Does exposure to ambient odors influence the emotional content of memories?

This study examined the effects of implicitly presented odors on the emotional content of memory narratives. Participants were exposed to low levels of perfumes or no odors while they reconstructed a memory from childhood and a recurrent dream. Narratives were analyzed for emotional content using the Linguistic and Inquiry Word Count program. Exposure to perfumes increased the percentage of positive emotion words used by participants in recalling both dreams and childhood memories. In addition, exposure to odors decreased the percentage of negative emotion words that men used in their narratives, whereas the opposite effect was found for women. Discussion focuses on gender differences in written emotional expression, possible ways by which perfumes may exert their effects, and the usefulness of using ambient odors and objective content analysis when studying emotions in memories.     

Does contingency awareness mediate the influence of emotional learning on the cueing of visual attention?

Previous research has indicated that conditioning depends on contingency awareness (CA). However, we argue that these studies have examined this issue under methodological conditions that might be insensitive to associative learning without CA. In the present study we examined the effect of an experimental manipulation of CA on attentive processing of classically conditioned stimuli, which is sensitive to associative learning with and without CA. We found that aversive conditioning with additional contingency instructions modulated visual attention, in the sense that the conditioned cues captured and held attention more strongly than the non-conditioned cues. Surprisingly, conditioning under conditions of restricted CA yielded a response pattern that was different from that under full CA. These findings suggest that conditioning with full and restricted CA can lead to qualitatively different effects on attention.     

Is emotional intelligence an advantage? An exploration of the impact of emotional and general intelligence on individual performance

Emotional intelligence is an increasingly popular consulting tool. According to popular opinion and work-place testimonials, emotional intelligence increases performance and productivity; however, there has been a general lack of independent, systematic analysis substantiating that claim. The authors investigated whether emotional intelligence would account for increases in individual cognitive-based performance over and above the level attributable to traditional general intelligence. The authors measured emotional intelligence with the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS; J. D. Mayer, P. Salovey, & D. R. Caruso, 1997). As measured by the MEIS, overall emotional intelligence is a composite of the 3 distinct emotional reasoning abilities: perceiving, understanding, and regulating emotions (J. D. Mayer & P. Salovey, 1997). Although further psychometric analysis of the MEIS is warranted, the authors found that overall emotional intelligence, emotional perception, and emotional regulation uniquely explained individual cognitive-based performance over and beyond the level attributable to general intelligence.     

Is timely information always better? The effect of feedback frequency on decision making

Recent advances in information technology make it possible for decision makers to track information in real-time and obtain frequent feedback on their decisions. From a normative sense, an increase in the frequency of feedback and the ability to make changes should lead to enhanced performance as decision makers are able to respond more quickly to changes in the environment and see the consequences of their actions. At the same time, there is reason to believe that more frequent feedback can sometimes lead to declines in performance. Across four inventory management experiments, we find that in environments characterized by random noise more frequent feedback on previous decisions leads to declines in performance. Receiving more frequent feedback leads to excessive focus on and more systematic processing of more recent data as well as a failure to adequately compare information across multiple time periods. These results suggest that caution be used in the design and implementation of real-time information systems.     

Why so confident? The influence of outcome desirability on selective exposure and likelihood judgment

Previous studies that have directly manipulated outcome desirability have often found little effect on likelihood judgments (i.e., no desirability bias or wishful thinking). The present studies tested whether selections of new information about outcomes would be impacted by outcome desirability, thereby biasing likelihood judgments. In Study 1, participants made predictions about novel outcomes and then selected additional information to read from a buffet. They favored information supporting their prediction, and this fueled an increase in confidence. Studies 2 and 3 directly manipulated outcome desirability through monetary means. If a target outcome (randomly preselected) was made especially desirable, then participants tended to select information that supported the outcome. If made undesirable, less supporting information was selected. Selection bias was again linked to subsequent likelihood judgments. These results constitute novel evidence for the role of selective exposure in cases of overconfidence and desirability bias in likelihood judgments.     

The influence of making judgments of learning on memory performance: Positive,negative, or both?

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - A common measure of memory monitoring——judgments of learning (JOLs)——has recently been shown to have reactive effects on learning. When...     

