Creativity and Affective Temperament in Artistic and Non-artistic Students: Different Temperaments are Related to Different Aspects of Creativity

The relationship between creativity and temperament has been well documented in studies with professional artists. This also pertains to affective temperaments which constitute the vulnerability to affective disorders. However, less is known about the contribution of particular temperaments to specific components of creativity, for example, ideational fluency, or originality of thinking. The aim of the present study was to assess affective temperaments and creativity in artistic and non-artistic students. Ninety (39 artistic and 51 non-artistic) students were enrolled in the study. Affective temperaments were evaluated by means of TEMPS-A questionnaire. Creativity was measured with BWAS test assessing the originality of thinking and a sample of tasks derived from BIS battery, assessing ideational fluency. Artistic students showed higher rates of cyclothymic temperament. They also outperformed non-artistic students in both domains of creativity. The originality of thinking correlated positively with the level of cyclothymic temperament, whereas ideational fluency was positively related to hyperthymic temperament. Ideational fluency also correlated with the level of parental education. Results indicate that creativity is related to temperaments underlying predisposition to bipolar affective disorder; however, different temperaments are related to different aspects of creativity.     

Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being and Memory for Life Events: Influences on Life Satisfaction with Respect to Temperamental Dispositions

The aim of the present study was to explore how the number of recalled life events (positive and negative) predicts psychological well-being (PWB) and how PWB predicts life satisfaction (LS). In addition, participants were categorized into one of four different affective temperaments (self-actualizing, high affective, low affective, and self-destructive). One hundred and thirty-five high school students participated in completing the SWLS (LS), PWB (short-version), PANAS (to create affective temperaments), and the life events recollection task. Results indicated that adolescents with high positive affect also had high PWB; adolescents with low affective profiles also had high PWB. Positive and negative life events predicted PWB for self-destructive temperaments, whereas positive life events predicted PWB for low affective temperaments. PWB predicted LS for all temperaments except the self-actualizing group. In conclusion, the temperament combinations may allow the individual to achieve PWB and LS. Even more importantly, selfacceptance may foster LS regardless of temperament and may have more impact on LS than life events.     

Exploring the relation between visual mental imagery and affect in the daily life of previously depressed and never depressed individuals

Previously depressed individuals experience disturbances in affect. Affective disturbances may be related to visual mental imagery, given that imagery-based processing of emotional stimuli causes stronger affective responses than verbal processing in experimental laboratory studies. However, the role of imagery-based processing in everyday life is unknown. This study assessed mental imagery in the daily life of previously and never depressed individuals. Higher levels of visual mental imagery was hypothesised to be associated with more affective reactivity to both negatively and positively valenced mental representations.

This study was the first to explore mental imagery in daily life using experience sampling methodology. Previously depressed (n?=?10) and matched never depressed (n?=?11) individuals participated in this study. Momentary affect and imagery-based processing were assessed using the “Imagine your mood” smartphone application. Participants recorded on average 136 momentary reports over a period of 8 weeks.

The expected association between visual mental imagery and affective reactivity was not found. Unexpectedly, in both previously and never depressed individuals, higher levels of imagery-based processing of mental representations in daily life were significantly associated with better momentary mood and more positive affect, regardless of valence.

The causality of effects remains to be examined in future studies.     

A goal-striving life event and the onset of hypomanic and depressive episodes and symptoms: perspective from the behavioral approach system (BAS) dysregulation theory

On the basis of the behavioral approach system (BAS) dysregulation theory of bipolar disorder, this study examined the relation between occurrence of a BAS activation-relevant life event--goal striving--and onset of hypomanic and depressive episodes and symptoms. In particular, the authors examined the relation between preparing for and completing final exams (a goal-striving event) and onset of bipolar spectrum episodes and symptoms in college students with bipolar II disorder or cyclothymia (i.e., "soft" bipolar spectrum conditions). One hundred fifty-nine individuals with either a bipolar spectrum disorder (n=68) or no major affective psychopathology (controls; n=91) were further classified on the basis of whether they were college students (i.e., completed final exams). Consistent with the BAS dysregulation theory, preparing for and completing final exams was associated with an increase in hypomanic but not depressive episodes and symptoms in individuals with a soft bipolar spectrum diagnosis. Furthermore, self-reported BAS sensitivity moderated the presence of certain hypomanic symptoms during final exams.     

