From trust in caregivers’ support to exploration: The role of openness to negative affect and self‐regulation

Attachment theory assumes that trust in caregivers’ support and exploration are closely related. Little research tried to investigate this link, nor focuses on mechanisms that might explain this association. The present studies examined whether trust is related to exploration through a serial indirect effect of openness to negative affect and self‐regulation. In Study 1, 212 children, aged 8–13, completed questionnaires assessing trust, openness to negative affect, self‐regulation and exploration. The results showed that trust predicted exploration, but only to the extent to which openness to negative affect and self‐regulation were involved too. Study 2 refined these findings (n = 59, aged 9–12) using a behavioral measure of openness to negative affect and exploration, and with mother‐reported self‐regulation. Replicating this serial indirect effect of openness to negative affect and self‐regulation with multiple informants and methods, the present studies advance our understanding of how trust might foster exploration in preadolescence.     

Like mother,like child? Maternal determinants of children's early social-emotional development

Social-Emotional competencies evolve early in life. For example, early emotion regulation is learned primarily in the context of mother–child interaction, which may allow for maternal influences to shape children's social-emotional development. The aim of the current study was to longitudinally examine maternal determinants of children's early social-emotional development in a community-based sample of first-time mothers (N = 61, aged 22–39 years). Specifically, we used structural equation modeling to examine how maternal emotion regulation difficulties and subclinical depression directly and indirectly, through sensitivity and postnatal bonding, assessed at 6 to 8 months predicted child outcomes at 12 to 16 months. We found that mothers’ sensitivity predicted fewer social-emotional and behavioral problems and that stronger bonding predicted fewer problems and more social-emotional competencies. Emotion regulation difficulties were significantly associated with depressive symptoms; yet, when accounting for shared variances, both factors differentially predicted less positive child outcomes such that more difficulties indirectly, through poorer bonding, predicted greater delay in competencies, and more symptoms indirectly, through less sensitivity, predicted more problems. Current findings underline the significance of maternal factors impacting the quality of mother–child interaction for children's positive development. Potential implications for early prevention programs to support children who are otherwise at risk for negative emotional outcomes due to mothers’ emotional state postpartum are discussed.     

Experimental manipulation of emotion regulation changes mothers’ physiological and facial expressive responses to infant crying

This study examined whether instructing mothers to apply emotion regulation strategies can change mothers’ perception and reactivity to infant crying in an experimental within-subject design. Perception of crying, skin conductance level (SCL), facial expressivity, and intended caregiving responses to cry sounds were measured in mothers (N = 101, M = 30.88 years) who received suppression, reappraisal, and no emotion regulation instructions. Reappraisal resulted in lower SCL during exposure to crying and a less negative perception of crying compared to the suppression condition. In contrast, suppression resulted in increased facial expressions of sadness compared to the control condition. Thus, simple instructions on how to reframe thoughts about crying can change mothers’ perception of and reactivity to crying.     

Collective Narcissism: Political Consequences of Investing Self‐Worth in the Ingroup’s Image

This article proposes a new theoretical framework for the reviewed state‐of‐the‐art research on collective narcissism—the belief that the ingroup’s exceptionality is not sufficiently appreciated by others. Collective narcissism is motivated by the investment of an undermined sense of self‐esteem into the belief in the ingroup’s entitlement to privilege. Collective narcissism lies in the heart of populist rhetoric. The belief in ingroup’s exceptionality compensates the undermined sense of self‐worth, leaving collective narcissists hypervigilant to signs of threat to the ingroup’s position. People endorsing the collective narcissistic belief are prone to biased perceptions of intergroup situations and to conspiratorial thinking. They retaliate to imagined provocations against the ingroup but sometimes overlook real threats. They are prejudiced and hostile. Deficits in emotional regulation, hostile attribution bias, and vindictiveness lie behind the robust link between collective narcissism and intergroup hostility. Interventions that support the regulation of negative emotions, such as experiencing self‐transcendent emotions, decrease the link between collective narcissism and intergroup hostility and offer further insights into the nature of collective narcissism.     

