Reappraisal and mindfulness: A comparison of subjective effects and cognitive costs

The present study investigated the relative effects of mindfulness and reappraisal in reducing sad mood and whether trait mindfulness and habitual reappraisal moderated the effects. The study also compared the extent to which implementation of these strategies incurred cognitive resources. A total of 129 participants were randomly assigned to receiving training in mindfulness, reappraisal, or no training prior to undergoing an autobiographical sad mood induction. Results showed that mindfulness and reappraisal were superior to no training, and equivalent in their effects in lowering sad mood. Compared to mindfulness, reappraisal resulted in significantly higher interference scores on a subsequent Stroop test, reflecting greater depletion of cognitive resources. Higher trait mindfulness, but not habitual reappraisal, predicted greater reductions in sadness across conditions. The study suggests that although mindfulness and reappraisal are equally effective in down-regulating sad mood, they incur different levels of cognitive costs.     

The effects of valence‐based and discrete emotional states on aesthetic response

There is increasing recognition that consumer aesthetics—the responses of consumers to the aesthetic or appearance aspects of products—has become an important area of marketing in recent years. Consumer aesthetic responses to a product are a source of pleasure for the consumer. Previous research into the aesthetic responses to products has often emphasized exterior factors and visual design, but studies have seldom considered the psychological aesthetic experience of consumers, and in particular their emotional state. This study attempts to bridge this gap by examining the link between consumers’ emotions and their aesthetic response to a product. Thus, the major goal of this study was to determine how valence‐based and discrete emotional states influence choice. In Studies 1 and 2, positive and negative emotions were manipulated to implement two different induction techniques and explore the effect of emotions on participants’ choices in two separate experiments. The results of both experiments confirmed the predictions, indicating that aesthetic responses and purchase intention are functions of emotional valence, such that both are stronger for people in a positive emotional state than for those in a negative emotional state. Study 2 also used a neutral affective state to establish the robustness of this observed effect of incidental affect. The results of Study 3 demonstrate that aesthetic response and purchase intention are not only a function of affect valence, but also are affected by the certainty appraisal associated with specific affective states. This research, therefore, contributes to the literature by offering empirical evidence that incidental affect is a determinant of aesthetic response.     

Attachment representations and adoption: associations between maternal states of mind and emotion narratives in previously maltreated children