Hopelessness, Temperament, Anger and Interpersonal Relationships in Holocaust (Shoah) Survivors�� Grandchildren

The psychiatric literature is divided with regard to the long-term psychological effects associated with Holocaust (Shoah) experiences because the findings of clinical and empirical studies often contradict each other. Despite case reports of emotional sequelae related to intergenerational transmission of trauma, recent empirical research has suggested that offspring of survivors of the Shoah did not differ from other children and found no evidence that traumatic experiences of survivors of the Shoah affected their children??s and grandchildren??s adjustment. To shed light on some of the differences between the empirical and clinical observations, the present study set out to compare the grandchildren of survivors of the Shoah and persons of the same age whose families had not been through the Shoah experience. This study compared the two groups on some psychological dimensions relevant to traumatic sequelae: hopelessness, temperament, personality, attitudes, and interpersonal expectations. Subjects were 124 equally divided among the Shoah survivors?? grandchildren and comparison groups; we administered to all subjects TEMPS-A Rome, Beck Hopelessness Scale, State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, and 9AP (9 Attachment Profile). We found no differences between two groups in Hopelessness, Dysthimic/Cyclotimic/Anxious, Hyperthimic temperament, and self-perception; instead the Shoah survivors?? grandchildren have a view of the other as rejecting, hostile, submissive, insecure, unreliable, and competitive in the interpersonal relationships. The Shoah survivors?? grandchildren are similar to controls in affective temperament, hopelessness and self-perception, but they are more irritable and angry than controls, and their perception about others is deeply negative. Attribution theory was used to elucidate these findings.     

Elevated left mid-frontal cortical activity prospectively predicts conversion to bipolar I disorder

Bipolar disorder is characterized by a hypersensitivity to reward-relevant cues and a propensity to experience an excessive increase in approach-related affect, which may be reflected in hypo/manic symptoms. The present study examined the relationship between relative left-frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, a proposed neurophysiological index of approach-system sensitivity and approach/reward-related affect, and bipolar course and state-related variables. Fifty-eight individuals with cyclothymia or bipolar II disorder and 59 healthy control participants with no affective psychopathology completed resting EEG recordings. Alpha power was obtained and asymmetry indices computed for homologous electrodes. Bipolar spectrum participants were classified as being in a major/minor depressive episode, a hypomanic episode, or a euthymic/remitted state at EEG recording. Participants were then followed prospectively for an average 4.7-year follow-up period with diagnostic interview assessments every 4 months. Sixteen bipolar spectrum participants converted to bipolar I disorder during follow-up. Consistent with hypotheses, elevated relative left-frontal EEG activity at baseline (a) prospectively predicted a greater likelihood of converting from cyclothymia or bipolar II disorder to bipolar I disorder over the 4.7-year follow-up period, (b) was associated with an earlier age-of-onset of first bipolar spectrum episode, and (c) was significantly elevated in bipolar spectrum individuals in a hypomanic episode at EEG recording. This is the first study to our knowledge to identify a neurophysiological marker that prospectively predicts conversion to bipolar I disorder. The fact that unipolar depression is characterized by decreased relative left-frontal EEG activity suggests that unipolar depression and vulnerability to hypo/mania may be characterized by different profiles of frontal EEG asymmetry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Examining the Validity of Cyclothymic Disorder in a Youth Sample: Replication and Extension

DSM-IV-TR defines four subtypes of bipolar disorder (BP): bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymic disorder and bipolar not otherwise specified (NOS). However, cyclothymic disorder in children is rarely researched, or often subsumed in an “NOS” category. The present study tests the replicability of findings from an earlier study, and expands on the criterion validity of cyclothymic disorder in youth. Using the Robins and Guze (1970) framework we examined the validity of cyclothymic disorder as a subtype of BP. Using a youth (ages 5–17) outpatient clinical sample (N?=?894), participants with cyclothymic disorder (n?=?53) were compared to participants with other BP spectrum disorders (n?=?399) and to participants with non-bipolar disorders (n?=?442). Analyses tested differences in youth with cyclothymic disorder and bipolar disorder not otherwise specified who do, and those who do not, have a parent with BP. Compared to youth with non-bipolar disorders, youth with cyclothymic disorder had higher irritability (p?<?0.001), more comorbidity (p?<?0.001), greater sleep disturbance (p?<?0.005), and were more likely to have a family history of BP (p?<?0.001). Cyclothymic disorder was associated with a younger age of onset compared to depression (p?<?0.001) and bipolar II (p?=?0.05). Parental BP status was not significantly associated with any variables. Results support that cyclothymic disorder belongs on the bipolar spectrum. Epidemiological studies indicate that cyclothymic disorder is not uncommon and involves significant impairment. Failing to differentiate between cyclothymic disorder and bipolar NOS limits our knowledge about a significant proportion of cases of bipolarity.     

