Is depression the past tense of anxiety? An empirical study of the temporal distinction

It has long been recognised that depression and anxiety share a common core of negative affect, but research on similarities and differences between these two emotions is growing. The focus of the current study was on whether the timing of a triggering event can determine whether the dominant emotional reaction is depression or anxiety. It was hypothesised that aversive events in the past would elicit more depression than anxiety, whereas the same aversive events in the future would elicit more anxiety than depression. We created temporally varied versions of vignettes describing aversive events occurring at either time, and asked participants to rate the extent to which the events would elicit feelings of depression or anxiety. Results indicated that adverse past events elicited much higher ratings of anticipated depression and adverse future events elicited much higher ratings of anticipated anxiety. Implications for understanding these two emotions and depressive and anxiety disorders are discussed.     

From affect to feelings and thoughts: from abuse to care and understanding

The capacity of the infant to bear affect relies on the capacity of the caregiver until it has achieved enough strength to perform this task itself. In the case of neglect the necessary strength to contain, metabolize and think about affect so that it may be converted into differentiated feelings cannot develop because of the absence of a caregiver capable of sustaining the infant in its emotional development. Instead a system of defence against affect arises in which the affect itself is perceived as intrusive and abusive. Because of neglect a confusion between abuse and affect is to be observed, with catastrophic consequences for the growing up child. Furthermore neglected children can be seduced by external abuse in the hope of being protected from affect that threatens to feel abusive from within. Paradoxically these children are drawn toward abusive situations in the hope of finding some ongoing shelter from unmanageable affect. A corollary of this is that actual containment comes to feel abusive to them: if they are made to feel affect, they perceive the other, who put them in touch with affect, as abusive: thus affect, abuse and containment are confused. Clinical material will support this thesis.     

Happy babies,chatty toddlers: Infant positive affect facilitates early expressive,but not receptive language

Eighty-three mother–infant dyads participated in this study. Positive affect (PA) broadly, along with fine-grained aspects of PA, was measured at 10 months of age. Language was measured at 14 months. Infant PA predicted expressive, but not receptive, language. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Choice‐making,Expectations, and Treatment Positivity: How and When Choosing Shapes Aversive Experiences

Every day we use products and treatments with unknown but expected effects, such as using medication to manage pain. In many cases, we have a choice over which products or treatments to use; however, in other cases, people choose for us or choices are unavailable. Does choosing (versus not choosing) have implications for how a product or treatment is experienced? The current experiments examined the role of choice‐making in facilitating so‐called expectation assimilation effects—or situations in which a person's experiences (e.g., discomfort and pain) are evaluated in a manner consistent with their expectations. In Experiment 1, participants were initially exposed to a baseline set of aversive stimuli (i.e., sounds). Next, some participants were given expectations for two “treatments” (i.e., changes in screen display) that could ostensibly reduce discomfort. Critically, participants were either given a choice or not about which of the two treatments they preferred. Participants in a control condition were not provided with treatment expectations. Results revealed that discomfort experiences assimilated to expectations only when participants were provided with choice. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and provided evidence against the idea that demand characteristics and choice‐making unrelated to the core task (i.e., choices without associated expectations) could account for the results. Further, Experiment 2 showed that choosing reduced discomfort because of increased positivity about the treatment. Results are discussed in the context of extant research on choice‐making and expectation effects. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship quality,divorce, and well-being: Findings from a three-year longitudinal study

Recent studies indicate that divorce sometimes is positive for subjective well-being, but we lack knowledge about the circumstances under which this is the case. Further, we lack knowledge about the possible different associations between divorce and life satisfaction (LS) vs. positive affect (PA). The current study is based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Change in LS and PA over a three-year period was examined in women who divorced and women who did not divorce (N > 37,000). Relationship quality and relationship status at follow-up were included in the models. The results indicated that divorce predicted higher LS and PA when initial relationship quality was poor. Furthermore, divorce predicted higher PA for women who, after divorce, reported being in a new romantic relationship. The associations between relationship quality and LS and PA were stronger among not-divorced than divorced women, indicating that relationship quality affects LS and PA.     

