Examining the social in the prosocial: Episode-level features of social interactions and kind acts predict social connection and well-being.
Emotion, Vol 23(8), Dec 2023, 2270-2285; doi:10.1037/emo0001232Experiments prompting people to engage in more prosocial behavior (e.g., acts of kindness) or simple social interactions (e.g., acting extraverted) have both shown promise in boosting well-being. However, little is known about how much the impact on well-being depends on the type of interpersonal interaction (i.e., social vs. prosocial) or on other proximal features (e.g., whether the interaction takes place online vs. in-person, the closeness of the relationship, or amount of social connection associated with a given interaction). We randomly assigned a sample...
Source: Emotion - May 1, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Altering experienced utility by incidental affect: The interplay of valence and arousal in incidental affect infusion processes.
Emotion, Vol 23(8), Dec 2023, 2179-2193; doi:10.1037/emo0001241The way we evaluate an experience can be influenced by contextual factors that are unrelated to the experience at hand. A prominent factor that has been shown to infuse into the evaluation processes is incidental affect. Prior research has examined the role of such incidental affect by either focusing on its valence or its arousal, while neglecting the interplay of these two components in the affect infusion process. Based on the affect–integration–motivation (AIM) framework from affective neuroscience, our research proposes a novel arousal transport hypoth...
Source: Emotion - April 27, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Affective dependence, self-regulation, and alcohol problems: Between- and within-person associations.
This study sought to elucidate the role of affective dependence as a predictor of goal pursuit and alcohol problems at the within- and between-person levels. Participants were 100 college students aged 18–25 years, who drank alcohol at least moderately, and completed a 21-day ecological momentary assessment study regarding affect, academic goal pursuit, idiographic goal pursuit, alcohol use, and alcohol problems. Multilevel time series models were estimated. Consistent with hypotheses, affective dependence predicted more alcohol problems and decreased academic goal pursuit at the within-person level. Importantly, effects...
Source: Emotion - April 27, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Basic emotions do not reliably co-occur with predicted facial expressions: Reply to Witkower et al. (2023).
Emotion, Vol 23(3), Apr 2023, 908-910; doi:10.1037/emo0001227Replies to the comments made by Witkower, et al. (see record 2023-63008-004) on the current authors original article (see record 2022-03375-001). A core assumption of Basic Emotion Theory is that the conscious experience of a basic emotion co-occurs with a facial expression signal of that same emotion. Our analysis of available evidence found co-occurrence in only 13% of cases—thus calling into question basic and applied studies in which the emotion is inferred from the face. Our second analysis counted as a co-occurrence even when only part of the facial signa...
Source: Emotion - April 20, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Emotions do reliably co-occur with predicted facial signals: Comment on Durán and Fernández-Dols (2021).
Emotion, Vol 23(3), Apr 2023, 903-907; doi:10.1037/emo0001162Durán and Fernández-Dols (see record 2022-03375-001) have done the field a service by conducting a meta-analytic review of the association between emotion experiences and facial expressions. Although they conclude that no meaningful association exists, our reading of their analyses suggest a different interpretation: The data that they report indicate an association of substantial magnitude—as large as 1.5 times the size of the average effect in social psychology and larger than 76% of meta-analytic effects previously reported throughout personality and socia...
Source: Emotion - April 20, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Authentic/hubristic pride controversies as a window on broader emotion measurement issues: Reply to Tracy et al. (2023).
Emotion, Vol 23(3), Apr 2023, 899-902; doi:10.1037/emo0001197Replies to Tracy, et al. (see record 2023-63008-002) on the current authors' comments (see record 2023-63008-001) to Tracy, et al.'s original article (see record 2007-02840-009). In our conceptual and empirical review of the Authentic Pride (AP) and Hubristic Pride (HP) scales, we concluded that they do not validly assess a two-facet model of the emotion of pride. For instance, we concluded that the HP scale is not a measure of pride at all and suffers from other deficits (e.g., zero-inflated scores and lack of measurement precision), which make it unsuitable for...
Source: Emotion - April 20, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The viability and validity of the Authentic and Hubristic Pride scales: Reply to Dickens and Murphy (2023).
Emotion, Vol 23(3), Apr 2023, 894-898; doi:10.1037/emo0001183Dickens and Murphy (see record 2023-63008-001) claim that the Authentic and Hubristic Pride (i.e., AP/HP) scales (see record 2007-02840-009), which we developed and validated over 15 years ago, do not validly assess the theoretical constructs of authentic and hubristic pride (e.g., Tracy & Robins, 2004a, 2007). These authors further call for the development of new measures based on a top-down approach, which would incorporate the theory into scale items. Although we appreciate Dickens and Murphy’s emphasis on the need for valid assessment tools in this importan...
Source: Emotion - April 20, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The Authentic and Hubristic Pride scales do not validly assess the two-facet model of pride: Time to rewind and reboot with new measures.
