General mood of professional caregivers in child care centers and the quality of caregiver–child interactions

The present study is the first to relate professional caregivers’ general mood to the observed quality of their interactions with the children in their care. A total of 238 female caregivers from 133 child care groups in 64 centers completed the General mood scale of Bar-On’s Emotional Quotient Inventory (1997) and was observed while playing with small groups of children. Factor analysis on the General mood scale yielded five general mood factors, one negative and four positive. Two positive mood factors in particular, i.e., positivity and optimism, were found to contribute positively to the quality of professional caregivers’ behavior toward the children and, through their caregiving behavior, to the children’s well-being.     

Short-term mood repair through art-making: Positive emotion is more effective than venting

We examined two mechanisms by which creating visual art may serve as a form of short-term mood repair. After viewing a film that induced a negatively valenced mood, participants were given a self-report affect grid that assessed mood valence and arousal. Participants then engaged in one of three tasks: creating a drawing expressing their current mood (venting), creating a drawing depicting something happy (positive emotion), or scanning a sheet for specific symbols (distraction control). Mood valence and arousal were then reassessed. Arousal remained unchanged after the interventions in all conditions. Valence became more positive in all three conditions, but the greatest improvement occurred after the positive emotion intervention. Valence improved no more after venting than after the control task. Results show that in the short-term, attending to and venting one’s negative feelings through art-making is a less effective means of improving mood than is turning away from a negative mood to something more positive. These findings are consistent with research on the beneficial effects of positive emotions and cast doubt on the often assumed view that artists improve their well being by expressing suffering.     

The logic of turmoil: some epistemological and clinical considerations on emotional experience and the infinite

The idea of the infinite has its origins in the very beginnings of western philosophy and was developed significantly by modern philosophers such as Galileo and Leibniz. Freud discovered the Unconscious which does not respect the laws of classical logic, flouting its fundamental principle of non-contradiction. This opened the way to a new epistemology in which classical logic coexists with an aberrant logic of infinite affects. Matte Blanco reorganized this Freudian revolution in logic and introduced the concept of bi-logic, which is an intermingling of symmetric and Aristotelic logics. The authors explore some epistemological and clinical aspects of the functioning of the deep unconscious where the emergence of infinity threatens to overwhelm the containing function of thought, connecting this topic to some of Bion's propositions. They then suggest that bodily experiences can be considered a prime source of the logic of turmoil, and link a psychoanalytic consideration of the infinite to the mind-body relation. Emotional catastrophe is seen both as a defect-a breakdown of the unfolding function which translates unconscious material into conscious experience-and as the consequence of affective bodily pressures. These pressures function in turn as symmetrizing or infinitizing operators. Two clinical vignettes are presented to exemplify the hypotheses.     

MODELING RELATIONS

In the ordinary way of representing relations, the order of the relata plays a structural role, but in the states themselves such an order often does not seem to be intrinsically present. An alternative way to represent relations makes use of positions for the arguments. This is no problem for the love relation, but for relations like the adjacency relation and cyclic relations, different assignments of objects to the positions can give exactly the same states. This is a puzzling situation. The question is what is the internal structure of relations? Is the use of positions still justified, and if so, what is their ontological status? In this paper mathematical models for relations are developed that provide more insight into the structure of relations “out there” in the real world.     

基于Q矩阵和广义距离的认知诊断方法

规则空间方法(RSM)和属性层级方法(AHM)是两种重要的认知诊断方法, 近年来受到了广泛关注。本文在属性层级方法和丁树良等人(2009, 2010)改进的Q矩阵理论的基础上, 通过定义观察反应模式与理想反应模式之间的广义距离, 给出了一种识别被试知识状态的认知诊断方法, 即广义距离判别法。通过DINA模型生成被试的作答反应矩阵进行模拟研究, 以模式判准率和属性判准率作为衡量被试知识状态分类准确率指标, 将广义距离判别法、RSM和AHM的分类A方法分别与DINA模型进行比较。结果表明, 本文提出的广义距离判别法具有更好的分类效果。     

The effects of acute plasma tryptophan manipulation on hostile mood: The influence of trait hostility

The effects of acute plasma tryptophan manipulation on changes in hostile, anxious, and depressive mood were studied in 48 males. Subjects consumed tryptophan-free or nutritionally balanced amino acid mixtures as a means of manipulating brain serotonin levels. Mood (hostility, anxiety, depression) was assessed pre- and 5 hr post-ingestion using the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. Overall, the tryptophan manipulation resulted in significant changes in hostile mood. Analyses also revealed a stronger association between changes in plasma tryptophan and changes in hostility in subjects with high levels of pre-existing hostile traits compared with low levels of hostile traits, and in subjects with high vs. Low antisocial traits. There was no significant association between changes in plasma tryptophan and changes in depression. The results suggest that persons with high levels of trait hostility may be more susceptible to the effects of acute manipulation of plasma tryptophan on hostile mood. Aggr. Behav. 24:173–185, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

农村老年人的社会排斥体验与健康状况:有调节的中介作用

基于社会排斥的多元动机模型、负性情绪影响健康的四通路模型,通过对一项覆盖中国31个省级行政区（不含港澳台）农村居民社会调查数据的分析,考察了1803名农村老年人社会排斥体验与健康状况的关系,以及负性情绪、人际信任、经济状况在两者中的作用。结果表明,农村老年人的社会排斥体验负向预测其健康状况;负性情绪在农村老年人社会排斥体验和健康状况之间起中介作用;人际信任、经济状况均在农村老年人社会排斥体验和负性情绪之间起调节作用;经济状况还在农村老年人负性情绪和健康状况之间起调节作用。该结果不仅验证并拓展了上述两个理论模型,还为农村的养老服务体系建设、农村老年人的健康服务工作提供了启示。     

Does It Make You Happy Feeling This Way? A Core Affect Account of Preference for Current Mood

Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether and how preference for current mood is related to the valence and activation dimensions of core affect. In Study 1, 100 undergraduates rated valence and activation of their naturally occurring current mood and preference for this mood. In Study 2, another 90 undergraduates performed the same ratings for various induced moods. The results showed as expected that preference for current mood is related to both valence and activation. Whereas the relation to valence is direct, the relation to activation is invertedly U-shaped with a maximum that increases with valence.