Cognition and Emotion Lecture at the 2010 SPSP Emotion Preconference

One of the most fundamental distinctions in the field of emotion is the distinction between emotion generation and emotion regulation. This distinction fits comfortably with folk theories, which view emotions as passions that arise unbidden and then must be controlled. But is it really helpful to distinguish between emotion generation and emotion regulation? In this article, we begin by offering working definitions of emotion generation and emotion regulation. We argue that in some circumstances, the distinction between emotion generation and emotion regulation is indeed useful. We point both to citation patterns, which indicate that researchers from across a number of sub-areas within psychology are making this distinction, and to empirical studies, which indicate the utility of this distinction in many different research contexts. We then consider five ways in which the distinction between emotion generation and emotion regulation can be problematic. We suggest that it is time to move beyond debates about whether this distinction is useful to a more specific consideration of when and in what ways this distinction is useful, and in this spirit, we offer recommendations for future research.     

Contributions of Functional Neuroimaging to the Study of Social Cognition

ABSTRACT— Increasingly, researchers have been applying the methods of cognitive neuroscience—especially functional neuroimaging—to address questions about how humans make inferences about the mental states of others. At the same time, a number of critics have warned against the use of these new techniques by suggesting that functional neuroimaging has been unable to provide novel insights into the nature of social cognition. Addressing these critiques, this article briefly describes some of the ways in which functional neuroimaging has indeed redirected the study of the social mind, reviewing not only the novel data these techniques have provided but also the ways in which cognitive neuroscience has prompted researchers to consider entirely new questions about the organization of human social cognition. Such questions include whether or not there are cognitive processes dedicated for social thought; what the constituent parts of our social-cognitive system might be; how social cognition overlaps with other mental processes in previously unanticipated ways; and whether social cognition might play a privileged role in the human cognitive repertoire.     

Cognition and Emotion over twenty-five years

In the 25 years since its foundation, Cognition and Emotion has become a leading psychological journal of research on emotion. Here we review some of the ways in which this has occurred. Questions have included how parallel systems of cognition and emotion can operate in emotion regulation and psychological therapies (including the issue of free will), how the cognitive approach to emotion works, how emotion affects attention, memory, and decision making, and how emotion research is moving beyond the individual mind into the space of the interpersonal.     

Alcohol Affects Emotion Through Cognition

Determining how cognition and emotion interact is pivotal to an understanding of human behavior and its disorders. Available data suggest that changes in emotional reactivity and behavior associated with drinking are intertwined with alcohol's effects on cognitive processing. In the study reported here, we demonstrated that alcohol dampens anticipatory fear and response inhibition in human participants not by directly suppressing subcortical emotion centers, as posited by traditional tension-reduction theories, but instead by impairing cognitive-processing capacity. During intoxication, reductions in fear response (assessed via startle potentiation) occurred only under dual-stimulus conditions, and coincided with reduced attentional processing of threat cues as evidenced by brain response (assessed via P3 event-related potentials). The results are consistent with higher cortical mediation of alcohol's effects on fear, and illustrate more broadly how disruption of a cognitive process can lead to alterations in emotional reactivity and adaptive behavior.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Sociological Contributions to the Understanding of Emotion

Motivation and Emotion -     

中国古代心理学思想中的知情问题

当今心理学有关知和情的概念众说纷纭,莫衷一是。鉴于行文的方便,这里先给知和情作如下界定：“知”的外延包括人类的认识过程、智力水平、知识积累和才能技艺等;“情”的内容包括情感、兴趣、意志、性格,甚至包含道德品质等。两者都是广义的概念。实质上,现在国内外心理学界特别是认知学派均持此种看法。在许多学校的道德教育和课堂教学过程中,对于知情这一对范畴的关系远未处理好：有的是重知轻情,有的是重情轻知,更有甚者把两者对立起来。我国古代许多思想家在其著作和言论中常涉及对知情关系特别是知情统一关系的看法。现拟对此种思想做一个简单的介绍,以期对当前的道德教育与课堂教学工作有所启发。     

情绪、边框影响决策认知过程的实验研究

借用问题空间,通过实验探讨情绪、边框对决策认知过程的影响,以进一步考察边框效应的本质特点。结果如下：情绪、边框均独立对决策认知过程产生影响;积极、消极信息导致不同的加工方式;积极信息既利于节省认知资源,又利于作出符合当前环境的决策。     

情绪与认知关系研究发展概况

情绪与认知的关系长期存在着谁主谁从和谁为首因的争议,近期感情神经科学对两者的关系取得了突破性进展。通过从古希腊哲学思想入手分析和介绍中世纪、近现代各个历史时期学者们的不同观点,从而使我们了解情绪与认知从主-从关系、彼此独立的关系、相互作用的关系到互倚关系的艰难认识历程。     

自闭症幼儿的情感认知特点的实验研究

本实验采用3(组别)×4(基本情绪)×3(实验材料)×2(实验条件)的混合设计的方法对平均心理年龄24个月的6名自闭症幼儿和心理年龄与之相近的6名正常儿童和6名弱智儿童的情感认知特点进行了比较性的研究。实验结果表明:在“语言提示”条件下,自闭症幼儿的正答率远远低于正常儿童和弱智儿童,但在“表情提示”条件下,自闭症幼儿与弱智幼儿几乎没差距,在对“愤怒”和“惊恐”等情绪的认知中,正答率高于弱智幼儿。这意味着自闭症幼儿可能运用了其他的替代策略进行情感认知。     

The Development of Anxiety Disorders: Considering the Contributions of Attachment and Emotion Regulation

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders in childhood. Nonetheless, theoretical knowledge of the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety disorders is still in its infancy. Recently, research has begun to investigate the influence of emotion regulation on anxiety disorders. Although a relation between anxiety disorders and emotion regulation difficulties has been demonstrated, little attention has been given to the question of why anxious individuals have difficulties regulating their emotions. The present review examines the evidence of the link between emotion regulation and anxiety. It also explores the unique contributions of attachment style and dysfunctional emotion regulation to the development of anxiety disorders.     

Correction to: Unique Contributions of Maternal Prenatal and Postnatal Emotion Dysregulation on Infant Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology -     

Unique Contributions of Maternal Prenatal and Postnatal Emotion Dysregulation on Infant Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Prenatal intrauterine exposures and postnatal caregiving environments may both shape the development of infant parasympathetic nervous system...     

Continuity in Emotion Knowledge from Preschool to Middle-Childhood and Relation to Emotion Socialization

This longitudinal study examined the preschool correlates of middle school children's knowledge of emotional display rules. Participants included 50 children (29 girls) who were seen at preschoolage and again 4 years later. A total of 91% of the children were Caucasian, 4.5% were Mexican American, and 4.5% were Asian American. During the preschool period, measures included children's knowledge of facial expressions, knowledge of emotion-eliciting situations, and emotional role-taking ability. In addition, the rate at which their mothers explained the causes of emotions was assessed. Four years later, the children's knowledge of emotional display rules was assessed. The display rule measures included expression regulation knowledge (i.e., whether the children altered the facial expression relative to the internal feeling without providing a motive), self-protective display rules, and prosocial display rules. Results revealed that preschoolers' situation knowledge was a negative predictor of expression regulation knowledge and that emotional role-taking was inversely related to knowledge of self-protective display rules. The results also demonstrated that the rate at which mothers' explained emotions to their children as preschoolers was positively associated with expression regulation knowledge and knowledge of prosocial display rules.