The effect of emotion regulation strategies on anger

This study examined the effects of different emotion regulation strategies on the experience and expression of anger. Participants consisted of undergraduate students who endorsed at least a moderate level of state anger. As part of a laboratory experiment, they were instructed to reappraise (n = 24), suppress (n = 24), or accept (n = 25) their anger during a frustrating task. Reappraisal was more effective at reducing anger than attempts to suppress or accept it. Furthermore, participants in the reappraisal condition persisted significantly longer with the frustrating task than those who were instructed to suppress or accept their negative feelings. These findings suggest that reappraisal techniques are more effective than acceptance and suppression techniques for modulating the experience and expression of anger.     

Maternal Incarceration,Children’s Psychological Adjustment,and the Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation

Children who live in the context of maternal incarceration (MI) are exposed to both general environmental risk and incarceration-specific risk increasing the probability of their developing externalizing and internalizing behaviors problems. Little research has examined the socio-emotional mechanisms that account for the psychological effects of MI. This research examined children’s anger and sadness regulation as mediators between environmental and incarceration-specific risk and psychological functioning. Participants were 117 children (60% Black; 52% boys; M age = 9.85 years, SD = 1.65 years), their incarcerated mother, and current caregiver. All informants completed questionnaires assessing children’s anger and sadness regulation as well as externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Mothers and caregivers provided information concerning children’s exposure to environmental risk and all three reporters provided information on incarceration-specific risk experiences (ISRE). Structural equation modeling was used to test indirect effects of risk variables (ISRE, environmental) on psychological functioning (externalizing, internalizing behaviors) via emotion regulation (anger, sadness). Gender, age, and race were covariates. The analyses revealed significant indirect effects of incarceration-specific risk on both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems via anger regulation but not via sadness regulation. The findings highlight the centrality of emotion regulation as a mechanism that helps explain the negative psychological outcomes experienced by children exposed to ISRE with implications for preventive interventions.     

Children’s Gender Stereotypes Through Drawings of Emotional Faces: Do Boys Draw Angrier Faces than Girls?

The present study was designed to examine the impact of display rules and gender-emotion stereotypes on French children’s depiction of sadness and anger in their drawings of a human face. Participants were 172 school-aged French children (74 boys and 98 girls), who attended state schools in a middle-class district of a southern French city. The exact age range was as followed: 6 years 2 months to 8 years 1 month. They were asked to draw the emotion felt by a character (either male or female) after being told a scenario eliciting sadness and a scenario eliciting anger. By never mentioning the emotion felt by the character, we expected children’s interpretation of these scenarios to be therefore influenced by their own gender and/or by the character’s gender. Results indicate that anger is depicted by more boys than girls in response to the angry scenario, for male as well as for female characters. Furthermore, among the children who did depict anger, the expressive intensity of the drawings was scored lower for children who were presented the feminine character than for children who were presented the masculine character. However, no effect of gender was found on the drawings produced in response to the sad scenario. These results are discussed in terms of the influence of display rules and gender-emotion stereotypes on children. We also suggest some methodological and clinical implications.     

Intensifying attachment-related sadness and decreasing anger intensity among individuals suffering from unresolved anger: The role of relational reframe followed by empty-chair interventions

This study examined whether two therapy interventions – relational reframe followed by empty chair – were associated with increases in sadness intensity and decreases in anger intensity among a sample of 61 undergraduate students suffering from unresolved anger toward an attachment figure (e.g. parent, sibling, and past-romantic partner). Participants underwent a single analog therapy session comprised of three interventions delivered in sequence: empathic focus on their anger; relational reframe; and empty-chair enactment. Participants retrospectively reported on the intensity of their attachment-related anger and sadness during the session using an interpersonal process recall procedure. Results showed that over the course of the relational reframe and empty-chair intervention sequence, sadness intensity increased and anger intensity decreased. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Anger in response to challenge: children’s emotion socialization predicts approach versus avoidance

Negative emotion is typically associated with avoidance behavior; however, recent advances in the adult literature show that unlike some emotions (sadness, shame), anger predicts both approach and avoidance. Here we propose that socialization to suppress anger will play a role in whether children who express anger respond to a performance challenge with approach or avoidance. Children (N = 79; M _age  = 11.4 years) reported perceptions of parental use of positive conditional regard (PCR) to socialize anger suppression and worked on four unsolvable puzzles. We measured change in verbalized puzzle-solving strategies during failure, and coded emotion expression on the final puzzle. We examined whether negative emotion type (shame/sadness vs. anger) and PCR for anger predicted change in strategy use, and whether the association between level of PCR for anger and approach-avoidance (change in strategy use) depended on type of negative emotion expressed. Neither emotion expression nor level of PCR anger predicted strategy use; however, type of negative emotion moderated the association between PCR anger and change in strategy use, controlling for NCR anger. For children who displayed anger, low PCR was associated with increased strategy use, and high PCR was associated with decreased strategy use. We discuss the role of emotion socialization in shaping approach and avoidance motivation.     

