Examining the contextual and temporal stability of perceptions of emotional utility

The present research examined the degree to which perceptions of emotional utility are stable across contexts and over time. Self-reported perceptions of emotional utility and actual experience of emotion were measured in two samples of college students. In Study 1, participants were presented with two different types of goals (independent vs. interdependent) and were asked to rate the degree to which they found different types of emotions (e.g., appreciation, pride) useful in each context. In Study 2, participants completed daily online questionnaires in which they responded to questions assessing perceptions of emotional utility and actual affect in relation to personal goals. As predicted, across both samples, perceived utility of specific types of emotions was found to be associated with specific types of goals. Importantly, perceived utility of emotion was also found to be a relatively stable individual difference variable, even after taking into account the actual experience of emotion.     

Emotion regulation in depression: Examining the role of cognitive processes

Sustained negative affect is a hallmark feature of depressive episodes. The ability to regulate emotional responses to negative events may therefore play a critical role in our understanding of this debilitating disorder. Individual differences in cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and interpretation may underlie difficulties in emotion regulation and numerous studies have identified cognitive biases and deficits that characterise depressed people. Few studies, however, have explicitly linked these biases to the difficulties in emotion regulation that are associated with depression. In this paper we discuss relations among cognitive processes and emotion regulation and review the depression literature to identify cognitive biases and deficits that may underlie maladaptive responses to negative events and mood states. Our review suggests that difficulties in the disengagement from negative material, memory biases, and deficits in cognitive control are frequently observed in depressive disorders and may be associated with the use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as rumination. These biases may also be related to difficulties implementing strategies that are effective for non-depressed people, such as recall of mood-incongruent material and reappraisal. Our review also suggests, however, that empirical studies linking cognitive biases and emotion regulation in depression are still largely missing and would present an important goal for future research in this area.     

Emotion regulation in unipolar depression: the effects of acceptance and suppression of subjective emotional experience on the intensity and duration of sadness and negative affect

This study examined the effects of emotional suppression and acceptance in a depressed sample. Sixty participants with diagnoses of unipolar depression completed a questionnaire packet and participated in an experiment. The experiment utilized two conditions to explore correlates of the spontaneous use of emotion regulation strategies and the effects of an experimental manipulation of acceptance and suppression. Results demonstrated that suppression produced short-term reductions in sadness. Notably, anxiety about the experience of depressed mood influenced the efficacy of emotional suppression with findings showing that suppression was no longer effective at moderate and higher levels of anxiety about the experience of depressed mood. Implications of study findings for understanding emotion dysregulation in depressive disorders and the treatment of depression are discussed.     

The relation between social sharing and the duration of emotional experience

People often socially share their emotions to regulate them. Two-mode theory of social sharing states that cognitive sharing will contribute to emotional recovery, whereas socio-affective sharing will only temporarily alleviate emotional distress. Previous studies supporting this theory, measured emotional recovery in terms of residual emotional intensity. Until now, another important time-dynamic aspect of emotions, emotion duration, has been largely ignored. In two experience sampling studies we addressed this gap. In Study 1, participants reported on the duration of anger, fear, and sadness episodes; additionally time-varying information on the occurrence and mode of sharing was collected. This study revealed that sharing led to a shortening in emotion duration, in particular when it was socio-affective in nature. In Study 2 we investigated whether this result could be interpreted in terms of our measure of duration primarily reflecting emotional relief rather than recovery. In this study, the same method as in Study 1 was used; additionally, residual emotional intensity was measured three days after emotion onset. Study 2 largely replicated the findings from Study 1. Furthermore, duration appeared to be empirically distinct from residual intensity. Finally, no relation between sharing and residual intensity was found, even when considering the sharing mode.     

