Emotion experience and regulation in China and the United States: How do culture and gender shape emotion responding?

Culture and gender shape emotion experience and regulation, in part because the value placed on emotions and the manner of their expression is thought to vary across these groups. This study tested the hypothesis that culture and gender would interact to predict people's emotion responding (emotion intensity and regulatory strategies). Chinese (n=220; 52% female) and American undergraduates (n=241; 62% female) viewed photos intended to elicit negative emotions after receiving instructions to either "just feel" any emotions that arose (Just Feel), or to "do something" so that they would not experience any emotion while viewing the photos (Regulate). All participants then rated the intensity of their experienced emotions and described any emotion-regulation strategies that they used while viewing the photos. Consistent with predictions, culture and gender interacted with experimental condition to predict intensity: Chinese men reported relatively low levels of emotion, whereas American women reported relatively high levels of emotion. Disengagement strategies (especially distancing) were related to lower emotional intensity and were reported most often by Chinese men. Taken together, findings suggest that emotion-regulation strategies may contribute to differences in emotional experience across Western and East Asian cultures.     

Affect as a motivational state

Using Brehm's (1999) intensity of emotion paradigm, we investigated whether basic positive or negative affect operates like a motivational state. We focused on one of the most basic affects, the sensory affect experienced when eating food. Participants tasted a delicious chocolate truffle (Study 1) or some bitter chocolate (Study 2) and were exposed to either a weak, moderately strong, or a very strong reason for feeling an opposing-valence affect or to no reason. In line with the predictions, the affect that participants reported in response to chocolate functioned like a motivational state as its intensity was a cubic function of the importance of the reason for feeling an opposing affect. We discussed the implications of these findings for the conceptualisation of affect and consider several applications for food advertising and consumer rating research.     

Determinants of the shape of emotion intensity profiles

It has been shown that variability in the shape of emotion intensity profiles can be described in terms of three functional features, namely steepness at onset, skewness and number of peaks. However, it remains unclear which factors account for variability in each of these features. In the present study participants were asked to report intensity profiles of positive and negative emotions on a daily basis. Information was further collected regarding potential determinants of the functional features of the intensity profiles at three levels: trait-, episode-, and moment-determinants. Regarding steepness at onset, it was found for positive and negative emotions that intensity profiles have an especially explosive start when the eliciting stimulus is important, when the stimulus is still present during the beginning of the episode, and, in case of positive emotions, when the participant is an extravert. Concerning skewness, it was found for positive and negative emotions that profiles reach their peak more often towards the end when the eliciting stimulus is important, when the stimulus is absent during the beginning of the episode but present towards the end, and, in case of negative emotions, when the stimulus is uncontrollable. Regarding the number of peaks, it was found that profiles more often have multiple peaks when the eliciting stimulus is absent during the middle of the emotional episode.     

Mood-congruent false memories persist over time

There are two contrasting hypotheses that attempt to explain how emotion perception might be organised in the brain. One suggests that all emotions are lateralised to the right hemisphere whereas the other suggests that emotions may be differently lateralised according to valence. Here these two theories are contrasted, in addition to considering the role of emotional intensity in explaining possible differences in strength of lateralisation across emotions. Participants completed a Chimeric Faces Test for each of the six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise. All emotions showed significant lateralisation to the right hemisphere, however, differences in strength of lateralisation within the right hemisphere were found. Stronger patterns of right hemisphere lateralisation were found for positive emotions and for emotions of higher intensity. The results support the right-hemisphere hypothesis, but suggest that there may be variability in organisation within the right hemisphere across different types of emotion.     

Athletes' inclination to play through pain: a coping perspective

Previous studies have shown how social networks lead athletes to accept pain as a “part of the game,” which generates pressure on athletes to continue competing despite being in pain. Little is known, however, about the potential coping strategies that are related to pain behavior in sport. This study of 205 combat athletes examined whether pain coping strategies, including distraction from pain, praying, reinterpreting pain sensations, ignoring pain, and pain catastrophizing, are related to athletes’ inclination to play through pain. Results revealed that pain catastrophizing led athletes to reduce their physical involvement in their sport activity. Of particular interest was the moderating effect of ignoring pain such that ignoring pain significantly attenuated the negative effect of pain intensity on athletes’ inclination to play through pain. Few studies have tested and supported the contribution of pain coping to the prediction of behavior in real sport situations. By identifying which coping strategies athletes could use to maintain their physical involvement despite being in (sometimes intense) pain, the current study makes an important contribution for tailoring pain management programs for this at-risk population.     