社会价值取向对自我-他人风险决策的影响及其机制

以往关于为自己和代他人决策的冒险行为研究结果不一致, 这可能是因为以往的研究没有考虑决策情境和决策者人际特质等因素对于决策行为的影响。社会价值取向(social value orientation, SVO)是一种典型的人际特质, 是个体在对自我和他人资源分配时所表现出的社会偏好, 通常分为亲社会者和亲自我者。为探究SVO对自我-他人风险决策的影响及其机制, 采用为自己和陌生人分别完成多轮混合赌博游戏的任务。结果发现亲自我比亲社会者代他人决策更冒险。用模型量化的损失厌恶和对潜在损失的敏感度部分中介了自我-他人风险决策差异, 但只有对他人潜在损失的敏感度部分中介自我-他人决策的SVO效应。说明SVO会影响自我-他人风险决策, 且该效应可以通过对他人利益的关心程度起作用, 所以在自我-他人风险决策的研究中应将SVO这一决策者的人际特质因素考虑在内。     

Emotional Reactions While Watching Graphic Medical Procedures: Vocational Differences in the Explicit Regulation of Emotions1

We examined the role of occupation in how people regulate emotional responses. Graduate nursing students were compared to undergraduate psychology students on self‐reported emotional reactions to videos depicting graphic medical procedures. Skin conductance was also recorded. Overall, nursing students reported less disgust and fear, but more sadness while watching the clips, compared to psychology students. The 2 groups did not differ in skin conductance activity when watching a video with no specific instructions. When instructed to suppress or reappraise their emotional reactions to the videos, however, the psychology students showed increases in skin conductance arousal, whereas the nursing students did not. The results are discussed within the context of research on strategies to regulate one's emotions in the workplace.     

Asian Indian Mothers’ Emotion Socialization and Child Emotion Expression as a Function of Situational Context

The present study examined whether reports of maternal socialization and child emotion expression differ depending on the emotion-eliciting context. Early adolescents and their mothers (N = 146) from suburban middle-class families in Gujarat, India participated. In response to hypothetical academic and interpersonal situations, children rated the intensity of felt emotion, and likelihood of expressing felt emotion, and mothers rated the acceptability of their children’s emotional expressions, and their behavioral responses to children. Results revealed that across both situations children reported expressing sadness more than anger, and expressing both emotions more in interpersonal than academic situations. Mothers reported child sadness to be significantly more acceptable than anger, and both emotions were significantly more acceptable in interpersonal than academic situations. Mothers reported problem-focused responses (solution) and scolding more in response to academic than interpersonal situations, whereas they reported problem-focused responses (explanation), coaxing, and distraction more in interpersonal than academic situations.     

Mechanisms Mediating Children’s Perceived Maternal Nonsupportive Reactions to Sadness and Children’s Social and Emotional Functioning

This study examined whether children’s perceptions of maternal nonsupportive reactions to sadness (active discouragement and non-response) influenced children’s loneliness and classroom popularity indirectly through their effects on children’s sadness inhibition and self-perception of social competence. Participants were children in grades 3–6 from a university affiliated public elementary school (N = 175; 53 % females; 37 % racial/ethnic minority). Children reported on the frequency of their mother’s active discouragement and non-response of their sadness, as well their own sadness inhibition, self-perceived social competence, and loneliness. Classroom peers reported on children’s popularity. Results indicated that perceived maternal non-response to sadness was indirectly related to classroom popularity and loneliness through the effect on children’s self-perception of social competence. In contrast, perceived maternal active discouragement of sadness was indirectly related to children’s classroom popularity through the effect on children’s sadness inhibition. These results support the consideration of active discouragement and non-response as distinct constructs and indicate the likelihood of different pathways of influence in predicting emotional and social outcomes such as loneliness and classroom popularity.     

从对框架效应的分析看风险决策的神经基础

对风险决策的研究近年来一直是微观经济学和心理学的热门,但是从传统的决策理论到主张有限理性的预期理论大多是对决策行为的研究,决策的心理机制一直是无法解释的黑箱子。令人兴奋的是近几年来神经科学家及其他领域的学者开始用先进的神经心理学的方法来研究风险决策,试图理解神经过程调节风险决策行为的方式。文章从分析违背“不变性”原则的框架效应入手,从正反框架、确定选择和风险选择、风险规避和风险寻求、高估小概率事件几个方面,全面分析风险决策可能的神经基础。在总结已有研究的基础上提出了把风险决策研究扩展到不确定决策,把风险决策中的一次决策研究扩展到多次决策的研究思路     

