The effects of physical contact and decision type on moral decision making: A study of harm to save moral behavior

This study examined the relationship between physical contact and decision type in predicting “harm to save” behavior. Participants were assigned to making either a judgment or a choice involving moral dilemmas. All participants were presented with dilemmas that either required or did not require having physical contact with potential victims. Participants were asked to decide whether to sacrifice fewer people to save more (utilitarian responses) or not to do so and thus more people would die (deontological responses). The study sample included 345 participants who completed a set of self‐report measures. Results indicated an interaction between physical contact and decision type. In the choice condition only, participants reported significantly less utilitarian responses to the dilemmas that required having physical contact with the person to be harmed than to dilemmas that did not require physical contact. This difference was not found in the judgment condition. These results contribute to a greater understanding of the nature and potential malleability of human morality.     

老年人对情绪性事件的情景模拟:回忆过去与想象未来

研究采用自传体访谈技术,首次考察了老年人在对情绪性事件进行回忆和想象中生成的内部细节和外部细节数量,及其对回忆和想象内容的主观评估。结果发现:(1)无论是回忆还是想象任务,老年人都比年轻人提供了更少的内部细节和略多的外部细节;(2)与年轻人相似,老年人在想象未来积极事件时产生了更多的内部细节,表现出对积极信息的加工偏好;(3)老年人比年轻人更倾向于认为想象的事件与过去发生的事件相似度高,表明该群体在想象过程中更多地依赖了过去的记忆。该结果揭示了老年人对情绪性事件的回忆和想象特点,说明在回忆和想象过程中出现的与年龄有关的缺陷同样会体现在情绪性事件中,这很好地支持了建构性情景模拟假说。     

What's parenting got to do with it: emotional autonomy and brain and behavioral responses to emotional conflict in children and adolescents

Healthy parenting may be protective against the development of emotional psychopathology, particularly for children reared in stressful environments. Little is known, however, about the brain and behavioral mechanisms underlying this association, particularly during childhood and adolescence, when emotional disorders frequently emerge. Here, we demonstrate that psychological control, a parenting strategy known to limit socioemotional development in children, is associated with altered brain and behavioral responses to emotional conflict in 27 at‐risk (urban, lower income) youth, ages 9–16. In particular, youth reporting higher parental psychological control demonstrated lower activity in the left anterior insula, a brain area involved in emotion conflict processing, and submitted faster but less accurate behavioral responses—possibly reflecting an avoidant pattern. Effects were not replicated for parental care, and did not generalize to an analogous nonemotional conflict task. We also find evidence that behavioral responses to emotional conflict bridge the previously reported link between parental overcontrol and anxiety in children. Effects of psychological control may reflect a parenting style that limits opportunities to practice self‐regulation when faced with emotionally charged situations. Results support the notion that parenting strategies that facilitate appropriate amounts of socioemotional competence and autonomy in children may be protective against social and emotional difficulties.     

Influence of expressed emotion and perceived criticism on cognitive-behavioral therapy for social phobia

This study examined significant others' expressed emotion (EE) and a closely related construct, perceived criticism, as predictors of cognitive-behavioral therapy outcome in a sample of 40 patients with social phobia (social anxiety disorder). Patients enrolled in group therapy for social phobia completed pre- and post-treatment questionnaire measures of perceived criticism and anxious and depressive symptoms. Designated significant others were assessed for the components of high EE (criticism, hostility and emotional overinvolvement) using the Camberwell Family Interview. It was hypothesized that these high-EE components and patients' perceived criticism would be associated with poorer treatment outcome, and results ran counter to these expectations. Controlling for initial social phobia severity, lower levels of perceived criticism predicted treatment dropout. There was also a nonsignificant trend for participants with a significant other rated as high in emotional overinvolvement to show less change on a composite symptom measure. Findings from this study suggest that close relationships impact the outcome of cognitive-behavioral interventions for social phobia.     