Does private education make nicer people? The influence of school type on social–emotional development

In a longitudinal sample from Britain, we tested if attending private, fee-charging schools rather than non-selective state schools benefitted children’s social–emotional development. State (N = 2,413) and private school children (N = 269) showed no differences in well-being across adolescence, but private school children reported fewer behaviour problems and greater peer victimisation over time than state schoolers. These results were independent of schools’ selection criteria, including family background, and prior academic and cognitive performance. At age 21, private and state school students differed marginally in social–emotional behaviours, such as self-control, volunteering, sexual conduct, and substance use. After considering schools’ selection criteria, only risk taking and age at having the first alcoholic drink differed between private and state school children, with the privately educated ones being less risk averse and drinking at younger ages than those attending state school. Our results suggest that private education adds little positive value to children’s social–emotional development.     

What about the “ups and downs” in our daily life? The influence of affective instability on mental health

Although affective instability is considered to be a crucial factor for mental disorders, research on affective instability and mental health is still rare. The aim of the present study was to investigate affective instability and mental health operationalized by the degree of psychological distress and life satisfaction. Using ecological momentary assessment, we investigated affective intensity and instability in a general population sample (n = 218). Psychological distress and life satisfaction were examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally. In general, we found that positive affect was more variable than negative affect. When we accounted for the overlap between variables, our findings demonstrated that besides the effects of intensity in negative affect and positive affect, higher positive affective instability was related to better concurrent mental health. Longitudinally, negative affective intensity was a decisive factor in the development of mental health. In sum, our findings revealed that affective instability was not dysfunctional per se. In fact, instability in positive affect seems to be important to achieve mental health.     

Who am I?: The influence of affect on the working self-concept

Two experiments investigated the impact of affect on the working self-concept. Following an affect induction, participants completed the Twenty Statements Test (TST) to assess their working self-concepts. Participants in predominantly happy and angry states used more abstract statements to describe themselves than did participants in predominantly sad and fearful states. Evaluations of the statements that participants generated (Experiment 2) demonstrate that these effects are not the result of (1) participants describing positively and negatively valenced information at different levels of abstraction, or (2) valence-based affective priming. Further, half of the participants in Experiment 2 were led to attribute their affect to the manipulation prior to completing the TST. This manipulation eliminated the influence of affect on the working self-concept. Taken together, these results are consistent with theory and research on the informative functions of affect.     

Is the emotional modulation of the attentional blink driven by response bias?

Several studies have shown that the attentional blink (AB; Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992) is diminished for highly arousing T2 stimuli (e.g., Anderson, 2005). Whereas this effect is most often interpreted as evidence for a more efficient processing of arousing information, it could be due also to a bias to report more arousing stimuli than neutral stimuli. We introduce a paradigm that allows one to control for such a response bias. Using this paradigm, we obtained evidence that the diminished AB for taboo words cannot be explained by a response bias. This supports the idea that the emotional modulation of the AB is caused by attentional processes.     

What to wear? The influence of attire on the perceived professionalism of dentists and lawyers

Using a sample of 201 participants and a between‐subjects design, the perceived professionalism—suitability, capability, ease to talk to and friendliness—of male and female dentists and lawyers in various attires was examined. Results showed an absolute preference for male dentists and lawyers in professional and formal attire, respectively. Male dentists and lawyers in professional and formal attire were further rated as more suitable, capable, easier to talk to, and friendlier than female professionals, and than those dressed in smart or casual attire. Results are discussed in terms of positive dental outcomes and legal representation. Limitations are considered.     

The influence of the number of toys in the environment on toddlers’ play

We tested the hypothesis that an environment with fewer toys will lead to higher quality of play for toddlers. Each participant (n = 36) engaged in supervised, individual free play sessions under two conditions: Four Toy and Sixteen Toy. With fewer toys, participants had fewer incidences of toy play, longer durations of toy play, and played with toys in a greater variety of ways (Z = −4.448, p < 0.001, r = −0.524; Z = 2.828, p = 0.005, r = 0.333; and Z = 4.676, p < 0.001, r = 0.55, respectively). This suggests that when provided with fewer toys in the environment, toddlers engage in longer periods of play with a single toy, allowing better focus to explore and play more creatively. This can be offered as a recommendation in many natural environments to support children’s development and promote healthy play.     

The impact of telework on emotional experience: When,and for whom,does telework improve daily affective well-being?

