Pathways of Emotional Communication

The phenomena that have been characterized clinically as “unconscious communication” may be accounted for systematically as emotional communication, which occurs both within and outside of awareness. The new formulation is based on current work in cognitive science, extended to account for emotional information processing, not information processing alone, and emphasizes the structure and organization of the multiple modalities of mental processing, rather than the dimension of awareness. The process of emotional communication, as it takes place in treatment (as in all the interactions of life), is accounted for in terms of the referential process, defined within the theoretical context of the multiple code theory. The referential process operates in the patient attempting to express emotional experience, including warded off experience, in verbal form; in the analyst who listens, experiences, and generates an intervention; and in the interaction between the two.     

Emotional Communication and the Unconscious in the Analytic Setting

ABSTRACT

One type of unconscious communication is conceptualized as a form of emotional communication, the channel of communication that conveys information about a person’s emotional state through the nonsymbolic expression of feelings and is experienced as feeling in the receiver. Some of the analyst’s feelings are attuned responses to the patient’s unconscious communications; others are disjunctive and related only to the analyst’s unconscious. Attuned feelings can be identified by their congruence—similarities, consistencies, and analogies—with the patient’s verbal material, which reveals the meaning that the analyst’s feeling has within the patient’s subjectivity. Attuned feelings also have a meaning within the analyst’s subjectivity. Two cases are discussed, one in which the analyst experiences the patient’s unconscious communication within the symbolism of one of her own childhood memories. The other illustrates the risk of confusing disjunctive feelings emanating from the analyst’s own unconscious with unconscious communication from the patient.     

Implications of Technology for Social and Emotional Communication

Abstract

Communication technologies are transforming school psychology training and professional practices. To determine the effect of various communication technologies, this exploratory study contrasted three different communication modalities, including the receipt of messages via video, audio, and text. School psychology students were randomly assigned to those three conditions and asked to interpret the emotional intensity of a message conveyed in a case study concerning sexual and psychological abuse. Results showed different response patterns under the various conditions. Members of the group reading a text of the case study rated the emotional intensity as more extreme than did the members of the video and audio groups, both of whom had nonverbal affective information available to them. Practical implications for training and practice are discussed.     

情感广告的传播效果及作用机制

情感诉求在现代广告中运用非常广泛,并已成为西方广告心理研究的热点问题之一。研究者们重点探讨了情感诉求的作用机制、情感诉求所能达到的传播效果及影响其传播效果的相关因素。文章对这些研究进行了较系统的考察,并提出了现有研究依然存在的一些问题     

Emotional Competence Disorders and Social Communication in Young Victims of Abuse

This research analyses the emotional competence difficulties (measured through emotional intelligence and empathy) and social communication disorders of young victims of abuse. These minors are in residential care centres with protective measures after suffering maltreatment and/or neglect. The relation between their emotional competence and social communication is analysed, as well as the contribution of empathy and emotional intelligence in predicting their social communication. The results indicate that a lack of emotional competence is related to and can predict their difficulties in social communication. The study manifests a scarcity of emotional intelligence, affecting attention, emotional repair and clarity of feelings, as well as a deterioration in affective and cognitive empathy. The minors’ scarce ability to put themselves in the place of others, to understand others’ intentions and emotional states, limits their use of language in social interactions. The research stresses the need to set up intervention programmes aimed at training in interpersonal and intrapersonal emotional competences which can encourage social communication.     

音乐情感交流研究中的透镜模型

介绍了研究音乐情感交流的透镜模型和透镜模型等式及其在音乐教育中的应用。透镜模型旨在解释演奏者如何通过多种或然且部分过剩的线索表达情感,听者如何使用这些线索识别演奏者表达的情感。透镜模型等式（LME）将演奏者和听者线索利用的回归模型联系起来。以透镜模型为理论基础,LME为数学基础产生了用于改善音乐演奏中的情感交流的认知反馈法（CFB）,即在演奏者演奏结束之后,向演奏者反馈其线索利用与欣赏者的线索利用相比较的结果,以提高演奏者与听者线索利用的一致性     

Exposure Through Written Emotional Disclosure: Two Case Examples

Written disclosure is a procedure in which individuals repeatedly write about the most traumatic experience of their lives with as much emotion as possible. Research has demonstrated that, relative to a control writing condition, written disclosure is associated with improvements in physical and psychological functioning. As a result of these findings, there has been suggestion that written disclosure may be used as a primary intervention for psychological distress. In this paper, two case studies are presented in which written disclosure was used as an intervention for trauma-related psychopathology. The written disclosure procedure resulted in significant symptom improvements for one individual but not for the other. Differences between the two cases are highlighted and the strengths and weaknesses of the written disclosure procedure as a stand-alone intervention are considered.     

A Markov Chain Analysis of Emotional Exchange in Voice‐to‐Voice Communication: Testing for the Mimicry Hypothesis of Emotional Contagion

Mimicry is a central plank of the emotional contagion theory; however, it was only tested with facial and postural emotional stimuli. This study explores the existence of mimicry in voice‐to‐voice communication by analyzing 8,747 sequences of emotional displays between customers and employees in a call‐center context. We listened live to 967 telephone interactions, registered the sequences of emotional displays, and analyzed them with a Markov chain. We also explored other propositions of emotional contagion theory that were yet to be tested in vocal contexts. Results supported that mimicry is significantly present at all levels. Our findings fill an important gap in the emotional contagion theory; have practical implications regarding voice‐to‐voice interactions; and open doors for future vocal mimicry research.     

