为什么快乐在“上”，悲伤在 “下”? ——语篇阅读中情绪的垂直空间隐喻

以具有一定情境的语篇作为实验材料,采用引导范式和无关任务范式,探讨了“快乐是上,悲伤是下”这一情绪的垂直空间隐喻在语篇阅读中的心理现实性。实验1要求被试阅读情绪语篇后,对呈现在屏幕上方或下方的字母“F”或“J”进行判断。结果发现,被试阅读积极情绪语篇后对呈现在空间位置上方的字母反应更快,阅读消极情绪语篇后对呈现在空间位置下方的字母反应更快,表明语篇阅读中存在情绪的垂直空间隐喻的始源域向目标域映射的心理现实性。实验2要求被试阅读含有空间位移的语篇后对随机呈现在屏幕上方或下方的图片中面孔人物的性别进行判断。结果发现被试阅读含有在空间中向上移动的语篇后对积极情绪图片反应更快,阅读含有在空间中向下移动的语篇后对消极情绪图片的反应更快,说明语篇阅读中存在情绪的垂直空间隐喻的目标域向始源域映射的心理现实性。研究表明：语篇阅读中读者可以产生情绪的垂直空间隐喻,并且空间这一始源域和情绪这一目标域具有双向映射的性质。     

Deservingness,liking relations,schadenfreude, and other discrete emotions in the context of the outcomes of plagiarism

This study investigated effects of like/dislike relations on schadenfreude and other discrete emotions in the context of plagiarism. The predicted emotions were derived from a structural analysis of how the appraisal of deservingness affects emotional reactions to positive or negative outcomes for self or other. One hundred forty‐six undergraduate participants responded to scenarios in which either hypothetical self or other (a classmate) plagiarised information from the internet for a class assignment and either received a high grade (undeserved outcome) or a penalty (deserved outcome). Hypothetical self was represented as either high or low in self‐esteem, other as liked or disliked. As predicted, liking relations moderated perceived deservingness. Schadenfreude (or pleasure) occurred when the disliked classmate received a deserved penalty for detected plagiarism but not when he/she suffered an undeserved positive outcome. This difference was reversed for the emotion of disappointment. Effects on other discrete emotions such as guilt and resentment are also reported.     

Self-conscious emotions in patients suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain: A brief report

Objective: The role of self-conscious emotions (SCEs) including shame, guilt, humiliation and embarrassment are of increasing interest within health. Yet, little is known about SCEs in the experience of chronic pain. This study explored prevalence and experience of SCEs in chronic pain patients compared to controls and assessed the relationship between SCEs and disability in pain patients.

Design and measures: Questionnaire assessment comparing musculoskeletal pain patients (n = 64) and pain-free control participants (n = 63). Pain was assessed using the McGill Pain Questionnaire; disability, using the Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire; and six SCEs derived from three measures (i) Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 yielding subscales of shame, guilt, externalisation and detachment (ii) The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale and (iii) The Pain Self-Perception Scale assessing mental defeat.

Results: Significantly greater levels of shame, guilt, fear of negative evaluation and mental defeat were observed in chronic pain patients compared to controls. In the pain group, SCE variables significantly predicted affective pain intensity; only mental defeat was significantly related to disability.

Conclusion: Findings highlight the prevalence of negative SCEs and their importance in assessment and management of chronic pain. The role of mood in this relationship is yet to be explored.     

On the Road to the Unconscious Self: Understanding when People Gain Self‐knowledge of Implicit Disgust Sensitivity from Behavioural Cues

On the basis of an integration of dual‐process models of information processing and the lens model framework of person perception, we conducted two studies to investigate whether self‐perceivers could detect their implicit disposition from video feedback of behavioural cues and whether these cues were used for explicit dispositional inferences under conditions that maximized the presumed self‐perception process. Using an approach that differed from previous research, we used the following: (i) a more detailed and stepwise self‐perception procedure; (ii) a specific explicit measure compared with a global explicit measure; and (iii) disgust sensitivity as a domain with clear, unambiguous cues and an assumed low self‐presentation bias. The results from two studies (N = 117 and N = 130) on disgust sensitivity provide the first evidence for the assumed process with regard to bodily reaction cues but not with regard to facial expression cues. These novel findings suggest that people can get to know their unconscious selves better if supporting conditions are met and the right behavioural cues are attended to. Additional boundary conditions of this self‐perception process were investigated using display rules and need for closure in Study 2. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tests improve memory – no matter if you feel good or bad while taking them

