucinations, depression, gender, episode, ethnicity, education, age, duration of untreated psychosis and substance use as independent variables was carried out. Emotional withdrawal, but not blunted affect was significant and negatively associated, and depression positively associated with suicide behaviour. There was evidence to indicate that restricted emotions are associated with reduced suicide risk as predicted.     

Intensity of positive and negative emotions: Explaining the association between personality and depressive symptoms

The aim was to examine to what extent emotional intensity accounted for associations between the Big Five personality dimensions and depressive symptoms. Study 1 tested the model cross-sectionally, using survey data of 266 Dutch social science students. Study 2 experimentally examined how personality dimensions were related to emotional reactivity after exposure to various emotional stimuli. Dutch psychology students (N = 130) reported on their personality and viewed an amusing or sad film clip, after which the change in intensity of experienced positive and negative emotions was assessed. Individuals scoring higher on neuroticism generally experienced more intense negative emotions, through which they experienced a higher level of depressive symptoms. Individuals who were more agreeable experienced a lower level of depressive symptoms indirectly through higher general intensity of positive emotions. More agreeable individuals showed stronger increase in negative emotions and stronger decrease in positive emotions, though after exposure to the sad stimulus only. Although replication is needed, our results offer empirical support for a more taylor-made approach in decreasing nonclinical depressive symptoms taking into account both personality characteristics and emotion regulation.     

The longitudinal relationship between fear of positive evaluation and fear of negative evaluation

Available research suggests that fear of negative evaluation and fear of positive evaluation are related but distinct constructs that each contribute to social anxiety, implying a need to focus on these fears in treatment. Yet, this research is almost entirely based on cross-sectional data. We examined the longitudinal relationship between fears of positive and negative evaluation over three time points in a sample of undergraduate students. We tested competing models consistent with two basic positions regarding these fears: (1) that fear of positive evaluation only appears to affect social anxiety because it arises from the same, single underlying trait as fear of negative evaluation, and (2) fears of positive and negative evaluation are correlated, but clearly distinct, constructs. The best-fitting model was an autoregressive latent-trajectory model in which each type of fear had a separate trait-like component. The correlation between these trait-like components appeared to fully account for the relationships between these constructs over time. This investigation adds to the evidence in support of the second position described above: fear of positive evaluation is best interpreted as a separate construct from fear of negative evaluation.     

Failure of positive but not negative emotional valence to enhance memory in schizophrenia

Abnormalities in the integration of emotion and cognition have long been considered hallmark characteristics of schizophrenia. Study authors used a well-established emotional memory model from the neuroscience literature to assess the facilitative impact of emotional valence of information on long-term memory consolidation in schizophrenia. Participants with schizophrenia (n=33) indicated somewhat higher levels of emotional intensity in response to emotional images than did healthy (n=28) participants. However, when recognition memory was tested 24 hr later, schizophrenia participants did not show enhancement of memory for positive images as was found in healthy participants. Their memory enhancement for negative images did not differ from that of healthy participants. Correlations between self-reported physical and social anhedonia were significantly inversely correlated with intensity ratings of positive stimuli during the encoding phase for healthy participants but were negligible for schizophrenia participants. These results suggest a failure to adequately integrate positive emotional experience in memory consolidation processes in schizophrenia participants, despite appropriate initial response to positive stimuli, which may contribute to symptoms such as anhedonia by reducing the long-term impact of positive experiences in motivating hedonic behavior in day-to-day life.     

The role of parent depressive symptoms in positive and negative parenting in a preventive intervention

This study examined the role of parent depressive symptoms as a mediator of change in behaviorally observed positive and negative parenting in a preventive intervention program. The purpose of the program was to prevent child problem behaviors in families with a parent who has current or a history of major depressive disorder. One hundred eighty parents and one of their 9- to 15-year-old children served as participants and were randomly assigned to a family group cognitive-behavioral (FGCB) intervention or a written information (WI) comparison condition. At two months after baseline, parents in the FGCB condition had fewer depressive symptoms than those in the WI condition, and these symptoms served as a mediator for changes in negative, but not positive, parenting at 6 months after baseline. The findings indicate that parent depressive symptoms are important to consider in family interventions with a parent who has current or a history of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Models of self and others and their relation to positive and negative caregiving responses

The burden of providing informal care to a family member can lead to caregiver depression and potentially harmful caregiving behavior. Given the interpersonal nature of caregiving, the relationship between caregivers and care recipients may impact caregiver responses. We applied attachment theory to understanding caregiver depression, and both potentially harmful and exemplary caregiving responses. We present data from 430 caregivers in the Family Relationships in Late Life (FRILL 2) Project, a multisite, longitudinal study of caregiving. Age, gender, and model of self were related to caregiving responses, suggesting that model of self may help identify caregivers at risk for poor responses.     

Emotional distress and positive and negative memories from military deployment: the influence of PTSD symptoms and time

During military deployment, soldiers are confronted with both negative and positive events. What is remembered and how it affects an individual is influenced by not only the perceived emotion of the event, but also the emotional state of the individual. Here we examined the most negative and most positive deployment memories from a company of 337 soldiers who were deployed together to Afghanistan. We examined how the level of emotional distress of the soldiers and the valence of the memory were related to the emotional intensity, experience of reliving, rehearsal and coherence of the memories, and how the perceived impact of these memories changed over time. We found that soldiers with higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were more affected by both their negative and positive memories, compared with soldiers with lower levels of PTSD symptoms. Emotional intensity of the most negative memory increased over time in the group with highest levels of PTSD symptoms, but dropped in the other groups. The present study adds to the literature on emotion and autobiographical memory and how this relationship interacts with an individual’s present level of emotional distress and the passage of time.     