What Triggers Anger in Everyday Life? Links to the Intensity,Control, and Regulation of These Emotions,and Personality Traits

Why do people experience anger? Most of our knowledge on anger‐triggering events is based on the study of reactions at a single time point in a person's life. Little research has examined how people experience anger in their daily life over time. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive examination of the situational determinants of anger over the course of 3 weeks. Using daily diary methodology, people (N = 173; 2,342 anger episodes) reported their most intense daily anger and, with an open‐ended format, described the trigger. Participants also answered questions on anger intensity, control, and regulatory strategies, along with baseline personality trait measures. Using an iterative coding system, five anger trigger categories emerged: other people, psychological and physical distress, intrapersonal demands, environment, and diffuse/undifferentiated/unknown. Compared with other triggers, when anger was provoked by other people or when the source was unknown, there was a stronger positive association with anger intensity and lack of control. Personality traits (i.e., anger, mindfulness, psychological need satisfaction, the Big Five) showed few links to the experience and regulation of daily anger. Although aversive events often spur anger, the correlates and consequences of anger differ depending on the source of aversion; personality traits offer minimal value in predicting anger in daily life.     

Ruminating on Rumination: are Rumination on Anger and Sadness Differentially Related to Aggression and Depressed Mood?

Rumination is a risk factor for aggression and depression, yet few studies have incorporated both aggression and depression in a unitary model that reflects how rumination predicts these distinct conditions. The current study examined rumination on anger and sadness to assess their unique relations with aggression and depressed mood, respectively. Analogous anger rumination and sadness rumination questionnaires were used to minimize measurement variance, and were completed by 226 undergraduate students. Factor analysis suggested one general rumination factor comprised of two distinct sub-factors of anger rumination and sadness rumination. Path analysis confirmed unique relations between anger rumination and aggression, and sadness rumination and depressed mood. Further, anger rumination and anger were independent predictors of aggression. Results supported the conceptualization of anger rumination and sadness rumination as distinct constructs and underscore the importance of pursuing research that incorporates both forms of rumination to better understand how they impact development, mental health, and behavior.     

澳门人少涉赌是规避风险还是规避后悔？

是风险规避还是后悔规避左右人们的冒险行为？基于风险行为跨领域特殊性,本研究假设：决策者是规避风险还是规避后悔具有领域特异性。本研究选取有涉赌经验的澳门居民为样本,以其参与13种博彩的次数为指标考察其真实风险行为。结果验证了上述假设,风险规避说或后悔规避说都不能单独解释个体的风险倾向,个体是风险规避、后悔规避,或二者皆有,取决于其所处的具体风险情境类别。该发现有助于加深对风险行为特征的认识,亦可为预防及应对问题赌博提供启发和指导。     

The experience of anger and sadness in everyday problems impacts age differences in emotion regulation

The authors examined regulation of the discrete emotions anger and sadness in adolescents through older adults in the context of describing everyday problem situations. The results support previous work; in comparison to younger age groups, older adults reported that they experienced less anger and reported that they used more passive and fewer proactive emotion-regulation strategies in interpersonal situations. The experience of anger partially mediated age differences in the use of proactive emotion regulation. This suggests that at least part of the reason why older adults use fewer proactive emotion-regulation strategies is their decreased experience of anger. Results are discussed in the context of lifespan theories of emotional development.     

Rapid reactions to direct and averted facial expressions of fear and anger

Recent studies have shown that reaction times to expressions of anger with averted gaze and fear with direct gaze appear slower than those to direct anger and averted fear. Such findings have been explained by appealing to the notion of gaze/expression congruence with aversion (avoidance) associated with fear, whereas directness (approach) is associated with anger. The current study examined reactions to briefly presented direct and averted faces displaying expressions of fear and anger. Participants were shown four blocked series of faces; each block contained an equal mix of two facial expressions (neutral plus either fear or anger) presented at one viewpoint (either full face or three quarter leftward facing). Participants were instructed to make rapid responses classifying the expressions as either neutral or expressive. Initial analysis of reaction time distributions showed differences in distribution shape with reactions to averted anger and direct fear showing greater skew than those to direct anger and averted fear. Computational modelling, using a diffusion model of decision making and reaction time, showed a difference in the rate of information accrual with more rapid rates of accrual when viewpoint and expression were congruent. This analysis supports the notion of signal congruence as a mechanism through which gaze and viewpoint affect our responses to facial expressions.     