Neuroticism and momentary differentiation of positive and negative affect

Affective differentiation is the degree to which positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) are uncorrelated. The dynamic model of affect (Zautra, Potter, & Reich, 1997) posits that the link between PA and NA should be stronger when stress is high. Because neuroticism relates to more negative everyday stress perceptions and therefore higher daily stress, we hypothesized that neuroticism should be associated with lower affective differentiation on a daily basis. We examined how neuroticism impacts momentary affective differentiation in undergraduate students (n = 126) using an experience sampling design with mood monitored four times daily for one week. We found that neuroticism moderates the within-person relationship between PA and NA: those who are higher in neuroticism experience less affective differentiation. This effect was not mediated or moderated by recent major life stress. We replicated the main finding in two subsequent samples (n = 102 and n = 120, respectively), and thus present the first large set of studies to demonstrate consistently that neuroticism moderates the within-person link between PA and NA.     

Comparing static and dynamic measures of affect intensity and affective lability: do they measure the same thing?

This was the first study to our knowledge to examine whether dispositional scales of affect intensity and affective lability map on to corresponding momentary affective dynamics. Specifically, we assessed whether the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM) and Affective Lability Scale (ALS) are differentially associated with mean, variability, and instability of negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA). Young adults (n?=?135) completed the AIM, ALS, and 7 days of experience sampling assessments. Higher scores on the AIM were associated with variability and instability of NA and PA whereas the ALS was associated with mean levels of NA and PA. Neither the AIM nor the ALS were associated with reactivity to stressful, negative, or positive experiences in the moment. The AIM and ALS accounted for little variance in momentary affective dynamics and effects were generally small. Findings highlighted that static measures of dynamic phenomena poorly map onto momentary measures of affect in daily life. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

     

Implicit self-attitudes predict spontaneous affect in daily life

In 2 studies, the authors examined the degree to which implicit self-attitudes predicted people's spontaneous affective experiences in daily life. Across both studies, implicit attitudes toward the self (as measured by Implicit Association Tests) strongly predicted negative feeling states (as measured by computerized experience-sampling procedures), suggesting that implicit self-attitudes may be linked to changes in undifferentiated negative affect. Explicit attitudes toward the self generally did not account for these relations. Findings extend understanding of the factors that contribute to experienced affect and are the first to empirically link implicit self-attitudes with phenomenological affective experience in real-life settings over time.     

Prospective and Concurrent Affective Dynamics in Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors: An Examination in Young Adult Women

Affective dynamics, assessed using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), provide a nuanced understanding of within-person fluctuations of negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) in daily life. NA and PA dynamics have been associated with psychopathology and response to psychological treatments. NA and PA dynamics have been rarely studied concurrently in association with self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB), transdiagnostic difficulties encountered regularly in clinical and community settings. Here we present EMA data from a large, diverse sample of young adult women with high rates of SITB to examine NA and PA dynamics (mean intensity, variability, and inertia). Specifically, we considered the prospective associations between past-year suicidal thoughts and past-year nonsuicidal self-injury and affective dynamics, as well as the concurrent associations between affective dynamics, EMA-reported suicidal thoughts, and EMA-reported urges for nonsuicidal self-injury. Results demonstrate that elevated mean NA and NA variability are robustly associated with all types of SITB assessed prospectively or concurrently. Interestingly, these associations were weakest for past-year nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors, relative to past-year and concurrent suicidal or nonsuicidal self-injurious thoughts. Past-year suicidal thoughts further predicted increased NA inertia. Decreased PA inertia was associated with past-year nonsuicidal self-injury behavior, as well as concurrent EMA suicidal thoughts. We found no associations (prospective or concurrent) between SITB and mean PA intensity or PA variability. These results highlight the importance of understanding affective processes to develop real-world interventions to prevent nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal behavior in daily life.     

