The effects of reinforcement rate on the spontaneous social initiations of socially withdrawn preschoolers.

Social skills priming was used to increase the spontaneous social initiations of 2 socially withdrawn preschoolers, 1 of whom had been diagnosed with autism. During priming sessions, the teacher prompted and reinforced social behaviors (e.g., smiling, verbal initiations). We varied the rate of reinforcement during priming sessions and measured the effects of this manipulation on the rate of spontaneous social initiations during the subsequent classroom activity. Spontaneous initiations were more frequent after high rates of reinforcement than after low rates of reinforcement.     

The Axiology of Moral Experience

This paper clarifies the nature of moral experience, examines its evidential role in supporting moral judgments, and argues that moral experiences can be among the things having intrinsic value. Moral experience is compared with aesthetic experience and contrasted with its close relative, non-moral experience combined with moral beliefs. The concluding sections explore the case for the organicity of intrinsic value and the kind of role such value can play in grounding moral obligation.     

Positive priming: Locations containing relevant information are labeled accordingly

Individuals engaged in a location task where the relevancy status [relevant (stimulus) vs irrelevant (distractor) information] of these locations was reversed from one trial (prime) to the next (probe). The results produced by these reversals (Distractor-to-Stimulus and Stimulus-to-Distractor) indicated that both stimulus and distractor items are given relevancy status labels which participate in the future processing at the labeled locations. These findings support the view that selective processing involves both `facilitatory' and `inhibitory' components. Further, unlike identity tasks, the data indicated that neither the formation nor the subsequent use of these `location' labels (stimulus or distractor) is related to the presence of a response conflict.PsycINFO classification: 2330; 2340     

Neuroticism and Depression in Children: The Role of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies

This study's general objective was to analyze whether different types of cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS), namely adaptive strategies—specifically positive refocusing and positive reappraisal—and maladaptive strategies—self-blame, catastrophizing, and rumination—mediated the neuroticism-depression relationship in children 9–12 years old, and whether gender and school transition moderated the relationships proposed. A self-reporting measure was administered to 315 children to evaluate said variables. The resulting data were analyzed using structural equations. The study verified that maladaptive CERS partially mediated neuroticism's relationship with depression, while adaptive CERS, though negatively associated with depression, did not show a mediating effect on this relationship. The results provide evidence of the mediating function of maladaptive CERS on the neuroticism-depression relationship. Gender and school transition did not moderate the relationships proposed. Because, by their very nature, these strategies are modifiable, these results constitute an important finding that can be transferred to the design and content of child mental health prevention and promotion programs.     

Cognitive Appraisal as a Predictor of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Choice

More attention has recently been focused on how a person may choose their emotion regulation strategies depending on the situation. The present research examined how people cognitively appraised a situation that they had actually encountered in their life and how this appraisal affected their subsequent cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Three hundred and twenty‐four participants were instructed to recall the most stressful situation in the last month, and to rate how they cognitively appraised the situation (threat, centrality, controllability, commitment, injustice/unfairness, expectedness, expectancy) and how they cognitively regulated their emotion (self‐blame, blaming others, acceptance, refocus on planning, positive refocusing, rumination, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, catastrophizing). Multiple regression analysis revealed that even after control for other variables, such as age, sex, personality, the time when the situation occurred and the intensity of negative emotion, all criteria of cognitive appraisal except for expectedness predicted cognitive emotion regulation choice. Implications and limitations of this research are discussed.     

Analgesic effect of Facebook: Priming with online social networking may boost felt relatedness that buffers against physical pain

Social networking sites (SNSs) are extremely popular for providing users with a convenient platform for acquiring social connections and thereby feeling relatedness. Plenty of literature has shown that mental representations of social support can reduce the perception of physical pain. The current study tested whether thinking about SNS would interfere with users’ perceptions of experimentally induced pain. Ninety‐six undergraduate Facebook users were recruited to participate in a priming‐based experiment. They were randomly assigned to one of the three study conditions (SNS prime, neutral prime, or no prime) via rating the aesthetics of logos. The results showed that participants exposed to SNS primes reported less pain of immersion in hot water than did both control groups (neutral‐ and no‐prime). Felt relatedness mediated the link between SNS primes and diminished pain perceptions. This research provides the first demonstration that thinking about SNS can lower experienced physical pain among Facebook users. Online social networking may serve as an analgesic buffer against pain experience than previously thought. The SNS‐enabled analgesia has far reaching implications for pain relief applications and the enhancement of well‐being in human‐interaction techniques.     