The hidden cost of value-seeking: People do not accurately forecast the economic benefits of experiential purchases

In spite of the experiential advantage, people consume material items in the pursuit of happiness. We conducted three studies to determine if people commit forecasting errors when deciding between purchasing life experiences and material items. Study 1a showed that people expect life experiences to result in more well-being, whereas material items are forecasted to be a better use of money. However, Study 1b demonstrated that people enjoy greater well-being from life experiences and consider them to be a better use of money. Study 2, a four-week longitudinal study, corroborated this economic misforecast. Study 3 demonstrated that seeking to make good use of one’s money, compared to prioritizing happiness, is more important during material consumption, and when people attempt to maximize economic value, instead of their happiness, they are more likely to consume material items. We suggest that prioritizing value may encourage people to prefer material items instead of life experiences.     

Making space for India in post-apartheid South Africa: Narrating diasporic subjectivities through classical song and dance

Background/purposeDiasporic associations and hometown groups fuel transnational exchanges and circulations. Their role has mostly been understood in terms of broader calculative agendas related to ethnic and national cultural politics. In South Africa, classical Indian singers, dancers and instrumentalists are an important part of these transnational landscapes. This paper focuses on the individual actors giving shape to these flows, and explores how a range of subjectivities is entangled with the materialities and forces present in classical performance spaces.Methods and resultsDrawing on fieldwork in Durban, South Africa, it explores how, and why organising actors assemble the matter of classical performance spaces. The paper also explores interconnections to Bollywood as another emergent diasporic site both in tension and accord with classical Indian performances.ConclusionDrawing from a feminist social practice approach, this paper argues that diaspora associational life is assembled through agents negotiating different gaps and discrepancies arising from the material and affective inhabitation of diasporic worlds.     

领导者情感的作用机制：一个跨层的整合观点

领导者情感能够影响下属个体绩效和团队整体绩效, 但作用机制尚不清晰。基于情感事件理论和情绪传染理论, 在个体层面上, 领导者情感通过情绪传染和领导者行为两条路径影响下属情感, 进而影响下属绩效和工作态度。其次在团队层面上, 个体情感通过情绪传染和交叉影响形成团队情感基调, 通过影响团队过程, 进而影响团队绩效。最后, 文章提出领导者情感的跨层整合模型, 并对未来研究方向进行讨论。     

创伤青少年自传体记忆具体性减少：情感调节还是执行控制受损

结合经典的自传体记忆测验(AMT)和反转-自传体记忆测验(AMT-R)探究创伤青少年自传体记忆具体性减少的原因。首先通过创伤事件终身经历问卷-学生版(LIET-S)和创伤后症状自评量表(CROPS)对630名青少年进行筛查, 然后结合访谈, 并采用儿童事件冲击量表-修订版(CRIES)测量创伤程度, 最终选取有创伤后症状的青少年63名, 分为高创伤组和低创伤组, 另无创伤经历的青少年30名作为控制组。三组被试均参加AMT和AMT-R实验。结果发现, 在AMT中, 创伤青少年表现出自传体记忆具体性减少的特点, 且创伤后症状越严重, 具体性减少越明显; 在AMT-R中, 创伤青少年提取的具体记忆数量与控制组无显著差异。结果表明, 创伤青少年自传体记忆具体性的减少是情感调节的结果。     

Anxiety and Depression in Children: A Preliminary Examination of the Utility of the PANAS-C

Recent research has questioned the validity of identifying depression and anxiety as separate constructs in children. The current investigation examined the usefulness of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) in differentiating between anxiety and depression in children while also providing needed reliability and validity data on the PANAS-C. In addition, the relationship between positive and negative affect and coping was examined. Subjects included 110 third through fifth graders from a semirural public school setting. Children completed the PANAS-C, as well as self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and coping strategies. Moderate item–total correlations and high internal consistency indicated that the PANAS-C has good reliability. Validity results were mixed: a two-factor solution resembled previous studies, and negative affect was associated with avoidance coping strategies whereas positive affect was associated with approach coping strategies, as expected. However, correlations of positive and negative affect, anxiety, and depression scales suggest that positive and negative affectivity are negatively related in children as opposed to separate and independent constructs. Results of the present investigation question the validity of the use of the PANAS-C for differentiating anxiety and depression with this age group and lend support to the possibility that high overlap between anxiety and depression in this age group may be specific for childhood depression.