Facial emotion recognition,guilt and sub-clinical psychopathic traits: an exploration of mediation effects

Psychopathic traits are associated with a variety of emotional difficulties, including poor facial emotion recognition (FER) and reduced capacity to experience guilt. However, the potential mechanisms through which FER and low guilt-proneness are related to the development of psychopathic traits are not well understood. Using a non-clinical sample (N?=?747), this study investigated the relationship between psychopathic traits, FER ability and guilt-proneness by exploring two alternative mediation models investigating: (a) the mediating effect of FER ability on the relationship between psychopathic traits and guilt-proneness, and (b) the mediating effect of psychopathic traits on the relationship between FER ability and guilt-proneness. FER ability did not significantly mediate the relationship between psychopathic traits and guilt-proneness. However, psychopathic traits did partially mediate the relationship between FER and guilt-proneness for the sad, angry, fearful and disgusted expressions. These findings suggest that psychopathic traits are related to a disruption in typical affective processing and the development of pro-social moral self-conscious emotions.     

Heightened sensitivity to emotional expressions in generalised anxiety disorder,compared to social anxiety disorder,and controls

Few studies have examined potential differences between social anxiety disorder (SAD) and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) in the sensitivity to detect emotional expressions. The present study aims to compare the detection of emotional expressions in SAD and GAD. Participants with a primary diagnosis of GAD (n?=?46), SAD (n?=?70), and controls (n?=?118) completed a morph movies task. The task presented faces expressing increasing degrees of emotional intensity, slowly changing from a neutral to a full-intensity happy, sad, or angry expressions. Participants used a slide bar to view the movie frames from left to right, and to stop at the first frame where they perceived an emotion. The frame selected thus indicated the intensity of emotion required to identify the facial expression. Participants with GAD detected the onset of facial emotions at lower intensity of emotion than participants with SAD (p?=?0.002) and controls (p?=?0.039). In a multiple regression analysis controlling for age, race, and depressive symptom severity, lower frame at which the emotion was detected was independently associated and GAD diagnosis (B?=?–5.73, SE?=?1.74, p?相似文献   

Intersectional Masculinities and Gendered Political Consciousness: How Do Race,Ethnicity and Sexuality Shape Men’s Awareness of Gender Inequality and Support for Gender Activism?

Gendered political consciousness refers to having an awareness of gender inequality, viewing this inequality as illegitimate, and supporting collective efforts to bring about greater gender equality. The present study draws from social psychology, theories of masculinities, and intersectionality to assess the factors associated with men’s political consciousness of gender. Multivariate regression analyses of data from the U.S.-based 2012 Evaluations of Government and Society Study (N?=?598) (American National Election American National Election Study 2012) highlights how social statuses of race/ethnicity and sexuality—along with beliefs about racial/ethnic and sexuality-based inequalities—correlate with men’s awareness of gender inequality and support for women fighting for greater gender equality. Results show that Non-Hispanic Black men and married men are significantly more likely than are non-Hispanic White men and unmarried men to see high levels of gender inequality. Men who see high levels of racial/ethnic and sexuality-based inequalities are also significantly more likely to perceive high levels of gender inequality. Bivariate analyses show that Non-Hispanic Black men, as well as men who see high levels of other inequalities, are also more likely than are other men to support women fighting for greater gender equality, but in multivariate regression models these effects are eclipsed by political ideology—the single best predictor of men’s support for women fighting for gender equality. Results underscore the need to differentiate awareness of gender inequality and support for efforts to challenge gender inequality, and they highlight the potential of intersectionality for conceptualizing men’s gendered political consciousness.     

Predicting policy attitudes from general prejudice versus specific intergroup emotions

How are people’s social policy attitudes related to their affective reactions to the social groups affected by those policies? From a threat-based perspective, specific emotions toward a group—above and beyond general prejudice toward that group—should predict attitudes toward a policy affecting the group. To test this, 128 participants reported their support for four social policies, their general and specific affective reactions to each affected group, and the threats ostensibly posed by that group. Although general prejudice failed to predict each policy attitude after controlling for the specific emotions, specific emotions did indeed significantly predict each policy attitude after controlling for general prejudice. Moreover, these specific emotions tended to mediate predicted relationships between perceived threats and policy attitudes. In all, these results highlight the benefits of assessing specific intergroup emotions as they relate to political arenas.     

“STANDING APART IN THE SHELTER OF THE CITY WALL”: THE CONTEMPLATIVE IDEAL VS. THE POLITICALLY ENGAGED PHILOSOPHER IN PLATO'S POLITICAL THEORY

Natural philosophers seem to have good reasons to prefer that the kallipolis, the maximally just community of the Republic, is never realized. If such a community is realized, philosophers are under the obligation of a just demand that they govern. However, a life that contains governance as a significant part is not the happiest life a philosopher can live. The happiest life for a philosopher is one consisting entirely or largely in philosophical contemplation. I confront this puzzle by arguing that natural philosophers gain benefits in the kallipolis that are not available to them in other communities, primarily opportunities for correction and punishment. While other communities may offer philosophers more opportunities for philosophical contemplation, these communities do not provide a reliable mechanism for counteracting potentially dangerous moral blindness. In contrast to other communities, the kallipolis institutionalizes and reliably replicates the structures necessary for counteracting moral blindness.     

