Interaction of asthmatics and their spouses: A preliminary study of individual differences

Some asthmatics show evidence of airways reactivity triggered by strong emotions. Six case studies of married patients with severe asthma are reported. The videotaped interactions of the asthmatic and his/her spouse were coded for affect and behavior. Repeated measures of pulmonary function and affective state were recorded before and after two interaction tasks. Over the course of the experimental period, two patients' pulmonary function improved and four patients' deteriorated. In general, decreased pulmonary function was associated with more self-rated hostility and depression. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the intra- and interpersonal factors that are important in asthma management.     

Sender repertoires of pure and blended facial expressions of emotion

Six actors attempted to communicate by facial expression seven assumedly basic emotions (pleasure, surprise, fear, hate, sorrow, disgust and interest), and all pairwise blends, e.g., fear+sorrow. One hundred and eighty-two subjects (divided into groups as to the six actors) judged pictures of these emotions by three methods: (1) mapping, placing the pictures on coordinate systems with denotated axes, (2) identification and (3) sorting similar emotions into the same pile, followed by multidimensional scaling and cluster analyses. Recognition of the emotions was fairly good, though not equally good for all emotions and their blends; also the actors' ability to express emotions varied. Emotions of opposite hedonic tone did not blend well. Interest seemed to lend poignancy to the basic emotion with which it was blended rather than to constitute an emotion in itself. Expressions seemed to be more easily identified if the actor did not try to feel the emotion too deeply.     

From model minority to yellow peril: How threat perceptions and disgust predict anti-Asian prejudice during COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hate crimes against Asians sharply increased in the United States. We investigated whether the threat of contracting COVID-19 and specific negative emotions (disgust, anxiety, fear, and anger) regarding COVID-19 predicted anti-Asian prejudice in a 3-wave longitudinal study of non-Asian American adults (N = 486) in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. In all 3 timepoints, participants who believed that they may have already contracted COVID and those who expressed greater disgust reported more anti-Asian attitudes, evaluated Asians as less than human, tolerated anti-Asian prejudice, and blamed Asians for spreading COVID-19. In a well-fitting longitudinal path model, we found longitudinal evidence for these associations, such that the belief that one had already contracted COVID-19 in March 2020 predicted greater disgust one month later, in April 2020, which in turn predicted greater anti-Asian prejudice in May 2020.     

The psychology of hate: Moral concerns differentiate hate from dislike

We investigated whether any differences in the psychological conceptualization of hate and dislike were simply a matter of degree of negativity (i.e., hate falls on the end of the continuum of dislike) or also morality (i.e., hate is imbued with distinct moral components that distinguish it from dislike). In three lab studies in Canada and the United States, participants reported disliked and hated attitude objects and rated each on dimensions including valence, attitude strength, morality, and emotional content. Quantitative and qualitative measures revealed that hated attitude objects were more negative than disliked attitude objects and associated with moral beliefs and emotions, even after adjusting for differences in negativity. In Study 4, we analysed the rhetoric on real hate sites and complaint forums and found that the language used on prominent hate websites contained more words related to morality, but not negativity, relative to complaint forums.     

Emotional Reactions to COVID-19 Projections and Consequences for Protective Policies and Personal Behavior

How does the public react to information about the likely progression of COVID-19 cases in the United States? How do these reactions vary over the course of the pandemic and by partisanship, and with what consequences for policy attitudes and personal behavior? We argue that reading projections about the peak of COVID-19 cases in the United States is likely to lead to increased levels of anxiety and sadness. We expect that these effects will be more pronounced and less polarized along partisan lines earlier in the pandemic. Finally, we expect that elevated anxiety and sadness should in turn lead to greater support for protective policies to combat the pandemic and a greater inclination to engage in protective behaviors. To test these arguments, we fielded online survey experiments at three points in time (April, June, and August 2020), in which respondents were randomly assigned to a control group or one of two projections about the likely progression of COVID-19 cases in the United States. Across all three waves, we find that exposure to information about case peaks increases anxiety and sadness, though the effects get weaker over time, particularly among Republicans. We also find evidence that these elevated emotional responses increase support for protective policies and behavior.     