The Affective Temperaments and Well-Being: Swedish and Iranian Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction and Psychological Well-Being

The aim was to investigate the role of the affective temperament model (AFTs) in distinguishing variations in well-being among adolescents from Sweden (n = 222) and Iran (n = 120). Participants self-reported positive (PA) and negative affect (NA), life satisfaction (LS) and psychological well-being (PWB). The model categorizes participants in four different temperaments using the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS): self-actualizing (high PA and low NA), high affective (high PA and high NA), low affective (low PA and low NA), and self-destructive (low PA and high NA). Across cultures, self-actualizing adolescents reported higher LS and PWB. The PWB sub-scale of self-acceptance was positively related to LS regardless of temperament profile or cultural background. Nevertheless, Iranian adolescents with self-destructive profiles reported higher LS than high affective Iranians. The AFTs model is suggested to offer something unique by taking into account the interaction of PA and NA.     

Handbook of adult resilience,edited by John W. Reich,Alex J. Zautra,and John Stuart Hall

This study investigated differences in adolescents’ life satisfaction (LS), apprehension of personal and non-personal events, and the influence of recalled life events on LS. The affective temperament (AFT) classification was the framework for the research. Seventy male and 65 female adolescents participated. AFTs were developed through self-reported affect, generating four temperaments: self-actualizing, high affective, low affective, and self-destructive. LS was also self-reported. Apprehension for events was assessed through two tasks: (1) life event recollection and (2) interpretation and recognition of words in a short story. High and low affectives interpreted and remembered events as both self-actualizers and self-destructives. All AFTs, with the exception of self-destructives, showed positive biases. Only individuals with high positive affect were positively primed for non-personal events. Life events predicted self-destructives’ and low affectives’ LS. Self-actualizers showed higher LS, measured for a second time in a sub-sample, than self-destructives. The importance of the AFTs is discussed.     

Flexibility is not always adaptive: Affective flexibility and inflexibility predict rumination use in everyday life

The present study examined whether cognitive flexibility in the processing of emotional material (i.e., affective flexibility) predicts the use of rumination in response to negative events in daily life. One hundred fifty-seven undergraduate participants completed daily diaries for six consecutive days. Affective flexibility was measured with a novel task-switching paradigm using emotional pictures. Results show that affective inflexibility when switching away from processing the emotional meaning of negative material was associated with increased use of rumination in daily life. In contrast, affective inflexibility when switching away from processing the emotional meaning of positive material was related to decreased use of rumination. Importantly, affective flexibility predicted use of rumination beyond non-affective measures of executive functioning. This is the first study to show that inflexibility is not uniformly associated with increased rumination but that inflexibility in the processing of positive material can predict lower levels of rumination.     

Interference resolution moderates the impact of rumination and reappraisal on affective experiences in daily life

Research has shown that cognitive control processes play a central role in emotion regulation. While most research has examined whether individual differences in such processes are related to the use of these strategies, a crucial next step involves examining whether such differences influence their impact on people's feelings, especially in normal daily life. The present study examined whether impairments in cognitive control (measured using an affective interference resolution task) moderate the impact of using rumination and reappraisal on affective experiences in everyday life (assessed using experience sampling methods). Multilevel analyses revealed that difficulties removing previously relevant negative information from working memory were associated with a larger increase in negative affect following rumination, and smaller increase and decrease in positive and negative affect, respectively, following reappraisal. These findings show that impaired interference resolution for negative information aggravates the deleterious effects of rumination and curbs the benefits of reappraisal in daily life.     

Relationships Between Meaning in Life,Social and Achievement Events,and Positive and Negative Affect in Daily Life

Research on meaning in life has generally focused on global meaning judgments. This study examined how people's daily experiences, represented by events that occur in daily life, influence their perceived sense of meaning on a daily basis. One hundred sixty‐two college students completed daily reports for 2 weeks. We examined the relationships among daily social and achievement events, daily positive and negative affect, and daily meaning in life. In addition, we tested the possible moderating influence of depressive symptoms on these relationships. Positive daily social and achievement events were related to greater daily meaning, above and beyond the contributions of daily positive and negative affect. Negative social and achievement events were related to less daily meaning, and negative achievement events covaried with daily meaning above and beyond positive and negative affect. Depression moderated the relationships between positive events and meaning, such that people who reported more depressive symptoms had greater increases in daily meaning in response to positive social and achievement events than individuals who reported fewer symptoms. These findings suggest the important role that daily events may play in fluctuations in people's affective experiences and sense of meaning in life.     