Cognitive reappraisal increases heart rate variability in response to an anger provocation

Adaptive self-regulatory responses to negative events are associated with good mental health, social functioning, and physical health. Two forms of emotion regulation that have received attention within the context of anger are cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Research suggests that greater heart rate variability (HRV) is a physiological indicator of adaptive emotion regulation and decreased mental load. In the present experiment, we recorded HRV while 131 undergraduate women viewed an anger-inducing video of a fellow student arguing for a position counter to that of the participant on an important political issue. Immediately prior to viewing, participants were instructed to reappraise, suppress their emotions, or simply watch the video as normal. Participants in the reappraisal condition showed increased HRV whereas those in the suppression and control condition showed no such increase. These results provide support for increased HRV as a biological correlate of adaptive emotion regulation. One implication is that cognitive reappraisal might afford greater autonomic flexibility when an individual is confronted with anger-inducing events.     

Anxiety sensitivity and risk-taking behavior

High trait anxiety has been linked with risk-avoidant decision-making, though little is known regarding the specific facets of anxiety contributing to this negative association. Anxiety sensitivity (AS), a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor for anxiety-related pathology, may be particularly relevant to risk decision-making given that risk-taking behaviors generate heightened somatic arousal and produce many of the sensations feared by individuals with high AS. Two studies were conducted to investigate the relation between AS and risk decision-making. In the first study, 268 undergraduate students completed a series of questionnaires that included measures of AS and gambling behaviors. Significant negative correlations were observed between AS and several gambling-related risk-taking activities, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that AS scores added significant incremental validity in predicting risk-taking over and above demographic variables, negative affect, and trait anxiety. In the second study, 43 participants who had screened for high (n = 20) or low (n = 23) AS completed the Iowa gambling task, a behavioral measure of risk-taking. Results indicated that, when placed under conditions of risk, individuals with high AS engaged in significantly less risk-taking than their low AS counterparts. The implications of these findings and potential directions for future research are discussed.     

The Matching of Facial Expressions by Deaf and Hearing Children and Their Production and Comprehension of Emotion Labels

This paper reports the results of three tasks comparing the development of the understanding of facial expressions of emotion in deaf and hearing children. Two groups of hearing and deaf children of elementary school age were tested for their ability to match photographs of facial expressions of emotion, and to produce and comprehend emotion labels for the expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise. Accuracy data showed comparable levels of performance for deaf and hearing children of the same age. Happiness and sadness were the most accurately matched expressions and the most accurately produced and comprehended labels. Anger was the least accurately matched expression and the most poorly comprehended emotion label. Disgust was the least accurately labeled expression; however, deaf children were more accurate at labeling this expression, and also at labeling fear, than hearing children. Error data revealed that children confused anger with disgust, and fear with surprise. However, the younger groups of deaf and hearing children also showed a tendency to confuse the negative expressions of anger, disgust, and fear with sadness. The results suggest that, despite possible differences in the early socialisation of emotion, deaf and hearing children share a common understanding of the emotions conveyed by distinctive facial expressions.     

愤怒情绪对恶意创造力的影响及调节策略

以两个实验考察愤怒情绪对恶意创造力表现的影响及作用路径, 并探究调节愤怒情绪对削弱恶意创造力表现的效应。实验1比较愤怒、悲伤、中性情绪下个体恶意创造力表现的差异, 发现愤怒情绪下个体生成更多、更新颖的恶意观点, 情绪唤醒度和内隐攻击性中介了愤怒对恶意创造力表现的影响。实验2探究不同情绪调节策略(认知重评、表达抑制)如何影响愤怒个体的恶意创造力表现, 发现认知重评组和表达抑制组的恶意创造力表现比无策略的控制组水平更低, 情绪唤醒度和内隐攻击性中介了两种情绪调节策略对个体恶意创造力表现的影响。上述结果表明, 愤怒情绪通过提升内隐攻击性和情绪唤醒度进而促进个体恶意创造力表现, 而认知重评和表达抑制策略可作为削弱愤怒个体的恶意创造力表现的有效策略。     

Gender differences in aggression: The role of displaying facial emotional cues in a competitive situation

Prior studies have shown that facial emotion displays communicate emotional states and interpersonal intentions. This study addressed gender differences in aggression based on the facial emotional cues expressed from a fictional opponent. A modified version of the competitive reaction time task (CRTT) was used to measure aggression. Participants (N = 251), between 18 and 35 years of age, were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions of the fictional opponents’ facial emotional cue displayed during the CRTT: anger, sadness, neutral, or the absence of facial expression. After each trial, participants were asked to report their own feelings and to choose a level of noise to administer to their opponent. Finally, motives for aggression were assessed. Results showed that women were less aggressive than men when receiving emotional cues of sadness and anger from the sender. In contrast, no gender differences occurred when a neutral expression was displayed or in the absence of any expression. In addition, men displayed similar levels of aggression across the four conditions, whereas women were more aggressive in both neutral and no feedback conditions than in the sad and anger conditions. Instrumental motives contributed to explaining the overall gender differences in aggression. These results suggest important moderator and mediator factors of gender differences in aggressive behavior.