Age and gender differences in negative affect—Is there a role for emotion regulation?

Elderly people report less negative affect than the young, and women report more negative affect than men. This study investigated whether age and gender differences in negative affect could be explained by emotion regulation, measured as defensiveness and rumination, while controlling for the influence of life events. One-hundred-and-ninety-five young (20–35 years) and 302 elderly (70–85 years) men and women completed the Emotional Control Questionnaire-Rehearsal, Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Profile of Mood States, Beck’s Depression Inventory and List of Recent Experiences. Hierarchical regressions with negative affects as dependent variables showed that age was reduced to non-significance when controlling for defensiveness, and gender was reduced to non-significance when controlling for the interaction between age and gender, which in turn was reduced when entering rumination. Life events also influenced the association between age and negative affect. The results indicate that age differences in negative affect are mediated by defensiveness and life events and that when these two influences are accounted for elderly people score higher on sadness. Gender differences in negative affect were due to the young women’s higher scores on negative affect and this is partly explained by rumination.     

国内关于军人情绪的研究综述

军人情绪是军人心理学中重要的组成部分和研究对象,本文综合国内近年来对于军人情绪的质性与量化研究,阐述了军人情绪的主要特征,分析了军事环境下,各种常见的军人负性情绪及调节、激励手段,并且尝试着提出研究展望。     

On the near miss in public good dilemmas: How upward counterfactuals influence group stability when the group fails

In two studies we investigated the impact of degree of collective failure in a public good dilemma (near miss vs. large miss) on group members' negative reactions (negative affect, attributions of responsibility for the failure, and intention to leave the group). The results show that upward counterfactual thinking has more impact on members' negative responses when experiencing a near miss rather than a large miss. In Experiment 1, the results show that in the case of a near miss (and not a large miss), negative affect and attributions of responsibility were higher when other-focused counterfactuals rather than self-focused counterfactuals were elicited. Negative affect was found to mediate the effect on attributions of responsibility. Experiment 2 replicates these findings on a wider range of negative responses and reveals that the effect of counterfactual thought on willingness to leave the group in the case of a near miss is mediated by attributions of responsibility.     

Bilingualism influences inhibitory control in auditory comprehension

Bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals at suppressing task-irrelevant information. The present study aimed to identify how processing linguistic ambiguity during auditory comprehension may be associated with inhibitory control. Monolinguals and bilinguals listened to words in their native language (English) and identified them among four pictures while their eye-movements were tracked. Each target picture (e.g., hamper) appeared together with a similar-sounding within-language competitor picture (e.g., hammer) and two neutral pictures. Following each eye-tracking trial, priming probe trials indexed residual activation of target words, and residual inhibition of competitor words. Eye-tracking showed similar within-language competition across groups; priming showed stronger competitor inhibition in monolinguals than in bilinguals, suggesting differences in how inhibitory control was used to resolve within-language competition. Notably, correlation analyses revealed that inhibition performance on a nonlinguistic Stroop task was related to linguistic competition resolution in bilinguals but not in monolinguals. Together, monolingual-bilingual comparisons suggest that cognitive control mechanisms can be shaped by linguistic experience.     

An exploration of personality-affect relations in daily life: Determining the support for the affect-level and affect-reactivity views

The two strongest predictors of affect are extraversion and neuroticism. Previous research has demonstrated the extraversion-positive affect and neuroticism-negative affect relations are both strong and positively correlated. To explain these relations, researchers have hypothesized two extensions of the temperament model: the affect-level and affect-reactivity hypotheses of well-being. We used retrospective diaries to examine the support for these hypotheses and, across all three studies, we found strong support for the affect-level model - that is, extraversion predicted a consistent increase in positive affect, neuroticism tended to predict a consistent increase in negative affect. Further, these paths were significant even after controlling for the normative enjoyment and stressfulness of daily activities. In the discussion we describe how these relations provide support for the affect-level model of well-being.     