This paper reports on associations observed between Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) obtained from adoptive mothers, and emotional themes appearing in doll play narratives obtained from their recently adopted children. The children, aged 4?-?8 years, carried into their adoptive placements a history of consistently serious maltreatment, including neglect and abuse. Results reveal strong and significant influences of maternal state of mind regarding attachment upon their adopted children's story-completions. Mothers whose AAIs were judged insecure (either dismissing or preoccupied) were likely to have adopted children who, three months after placement, provided story-completions with higher levels of aggressiveness as compared to the stories provided by children adopted by mothers with secure-autonomous AAIs. Children whose adoptive mothers provided AAIs indicative of unresolved (as opposed to resolved) mourning regarding past loss or trauma provided story completions with higher scores for emotional themes such as 'parent appearing child-like' and 'throwing out or throwing away'. Results also include a qualitative section that provides narrative excerpts of maternal AAIs and children's story-completions. Discussion concerns the contribution these findings make to the literature on intergenerational transmission of attachment patterns, and the implications these findings have for child clinical work and social policy. Cet article rend compte des rapports observés entre, d'une part, les Entretiens d'Attachement chez l'Adulte auxquels participaient des mères adoptives et, d'autre part, la thématique émotionnelle évoquée lors des récits de jeux de poupée fournis par leurs enfants, adoptés depuis peu. Ces enfants, âgés de 4 à 7 ans, reportent dans leur placement adoptif leur histoire antérieure de maltraitance; constante et sévère, celle-ci englobe carences graves et abus. Les résultats montrent l'influence considérable et significative, sur la manière dont les enfants adoptés terminent leurs récits, des états psychiques maternels par rapport à l'attachement. En ce qui concerne les méres dont le type d'attachement, évalué lors de l'Entretien, est jugé précaire (peu attentionné ou préoccupé), on constate, après trois mois de placement, que l'enfant adopté tend à fournir des fins de récit dont le niveau d'agressivité est plus élevé que celui donné par des enfants adoptés par des mères chez qui le type d'attachement est jugé sûr et autonome. Si l'évaluation de l'attachement chez la mère renvoie à l'existence de deuils non élaborés et de traumatismes, la thématique émotionnelle présentée par son enfant dans ces récits est de type "parent infantile" ou "jeter/rejeter". Les données rapportées comportent une dimension qualitative qui met en parallèle des extraits des Entretiens d'Attachement maternels et les fins de récit proposées par leurs enfants respectifs. Les auteurs discutent ensuite de la contribution que ces résultats pourraient apporter aux travaux concernant la transmission intergénérationnelle des modèles d'attachement. Les implications de cette étude pour le travail clinique auprès des enfants et pour la politique sociale au sens large sont également débattues. Questo articolo presenta le associazioni osservate tra l'Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) sottoposto a madri adottive e tematiche emotive emerse nelle narrative di gioco con le bambole espresse dai loro bambini recentemente adottati. I bambini di eta' dai 4 ai 7 anni portano nelle loro famiglie adottive storie di severo maltrattamento, che includono l'abuso e negligenza. I risultati rivelano che lo stato mentale materno in relazione all'attaccamento ha un' influenza forte e significativa sul completamento delle storie dei bambini adottati. Madri che all'AAI risultavano insicure (sia superficiali che troppo preoccupate) avevano alta probabilita' di aver adottato bambini che, tre mesi dopo l'arrivo, fornivano storie con un maggior livello di aggressivita' paragonato alle storie fornite da bambini adottati da madri con attaccamento all'AAI classificato come sicuro-autonomo. Bambini le cui madri adottive risultano all'AAI avere dei lutti non elaborati (invece che elaborati) riguardanti perdite del passato o traumi producono storie che danno un punteggio piu' alto nelle tematiche emotive come per esempio 'il genitore e' infantile' e 'che respinge o rifiuta'. I risultati comprendono anche una sezione qualitativa che riporta parti delle narrative delle madri al AAI e delle storie raccontate dai bambini. La discussione si sofferma sul contributo che questi risultati portano alla letteratura sulla trasmissione intergenerazionale di modelli di attaccamento e sulle implicazioni che tali risultati hanno per il lavoro clinico con bambini e per le politiche sociali. Dieser Artikel berichtet von Verbindugen zwischen Erwachsenen-Bindungsinterviews (AAIs), die von Adoptivmüttern erhalten wurden und emotionalen Themen, die inm Puppenspielnarrativen bei Kindern, die vor kurzem adoptiert worden waren, auftraten. Die Kinder zwischen 4 und 7 Jahren brachten in ihre Adoptionsplätze eine Geschichte von durchgehend ernster Misshandlung, einschliesslich Vernachlässigung und Missbrauch, mit. Die Ergebnisse zeigten starke und signifikante Einflüsse des mütterlichen Gemütszustands bezüglich Bindung auf die Fertigstellung der Geschichten der Adoptivkinder. Mütter, deren AAI als unsicher ( entweder abwehrend oder besorgt) eingeschätzt wurden, hatten eher Adoptivkinder, die drei Monate nach ihrer Plazierung Geschichten mit einem höherem Grad an Aggressivität herstellten, verglichen mit Geschichten, die von Kindern produziert wurden, die von Müttern mit sicherer-autonomer Bindung adoptiert worden waren. Kinder, deren Adoptivmütter AAIs zeigten, die indikativ für unverarbeitetes (im Gegensatz zu verarbeitetem) Trauern bezüglich vergangener Verluste oder Trauma waren, produzierten Geschichten mit höherem Zahlen von emotionalen Themen wie etwa 'Elternteil, das wie ein Kind erscheint' und 'hinauswerfen und wegwerfen'. Die Ergebnisse schliessen auch einen qualitative Abschnitt ein, in dem Exzerpte der Narrative der mütterlichen Interviews und der Geschichten der Kinder dargestellt werden. Die Diskussion dreht sich um den Beitrag, den diese Ergebnisse zur Literatur der Intergenerationsweitergabe von Bindungsmustern leistet und den Implikationen, die diese Ergebnisse für die klinische Arbeit mit Kindern und für die Sozialpolitik haben.     

The influence of between and within-person hope among emergency responders on daily affect in a stress and coping model

This study reports on daily hope, coping, stress, and affect among 84 fire service members who completed a 21-day diary. Multilevel modeling showed that between-person hope was related to higher positive affect. Three-way interactions were found for within-person hope, stress, and daily coping in the prediction of daily affect. When under high stress and if low in hope, more emotion–expression coping predicted higher next day positive affect whereas if high in hope, more problem-focused coping predicted more positive affect. Within-person hope, stress, and emotion–expression coping interacted to predict negative affect. Findings for the prediction of negative affect necessitate further research to determine if the nature of coping under low hope and low stress is qualitatively distinct from high hope states.     