Teleworking has become increasingly popular in organizations around the world. Despite this trend towards working outside of the traditional office setting, research has not yet examined how people feel (i.e., their affective experiences) on days when working at home versus in the office. Using a sample of 102 employees from a large US government agency, we employed a within-person design to test hypotheses about the relationship between teleworking and affective well-being. We also examined four individual differences (openness to experience, rumination, sensation seeking, and social connectedness outside of work) as cross-level moderators. Results show that employees experience more job-related positive affective well-being (PAWB) and less job-related negative affective well-being (NAWB) on days when they were teleworking compared to days they were working in the office. Findings show that several of the individual differences moderated the relationships. Discussion focuses on the need to consider the affective consequences of telework and the characteristics that determine who will benefit more or less from working at home.     

The influence of verbal labeling on the perception of odors: evidence for olfactory illusions?

Using the definition that an illusion is observed when a stimulus is invariant but context alters its perception, we examined whether verbal context could produce olfactory illusions. To test this effect, we chose five odors with minimally fixed sources and that could be interpreted with various hedonic connotations. The odors were violet leaf, patchouli, pine oil, menthol, and a 1:1 mixture of isovaleric and butyric acids. Subjects individually sniffed each odor at two different sessions separated by one week. At each session an odor was given a different verbal label (either positive or negative) and subjects rated the odors on several hedonic scales and provided perceptual and interpretative responses to them. Results showed that the perception of an odor could be significantly influenced by the label provided for it. We propose that the cases where verbal labels inverted odor perception are the first empirical demonstrations of olfactory illusions.     

Is the contribution of the amygdala to the sex- and enhancement-related effects of emotional memory time-dependent?

A new focus in the field of emotional memory is the study of sex-related differences. Whether the sex-related lateralization of amygdala function (i.e., the female-left/male-right effect) in the emotional enhancement of memory (EEM) is time-dependent remains unclear. To evaluate this phenomenon, we conducted a two time-point study (20 min vs. 24 h) using fMRI and behavioral paradigms. We found that the right amygdala predicted 20-min EEM, while the left amygdala predicted 24-h EEM. The sex-related lateralization of amygdala function was not detected in either the 20-min or the 24-h EEM. Our results further confirm and extend the idea that the amygdala exhibits a lateralized and time-dependent dissociation, occurring even in the 24-h EEM relative to the 20-min EEM. The present and previous studies indicate that sex-related lateralization of amygdala function occurs in the 2- to 3-week EEM, but it does not occur in the 1-week, 24-h, or less than 30-min EEM, suggesting that this effect on emotional memory may also be time-dependent.     

Forecasting the influence of customer-related micro-events on employees’ emotional,attitudinal and physiological responses

The affective events theory proposes that daily events elicit affective reactions on workers that, over time, influence affective and judgement-driven behaviours. It also suggests that this relation is moderated by dispositions and appraisals. On the other hand, the social interaction model argues that the impact of emotions is moderated by how individuals regulate them. This study aimed to: (1) investigate what customer-related events elicit affect; (2) test the moderating role of workers’ susceptibility for emotional contagion on the relation events-affect; and (3) explore whether affective states influence cardiovascular efficiency and turnover intentions. We conducted a longitudinal study in an inbound call centre by following 48 workers during 10 working days, gathering 267 events and 1,232 affective reactions. We combined diaries, questionnaires and physiological data. Data was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. We extracted 13 event categories and, using artificial neural networks (ANN), found support for the moderating role of emotional contagion. At daily level, fear was the stronger predictor of cardiovascular efficiency, whereas anger was the stronger predictor of turnover. ANN models showed satisfactory predictive values (R²_Turnover = .51, p < .01; R²_{Cardiovascular efficiency} = .32, p < .01). The importance of results for theory and practice is discussed.     

The emotional geographies of the ‘livingdying’

This paper engages with Madge's (2016; 2018) notion of the ‘livingdying’ through an analysis of three recent autobiographies of death and dying. Dying: A Memoir by Australian author, Cory Taylor (2016), In Gratitude by British writer, Jenny Diski (2016), and The Bright Hour by American memoirist, Nina Riggs (2017), provide insight into the sometimes contradictory emotional responses to the different spaces traversed by the ‘livingdying’. We identify how the emotions of fear and anxiety, sadness and grief, anger and frustration, and isolation and loneliness infuse the liminal spaces that the ‘livingdying’ occupy. In doing so we highlight how the normative dualism of ‘the living’ and ‘the dying’ shapes emotional vulnerabilities. Finally, hoping to further advance Madge's (2016; 2018) provocation to acknowledge, account for and honour the intrinsic entanglement of living and dying and life and death, we propose a reframing of her notion of ‘livingdying’ that includes the ‘ordinary’ living, that is, those not dealing with a terminal illness.