中国、波兰大学生对基于声音线索的情绪知觉*

研究考察了42名大学生（中国21人,波兰21人）对男、女性用5种不同情绪声音（高兴、生气、害怕、难过和中性）表达的中性语义句子的情绪类型和强度判断,从而分析中国、波兰不同文化背景下,个体对基于声音线索的情绪知觉差异。结果表明：（1）中国被试对声音情绪类型判断的正确率以及情绪强度的评定上均高于波兰被试,说明在声音情绪知觉上存在组内优势;（2）所有被试对女性声音材料情绪类型识别的正确率以及情绪强度的评定均高于对男性声音材料;（3）在对情绪类型判断上,被试对害怕情绪识别的正确率高于对高兴、难过和中性情绪,对中性情绪识别的正确率最低;（4）在情绪强度评定上,被试对害怕情绪的评定强度高于对难过情绪,对高兴情绪的评定强度最低。     

Effects of music on vocal stereotypy in children with autism

We examined the effects of manipulating the intensity (i.e., volume) of music on engagement in vocal stereotypy in 2 children with autism. Noncontingent access to music decreased immediate engagement in vocal stereotypy for each participant, but it produced only marginal effects on subsequent engagement in the behavior (i.e., after withdrawal). Manipulating the intensity of music did not produce differential effects on immediate engagement in vocal stereotypy. The implications of the results and applications for future research are discussed.     

Positive effects of low intensity recorded maternal voice on physiologic reactions in premature infants

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of low intensity recorded maternal voice on the physiologic reactions of healthy premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).MethodsPhysiologic responses of 20 healthy preterm infants in the NICU of Shariati Hospital, Tehran, were obtained during a 15 min intervention including three 5 min periods (no-sound control, audio recorded playback of mother’s voice, no-sound post-voice). The intervention was presented three times a day for three consecutive days. During each intervention, oxygen saturation (%, OSPR), heart rate (HR), and respiratory rate (RR) were recorded at 1 min intervals over the 15 min and then averaged over each 5 min period, resulting in 3 averages for each variable for each intervention.ResultsRepeated Measures Analysis of Variance were employed to examine each variable separately. Over the three days, comparison of oxygen saturation over each of the three periods (before, during voice, after) revealed an increase in oxygen saturation during the voice period, compared to the pre-voice period, which persisted over the post-voice period; there were no differences between the voice and post-voice periods. Analyses of the HR and RR data showed a decrease in both variables during the voice period compared to the pre-voice period which persisted over the post-voice period. Again, there were no differences between the voice and post-voice periods.ConclusionExposure to low intensity recorded maternal voice has positive effects on the preterm infants ‘physiologic responses.     

The effect of positive affect on conflict resolution: Modulated by approach-motivational intensity

The motivational dimensional model of affect proposes that the influence of positive affect on cognitive processing is modulated by approach-motivational intensity. The present research extended this model by examining the influence of positive affect varying in approach-motivational intensity on conflict resolution—the ability to resolve interference from task-irrelevant distractors in order to focus on the target. The global–local task (Experiment 1) and letter-Flanker task (Experiment 2) were used to measure conflict resolution. Additionally, the 4:2 mapping design that assigns two kinds of task-relevant stimuli to one response key and two more to another response key was used in these two tasks to dissociate stimulus and response conflict. Results showed that positive affect varying in approach motivation had opposite influences on conflict resolution. The opposite influences are primarily reflected in low approach-motivated positive affect impairing, while high approach-motivated positive affect facilitating the resolution of response conflict. Conversely, the stimulus conflict was slightly influenced. These findings highlight the utility of distinguishing stimulus and response conflict in future research.