Mother–Toddler Affect Exchanges and Children's Mastery Behaviours during Preschool Years

This study examined the longitudinal relations of mother–child affect exchanges at 18 months with children's mastery motivation at 39 months. Observation and questionnaire data were collected from mother–child dyads when children were 18 months; 43 mothers again rated their children's mastery motivation at 39 months. Results suggested that after controlling for gender and the corresponding 18‐month mastery aspect, positive affect exchanges had long‐term positive relationships with children's persistence and competence, whereas dismissed affect exchanges had long‐term negative relationships with children's persistence and independent mastery. Findings suggest that children's autonomous mastery‐oriented endeavours have deep roots in their early mother–child affective interactions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Better Days – A randomized controlled trial of an internet-based positive psychology intervention

The internet seems promising for delivering interventions to enhance well-being in a normal population. The aim of this study was to test the effects of an internet-based positive psychology intervention targeting gratitude, pleasant activities, strengths, mastery, acts of kindness, optimism, flow, attributions, and mindfulness. One-hundred and twelve participants were randomized to the intervention and 94 to the control group, and data were collected at baseline, one, two, and six months after intervention onset. The balance of positive to negative affect increased over time among participants in the intervention group (unstandardized beta coefficient [B]?=?0.07, p?<?0.01), as compared to the controls (B?=?0.02, p?=?010). The intervention worked equally well regardless of participants’ gender, age, or education. However, optimism did not mediate the effect of the intervention on affect balance. In conclusion, the intervention had a small, but significant effect on affect balance among healthy adults.     

Continuous loudness response to acoustic intensity dynamics in melodies: Effects of melodic contour,tempo, and tonality

The aim of this work was to investigate perceived loudness change in response to melodies that increase (up-ramp) or decrease (down-ramp) in acoustic intensity, and the interaction with other musical factors such as melodic contour, tempo, and tonality (tonal/atonal). A within-subjects design manipulated direction of linear intensity change (up-ramp, down-ramp), melodic contour (ascending, descending), tempo, and tonality, using single ramp trials and paired ramp trials, where single up-ramps and down-ramps were assembled to create continuous up-ramp/down-ramp or down-ramp/up-ramp pairs. Twenty-nine (Exp 1) and thirty-six (Exp 2) participants rated loudness continuously in response to trials with monophonic 13-note piano melodies lasting either 6.4 s or 12 s. Linear correlation coefficients > .89 between loudness and time show that time-series loudness responses to dynamic up-ramp and down-ramp melodies are essentially linear across all melodies. Therefore, ‘indirect’ loudness change derived from the difference in loudness at the beginning and end points of the continuous response was calculated. Down-ramps were perceived to change significantly more in loudness than up-ramps in both tonalities and at a relatively slow tempo. Loudness change was also greater for down-ramps presented with a congruent descending melodic contour, relative to an incongruent pairing (down-ramp and ascending melodic contour). No differential effect of intensity ramp/melodic contour congruency was observed for up-ramps. In paired ramp trials assessing the possible impact of ramp context, loudness change in response to up-ramps was significantly greater when preceded by down-ramps, than when not preceded by another ramp. Ramp context did not affect down-ramp perception. The contribution to the fields of music perception and psychoacoustics are discussed in the context of real-time perception of music, principles of music composition, and performance of musical dynamics.     

The Impact of Racial Microaggressions on Mental Health: Counseling Implications for Clients of Color

This study examined the relationship between racial microaggressions (subtle and unintentional forms of racial discrimination) and mental health. Results from a large sample (N = 506) indicated that higher frequencies of racial microaggressions negatively predicted participants' mental health and that racial microaggressions were significantly correlated with depressive symptoms and negative affect. Differences in the types of microaggressions experienced by various racial groups (Asian, Latina/o, Black, White, and multiracial) and counseling implications are discussed.     

Emotion processing deficits in the different dimensions of psychometric schizotypy

Schizotypy refers to a personality structure indicating “proneness” to schizophrenia. Around 10% of the general population has increased schizotypal traits, they also share other core features with schizophrenia and are thus at heightened risk for developing schizophrenia and spectrum disorders. A key aspect in schizophrenia‐spectrum pathology is the impairment observed in emotion‐related processes. This review summarizes findings on impairments related to central aspects of emotional processes, such as emotional disposition, alexithymia, facial affect recognition and speech prosody, in high schizotypal individuals in the general population. Although the studies in the field are not numerous, the current findings indicate that all these aspects of emotional processing are deficient in psychometric schizotypy, in accordance to the schizophrenia‐spectrum literature. A disturbed frontotemporal neural network seems to be the critical link between these impairments, schizotypy and schizophrenia. The limitations of the current studies and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Finding Sunshine on a Cloudy Day: A Positive Affect Intervention for Co-Occurring Methamphetamine Use and HIV

Among sexual minority men (i.e., gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men) living with HIV, those who use methamphetamine experience profound health disparities. Affect Regulation Treatment to Enhance Methamphetamine Intervention Success (ARTEMIS) is an evidence-based, 5-session, individually delivered positive affect intervention adapted for sexual minority men living with HIV who use methamphetamine. ARTEMIS was designed to amplify the benefits of evidence-based substance use interventions such as contingency management (CM) with this high-priority population. Delivering ARTEMIS during CM has been shown to assist participants in reducing stimulant use, increasing positive affect, and achieving durable reductions in HIV viral load. We describe the theoretical underpinnings of the ARTEMIS intervention, provide details of the training and session protocols with a case example, and discuss implications for future applications in research and clinical settings.     

记忆加工策略对ECM的影响

该研究采用ECM实验范式,操纵记忆加工策略验证联想网络模型或情绪渗透模型。电影片段诱发被试高兴或悲伤的情绪状态后,被试在有意识记和无意识记加工策略下学习情绪词,然后进行自由回忆。结果：情绪电影片段成功诱发被试高兴或悲伤情绪;被试在采用无意识记和有意识记加工策略学习情绪词时均出现ECM,无意识记加工策略下效应量的大小显著高于有意识记加工策略下效应量的大小,实验结果支持情绪渗透模型。     

Affective Forecasting Errors in the 2008 Election: Underpredicting Happiness

Individuals tend to be very bad at predicting their emotional responses to future events, often overestimating both the intensity and duration of their responses, particularly to negative events. The authors studied affective forecasting errors in the 2008 election in a large sample of undergraduates at Dartmouth College. Replicating past research, McCain supporters overpredicted their negative affect in response to the (future) election of Barack Obama. Obama supporters, however, underpredicted their happiness in response to his victory. Results are discussed with reference to mechanisms proposed to underlie the impact bias, as well as the unique circumstances surrounding this historic election season.