Preschoolers' attention and emotion in an achievement and an effect game: A longitudinal study

Understanding positive emotions' shared and differentiating features can yield valuable insight into the structure of positive emotion space and identify emotion states, or aspects of emotion states, that are most relevant for particular psychological processes and outcomes. We report two studies that examined core relational themes (Study 1) and expressive displays (Study 2) for eight positive emotion constructs—amusement, awe, contentment, gratitude, interest, joy, love, and pride. Across studies, all eight emotions shared one quality: high positive valence. Distinctive core relational theme and expressive display patterns were found for four emotions—amusement, awe, interest, and pride. Gratitude was associated with a distinct core relational theme but not an expressive display. Joy and love were each associated with a distinct expressive display but their core relational themes also characterised pride and gratitude, respectively. Contentment was associated with a distinct expressive display but not a core relational theme. The implications of this work for the study of positive emotion are discussed.     

Physiological and subjective effects of Catharsis: A case report

Abstract

The present case report describes the spontaneous occurrence of catharsis in a tense and depressed young woman who participated in a research study designed to investigate ways of increasing the accessibility of emotional memories. During the research she became extremely distressed and showed both somatic and cognitive components of catharsis. Prior to this, subjective and physiological indices of anxiety and tension were evident and marked differences in bilateral finger temperature indicated the presence of pronounced laterality effects. Following catharsis both subjective and physiological measures revealed a substantial reduction in tension and the previously observed laterality effects virtually disappeared. This case report thus describes a rare portrayal of the subjective and physiological effects of catharsis and documents the positive, beneficial nature of the effects observed.     

Searching for emotion or race: Task-irrelevant facial cues have asymmetrical effects

Facial cues of threat such as anger and other race membership are detected preferentially in visual search tasks. However, it remains unclear whether these facial cues interact in visual search. If both cues equally facilitate search, a symmetrical interaction would be predicted; anger cues should facilitate detection of other race faces and cues of other race membership should facilitate detection of anger. Past research investigating this race by emotional expression interaction in categorisation tasks revealed an asymmetrical interaction. This suggests that cues of other race membership may facilitate the detection of angry faces but not vice versa. Utilising the same stimuli and procedures across two search tasks, participants were asked to search for targets defined by either race or emotional expression. Contrary to the results revealed in the categorisation paradigm, cues of anger facilitated detection of other race faces whereas differences in race did not differentially influence detection of emotion targets.     

The Concept of Responsibility: Introduction and Translation

Adrian Hastings, The Church in Africa 1450–1950. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994, xiv+706 pp., 8 maps, $ 45.00 (paperback) ISBN 0 19 826399 6.

Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1995, xi+420 pp., $ 24.00 ISBN 0 8028 08433.

Paul Giord (ed.), The Christian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa. Studies of Religion in Africa: Supplements to the Journal of Religion in Africa, No. 12. Leiden, Brill, 1995, xi+301 pp., $ 101.50 ISBN 9004103244.

Paul Giord, African Christianity: Its Public Role. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1998, viii+368 pp., $ 39.95 (hardback) ISBN 0 253 33417 9, $ 22.95 (paperback) ISBN 0 253 21204 9.

Kwame Bediako, Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1995, xii+276 pp., £18.00 (paperback) ISBN 0 7486 0635 4; New York, Orbis Books, 1995, $ 25.00 (paperback) ISBN 1570750483.     

Doing What Comes Naturally: Recent Work on Thomas Aquinas and the New Natural Law Theory

John Finnis, Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998, xxi+385 pp., $55.00 (hardback) ISBN 0 19 87808 42, $18.95 (paperback) ISBN 0 19 878085 0.

Robert P. George, In Defense of Natural Law. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999, 343 pp., $65.00 (hardback) ISBN 0 19 82677 11, $19.95 (paperback) ISBN 0 19 92429 92     

Connected and Isolated Victims of Relational Aggression: Associations with Peer Group Status and Differences between Girls and Boys

Some adolescents who are relationally victimized by gossip and ostracism have limited close connections to a peer or friendship group, but victimization also can be group-based, occurring between or within friendship groups. The purpose of this study was to test gender differences in these two forms of victimization, referred to as isolated and connected victimization, and to test associations of each form with peer status (social prominence and preference within the peer group) and aggressive behavior. We expected that associations between victimization, especially connected victimization, peer status and aggressive behavior would differ for boys and girls. Australian students (N = 335, M _age = 12.5 years) self-reported victimization, and nominated peers who were victimized, accepted, rejected, socially prominent, and unpopular. Connected and isolated forms of victimization were correlated, but differences were found in their correlations with other measures and by gender. Especially when reported by peers, adolescents higher in connected victimization were also higher in both aggression and social prominence (i.e., they were more popular and considered leaders); yet, they were also more disliked (rejected). In contrast to connected victimization, isolated victimization was associated with negative peer status only, and weakly and inconsistently associated with aggression. Finally, gender moderation was found, which showed a pattern of aggression, prominence and dislike among adolescent females who were connected victims, but this pattern was not nearly as pronounced in their male counterparts.     

Personal mastery predicts pain,stress, fatigue,and blood pressure in adults with rheumatoid arthritis

Among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), stress-associated disease flare can severely impact well-being. Psychological factors such as personal mastery may buffer an individual from the negative effects of those flares. We tested the hypothesis that a high sense of personal mastery would prospectively predict stress reactivity. Measures of pain, perceived stress, fatigue, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were collected before, during, and after two interpersonal stressors conducted on 73 individuals with RA. Factor analysis of the personal mastery scale yielded two independent factors: a 5-item “fatalism” component and a 2-item “control” component. Individuals with high fatalism scores reported overall greater joint pain at baseline and those scoring high on control exhibited lower MAP, and reported less stress and fatigue at baseline. After controlling for baseline differences, those high in control exhibited greater MAP increase during stress, and less drop in pain when compared to those low in control. These results suggest that individuals high in control may be more susceptible to the effects of acute stress; however, the overall beneficial aspects of high control outweigh the acute negative effects. Personal mastery may play a role in the experience of pain, stress, and fatigue for people with RA.     

Understanding the impact of HIV diagnosis amongst gay men in Scotland: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Objectives: Although a wide literature details the psychological impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnosis, it predates the introduction of effective treatment for HIV (i.e. anti-retroviral therapies, ARTs). This article explores the psychological impact of HIV diagnosis in post-ART accounts. This is important, given the recent policy developments which focus upon increasing HIV testing and thus diagnoses.

Design: This study presents a qualitative exploration of the experiential accounts of HIV-positive gay men living in Scotland. A total of 14 HIV-positive gay men took part in open-ended interviews.

Methods: Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed to identify recurrent themes across the interviews.

Results: Our analysis focuses upon the participants’ struggles in adjusting to their HIV status. Diagnosis was a deeply shocking and unexpected experience. Stigma and fear of prejudice dominated their accounts. HIV was understood, variously, as a shameful, fatal and life-changing condition. Overall, within these accounts there was little sense of HIV normalisation.

Conclusions: In Scotland, where HIV prevalence is low, and where no accessible HIV-positive sub-culture exists, there is on-going psychological distress and morbidity amongst gay men testing HIV positive. As HIV-related policy increasingly focuses on increasing rates of antibody testing, there is a need to reduce the psychosocial costs associated with HIV-positive diagnoses.