The fit between emotion regulation choice and individual resources is associated with adaptive functioning among young children

Being able to resist temptation at a young age is crucial for successful functioning yet it can be challenging. According to the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation with Emotion Regulation (SOC-ER) framework, one central element of successful functioning is selection which involves choosing among regulatory options whose resource requirements fits with the amount of available resources an individual possesses. Although conceptually important, direct empirical evidence is lacking. Accordingly, the present study utilised performance based measures to examine the interactive effect of regulatory selection to resist temptation, and individual differences in executive resources, on functioning in young children. Specifically, 39 first grade children that varied in executive resources (working memory capacity, WMC), selected between two major regulatory strategies (reappraisal and distraction) to resist temptation, that varied in their resource demands, and were evaluated on successful functioning (via questionnaires completed by parents, that assess daily-life behaviours requiring executive functioning). Supporting SOC-ER predictions, we found that among children with low (but not high) WMC, choosing the less effortful distraction regulatory strategy was associated with adaptive functioning. Additionally, regulatory choice preferences previously obtained with adults were extended to children. Broad implications are discussed.     

Cosmopolitics of a Regulatory Fit: The Case of Nanocellulose

Nanocellulose is an organic material envisioned to have the capacity to replace potentially harmful, non-renewable materials such as plastics. Before the material can be utilized commercially within the EU, its safety needs to be officially proven. This is envisioned to happen through the REACH chemicals regulation that controls the market entry of new substances. The regulation proposes concepts to support regulatory discretion and test methods to be used in risk assessments. While so doing, REACH puts forward assumptions pertaining to the critical qualities of innovations. However, when regulation is used to appraise radically new innovations, the assumptions need to be re-evaluated. Yet, analysis of expert accounts suggests that nanocellulose cannot be easily fit into the categorizations and analytical engagements that REACH proposes. For the purposes of a regulatory adoption, the problems are transformed into epistemological issues to be resolved through the incremental closing of knowledge gaps. Some of the key qualities of the material seem not to gain recognition in the regulatory realm that is in the making. At worst, the official strategy may create conditions for risks which the regulation is supposed to eradicate while, at the same time, hindering the development of plastic-substituting solutions.     

Concordance of teacher-rated and performance-based measures of executive functioning in preschoolers

The most common method used to evaluate child behavior and functioning is rating scales completed by parents and/or teachers. Given that executive functioning (EF) plays a fundamental role in the developing child’s cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional development, it would be ideal if ratings of EF and performance-based EF measures assess the same construct. However, most studies report a small to negligible association between performance-based measures and ratings of EF. There are few studies investigating this association for preschoolers, and most only include parent ratings. Teachers may be more reliable reporters of EF behaviors due to the higher demand for EF skills in the preschool setting than at home and because teachers may have a better sense of what behaviors are normative. In this study, we reviewed the associations between three EF rating scales completed by teachers on 243 preschool children. Results showed small to moderate correlations with EF measures of inhibition and cognitive flexibility/switching for all three scales, with the strongest associations observed between Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS) Behavioral Regulation subscale and child EF measures. Exploratory multivariate path analyses showed that, after controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES), Behavioral Regulation significantly predicted performance-based measures of EF and accounted for incrementally more variance in the models. We conclude that in ideal situations, it is best to measure EF using both rating scales and performance-based measures of EF. The CBRS seems to be a sensitive measure of EF in preschoolers and may be a helpful brief screening tool for use with teachers.     

Building up resources in the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout among firefighters: moderators of guanxi and emotion regulation strategies

This study investigated the moderating effects of supervisor–subordinate “guanxi” alongside relevant emotional regulation strategies, including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, undertaken by 402 firefighters experiencing burnout caused by work–family conflict, as revealed through the application and analysis of the job demands–resources model. According to the regression model for the moderating effects, high levels of supervisor–subordinate guanxi may improve the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout, while frequent suppression of expressivity may enhance this relationship. Moreover, when supervisor–subordinate guanxi is high, cognitive reappraisal may effectively mitigate the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout. To this end, both guanxi and cognitive reappraisal are crucial for supporting emotional regulation in the workplaces of ethnic Chinese societies.