ABSTRACT

Based on studies demonstrating that testing promotes better long-term retention than restudying (i.e., the testing effect), testing has been recommended as a powerful tool to boost knowledge acquisition in educational settings. However, a factor ubiquitous in real-life learning contexts has been ignored to date: the learner's affective state. To examine whether the learner's affective state influences the testing effect, we conducted two experiments. We employed a standard testing-effect paradigm consisting of an initial study phase and a subsequent restudy/testing phase, and induced negative, neutral, or positive affective states either before participants initially studied short expository texts (Experiment 1) or before they restudied or were tested on them (Experiment 2). After one week, memory for the texts was tested. In both experiments, previously tested material was better remembered than previously restudied material. However, in none of the experiments, did the memory advantage of testing over restudying vary as a function of affect condition. Hence, the present results suggest that testing seems to benefit long-term retention independently of the learner's affective state.     

Experiences of Longing in Norwegian and Swedish 4- and 5-Year-Old Children

Longing can be defined as a blend of the primary emotions of happiness and sadness. These primary emotions are experienced very early by children, and the meanings of the words happiness and sadness are also known by children early in their verbal development. To find out at what age children are able to understand and use the more developed concept of longing, the authors interviewed 74 preschoolers (4- and 5-year-olds) in Norway and Sweden about their experiences of longing. Chi-square analyses showed age and sex differences in knowledge of the concept, and some differences between categories of longing were also significant. Results showed that young children's ability to understand and use the concept of longing appears to be limited and that girls seem to mature earlier in this respect than boys do.     

The bright side of brooding: State orientation increases positive emotions about positive outcomes

Research has by and large shown the negative effects of state orientation, that brooding over past events (i.e., state orientation) leads to more negative emotions and less well-being than quickly getting over past events (i.e., action orientation). However, this past research has primarily focused on how people cope with negative events and bad outcomes. The present research focuses on how people cope with positive events with good outcomes. Study 1 found that state-oriented people felt better after a windfall than action-oriented people. Study 2 found that state-oriented people felt not only worse when things turned out bad but also better when things turned out well than action-oriented people. Study 3 replicated the positive effect of state orientation on positive emotions with an experimental induction of action vs. state orientation. These results show that in positive situations state orientation can have emotional benefits – in other words, they show the bright side of brooding.     

Investigating goal conflict as a source of mixed emotions

This research investigated whether (1) the experience of mixed emotions is a consequence of activating conflicting goals and (2) mixed emotions are distinct from emotional conflict. A preliminary experiment (Study 1, N = 35) showed that an elicited goal conflict predicted more mixed emotions than a condition where the same goals were not in conflict. The second experiment was based on naturally occurring goal activation (Study 2, N = 57). This illustrated that mixed emotions were experienced more following conflicting goals compared with a facilitating goals condition—on both a direct self-report measure of mixed emotions and a minimum index measure. The results also showed that mixed emotions were different to emotional conflict. Overall, goal conflict was found to be a source of mixed emotions, and it is feasible that such states have a role in resolving personal dilemmas.     

Threat advantage: Perception of angry and happy dynamic faces across cultures

The current study tested whether the perception of angry faces is cross-culturally privileged over that of happy faces, by comparing perception of the offset of emotion in a dynamic flow of expressions. Thirty Chinese and 30 European-American participants saw movies that morphed an anger expression into a happy expression of the same stimulus person, or vice versa. Participants were asked to stop the movie at the point where they ceased seeing the initial emotion. As expected, participants cross-culturally continued to perceive anger longer than happiness. Moreover, anger was perceived longer in in-group than in out-group faces. The effects were driven by female rather than male targets. Results are discussed with reference to the important role of context in emotion perception.     

Punishing hypocrisy: The roles of hypocrisy and moral emotions in deciding culpability and punishment of criminal and civil moral transgressors

Three experiments explored how hypocrisy affects attributions of criminal guilt and the desire to punish hypocritical criminals. Study 1 established that via perceived hypocrisy, a hypocritical criminal was seen as more culpable and was punished more than a non-hypocritical criminal who committed an identical crime. Study 2 expanded on this, showing that negative moral emotions (anger and disgust) mediated the relationships between perceived hypocrisy, criminal guilt, and punishment. Study 3 replicated the emotion finding from Study 2 using new scenarios where group agents were clearly aware of the hypocrisy of their actions, yet acted anyway. Again, perceived hypocrisy worked through moral emotions to affect criminal guilt and punishment. The current studies provide empirical support for theories relating hypocrisy and moral transgressions to moral emotions, also informing the literature on the role of moral emotions in moral reasoning and legal decision making.