Embodied and Embedded Morality: Divinity, Identity, and Disgust

Our understanding of human morality would benefit from an integrated interdisciplinary approach, built on the assumption that human beings are multidimensional unities with real, irreducible, and mutually interdependent spiritual, relational, emotional, rational, and physiological aspects. We could integrate relevant information from neurobiological, psychosocial, and theological perspectives, avoiding unnecessary reductionism and naturalism. This approach is modeled by addressing the particular limited role of disgust in morality. Psychosocial research reveals disgust as a universal emotion that enables evaluation and regulation of certain moral behaviors and is involved in cultural identity. Theologically, many religious traditions, including the Judeo‐Christian, use disgust in conjunction with moral codes designed to preserve purity and communal identity as the people of God. The concept of natural moral law suggests that morality is embodied in human nature. Neurobiology is beginning to trace the neural circuitry involved in disgust and in moral evaluation, suggesting that emotions are a necessary basis for moral judgment and revealing intriguing relationships between disgust, morality, and other aspects of the psyche. Several problems that arise within these disciplines and at their intersections are identified. Extension of the model to other aspects of human morality would further illuminate our understanding of morality without sacrificing its complexity and richness.     

The affective costs of overconfidence

Positive illusions, though often beneficial (Taylor & Brown, 1988 ), can diminish the pleasure of outcomes. This prediction follows from decision affect theory. We investigated this prediction by measuring the confidence that recreational basketball players felt while making shots and the pleasure they felt with subsequent outcomes. Results showed that most players were overconfident. Those who were more overconfident tended to experience less enjoyment with their outcomes. Using individual parameter estimates from decision affect theory, we estimated how each player would have felt if their self assessments had been accurate. For the vast majority, better calibration would have led to greater pleasure. In a second study, we randomly assigned players to a debiasing treatment condition or a control condition. Relative to the control players, debiased players were better calibrated and derived greater average pleasure from the task. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Role of third parties in conflicts among Colombian children and early adolescents

Research on children's peer conflicts has focused almost exclusively on the conflicts' main parties. This study investigated the role played by third parties of those conflicts. During interviews, 56 participants (ages 8.0 to 14.5) living in poor and violent neighborhoods in urban Colombia narrated 128 recent conflicts they had with, or observed among, peers. Third parties were present in 73%, and actively involved in 65%, of the conflicts. Most commonly, peers supported one side, teachers used repressive means to promote settlements, and parents took over their children's conflicts. Virtually all the participants mentioned ways of promoting a settlement, but only a fraction used them in actual conflicts. Mediation was absent among peer or adult third parties. Third parties' emotions were less intense than those of main parties, suggesting that it might be easier for bystanders to use cognitive capacities acquired through educational interventions promoting peaceful relationships. Aggr. Behav. 31:40–55, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Reasonable Partiality from a Biological Point of View

Speculation about the evolutionary origins of morality has yet to show how a biologically based capacity for morality might be connected to moral reasoning. Applying an evolutionary approach to three kinds of cases where partiality may or may not be morally reasonable, this paper explores a possible connection between a psychological capacity for morality and processes of wide reflective moral equilibrium. The central hypothesis is that while we might expect a capacity for morality to include aspects of partiality, we might also expect these same aspects of the capacity to produce systemic forms of performance-based error. Understanding these errors helps point the way toward a theory of moral competence that includes aspects of both partiality and impartiality.     

Integrating Dimensional and Discrete Theories of Emotions: A New Set of Anger- and Fear-Eliciting Stimuli for Children

The selection of appropriate stimuli for inducing specific emotional states has become one of the most challenging topics in psychological research. In the literature there is a lack of affective picture database specifically suited to investigate emotional response in children. Here the authors present the methodology that led us to create a new database (called Anger- and Fear-Eliciting Stimuli for Children) of affective stimuli inducing experiences of 3 target emotions (neutral, anger, and fear) to use in experimental session involving children. A total of 84 children were asked to (a) indicate the perceived emotion and its intensity and (b) rate the three affective dimensions of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Based on concordance between labeled and expected target emotion, the authors decided to select 15 stimuli to be included in Multivariate modeling techniques were applied to evaluate the association between expected target emotion and SAM ratings. The authors found that the hit rate for the neutral pictures was good (greater than 81%), for fear-eliciting pictures it was greater than 64%, and for anger-eliciting pictures it was moderate (between 45% and 56%). The study results reveal also an age effect only in the arousal scale. However, the authors did not find significant gender-related differences in SAM ratings.