Elucidating the relation between childhood emotional abuse and depressive symptoms in adulthood: The mediating role of maladaptive interpersonal processes

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to assess the potential unique and relative mediating effects of three interpersonal risk factors (i.e., excessive reassurance-seeking [ERS], negative feedback seeking [NFS], and rejection sensitivity [RS]) in the relationship between childhood emotional abuse (CEA) and depressive symptoms.MethodOne hundred eighty-five undergraduates were followed over a four-month interval. Participants completed assessments of childhood abuse history, ERS, NFS, and RS, and depressive symptoms at baseline, as well as depressive symptoms at four-month followup.ResultsFindings from single-mediator analyses indicated that RS and NFS, but not ERS, mediated the relationship between CEA and prospective depressive symptoms, after accounting for childhood sexual and physical abuse, as well as baseline depressive symptoms. In our multi-mediator model, only RS remained a significant mediator of the relationship between CEA and prospective depressive symptoms.ConclusionsThe current study provides preliminary evidence that negative behavioral styles may function as a mechanism linking prior experiences of CEA to subsequent depressive symptoms. Clinical implications of these findings suggest that targeting maladaptive behavioral tendencies, particularly RS, may be an effective adjunct in behavioral modification treatments of CEA victims at risk for depression.     

Dispositional mindfulness and perceived stress: The role of emotional intelligence

The present study examined the relationships between dispositional mindfulness, emotional intelligence and perceived stress using self-report measures. We administered the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), and the Perceive Stress Scale (PPS) to a non-clinical sample of Chinese adults (n = 380). The results showed that mindfulness was positively associated with four components of WLEIS, and negatively associated with perceived stress. Mediation analysis indicated that only the regulation and use of emotion components of WLEIS acted as mediators of the association between mindfulness and perceived stress. Effect contrasts showed no significant difference between the specific indirect effects through these two mediators. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The distinctiveness and utility of a measure of trait emotional awareness

There has been a proliferation of new measures of individual differences in emotional processing, but too little research that evaluates the distinctiveness and utility of such measures. We critically evaluated the Level of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), which is a measure of people's awareness of emotions in both the self and others. Across two studies, university students (N=124 and 107 for study 1 and 2, respectively) completed the LEAS, as well as a battery of personality measures and ability tests, and a mood-induction task. The LEAS was statistically distinct from a wide variety of personality measures, emotional intelligence tests, and self-report ability measures. In addition, both studies demonstrated that people high in emotional awareness were less likely than others to show mood congruent biases in their judgments (e.g. when bad moods lead to negative judgments and good moods to good judgments). The LEAS appears to be both distinctive and useful in understanding mood-relevant processes.     

The role of gratitude in the development of social support, stress, and depression: Two longitudinal studies

In two longitudinal studies, the authors examined the direction of the relationships between trait gratitude, perceived social support, stress, and depression during a life transition. Both studies used a full cross-lagged panel design, with participants completing all measures at the start and end of their first semester at college. Structural equation modeling was used to compare models of direct, reverse, and reciprocal models of directionality. Both studies supported a direct model whereby gratitude led to higher levels of perceived social support, and lower levels of stress and depression. In contrast, no variable led to gratitude, and most models of mediation were discounted. Study 2 additionally showed that gratitude leads to the other variables independently of the Big Five factors of personality. Overall gratitude seems to directly foster social support, and to protect people from stress and depression, which has implications for clinical interventions.     

Getting stuck in depression: The roles of rumination and emotional inertia

Like many other mental disorders, depression is characterised by psychological inflexibility. Two instances of such inflexibility are rumination: repetitive cognitions focusing on the causes and consequences of depressive symptoms; and emotional inertia: the tendency for affective states to be resistant to change. In two studies, we tested the predictions that: (1) rumination and emotional inertia are related; and (2) both independently contribute to depressive symptoms. We examined emotional inertia of subjective affective experiences in daily life among a sample of non-clinical undergraduates (Study 1), and of affective behaviours during a family interaction task in a sample of clinically depressed and non-depressed adolescents (Study 2), and related it to self-reported rumination and depression severity. In both studies, rumination (particularly the brooding facet) and emotional inertia (particularly of sad/dysphoric affect) were positively associated, and both independently predicted depression severity. These findings demonstrate the importance of studying both cognitive and affective inflexibility in depression.     

The role of job resources in the relation between perceived employability and turnover intention: A prospective two-sample study

We hypothesize that the relationship between perceived employability (PE) and turnover intention is stronger when job resources (job control, social support from the supervisor and colleagues) are low. Results from a prospective study one year apart were similar in samples of Finnish university (N = 1314) and hospital workers (N = 308). The interaction between PE and job control related significantly to turnover intention at Time 2 in both samples, and in the hospital sample also when controlling for turnover intention at Time 1: PE related positively to turnover intention when job control was low. Furthermore, PE at Time 1 was not significantly related and job resources at Time 1 were negatively related to turnover intention at Time 2. For social support from colleagues in particular, this relationship held when controlling for Time 1 turnover intention. Thus, PE does not present a risk of turnover intention, unless job control is low.     