Trait and state negative affect interactions moderate inhibitory control performance in emotionally loaded conditions

Following the framework that controlled performance is dependent upon cognitive and emotional processes which are inherently inter-linked, effects of trait and state negative affect (NA) on inhibitory control (IC) were studied in two experiments using an emotional day-night task (EDNT) - an inhibition based decision-making task embedded with emotional content. It was hypothesized that the effects of processing negatively loaded stimuli would depend on trait levels of negative and positive affects, particularly in conditions that entail IC. In Experiment 1, EDNT performance was compared with performance of an emotionally loaded control task that required to perform a dominant response rather than to inhibit it. In Experiment 2, EDNT performance was compared with an emotionally loaded control task that required performing an alternative rule which did not involve inhibiting the dominant response. Results of both Experiments showed that participants high on NA trait reactivity showed improved performance while processing ‘sad’ content, only in the inhibitory task and not in either of the control tasks. Results point to an interaction of trait and state factors in IC, and highlight the notion that heightened NA may sub-serve inhibition in sad contexts, which require counter-intuitive operations.     

Multiple commitments in the Chinese context: Testing compatibility, cultural, and moderating hypotheses

This paper evaluates the contribution of the multiple constituencies of commitment framework in explaining work attitudes and behaviors in a sample of Chinese manufacturing workers. Findings suggest that the organization, the supervisor, and co-workers were seen by respondents as separate commitment foci. Although the various commitments were moderately positively correlated, they were related differently to the dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior and withdrawal cognitions, in a way which provides support for the “compatibility” hypothesis. There was only limited support for our “cultural” hypothesis. An analysis of interactions between commitments suggested that commitment to supervisor was a stronger positive predictor of protecting company resources and interpersonal harmony when commitment to work group was lower, providing partial support for our moderating hypotheses.     

Assessing Couple Therapy as a Treatment for Individual Distress: When is Referral to Couple Therapy Contraindicated?

In order to better understand the effects of initial level of psychological disturbance on treatment outcome, a retrospective case control study of 95 couples who received couple therapy was conducted by sorting couples into one of four groups based on the degree of distress reported by individuals at intake: Neither distressed; both distressed; male distressed, female not distressed; female distressed, male not distressed. When partners started treatment with similar levels of disturbance both responded well in couple therapy. However, if the female reported clinical levels of disturbance at intake but her partner did not, outcome for the female was especially poor in contrast to outcomes for females receiving individual therapy. Clinically disturbed males showed significant gains in treatment even when their partners were not disturbed. These suggestive results argue for the possible value of conducting controlled studies of treatment assignment decisions that maximize positive outcomes.     

Maternal positive responses to a distressed infant simulator predict subsequent negative affect in infants

Existing evidence indicates that maternal responses to infant distress, specifically more sensitive and less inconsistent/rejecting responses, are associated with lower infant negative affect (NA). However, due to ethical and methodological constraints, most existing studies do not employ methods that guarantee each mother will be observed responding to infant distress. To address such limitations, in the current study, a distressed infant simulator (SIM), programmed to be inconsolable, was employed to ensure that mothers (N = 150; 4 months postpartum) were observed responding to infant distress. Subsequently, maternal report of infant NA and an early aspect of regulatory capacity, sootheability, were collected at eight-months postpartum, and observational assessments of infant fear and frustration, fine-grained aspects of NA, were collected at 12-months of age. After controlling for infant sex, the proportion of time mothers spent using soothing touch during the SIM task was related to less overall maternal reported NA and sadness at eight-months postpartum. Similarly, greater use of touch was associated with less fear reactivity, and greater maternal use of vocalizations was related to lower infant frustration, at 12-months postpartum. Specific maternal soothing behaviors were not related to infant soothability at 8 months postpartum. Total time spent interacting with the SIM was not related to infant temperament, suggesting that type of soothing, not quantity of interactions with distressed infants, is important for reducing infant NA. The implications of these findings and important future directions are discussed.     

Engagement envers le supérieur et recherche de feedback négatif : le rôle des variables de statut du supérieur

The relationship between employees’ affective commitment to the supervisor and negative feedback seeking is barely explored in the literature. Moreover, the role of the characteristics related to the context where this relationship develops is unknown. In the present article, we examine the relationship between affective commitment to the supervisor and negative feedback seeking using data collected from 250 employees affiliated with organizations operating in the service industry. Three moderating variables were measured: supervisor-organization value incongruence, supervisors’ networking ability, and supervisors’ perceived organizational status. Data analysis through moderated multiple regression indicates that commitment to the supervisor is positively related to negative feedback seeking, and that this relationship is enhanced when the supervisor is perceived to have a low value incongruence with the organization or a weak networking ability. In contrast, supervisors’ perceived organizational status did not exert a moderating role. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on feedback seeking behavior in the workplace.