Does graduation give rise to increased poignancy? Moderation roles of university identity and emotion regulation

Cross-sectional (Study 1) and longitudinal (Study 2) designs were used to examine the relationship between graduation and poignancy (i.e. feeling both happy and sad at the same time). Participants included college students who completed a short emotion checklist, and measures of university identity and emotion regulation strategies. Students who were about to graduate, experienced a higher level of poignancy than those who were further away from graduation. Yet, university identity and emotion regulation moderated this relationship. Students with a higher level of university identity and those with a lower level of emotional suppression experienced a higher level of poignancy when approaching graduation. These findings not only provide support for the postulate of socioemotional selectivity theory that anticipated endings increase poignancy, but also qualify it in terms of the moderators.     

Coupling and decoupling of unfairness and anger in ultimatum bargaining

Although previous research has demonstrated the importance of emotions in ultimatum bargaining, this research provides a more direct, convergent test of the role of anger in explaining rejections of unfair offers in ultimatum bargaining. First, using appraisal theory of emotions, this research examines the extent to which the cognitive appraisal of unfairness leads to the emotion of anger, which in turn, drives punitive behavior (i.e., rejection of offers). Second, this research explores the possibility of decoupling the emotion of anger from its antecedent appraisal of unfairness in order to attenuate responders' inclination to reject unfair offers. Third, following the current research tradition that goes beyond a valence‐based approach, we differentiate between the negative emotions of anger and sadness and examine whether it is the specific emotion of anger that is relevant to the cognitive appraisal of unfairness or the general negative valence of the emotion. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

积极道德情绪和年龄对3-5岁幼儿安慰行为的影响

大量研究已经表明,消极道德情绪可以促进幼儿的亲社会行为,但积极道德情绪对幼儿亲社会行为的促进作用仍然缺乏全面探索。安慰行为是幼儿的典型亲社会行为,本研究使用实验法,采取想象启动和实际启动两种范式,考察积极道德情绪对3-5岁257名幼儿的安慰行为的影响。研究发现,幼儿的安慰行为发展具有年龄特征,4岁是幼儿安慰行为发展的转变关键期,更有意义的是,研究证明积极道德情绪对幼儿的安慰行为具有促进效应。本研究结果能为有效培养儿童的安慰行为提供有益建议。     

自我超越价值观对持久幸福感的作用及机制

追求幸福是人类社会永恒的主题。价值观对个体的发展起引导作用,与幸福感密切相关。认同自我增强价值观,即关注个人利益,可以让人体验到波动的幸福感,表现为短暂快乐和消极情绪的交替循环;认同自我超越价值观,即切实关心他人利益和福祉,则可以让人拥有持久的幸福感,表现为一种持续的充实、和谐、宁静的状态。就作用机制而言,认同自我超越价值观的个体可能对自我威胁信息有较少的防御性反应,体验到更多的社会关系导向的情绪,激发更多的亲社会行为,从而获得持久的幸福体验。未来的研究可采用多种方法和手段考察自我超越价值观对持久幸福感的作用,系统探讨二者之间的其他潜在机制,并通过开展自我超越价值观教育形成良好的社会心态。     

积极情绪对人际信任影响的线索效应

运用书写任务与信息反馈方法诱发与信任不相关和相关情绪, 采用信任投资任务和自我报告法研究了积极情绪对人际信任影响的受信者信息与情境线索的依赖性, 即线索效应。结果发现：(1)在不相关情境和对受信者熟悉的条件下, 三种情绪对人际信任的影响差异显著, 积极情绪条件下的投资信任和直接报告的信任显著高于中性与消极情绪条件下; 在不相关情境和在对受信者陌生条件下, 积极情绪条件下的投资信任和直接报告的信任与中性和消极情绪条件下的投资信任和直接报告的信任差异不显著。(2)在相关情境和在对受信者熟悉条件下, 三种情绪对人际信任的影响差异显著, 积极情绪条件下的投资信任显著高于中性与消极情绪条件下; 在相关情境和对受信者陌生条件下, 三种情绪对人际信任的影响差异显著, 积极情绪条件下的投资信任和直接报告的信任显著高于中性与消极情绪条件下, 中性与消极情绪对人际信任的影响差异不显著。积极情绪对人际信任的影响存在受信者信息与情境线索的依赖性。     

Psychoneuroimmunology: A bio‐psycho‐social approach to health and disease

Since the early 1980s, the interdisciplinary field of psychoneuroimmunology has explored the complex bi‐directional interactions between brain, behavior, and the immune system. Taken together, this research has expanded the limits of the questions we can ask about the organism by challenging the biomedical paradigm of the immune system as predominantly “autonomous”. Psychoneuroimmunology has played a key role in establishing a biological basis for the ancient idea that the mind can play a role in health and disease. This article describes the development of psychoneuroimmunology and reviews a number of key findings concerning psychological phenomena of potential relevance to understanding brain‐behavior‐immune interactions, including learning, emotions, stress, and the role of sensory processes.     

The effect of achievement goals on enjoyment, effort, satisfaction and performance

This study examined the effect of achievement goals and achievement emotions on sport satisfaction, performance and effort among competitive athletes. Participants were 200 athletes. Structural equation modeling was used to test the indirect effect of mastery-approach goals on satisfaction with sport experience and performance, the direct effect of mastery-approach goals on enjoyment and effort, the direct effect of performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals on performance, and the direct effect of mastery-avoidance goals on effort. Results showed a positive direct effect of mastery-approach goals on enjoyment and an indirect effect, through enjoyment, on satisfaction, performance, and effort. We did not find support for the hypothesized effect of performance-approach or performance-avoidance goals on performance. The applied implications of endorsing mastery-approach goals are discussed.     

仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪增强控制感：双路径机制

以中国普米族人的传统文化仪式“敬锅庄”为例, 采用回忆任务、创设新颖仪式等方法考察仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪对普米族青少年及成人的控制感的影响。结果表明, 熟悉敬锅庄仪式的动作、象征意义或者具有更多情感体验的青少年的控制感更强。仪式动作与象征意义对控制感的影响存在双路径机制：仪式动作直接增强个体的控制感, 象征意义通过积极情绪间接增强个体的控制感。象征意义与控制感的关系还因仪式主体不同有所区别：祈求庇佑通过积极情绪间接增强青少年的控制感, 表达感恩通过积极情绪间接增强成年人的控制感。研究结果对探究仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪对个体控制感的影响有重要启示。     

Measuring individual differences in sensitivities to basic emotions in faces

The assessment of individual differences in facial expression recognition is normally required to address two major issues: (1) high agreement level (ceiling effect) and (2) differential difficulty levels across emotions. We propose a new assessment method designed to quantify individual differences in the recognition of the six basic emotions, 'sensitivities to basic emotions in faces.' We attempted to address the two major assessment issues by using morphing techniques and item response theory (IRT). We used morphing to create intermediate, mixed facial expression stimuli with various levels of recognition difficulty. Applying IRT enabled us to estimate the individual latent trait levels underlying the recognition of respective emotions (sensitivity scores), unbiased by stimulus properties that constitute difficulty. In a series of two experiments we demonstrated that the sensitivity scores successfully addressed the two major assessment issues and their concomitant individual variability. Intriguingly, correlational analyses of the sensitivity scores to different emotions produced orthogonality between happy and non-happy emotion recognition. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the independence of happiness recognition, unaffected by stimulus difficulty.