Empirical underidentification in estimating random utility models: The role of choice sets and standardizations

A standard approach to distinguishing people’s risk preferences is to estimate a random utility model using a power utility function to characterize the preferences and a logit function to capture choice consistency. We demonstrate that with often-used choice situations, this model suffers from empirical underidentification, meaning that parameters cannot be estimated precisely. With simulations of estimation accuracy and Kullback–Leibler divergence measures we examined factors that potentially mitigate this problem. First, using a choice set that guarantees a switch in the utility order between two risky gambles in the range of plausible values leads to higher estimation accuracy than randomly created choice sets or the purpose-built choice sets common in the literature. Second, parameter estimates are regularly correlated, which contributes to empirical underidentification. Examining standardizations of the utility scale, we show that they mitigate this correlation and additionally improve the estimation accuracy for choice consistency. Yet, they can have detrimental effects on the estimation accuracy of risk preference. Finally, we also show how repeated versus distinct choice sets and an increase in observations affect estimation accuracy. Together, these results should help researchers make informed design choices to estimate parameters in the random utility model more precisely.     

The role of Dependency and Self-Criticism in the relationship between anger and depression

This study explored the role of Dependency and Self-Criticism, two personality dimensions conferring vulnerability for depression, in explaining relationships among anger, anger regulation strategies, and severity of depression in a sample of adults (n = 253) using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Dependency was associated with high levels of trait anger, the turning of anger towards the self, and low levels of anger directed towards others. Self-Criticism was associated with high levels of both state and trait anger, low anger control, and high levels of anger towards the self and others. Moreover, turning anger towards the self mediated the relationship among both Dependency and Self-Criticism and severity of depression. Problems with anger control also mediated the relationship between Self-Criticism and severity of depression. These findings suggest that Self-Criticism may be closely related to angry/hostile features in depression, while dependency may be more closely associated with the turning of anger towards the self. Although this study was cross-sectional and self-reports of anger might be biased by impression management, results suggest that these personality factors should be taken into account in both research on and treatment of anger in depression.     

Workplace fairness and emotional exhaustion in Nigeria police: The moderating role of gender

Abstract

This study examined the moderating role of gender in the relationship between perceived workplace fairness and reported level of emotional exhaustion among a sample of Nigeria police. A total of 214 participants took part in the cross-sectional survey. Results of the moderated hierarchical regression analysis provided support for gender as a moderating variable in the relationship between perceived workplace fairness and emotional exhaustion, such that perceived workplace fairness was a stronger predictor of emotional exhaustion among male police than for female police. The practical implications for the management of emotional exhaustion in general, and for the Nigeria police in particular, were emphasized.     

Systemizing in autism: The case for an emotional mechanism

More often than others, people with autism engage in systemizing – attempts to understand and build rule-based systems. The mechanism behind the increased frequency of such behavior in autism is unknown, however. The assumption has long existed that emotions exist to motivate behavior, and there is now much evidence that people with autism tend to have stronger, more easily elicited emotions than the average person. This appears to be the cause of increased systemizing in autism – through a negative and a positive emotional pathway: There is evidence that autistic people want control more strongly than do others. This is often so, says the hypothesis, because strong negative emotions, other things equal, make lack of control feel more aversive than it does for most people. Systemizing can increase the feeling of control and hence reduce the negative emotion. Positive emotion can also motivate systemizing in autism – fascination and attraction more strongly felt and more easily elicited than in other people.     

Memory for emotional words in sentences: The importance of emotional contrast

Numerous researchers have demonstrated that emotional words are remembered better than neutral words. However, the effect has been attributed to factors other than emotion because it is somewhat fragile and influenced by variables such as the experimental designs employed. To investigate the role of emotion per se in memory for emotional words, negative-affect but low arousal emotional words were placed in sentence contexts that either activated high emotional meanings of the words (Shane died in his car last night.), or low emotional meanings of the words (Shane's old car died last night). The high-emotional contexts led to better memory than the low-emotional contexts, but only in mixed lists of emotional and neutral words. Additionally, the traditional emotional memory effect was also limited to mixed lists. The results are consistent with the idea that an emotional contrast is responsible for the emotional memory effect with low arousal emotional words.     

