Coherence between emotional experience and physiology: does body awareness training have an impact?

Two fundamental issues in emotion theory and research concern: (a) the role of emotion in promoting response coherence across different emotion systems; and (b) the role of awareness of bodily sensations in the experience of emotion. The present study poses a question bridging the two domains; namely, whether training in Vipassana meditation or dance, both of which promote attention to certain kinds of bodily sensations, is associated with greater coherence between the subjective and physiological aspects of emotion. We used lag correlations to examine second-by-second coherence between subjective emotional experience and heart period within individuals across four different films. Participants were either: (a) experienced Vipassana meditators (attention to visceral sensations), (b) experienced dancers (attention to somatic sensations), and (c) controls with no meditation or dance experience. Results indicated a linear relationship in coherence, with meditators having highest levels, dancers having intermediary levels, and controls having lowest levels. We conclude that the coherence between subjective and cardiac aspects of emotion is greater in those who have specialized training that promotes greater body awareness.     

Early life events as discriminators of socialized and undersocialized delinquents

The relationship between early life events and the socialized and undersocialized dimensions of conduct disorder was investigated. Subjects were 40 incarcerated male delinquents and their mothers. The mothers were administered the Children's Life Events Questionnaire and the Developmental Questionnaire. Youths were administered the Adolescent Parent Relations Scale. The results indicated that the undersocialized delinquents had a greater number of stressful life events during their first 4 years of life than did the socialized delinquents. Discriminant function analysis indicated that stressful life events during the 2nd and 4th years were the most important predictors of membership in the undersocialized group. The discriminant function generated was able to classify 82.5% of the sample correctly. The remaining variables did not significantly discriminate the groups.     

Science Conversations during Family Book Reading with Girls and Boys in Two Cultural Communities

ABSTRACT

Family conversations about science-related topics, including those involving storybook reading, may set the stage for children’s interest in science. We investigated how parents from two cultural backgrounds engaged in science talk while reading a science-related storybook with their preschool-aged daughters and sons. Consistent with our commitment to avoid deficit thinking, our questions focus on variability within a group of European-American parents and a group of Latine parents, rather than comparing groups. Our sample included 38 European-American families (20 girls), and 27 Latine families (12 girls) from three coastal regions of California, varying in educational background. Our results indicate that parents from both groups read most of the text, had conversations beyond the text, and specifically engaged in science talk when elaborating beyond the book with their children. European-American parents with 12–16 years of schooling engaged in science talk more with boys than with girls, whereas the science talk of European-American parents with more than 16 years of schooling did not differ by children’s gender. Latine parents did not differ significantly in their science talk by years of parents’ schooling or by children’s gender. Results are discussed as they relate to current conversations about early socialization of science interest and engagement for boys and girls in diverse families.