Level of emotional awareness in the general French population: Effects of gender,age, and education level

The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) developed by Lane et al. ( 1990 1990) measures the ability of a subject to discriminate his or her own emotional state and that of others. The scale is based on a cognitive‐developmental model in which emotional awareness increases in a similar fashion to intellectual functions. Because studies performed using North American and German populations have demonstrated an effect of age, gender, and level of education on the ability to differentiate emotional states, our study attempts to evaluate whether these factors have the same effects in a general French population. 750 volunteers (506 female, 244 male), who were recruited from three regions of France (Lille, Montpellier, Paris), completed the LEAS. The sample was divided into five age groups and three education levels. The results of the LEAS scores for self and others and the total score showed a difference in the level of emotional awareness for different age groups, by gender and education level. A higher emotional level was observed for younger age groups, suggesting that emotional awareness depends on the cultural context and generational societal teachings. Additionally, the level of emotional awareness was higher in women than in men and lower in individuals with less education. This result might be explained by an educational bias linked to gender and higher education whereby expressive ability is reinforced. In addition, given the high degree of variability in previously observed scores in the French population, we propose a standard based on our French sample.     

Parent–child interaction,task-oriented regulation,and cognitive development in toddlers facing developmental risks

The importance of supportive parent–child interactions and the development of regulatory abilities with regard to growth in children's cognitive abilities has been established. This study investigated the longitudinal relations among parental supportiveness, child task-oriented regulation, and cognitive development for low-income children facing developmental risks. Interlocking growth models were fit to these variables based on measurements made when the children were 14, 24, and 36 months of age. Results showed that growth rates of child cognition were related to baseline (14 months) parental supportiveness and changes in child task-oriented regulation. We additionally found that baseline levels of cognition were related to the baseline levels of child task-oriented regulation. This study suggests that both parental supportiveness during infancy and the concurrent development of child task-oriented regulation are related to cognitive development among children facing developmental risks.     

Non-monotonic relationships between emotional arousal and memory for color and location

Recent research points to the decreased diagnostic value of subjective retrieval experience for memory accuracy for emotional stimuli. While for neutral stimuli rich recollective experiences are associated with better context memory than merely familiar memories this association appears questionable for emotional stimuli. The present research tested the implicit assumption that the effect of emotional arousal on memory is monotonic, that is, steadily increasing (or decreasing) with increasing arousal. In two experiments emotional arousal was manipulated in three steps using emotional pictures and subjective retrieval experience as well as context memory were assessed. The results show an inverted U-shape relationship between arousal and recognition memory but for context memory and retrieval experience the relationship was more complex. For frame colour, context memory decreased linearly while for spatial location it followed the inverted U-shape function. The complex, non-monotonic relationships between arousal and memory are discussed as possible explanations for earlier divergent findings.     

The role of honour concerns in emotional reactions to offences

We investigated the role of honour concerns in mediating the effect of nationality and gender on the reported intensity of anger and shame in reaction to insult vignettes. Spain, an honour culture, and The Netherlands, where honour is of less central significance, were selected for comparison. A total of 260 (125 Dutch, 135 Spanish) persons participated in the research. Participants completed a measure of honour concerns and answered questions about emotional reactions of anger and shame to vignettes depicting insults in which type of threat was manipulated. It was found that Spanish participants responded especially intensely to insults that threaten family honour, and that this effect of nationality on emotional reactions to threats to family honour was mediated by individual differences in concern for family honour.     

Counteracting effect of threat on reward enhancements during working memory

Cognitive performance has been shown to be enhanced when performance-based rewards are at stake. On the other hand, task-irrelevant threat processing has been shown to have detrimental effects during several cognitive tasks. Crucially, the impact of reward and threat on cognition has been studied largely independently of one another. Hence, our understanding of how reward and threat simultaneously contribute to performance is incomplete. To fill in this gap, the present study investigated how reward and threat interact with one another during a cognitive task. We found that threat of shock counteracted the beneficial effect of reward during a working memory task. Furthermore, individual differences in self-reported reward-sensitivity and anxiety were linked to the extent to which reward and threat interacted during behaviour. Together, the current findings contribute to a limited but growing literature unravelling how positive and negative information processing jointly influence cognition.     

Relationships among Facial,Prosodic, and Lexical Channels of Emotional Perceptual Processing

This study was designed to address the issue of whether there is a general processor for the perception of emotion or whether there are separate processors. We examined the relationships among three channels of emotional communication in 100 healthy right-handed adult males and females. The channels were facial, prosodic/intonational, and lexical/verbal; both identification and discrimination tasks of emotional perception were utilised. Statistical analyses controlled for nonemotional perceptual factors and subject characteristics (i.e. demographic and general cognitive). For identification, multiple significant correlations were found among the channels. For discrimination, fewer correlations were significant. Overall, these results provide support for the notion of a general processor for emotional perceptual identification in normal adult subjects.