The impact of gratitude on depression and anxiety: the mediating role of criticizing,attacking, and reassuring the self

Gratitude significantly predicts less depression and anxiety symptoms in general population. Three types of self-relating processes as possible mediators of this relationship were evaluated. Trait gratitude, depression, anxiety, and three forms of self-relating (criticizing, attacking, and reassuring the self) were assessed in 410 Italian participants. Gratitude predicted less depression and anxiety symptoms, and the three forms of self-relating partially mediated the impact of gratitude on both depression and anxiety. Self-reassuring had a stronger mediation power than self-attacking in the prediction of anxiety symptoms. Gratitude is a protective factor against psychopathology not only due to its association with improved relationships with others, but also because it is connected to a less critical, less punishing, and more compassionate relationship with the self.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting of negative stimuli: The role of emotional intensity

Repeatedly retrieving a subset of previously studied items can cause forgetting of related non-retrieved material. We examined whether such retrieval-induced forgetting holds also for negative material. Participants studied neutral and negative stimuli and then repeatedly retrieved a subset of the neutral material. Later, a recall test was conducted in which participants were asked to recall all previously studied items. On average, retrieval practice on the neutral items caused the same amount of forgetting for neutral and negative items, indicating that the emotionality of material does not affect retrieval-induced forgetting. More detailed analysis, however, revealed that the forgetting of negative items decreased with both the emotional intensity of a negative item and the dispositional negative affectivity of a participant. The decreases in retrieval-induced forgetting may have been driven by item-specific processing of material, which is known to be enhanced for highly negative stimuli and participants high in dispositional negative affectivity and to reduce or even eliminate retrieval-induced forgetting.     

The role of honour concerns in emotional reactions to offences

We investigated the role of honour concerns in mediating the effect of nationality and gender on the reported intensity of anger and shame in reaction to insult vignettes. Spain, an honour culture, and The Netherlands, where honour is of less central significance, were selected for comparison. A total of 260 (125 Dutch, 135 Spanish) persons participated in the research. Participants completed a measure of honour concerns and answered questions about emotional reactions of anger and shame to vignettes depicting insults in which type of threat was manipulated. It was found that Spanish participants responded especially intensely to insults that threaten family honour, and that this effect of nationality on emotional reactions to threats to family honour was mediated by individual differences in concern for family honour.     

The Perceived Stress Scale: Factor structure and relation to depression symptoms in a psychiatric sample

The present study sought to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) when administered to psychiatric patients. We also examined predictive validity of the PSS by assessing the association between the Perceived Stress Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. A heterogeneous sample of 96 psychiatric patients (48 men, 48 women) completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Beck Depression Inventory. Factor analysis of the PSS established that the scale consisted of two factors. The first factor was comprised primarily of items reflecting adaptational symptoms. In contrast, the second factor consisted of items reflecting coping ability. Both factors had an adequate degree of internal consistency. Finally, a series of regression analyses predicting depression found that both factors accounted for unique variance in depression scores in women, but only the first factor accounted for unique variance in men. It is concluded that the PSS is a multidimensional and internally consistent measure of perceived stress.This research was supported by Grant 410-91-1690 from the social sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as well as by grants from the Research and Program Evaluation Committee Brockville Psychiatric Hospital.     

Anxiety sensitivity-physical concerns as a moderator of the emotional consequences of emotion suppression during biological challenge: an experimental test using individual growth curve analysis

Anxiety-related responding to, and recovery from, a 5-min 10% carbon dioxide-enriched air presentation among 80 participants with no history of psychopathology was examined. Half of participants were instructed to suppress challenge-induced emotional responses, whereas their matched counterparts were instructed to observe such responses. Responding from immediately post-challenge through a 10-min recovery period was analyzed as a function of Anxiety Sensitivity-Physical Concerns and experimental condition using individual growth curve modeling. Anxiety Sensitivity-Physical Concerns moderated the effect of suppression only on emotion valence during recovery. In terms of main effects, suppression resulted in increased heart rate during recovery and Anxiety Sensitivity-Physical Concerns was positively associated with post-challenge self-reported anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of the potential role of inhibition-oriented affect regulation processes in the etiology of panic disorder.