The interactive effect of neuroticism and extraversion on the daily variability of affective states

The interaction between neuroticism and extraversion is thought to predict affective variability. In this study, neuroticism and extraversion were assessed with questionnaires, and affects were measured by experience sampling, with five daily assessments over 2 weeks. Affective variability was studied within a three-dimensional affective space whose three axes were oriented along the main affective dimensions: positive affect, negative affect, and activation. Quantile regression mixed-effects models allowed predicting zones in which affective states were most likely to occur according to personality. Beyond the well-known effect of personality on affect level, high neuroticism and/or high extraversion were accompanied by heightened affective variability. Results were interpreted as potentially reflecting positive feedback loops oriented toward negative affect for neuroticism, and toward positive affect and activation for extraversion.     

Relations between cyclothymic temperament and borderline personality disorder traits in non-clinical adolescents

ObjectivesThe aim of the present study was to examine the relation between cyclothymic temperament and borderline personality disorder traits in adolescents and to identify a typology of adolescents based on temperamental traits (cyclothymic temperament and BPD traits).Participants and methodsA sample of 312 adolescents completed several questionnaires assessing cyclothymic temperament, borderline personality disorder traits, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, antisocial behaviors and frequency of cannabis use.ResultsThe Cyclothymic-Hypersensitive Temperament (CHT) questionnaire and the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFS-C) were highly correlated which suggests that these scales may measure the same construct. Factor analyses of the pooled items of both scales yielded two factors, ‘anger–impulsivity’ and ‘affective instability’, both composed half of items from both scales. The relation between these traits and suicidal ideation was fully mediated by depressive symptomatology. Cluster analysis showed that these traits may occur independently and that adolescents with both traits had the highest levels of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideations and antisocial behaviors.DiscussionThe CHT questionnaire and the BPFS-C may measure the same construct which appeared relevant for defining a subgroup of adolescents with high levels of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideations and antisocial behaviors.     

Fragile self-esteem and affective instability in posttraumatic stress disorder

Temporal fluctuations in self-esteem and affect are prominent features of several clinical conditions (e.g., depression), but there is an absence of empirical work examining their role in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Individuals who experience large fluctuations in self-evaluations and affect are considered more vulnerable to psychopathology than individuals able to adequately modulate their self-image and emotional responses. We examined the relevance of self-esteem and affective instability to PTSD. Veterans with and without PTSD completed 14 daily ratings of self-esteem, positive affect, negative affect, and gratitude. Compared to veterans without PTSD, veterans with PTSD exhibited more temporal fluctuations in self-esteem, negative affect, and gratitude, with a smaller effect for positive affect. For all veterans, self-esteem and negative affective instability was associated with diminished well-being. Except for self-esteem instability, most findings were substantially reduced after accounting for variance attributable to PTSD diagnoses and mean intensity levels over the 14-day monitoring period. These data suggest self-esteem instability is important in understanding the lives of veterans with and without PTSD.     

Regulating positive and negative emotions in daily life

The present study examined how people regulate their emotions in daily life and how such regulation is related to their daily affective experience and psychological adjustment. Each day for an average of 3 weeks, participants described how they had regulated their emotions in terms of the reappraisal and suppression (inhibiting the expression) of positive and negative emotions, and they described their emotional experience, self-esteem, and psychological adjustment in terms of Beck's triadic model of depression. Reappraisal was used more often than suppression, and suppressing positive emotions was used less than the other three strategies. In general, regulation through reappraisal was found to be beneficial, whereas regulation by suppression was not. Reappraisal of positive emotions was associated with increases in positive affect, self-esteem, and psychological adjustment, whereas suppressing positive emotions was associated with decreased positive emotion, self-esteem, and psychological adjustment, and increased negative emotions. Moreover, relationships between reappraisal and psychological adjustment and self-esteem were mediated by experienced positive affect, whereas relationships between suppression of positive emotions and self-esteem adjustment were mediated by negative affect.