Dimensional Assessment of Emotional Disorder Outcomes in Transdiagnostic Treatment: A Clinical Case Study

Current classification systems for mental disorders emphasize categorical assessment. In the domain of emotional disorders, this is inconsistent with a growing consensus that anxiety, depressive, and related disorders are best conceptualized as variations on shared underlying processes, chiefly heightened negative affect, and aversion to unwanted emotional experiences. Dimensional assessment of transdiagnostic emotional disorder constructs offers advantages for clinical and research applications, including increased parsimony and improved validity, yet there are drawbacks to many dimensional assessment systems for emotional disorders. The case presented in this paper illustrates the potential clinical utility of a new self-report instrument—the Multidimensional Emotional Disorders Inventory (MEDI)—which assesses nine dimensions characteristic of emotional disorders. MEDI scores for a highly comorbid patient are examined over the course of transdiagnostic emotion-focused cognitive-behavioral treatment. At baseline, midtreatment, and posttreatment, the MEDI offered information above and beyond DSM categorical assessment, including detection of subclinical symptoms and symptom change, while remaining parsimonious. Implications for possible use as a treatment planning instrument, integration with categorical assessment, and future research directions are discussed.     

Improving the Emotional Adjustment and Communication Patterns of Incarcerated Mothers: Effectiveness of a Prison Parenting Intervention

Incarcerated mothers at a state prison participated in an eight-session parenting class designed to help them manage the stress of separation from children and to improve communication patterns with children and home-caregivers. In comparison to a waitlist control group (n = 46), inmates who received immediate intervention (n = 60) experienced less parenting distress regarding upcoming visitation experiences; however, waitlist and immediate treatment groups did not differ on other intervention measures. Additional analyses contrasted pre- and post-intervention differences on adjustment measures for inmates from either treatment condition who completed the parenting program (N = 90). After intervention, mothers reported reduced parenting stress, improved alliance with home caregivers, increased letter-writing, and reduction of mental distress symptoms. Large drop-out rates in both subgroups may have reduced the benefits of the random assignment used to form groups. Results support the value of interventions for incarcerated mothers that focus on ways to manage the emotional distress and poor communication patterns associated with being a parent in prison.     

Person‐Centered Emotional Support and Gender Attributions in Computer‐Mediated Communication

Without physical appearance, identification in computer‐mediated communication is relatively ambiguous and may depend on verbal cues such as usernames, content, and/or style. This is important when gender‐linked differences exist in the effects of messages, as in emotional support. This study examined gender attribution for online support providers with male, female, or ambiguous usernames, who provided highly person‐centered (HPC) or low person‐centered (LPC) messages. Participants attributed gender to helpers with gender‐ambiguous names based on HPC versus LPC messages. Female participants preferred HPC helpers over LPC helpers. Unexpectedly, men preferred HPC messages from male and gender‐ambiguous helpers more than they did when HPC messages came from females. Implications follow about computer‐mediated emotional support and theories of computer‐mediated communication and social influence.     

Affectivity,Emotional Labor,Emotional Exhaustion,and Emotional Intelligence in Coaching

This study investigated the relationship among affectivity, emotional labor strategies, and emotional exhaustion, and the moderating effect of emotional intelligence in that relationship. There were 430 NCAA Division I coaches who completed questionnaires measuring affectivity, the forms of emotional labor, emotional exhaustion, and emotional intelligence, which were modified to fit the coaching context. The result indicated that positive affectivity predicted 3 forms of emotional labor. In addition, coaches’ surface acting and genuine expression significantly predicted their emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, emotional intelligence moderated the relationship between surface acting and emotional exhaustion. These results reveal the important role of emotional labor on coaches’ well-being.     

Emotional Policy: Personal Sadness and Anger Shape Judgments about a Welfare Case

When making decisions about a welfare case, it is reasonable for one's thoughts and feelings about the potential welfare recipient to influence the decision. It is less reasonable for one's "incidental" feelings (e.g., sadness or anger arising from an event in one's personal life) to influence such decisions. In two studies, however, data reveal that incidental anger and sadness do in fact carry over, shaping welfare policy preferences. Study 1 found that incidental anger decreased the amount of welfare assistance participants recommended providing relative to neutral emotion, whereas sadness increased the amount recommended. Study 2 replicated the results and found that limiting participants' cognitive resources eliminated the difference between sadness and anger, thus implying that differences in depth-of-thought drove the effects. In sum, the results reveal ways in which: (a) personal emotions carry over to shape preferences for public policies, (b) emotions of the same valence have opposing effects, and (c) differential depth-of-cognitive-processing contributes to such effects.     

Enhancement of Emotional Intelligence,Family Communication,and Family Satisfaction Via a Parent Educational Program

In this study, 156 participants were tested before and after attending an 8- to 10-week parent educational program to check if their scores on general EI, perspective taking anger expression, family communication, and family satisfaction changed. Also, the study aimed to explore how individual factors (i.e., age, educational status, number of children, etc.) as well as general and specific EI skills are related to family communication and satisfaction and if the educational intervention modified their relationships. Results showed that on the completion of the educational intervention, parents had a modest improvement in family communication and satisfaction, and emotional intelligence, and a limited enhancement of perspective taking and anger expression. The main effects of parents’ age, educational level, and number of children were not significant for any of the variables tested. Also, no statistically significant differences were found between the group of parents attending the program for the first time and the group who had attended similar programs more than once. Finally, emotional intelligence was identified as a mediating variable, which partly explained the relationship of anger expression with family communication and family satisfaction, whereas it fully mediated the relationship of perspective taking with the two family-related variables.