The eyes have it: making positive expressions more positive and negative expressions more negative

Facial expressions frequently involve multiple individual facial actions. How do facial actions combine to create emotionally meaningful expressions? Infants produce positive and negative facial expressions at a range of intensities. It may be that a given facial action can index the intensity of both positive (smiles) and negative (cry-face) expressions. Objective, automated measurements of facial action intensity were paired with continuous ratings of emotional valence to investigate this possibility. Degree of eye constriction (the Duchenne marker) and mouth opening were each uniquely associated with smile intensity and, independently, with cry-face intensity. In addition, degree of eye constriction and mouth opening were each unique predictors of emotion valence ratings. Eye constriction and mouth opening index the intensity of both positive and negative infant facial expressions, suggesting parsimony in the early communication of emotion.     

Differential responding to positive and negative items: the case of a negative item in a questionnaire for course and faculty evaluation

Previous factor-analytic studies of self-rating scales have yielded a factor on which negatively worded items loaded separately. The present study investigated the existence for such a factor in a questionnaire for course and teacher evaluation which included one negative item. The questionnaire was administered in 1,095 university classes. Two factors emerged, an exclusively positive-item factor and another factor on which the single negative item and one positive item loaded. It was suggested that both items of Factor 2 were ambiguous and may identify tendencies such as acquiescence, random responding, and response sets.     

Change in self-stigma among persons with schizophrenia enrolled in rehabilitation: associations with self-esteem and positive and emotional discomfort symptoms

Self-stigma is a barrier to the recovery of persons with schizophrenia. Little is known about whether participation in rehabilitation is naturalistically linked to declines in self-stigma, and if so, what is correlated with changes in self-stigma. The current study examined in a quasi-experimental design the rate of change of self-stigma and whether changes were correlated with self-esteem, positive symptoms, and emotional distress for persons enrolled in rehabilitation. Symptoms were measured using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (Kay, Fizsbein, & Opler, 1987), self-esteem was measured with the Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory (Lysaker, Ringer, & Davis, 2008), and self-stigma was assessed using the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale (Ritsher, Otilingam, & Grajales, 2003). Seventy persons with schizophrenia who worked at least one month in a vocational rehabilitation program were assessed on all measures at baseline and five months later. Results indicated a 25% decrease in self-stigma for 38% of the sample; these individuals tended to have less emotional distress both at baseline and follow-up, and had higher levels of self-esteem at follow-up. No differences in positive symptoms were found for groups whose stigma did or did not decrease. Results suggest that decreases in self-stigma may be correlated with increased self-esteem, while higher levels of emotional distress may be a barrier to stigma reduction.     

A latent class analysis of positive psychosis symptoms based on the British Psychiatric Morbidity Survey

This study aimed to describe the distribution of positive psychosis symptoms in a large scale, population-based sample. Data from the British Psychiatric Morbidity Survey was used to examine homogeneous sub-types of participants based on their responses to the five probe items of the Psychosis Screening Questionnaire. Latent class analysis was used to identify the underlying class structure of psychosis. Four classes of psychosis were identified. Associations between the latent classes and the demographic risk factors, clinical variables and reports of traumatic experiences showed significantly higher risks for the psychosis class, the paranoid class, and the intermediate class compared to the normative class. Four classes that appeared to represent an underlying continuum could best explain psychosis symptom expression at the population level.     

Accentuate the negative: the positive effects of negative acknowledgment

Three studies investigated the capacity of negative acknowledgment, the admission of an unfavorable quality, to elicit relatively positive responses. In Study 1, an acknowledgment that a written paragraph was confusing led individuals to rate the paragraph as clearer than they did when no acknowledgment was offered. In Study 2, a foreign speaker was rated as possessing a clearer voice when he acknowledged his strong accent than when he did not. In Study 3, a hypothetical college applicant's acknowledgment of receiving less than stellar high school grades resulted in a more positive evaluation of those grades. The interpersonal risks and benefits of negative acknowledgment as an impression-management strategy are discussed.     

Self-ratings of positive and negative affect and retrieval of positive and negative affect memories

Abstract

Based on analysis of self-ratings of mood, positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) have been proposed as basic, orthogonal mood dimensions (Watson & Tellegen, 1985). The present study asked subjects (N = 61) to not only provide self-ratings of PA and NA terms but also to retrieve personal memories associated with those terms. Self-rated PA was associated with latency to retrieve PA- but not NA-related memories; self-rated NA was associated with latency to retrieve NA- but not PA-related memories. Self-ratings of PA and NA were not significantly correlated, nor were retrieval latencies for PA and NA memories. Individual item correlations also revealed a strong direct relationship between self-ratings and retrieval latency. The dissociations involving a non-self report measure strengthen the distinction between PA and NA, and the individual item correlations are interpreted as showing that self-ratings of affect are based upon the ease of retrieval of personal memories.