Social-Psychological Interventions for Intergroup Reconciliation: An Emotion Regulation Perspective

Intergroup reconciliation is a requirement for lasting peace in the context of intergroup conflicts. In this article, we offer an emotion regulation perspective on social-psychological interventions aimed at facilitating intergroup reconciliation. In the first section of the article, we conceptualize intergroup reconciliation as an emotion-regulation process involving positive affective change and offer a framework that integrates the emotion regulation and intergroup reconciliation literatures. In the sections that follow, we review social-psychological interventions that involve changes in beliefs and identity and assess their effects on specific intergroup emotions pertinent for intergroup reconciliation. More specifically, we focus our discussion on specific reconciliation-oriented intervention strategies and their relation to emotions pertinent for facilitating reconciliation, including intergroup hatred, anger, guilt, hope, and empathy. In the final section, we consider key implications and growth points for the field of intergroup reconciliation.     

Effects of emotion regulation strategies on anxiety during job interviews in Chinese college students

Background and objectives: Few studies related to the impact of different emotion regulation strategies on anxiety have used externally and ecologically valid emotion-eliciting stimuli or Eastern populations. The present study compares the effects of reappraisal, suppression, and acceptance on anxiety induced by a simulated job interview in a Chinese sample. Methods: Eighty-two subjects were randomly assigned to one of four instructions: reappraisal, suppression, acceptance, or no-regulation strategies during a simulated job interview. Anxiety was assessed with an observer-based behavior rating scale during the interview and the State Anxiety Inventory before, during, and after the interview. Results: A repeated-measures MANOVA indicated a significantly greater reduction in anxiety in the reappraisal and acceptance groups compared to the control group during the interview (reappraisal: d = 1.42; acceptance: d = 1.30; each p < .001), but not during the recovery stage. The suppression and control group did not differ in any stage. Suppression led to a higher (p_max < .04) anxiety than reappraisal/acceptance in the anticipation (d = 0.65/0.68), interview (d = 0.87/0.79), and recovery stages (d = 0.94/1.03). No significant differences were found between reappraisal and acceptance. Conclusions: In Chinese students reappraisal and acceptance seem to be more effective anxiety regulation strategies than suppression.     

Profiles of Peritraumatic Emotions

Researchers have identified peritraumatic emotions as important predictors of who will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, such investigations have not examined full profiles of emotions, perhaps because of the typical emphasis on fear or other Criterion A2 emotions. Such an examination could help us identify which peritraumatic emotions are prominent, and how they relate to important posttrauma outcomes. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify distinct profiles of peritraumatic emotions and their correlates using a comprehensive survey of peri- and posttraumatic reactions. We conducted a latent profile analysis of peritraumatic emotions in 398 undergraduate students who reported a DSM–IV A1 trauma and then compared the resulting profiles on trauma type, PTSD, depression, and posttraumatic cognitions. Six distinct profiles emerged: 3 had consistently low, medium, or high levels across the range of emotions, with 3 others primarily characterized by low shame and guilt, high anger and guilt, and low guilt. These profiles significantly differed in terms of trauma type, PTSD, depression, and posttraumatic cognitions. In particular, profiles with high levels of anger, shame, and guilt were consistently related to overall worse functioning. Importantly, fear and associated emotions did not differentiate between profiles. These results have important implications for the phenomenology of posttrauma emotional reactions and strongly suggest that the clinical assessment of traumatic experiences go beyond fear-based conceptualizations.