The interface of mental and emotional health and pregnancy in urban indigenous women: Research in progress

Research among indigenous women in Australia has shown that a number of lifestyle factors are associated with poor obstetric outcomes; however, little evidence appears in the literature about the role of social stressors and mental health among indigenous women. The not‐for‐profit organization beyondblue established a “Depression Initiative” in Australia. As part of this they provided funding to the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service in the “Mums and Babies” clinic. The aim of this was to establish a project to (a) describe the mental health and level of social stressors among antenatal indigenous women and (b) assess the impact of social stressors and mental health on perinatal outcome. A purposive sample of 92 indigenous women was carried out. Culturally appropriate research instruments were developed through consultations with indigenous women's reference groups. The participants reported a range of psychosocial stressors during the pregnancy or within the last 12 months. Significant, positive correlations emerged between the participants' Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; J. Cox, J. Holden, & R. Sagovsky, 1987) score and the mothers' history of child abuse and a history of exposure to domestic violence. A more conservative cutoff point for the EPDS (>9 vs. >12) led to 28 versus 17% of women being identified as “at risk” for depression. Maternal depression and stress during pregnancy and early parenthood are now recognized as having multiple negative sequelae for the fetus and infant, especially in early brain development and self‐regulation of stress and emotions. Because of the cumulative cultural losses experienced by Australian indigenous women, there is a reduced buffer to psychosocial stressors during pregnancy; thus, it is important for health professionals to monitor the women's emotional and mental well‐being.     

Mind over Body? The Combined Effect of Objective Body Weight, Perceived Body Weight, and Gender on Illness-Related Absenteeism

This study examined the combined effect of objective and subjective body weight, as well as gender, on illness-related absenteeism. A sample of 162 Hong Kong white-collar employees was surveyed. Using hierarchical regression analysis, we were able to confirm our hypotheses, derived from the objectified body consciousness (OBC) theory, that the positive relationship between objective body weight and illness-related absenteeism is significant among women, not men; and only among those women who consider themselves obese (as opposed to those who do not). This finding supports the concept that a woman’s perception of weight affects whether obesity is more strongly related to illness-related absenteeism.     

Sources of self-esteem: From theory to measurement and back again

According to some conceptions, self-esteem possesses a moral dimension; according to others, it does not. According to some, the realism of the self-evaluation matters; according to others, it does not. For some investigators, narcissism is just high self-esteem; for others, narcissism involves internal conflicts within one's self-evaluation, which is strongly dependent on admiration extracted from other people. The best known procedure for measuring self-esteem has been a 10 question survey introduced by Rosenberg in 1965. Along with other insensitivities and biases, the Rosenberg scale fails to respond to the different high-level values or “sources” that are constitutive of self-esteem for different individuals. A person's self-esteem can be contingent on internal sources (such as independent thinking, productive projects, and moral commitments), or on external sources (such as fame, wealth, physical appearance, or the approval of peers). A study reported here investigated the relationships among global explicit self-esteem (as assessed with the Rosenberg scale), reliance on internal sources of self-esteem (measured with the Self-Esteem Sentence Completion Instrument), reliance on several external sources (via the External Sources of Self-Esteem scale), and narcissistic tendencies (as per the Narcissistic Personality Inventory). The participants were 97 undergraduate college students enrolled in psychology courses. Rosenberg and NPI scores displayed different patterns of correlation with various subscales of the ESOSES, raising the prospect that profiles of various external sources will enable us to differentiate between self-esteem and narcissism. Meanwhile, scores on the SESCI were not significantly related to any other variable, except for a mild negative correlation with the success recognition subscale of the ESOSES—an outcome that raises both theoretical and measurement questions about internal sources. Contrary to frequent assumptions of direct rivalry, reliance on internal sources of self-esteem may be largely independent of reliance on external sources. At the same time, however, more work obviously needs to be done on measuring internal sources of self-esteem, both explicit and implicit.     

Changes in personality in pre‐ and post‐dialectical behaviour therapy borderline personality disorder groups: A question of self‐control

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is an evidence‐based therapy for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Past research has identified behavioural changes indicating improved functioning for people who undergo DBT. To date, however, there has been little research investigating the underlying mechanism of change. The present study utilised a between‐subjects design and self‐report questionnaires of Self‐Control and the five factor model of personality and drew participants from a metropolitan DBT program. We found that pre‐treatment participants were significantly lower on Self‐Control, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness when compared to both the post‐treatment assessment and the norms for each questionnaire. Neuroticism was significantly higher both before and after treatment when compared to the norms. These findings suggest that Self‐Control may play a role in both the presentation of this disorder and the effect of DBT. High levels of Neuroticism lend weight to the Linehan biosocial model of BPD development.     

Recombinative generalization of subword units using matching to sample

The purpose of the current study was to develop and test a computerized matching-to-sample (MTS) protocol to facilitate recombinative generalization of subword units (onsets and rimes) and recognition of novel onset-rime and onset-rime-rime words. In addition, we sought to isolate the key training components necessary for recombinative generalization. Twenty-five literate adults participated. Conditional discrimination training emerged as a crucial training component. These findings support the effectiveness of MTS in facilitating recombinative generalization, particularly when conditional discrimination training with subword units is used.