This thesis examines the role played by language in the interpretation of emotional expression. Language labels may indirectly influence such tasks, organising and reactivating a useful repository of semantic knowledge (e.g. Barrett, Lindquist & Gendron, 2007). This proposal was explored using a series of semantic satiation experiments (Lindquist, Barrett, Bliss-Moreau & Russell, 2006). Participants repeated words 3 or 30 times before deciding whether two faces matched in emotional expression. Word type was manipulated across experiments (emotion labels, neutral labels and non-words); an indirect account would only predict reduced accuracy when participants experience semantic inaccessibility, achieved via massed repetition of an emotional label. However, reduced discrimination was found both after 30 (vs. 3) repetitions of any word, and two non-linguistic activities. Findings then suggest that the massed repetition decrement arises via a non-semantic mechanism, such as response uncertainty (e.g. Tian & Huber, 2010). However, an emotion-specific effect of language was also consistently observed. Participants showed facilitated performance after 3 and 30 repetitions of an emotion label, but only when it matched both expressions in the pair. This may suggest that language labels directly influence early emotion perception (Lupyan, 2007, 2012), or provide strategic support during paired discrimination (e.g. Roberson & Davidoff, 2000). A perceptual threshold procedure was used to test the direct assumption. Participants repeated an emotion or neutral label before deciding whether a briefly presented face did, or did not, display an emotional expression. In comparison to the neutral baseline, participants showed no facilitation in performance following exposure to emotion labels that were ‘weakly’ or ‘strongly’ congruent with the subsequently presented expression. Overall, findings inconsistently support the notion that language shapes the interpretation of emotional expression. This prompts discussion of how task demands may influence language-driven recruitment of conceptual knowledge, and the time-course across which these linked elements influence interpretation.

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This thesis investigated the role of anticipation as a mediating factor in the Emotion-Enhanced Memory (EEM) phenomenon. Using behavioural and ERP measures, three anticipatory conditions were explored: Informative, No-Cue and Non-Informative. The primary objective was to determine how far the pre-stimulus-Dm (Ps-Dm) effect is a reliable indicator of emotional memory encoding under different levels of anticipation, and if the preparatory process explanation accounts for any effects. This study also aimed to determine if there is an association between anticipatory activity at the pre- and post- stimulus phase, and the related behavioural outcome. One behavioural and three ERP studies were conducted to measure the difference due to memory (Dm) effect during an anticipatory phase. The Dm effect distinguishes between neural activity of subsequently remembered and forgotten items, providing an index of successful encoding. We employed an S1-S2 (Stimulus 1: Cues - Stimulus 2: Pictures) Cueing-Subsequent Memory Paradigm. Upper case letters (O, X, Z) served as cue stimuli (S1). Emotional and neutral images selected from International Affective Picture System (IAPS) were used as S2. Findings revealed a Dm effect for informative as well as for non-informative cue conditions when participants anticipated high-arousal emotionally negative pictures. This effect was found during the 400-600ms time window only when the cue remained on the screen. This effect was not significant for the studies in which the arousal level of anticipated negative pictures was mixed. Moreover, the behavioral findings mirrored the neural activity in this particular study. However, in rest of the studies, behavioral results could not corroborate neural activity. The results of the present set of experiments highlighted that emotional memory might be formed without specific information about the content or valence of imminent pictures.

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The concept of hope has historically been neglected in the field of psychology, but has begun to receive considerable attention in recent years. This is due to the growth of the positive psychology movement and the recognition of hope as an important element in psychological therapy. Various authors have put forward theoretical ideas regarding the role of hope in different therapeutic approaches and research exploring these ideas with both clinicians and service users has begun to emerge. However, the existing literature is limited in its exploration of hope from the perspective of service users and fails to explore the role of hope in the face of challenging life circumstances, and in situations where it is difficult to sustain hope. Participants for this study were recruited through the Samaritans, a voluntary organisation which provides confidential emotional support for people who are experiencing varying levels of emotional distress. Seven people with experience of contacting the Samaritans were interviewed to explore the role of hope in their contacts with the organisation. Specifically, this research set out to investigate how these participants spoke about hope, what enabled them to have hope and what role Samaritan volunteers may have in this. A grounded theory analysis resulted in a grounded theory consisting of one core category; 'searching for hope in the context of despair', and three main categories; 'defining hope: the context of despair', 'attuning to hope' and 'fostering hope'. For the participants in the current study, hope was understood in relation to the opposite experience of despair and was something which could only be fostered through a process of attuning to this despair, before then fostering hope. The findings have implications for the training of Samaritan volunteers and contribute to the literature exploring how clinicians can work with hope in practice

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There are several shortcomings in the empathy literature that have led to an incomplete understanding of this important social emotion. Specifically, definitions of the term lack consistency, and the majority treatment of empathy as a trait capacity has overshadowed our understanding of empathy as a state variable, and of the relationships between context-dependent cognitions and empathic responding. The purpose of this thesis is to present research into the resolution of these issues. A new conceptualisation of empathy was first developed, based upon a consideration of the published literature. The cognitive antecedents of empathy (agency, blame, perceived power, cognitive empathy, similarity, valuing, perceived need, morality, self-interest, and mood) were then identified and reviewed. As no scale existed to target these variables, a new scale was developed (the Cognitive Antecedents of Empathic Responding Scale [CAERS]). In Study 1 the face validity of the CAERS was established, and the internal reliability of the scale was improved in Study 2. In Study 3, participants‟ (n = 177) cognitions towards a high school bullying victim were measured, finding that that some antecedents (i.e., perceived need, valuing, cognitive empathy, similarity, self-interest, and morality) were more influential on empathic responding than others. The results of Study 4 showed that participants‟ (n = 83) cognitions (especially morality, valuing, agency, and blame) towards an individual depicted in a charity advertisement influenced how much empathy they felt for that target and how likely they were to donate to that charity. In Study 5, a one-trial prisoner‟s dilemma (n = 100) was used to demonstrate that self-interest is also an important factor to consider. A new model of the antecedents of empathic responding was developed from these results, which will serve as a useful starting point for those wishing to enhance the way we encourage empathy in others, especially those working in forensic, healthcare, and charitable contexts.