Brief Report- Adults' Freely Produced Emotion Labels for Babies' Spontaneous Facial Expressions

English-speaking Canadian, Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong Chinese, and Japanese speaking Japanese adults were shown 13 still photographs of the facial expressions of Chinese babies subjected to various emotion-elicitation procedures. Some respondents were asked to give an emotion label of their choice for each photograph, others to judge its pleasant-unpleasant quality. Only facial expressions taken during the “happy”; condition showed agreement by a majority across all three cultural samples on a specific basic emotion. Agreement on the pleasant-unpleasant quality of the baby's expressions was higher, but still varied with culture.     

The within-subjects design in the study of facial expressions

The common within-subjects design of studies on the recognition of emotion from facial expressions allows the judgement of one face to be influenced by previous faces, thus introducing the potential for artefacts. The present study (N=344) showed that the canonical “disgust face” was judged as disgusted, provided that the preceding set of faces included “anger expressions”, but was judged as angry when the preceding set of faces excluded anger but instead included persons who looked sad or about to be sick. Chinese observers showed lower recognition of the “disgust face” than did American observers. Chinese observers also showed lower recognition of the “fear face” when responding in Chinese than in English.     

The bipolarity of momentary affect: Reply to Schimmack

In his commentary on my paper (Yik, 2007 Yik, M. 2007. Culture, gender, and the bipolarity of momentary affect. Cognition and Emotion, 21: 664–680. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Schimmack (2009 Schimmack, U. 2009. Culture, gender, and the bipolarity of momentary affect: A critical re-examination. Cognition and Emotion, 23: 599–604. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] this issue) reanalysed the published correlations and concluded that dialectical thinking moderates bipolarity in rating momentary affect. In this response, I attempt to integrate our interpretations of the data. Overall, bipolarity prevails in all five language groups. At one point of time, when one is happy, one is not sad. The explanations for the small differences provide avenues for future research.     

Mapping the protective pathway of emotional intelligence in youth: From social cognition to smoking intentions

The purpose of this study was to test perceptions of the social consequences of smoking as a mediator of the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and intentions to smoke cigarettes among youth. Upper elementary school students (N = 255, M_age = 10.9 years, 49% male) completed measures of EI, verbal intelligence, smoking-related intentions, past behavior, and perceived social consequences. Mediation was tested using the Sobel test. Perceived social consequences was a marginally significant mediator of the impact of total EI on intentions to smoke (Z = 1.91, p = .057). Follow-up analyses showed that perceived social consequences significantly mediated the effect of 2 EI abilities on smoking intentions: using emotions (Z = 2.02, p = .043) and managing emotions (Z = 2.28, p = .023). The results indicate that the role of higher EI in deterring smoking among youth may be related to social processing ability (i.e., greater perceptions of the negative social consequences of smoking). These findings contribute to a growing body of research demonstrating that EI may reduce cigarette smoking among youth by influencing their social perceptions.     

Neuroticism and Facebook Addiction: How Social Media can Affect Mood?

Abstract

Individuals high in neuroticism experience negative affect and social anxiety, therefore, they may prefer online communications where they are able to portray an idealized image of themselves to attract social support, seek validation, and enhance mood. These motivations may lead to greater social media use and addiction. In this study of Facebook users (N?=?742; 474 females, 268 males) who mostly resided in the United States, we explored the association between neuroticism, Facebook addiction, and negative affect. Our mediation model showed a partial mediating effect of Facebook addiction in predicting negative affect in individuals who were high in neuroticism. In theory, individuals who use Facebook as a tool to improve their mood may actually experience more negative affect due to social overload, jealousy, and envy. Individuals high in neuroticism, who already maintain a higher negative affect than those low in neuroticism, might be particularly inclined towards increased Facebook use, which could deteriorate their mood further. Consequently, individuals and therapists should be aware of the personality traits that could lead to greater Facebook addiction and a higher negative mood. Therapists could encourage users to engage in activities, other than social media use, that can improve mood without leading to addiction.     

Outcomes of Client Transfers in a Training Setting

Although transferring clients from one clinician to another is a common practice in most training facilities and community clinics, there is a dearth of empirical studies that explore the impact on client retention and subsequent therapeutic gains. This study explored client retention following transfer to a new clinician in a COAMFTE accredited master level marriage and family therapy program in a Midwestern university over a period of five years. The researchers analyzed the relationship between client, clinician, and therapy process variables and client retentions following transfer. Although client and therapist variables were not significantly correlated with successful transfers, the number of sessions missed prior to transfer and the numbers of co-therapy transfer sessions were. We conclude that at least four co-therapy transfer sessions are appropriate to optimize successful transfers.     

Vicarious goal satiation

A signature feature of self-regulation is that once a goal is satiated, it becomes deactivated, thereby allowing people to engage in new pursuits. The present experiments provide evidence for vicarious goal satiation, a novel phenomenon in which individuals experience “post-completion goal satiation” as a result of unwittingly taking on another person's goal pursuit and witnessing its completion. In Experiments 1 and 2, the observation of a goal being completed (vs. not completed) led to less striving by the observer on the same task. Given that an actor's strength of commitment affects goal contagion, we hypothesized that such commitment would be an important boundary condition for vicarious goal satiation. The results of Experiment 2 showed that observing stronger (vs. weaker) goal commitment lowered accessibility of goal-related words, but only when the goal being observed was completed. Implications of vicarious goal satiation for goal pursuit in everyday environments are discussed.     

Relations between Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-A scales and Rorschach variables with the scope and severity of maltreatment among adolescents

This study examined preexisting Rorschach (Exner, 2001) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-A (MMPI-A; Butcher et al., 1992) profiles to determine if selected MMPI-A scales and Rorschach variables would jointly associate with the number and severity of maltreatment subtypes (physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional maltreatment) of 157 adolescents (ages 14-17) with documented maltreatment histories. The Maltreatment Classification System was used to systematically code the maltreatment attributes. Six Rorschach variables (MOR, PER, Afr, SumY, SumC', Human Content) were significantly correlated with the number of maltreatment subtypes, but none of the anticipated MMPI-A scales were related. MMPI-A Scale 7 and Rorschach variables Ego, MOR, and PER were jointly associated with physical abuse severity. MMPI-A Scale 0 and Rorschach variables MOR, PER, SumY, SumC', PTI, Human Content, and Texture jointly associated with sexual abuse severity. This study supports the potential for certain MMPI-A scales and Rorschach variables to reflect the impact of adolescents' maltreatment experiences in terms of the number and severity of types of maltreatment experienced. Because both instruments captured different aspects of adolescents' maltreatment experiences, clinicians should consider using both when evaluating the impact of maltreatment on adolescents.     

Racial identification, racial discrimination, and substance use vulnerability among African American young adults

Two studies examined racial identity (RI) as a protective factor against substance use cognitions among African American young adults who either envisioned or experienced racial discrimination. In Study 1, participants envisioned a discrimination or nondiscrimination scenario, and then their willingness to use drugs and an indirect measure of substance use were assessed. Discrimination was associated with higher levels of use cognitions among participants with low levels of RI. In Study 2, participants were excluded or included in an online game (Cyberball) by White peers and then engaged in an RI-affirmation or control writing task. Participants attributed this exclusion to racial discrimination. Excluded participants who did not affirm their RI reported the highest levels of substance use cognitions, especially if they had engaged in higher levels of previous substance use. These findings highlight the importance of RI among Black young adults and the impact of discrimination on health behaviors.