Emotion, Vol 23(3), Apr 2023, 886-893; doi:10.1037/emo0001142The Authentic and Hubristic Pride scales (see record 2007-02840-009) have been used in hundreds of studies aiming to investigate the popular 2-facet model of pride (Tracy & Robins, 2004, 2007), and they continue to be the primary assessment tools used for that purpose. In 2014, in this journal, Holbrook et al. (2014a, 2014b) raised concerns about the validity of these scales’ scores, such as arguing that the Hubristic Pride scale did not measure pride at all, whereupon Tracy and Robins (2014) responded to defend these scales’ scores’ validities. Marshaling ...
Source: Emotion - April 20, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Shy, happy, calm, and controlled: Temperament correlates of socioemotional adjustment in toddlerhood.
Emotion, Vol 23(8), Dec 2023, 2344-2355; doi:10.1037/emo0001239Understanding heterogeneity in shy or inhibited children's risk for poor socioemotional adjustment can inform intervention targets. The present study considered temperament traits associated with approach and regulation that may alter trajectories away from internalizing behaviors and poor socioemotional competence among shy toddlers. Fifty-five 22–24-month-old children (22 boys) preselected for parent-reported shyness were observed during laboratory tasks designed to measure shyness, activity level, positive affect, and inhibitory control between January 201...
Source: Emotion - April 17, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Prioritization of danger-related social signals during threat-induced anxiety.
Emotion, Vol 23(8), Dec 2023, 2356-2369; doi:10.1037/emo0001231Under threat, the combinations of fearful display and gaze orientation emitted by others can provide crucial information about the presence and location of the danger, as well as whether other individuals are in distress and need help. While it has been shown that threat-induced anxiety facilitates the processing of fearful faces, the question remains as to whether the processing of one of the two combinations of fearful displays and gaze direction (signaling danger vs. need for help) is prioritized within a threatening environment. To address this question, we...
Source: Emotion - April 13, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Understanding the temporal dynamics of problem anger using sequence analysis.
Emotion, Vol 23(8), Dec 2023, 2322-2330; doi:10.1037/emo0001240Problem anger is a common, and potentially destructive mental health issue in trauma-affected populations, affecting up to 30% of veteran and military populations. Problem anger is associated with a range of psychosocial and functional difficulties and elevated risk of harm to self and others. Increasingly, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is being used to understand the microlevel dynamics of emotions, and this information is valuable to inform treatment approaches. Using a data-driven approach, we used sequence analysis to determine whether heterogeneity...
Source: Emotion - April 13, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Can emotional acceptance buffer the link between executive functioning and mental health in late life?
Emotion, Vol 23(8), Dec 2023, 2286-2299; doi:10.1037/emo0001236Emotional acceptance is thought to play an important role in protecting mental health. However, few studies have examined emotional acceptance among older adults who may experience declines in functioning, including executive functioning. The present laboratory-based study examined whether emotional acceptance and (to determine specificity) detachment and positive reappraisal moderated links between executive functioning and mental health symptoms in a sample of healthy older adults. Emotion regulation strategies were measured using questionnaire-based measures...
Source: Emotion - April 13, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Silencing screaming with screens: The longitudinal relationship between media emotion regulation processes and children's emotional reactivity, emotional knowledge, and empathy.
Emotion, Vol 23(8), Dec 2023, 2194-2204; doi:10.1037/emo0001222Many parents use screens to regulate their young children's emotions. We know very little, however, about how this parenting practice is related to the development of emotional competencies (i.e., emotional reactivity, emotion knowledge, and empathy) over time. The current longitudinal study examined bidirectional associations between media emotion regulation and various emotional competencies across a 1-year period during early childhood (between ages 3.5 and 4.5 on average). Participants included 269 child/parent dyads who completed a number of in-home tasks ...
Source: Emotion - April 13, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Fluency generating emotion words correlates with verbal measures but not emotion regulation, alexithymia, or depressive symptoms.
In this study, we measured emotion fluency by counting how many emotion words participants could generate in 60 s. Participants (N = 151 in 2011–2012) also completed a behavioral measure of verbal fluency (i.e., how many words starting with “P” or “J” participants could produce in 60 s), a cognitive reappraisal emotion regulation task, and emotion functioning questionnaires. In preregistered analyses, we found that participants produced more negative emotion words than positive words and more positive words than neutral words in the emotion fluency task. As hypothesized, emotion fluency was positively related to ...
Source: Emotion - April 6, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Task-related modulation of facial expression processing: An FPVS-EEG study.
Emotion, Vol 23(8), Dec 2023, 2399-2419; doi:10.1037/emo0001223In the current study, we examined the role of task-related top-down mechanisms in the recognition of facial expressions. An expression of increasing intensity was displayed at a frequency of 1.5 Hz among the neutral faces of the same model that was displayed at a frequency of 12 Hz (i.e., 12 frames per second, with the expression occurring every eight frames). Twenty-two participants were asked either to recognize the emotion at the expression-specific frequency (1.5 Hz) or to perform an orthogonal task in separate blocks, while a scalp electroencephalogram (EE...
Source: Emotion - March 30, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