New developments in emotion regulation with an emphasis on the positive spectrum of human functioning

There is converging evidence from several psychological fields on the ways in which individuals engage in specific strategies to modify, alter, or accept their emotional experiences to obtain more desirable outcomes. The current Special Issue is dedicated to a series of examinations on how these self-regulatory strategies can promote resilience, create and sustain positive moods and intrinsic motivation, and aid in the repair of different negative emotions. The content of these articles are briefly reviewed in the context of additional ideas for scientific advancements in understanding and developing positive health.     

Fictions,feelings, and emotions

Many philosophers suggest (1) that our emotional engagement with fiction involves participation in a game of make-believe, and (2) that what distinguishes an emotional game from a dispassionate game is the fact that the former activity alone involves sensations of physiological and visceral disturbances caused by our participation in the game. In this paper I argue that philosophers who accept (1) should reject (2). I then illustrate how this conclusion illuminates various puzzles in aesthetics and the philosophy of mind.     

中小学生的情绪表达方式认知及其与同伴接纳的关系

本研究采用D.Matsumoto等编制的情绪表达规则评估问卷,探讨了237名中小学生情绪表达方式的认知发展,并通过同伴提名法选择了192名同伴关系良好和同伴关系不良的中学生为被试,探讨了情绪表达方式认知与同伴接纳的关系。结果表明:情绪类型与情境类型对中小学生多种情绪表达方式的认知具有主效应;中小学生的情绪表达向更具有社会效益方向发展,对自我和他人情绪表达存在认识分化,并随年龄而增加;同伴关系不良的中学生在情绪表达的认知上存在发展滞后。     

情绪社会分享的研究现状与发展趋势

情绪事件发生后,人们倾向自愿与他人分享自己的情绪体验,这种现象表现出普遍性、时间性、传播性和限制性等特征。事件的情绪强度、道德属性、情绪分享对象的反应等影响情绪社会分享。情绪社会分享有助于人们调节情绪,检验情绪体验的社会一致性,建构情绪意义,促进人际关系的建立、维持和协调,以及社会秩序的构建等。最后,文章从情绪社会分享的主动调控、情绪社会比较以及情绪社会分享发生的人际网络环境展望了该研究领域     

A contribution towards an analytic theory of violence

Abstract This paper considers some of the clinical and theoretical problems contingent upon the imprecision and lack of clarity with which the word and concept 'violence' is used. A definition of violence is proposed, which separates the concept of violence from the related concept of aggression and sees the former as a particular form of the latter. This definition also proposes that violence must always have a psychological component aspect. It is contended that clarity is important clinically so that analysts can distinguish psychologically destructive from psychologically creative elements in their patients, in their own psychological functioning and in the countertransference. The phenomenon of violence is considered in the light of Fordham's model of development, in particular that violence may be viewed as a consequence of a failure to integrate normal, aggressive aspects of the personality. Violence is seen as uncontained, split-off aggression, subjected to psychological projection. It is proposed that a particular quality of the experience that is being projected is an uncontained sense of violation. The notion of 'mindless violence' is considered.     

观点采择在内隐情绪加工中的调节作用

观点采择对人们加工情绪具有明显的影响。已有研究发现人们对负性情绪信息存在加工偏向, 且观点采择对外显情绪的加工具有调节作用。但观点采择如何影响内隐情绪的加工尚不清楚。为了考察观点采择对内隐情绪加工的影响, 当前研究要求被试分别通过自我视角和他人视角完成情绪图片(中性图片和负性图片)的形状辨别任务, 同时记录其脑电活动。成分分析的结果显示, 与他人视角条件相比, 自我视角条件下加工负性信息引发了更大的额部及中央的N200 (180~220 ms)和顶区的LPC (267~567 ms)波幅。相位锁定的时频分析结果显示, 刺激呈现后0 ms 至300 ms时间窗口内, 在自我视角条件下, 负性信息的加工引发了显著增大的theta (4~8 Hz)节律的能量活动。成分分析和时频分析的结果均表明, 自我视角条件对负性信息加工具有启动效应, 他人视角条件则抑制了对负性信息的加工, 说明观点采择对内隐情绪加工具有调节作用, 反映了人不仅能够区分环境中潜在的危险信息, 而且能通过观点采择区分自我与他人。