Curiosity about a positive or negative event prolongs the duration of emotional experience

Some researchers claim that uncertainty prolongs the duration of emotional experiences because uncertainty toward an emotion-eliciting event prolongs attention to that event. However, some results contradict this claim. We assumed that curiosity rather than uncertainty prolongs the duration of emotional experience via attention, and that attention and emotional experience are prolonged only when uncertainty elicits curiosity. This assumption is based on the information gap theory, which proposes that curiosity increases with uncertainty, but that curiosity decreases at a certain level of uncertainty. We conducted a survey study to investigate the relationships among curiosity, uncertainty, attention and duration of positive and negative emotional experiences. The results showed that curiosity, but not uncertainty, prolonged the duration of emotional experiences and the process was completely mediated by attention both for positive and negative emotions. Moreover, uncertainty prolonged the duration of emotional experiences only when uncertainty elicited curiosity, which in turn prolonged attention to the emotion-eliciting event.     

The subjective experience of subjects diagnosed with celiac disease in adulthood

Introduction

Celiac disease is estimated to affect between 1 in 100 and 1 in 300 Caucasian subjects. Many quantitative studies have explored the issues encountered by these subjects; however, few studies have addressed the subjective and experiential dimensions of celiac disease.

Diversité du sens de l’orientation des collégien(ne)s orienté(e)s vers la 3e préparatoire aux formations professionnelles (3e PFP) : le rôle de l’expérience scolaire antérieure

Professional exploration modules are offered to the secondary school students attending a Preparatory to Vocational Training (3rd PVT). They are aimed at the academically weak pupils’ remobilization through the development of a training project in vocational education. Based on the model of plural and active socialization (Malrieu, 2003), this article aims to understand the processes of inter-significance between the meaning of school experience, the relation to learning and the relation to the future which underlines the building of the meaning of orientation of middle school students to the PVT program. One hundred and ninety-nine middle school students from 14 to 16 years old who attend the PVT in vocational schools underwent a computerized questionnaire including 96 items. A hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) differentiates three typical profiles of college students. Though the orientation in the PVT program remains characterized by strong social determinisms (school history and social origin), it seems for a majority of students built on positive representations dependent on the meaning of the previous school experience more than on a projection to the future.     

The persistence of spiritual experience among churchgoing and non-churchgoing Italians: sociological and psychological perspectives

ABSTRACT

The study presented in this article draws on theories and methods developed within the psychology of religion to examine, from a fresh perspective, a problem established within the sociology of religion: the ‘oddity of the Italian situation’. The study employs the notion of openness to mystical experience as an indicator of the level of spiritual awareness among a sample of 1,155 Italians ranging in age from 14 to 80 years. The data demonstrated that, while levels of openness to mystical experience remain quite high among non-churchgoing Italians, these levels are significantly associated with sex, age, religious attendance, and personal prayer. Moreover, the differences between attenders and non-attenders are sensitive to the ways in which aspects of mystical experience are expressed. The dialogue between the psychology of religion and the sociology of religion generates fresh insight into the religious and spiritual landscape of Italy today.     

Affective influences on within-person changes in work performance as mediated by attentional focus

A great deal of research has investigated the performance consequences of affective experiences at work, but the mediating mechanisms that explain these consequences remain understudied. In this study, we used experience sampling method to examine within-person relationships between changes in affective states and episodic performance, as mediated by attentional allocation and regulation. Our findings show that within-person changes in negative affective states have a concurrent association with episodic performance as mediated by reduced attentional allocation and regulation, while positive affective states are associated with better performance, as mediated by enhanced attentional allocation and regulation. Our results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the performance and attentional consequences of affective states at work.     

Sense of agency over thought: external misattribution of thought in a memory task and proneness to auditory hallucination

Previous studies have suggested that auditory hallucination is closely related to thought insertion. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the external misattribution of thought and auditory hallucination-like experiences. We used the AHES-17, which measures auditory hallucination-like experiences in normal, healthy people, and the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm, in which false alarms of critical lure are regarded as spontaneous external misattribution of thought. We found that critical lures elicited increased the number of false alarms as AHES-17 scores increased and that scores of AHES-17 predicted the rate of false memory of critical lures. Furthermore, we revealed that the relationship between AHES-17 scores and the rates of false alarms to critical lures was strictly linear. Therefore, it might be said that individual differences in auditory hallucination-like experiences are highly related to the external misattribution of thought. We discussed these results from the perspective of the sense of agency over thought.     

Alternance et orientation : vers de nouvelles formes d’adhésion à l’apprentissage salarié de niveau V

This study aims at analysing the specificities of the meaning given by apprentices in their first year of CAP (vocational training certificate, level 5) to their school guidance. This survey based on questionnaires to 353 apprentices has allowed to identify through a multi-varied analysis (descending hierarchical classification) 4 different forms of support to learning which must not be systematically linked to sociofamily background and their difficulties in their previous school history. The school guidance toward apprenticeship cannot be explained only by a lack of interest for school. It also arouses some positive forms of mobilization which testify of the way these young people try to rely on this training to give a sense to their life.     

流畅体验、内/外动机、数学焦虑及数学成绩的路径分析

目的：研究旨在考察数学学习中的流畅体验,探讨流畅体验、内/外动机、数学焦虑及数学成绩的关系。方法：招募296名高中生,在数学月考后完成自编考试流畅体验量表、学习动机量表、数学焦虑量表。结果：路径分析表明,存在四条显著路径,即内部动机→流畅状态→数学成绩;数学焦虑→流畅状态→数学成绩;外部动机→流畅状态→数学成绩;外部动机→数学成绩。结论：只有通过考试过程中的流畅体验,内部动机和数学焦虑才能影响考试成绩。     

The development of the Awe Experience Scale (AWE-S): A multifactorial measure for a complex emotion

ABSTRACT

Awe is a complex emotion composed of an appraisal of vastness and a need for accommodation. The purpose of this study was to develop a robust state measure of awe, the Awe Experience Scale (AWE-S), based on the extant experimental literature. In study 1, participants (N = 501) wrote about an intense moment of awe that they had experienced and then completed a survey about their experience. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 6-factor structure, including: altered time perception (F1); self-diminishment (F2); connectedness (F3); perceived vastness (F4); physical sensations (F5); need for accommodation (F6). Internal consistency was strong for each factor (α ≥ .80). Study 2 confirmed the 6-factor structure (N = 636) using fit indices (CFI = .905; RMSEA = .054). Each factor of the AWE-S is significantly correlated with the awe items of the modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES) and Dispositional Positive Emotion Scale (D-PES). Triggers, valence, and themes associated with awe experiences are reported.     

The Competitive Perception

This paper aims to define what competitive perception is. Using Dufrenne's phenomenological analysis of the art spectator's experience, namely the concept of aesthetic perception, I will claim that it is useful to apply this phenomenological approach to the experience of watching sport events. I will argue that the concepts of uncertainty and auto teleology, being two main features in sport competition, are helpful to define competitive perception.