The present study evaluated the utility of heart rhythm coherence (HRC) feedback to reduce the reported pain intensity of patients enrolled in a multimodal pain management program. Participants were recruited and assigned to a usual treatment group (UT) or a heart rhythm coherence feedback group (UT+HRC). It was hypothesized that UT+HRC participants who achieved heart rhythm coherence would report a reduction of pain intensity, as measured by the McGill Pain Inventory. For those whose pain intensity decreased, it was also expected that their self reported levels of depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition and state anger as measured by the State Trait Anger Inventory would decrease. It is also hypothesized that with a reduction in pain levels, anger, and depression, blood pressure would also decrease among those who had high blood pressure prior to the intervention. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) were used to investigate the relationship between treatment condition, coherence status and pain levels. A series of independent t-tests were utilized to investigate the change in pain, depression, and state anger from baseline to posttest, followed by Pearson product moment correlation coefficients on difference scores to understand the relationship between the outcome variables for Hypothesis 2. Standard multiple regression analyses were computed using difference scores to determine if the outcome measures were significant predictors of systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. Results indicated a failure to reject the null with regard to hypothesis one. No relationship between treatment assignment, coherence status or pain levels were found. Hypothesis 2 was partially supported. Although there was a positive significant relationship between depression and anger when utilizing difference scores, these affective measures were not related to difference scores on either pain measure. In regard to Hypothesis 3, there was also a failure to reject the null. None of the outcome measures utilized in this study emerged as being significantly related to changes in systolic or diastolic blood pressure. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are offered.

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Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Zululand, 2003 / Many myths and stigmas around HIV/AIDS continue to exist, despite various campaigns to educate South Africans about this terminal illness, and therefore an HIV positive diagnosis and the experience of living with it are usually kept secret. In order to facilitate a better understanding of HIV positive South Africans, it seems necessary to research their experiences. This study, using the phenomenological methodology, examined 6 HIV positive participants' written stones about their experiences of living with HIV. From these stories the following main themes emerged: disclosure, denial, stigma, physical symptoms, symbolic representations of HIV/AIDS, medication, depression, anger, and death, and from these themes strategies for survival materialized. The findings of this study show that HIV is often minimized by the infected so that they are able to manage the experience in more publicly acceptable ways, such as by focusing on common physical illnesses, and avoid facing the "emotional baggage" that accompanies this virus. The findings of this study reveal a need for further research in this experiential area as well as campaigns and education around issues such as stigma, medication, and emotional difficulties.

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Basement Heart is a collection of short stories with a goal of documenting the manifestations of rage and how it evolves throughout a woman’s life. In these stories, femininity is explored through the aesthetics of the grotesque. Female protagonists seek to inhabit new definitions of female sexuality that combat tired expectations made by society’s misogynistic and objectifying culture. Often, their feelings of unprovoked grief manifest themselves as pursuits of the flesh, which becomes the underlying heartbeat of each story; themes revolve around sex and obsession and explore what happens when sexual fantasies are realized and lived out in the real world. When characters inhabit their bodies in ways that American culture tells women not to, they become viscerally self-aware and better their understanding of what they want. And doing what they want is all these women care about. The characters in Basement Heart are angry, restless, and at times driven mad by their own lust for control.

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Relations between preschool-aged children’s expressive language ability and externalizing behaviors remain poorly understood and may be moderated by other influences, including child sex, temperamental anger/frustration, receptive language, and adaptive communication skill (i.e., “real-world” usage of language). The present study used person- and variable-centered approaches to (a) identify meaningful classes of children based on these attributes, and (b) test for class-specific differences in the relation between expressive language and later externalizing behaviors. Participants were 144 preschool-aged children (M = 47.43 months; 51% male) who were recruited from semirural Head Start centers and assessed at two time points, approximately five months apart. Latent class analysis identified three classes of children: (a) the Typical Language/Higher Anger class (average language/communication abilities and higher anger/frustration), (b) the High Communication/Average Anger class (only female children with high adaptive communication and otherwise average attributes), and (c) the Verbally Competent/Lower Anger class (high language/communication abilities and lower anger/frustration). Expressive language negatively predicted Time 2 externalizing behaviors more strongly among the High Communication/Average Anger class, compared to the Typical Language/Higher Anger class. Across the entire sample, there was a negative predictive relation between expressive language and Time 2 externalizing behaviors, which was moderated by anger/frustration and adaptive communication. Overall, among children with competent skills in expressive language and at least one additional domain (e.g., higher adaptive communication, lower anger/frustration), higher expressive language more strongly predicted lower levels of Time 2 externalizing behaviors, relative to children with fewer concurrent competencies. Higher levels of expressive language were not related—or were less strongly related—to later externalizing behaviors among children with fewer concurrent competencies. Results underscore the proximal role of temperamental and adaptive communicative attributes in supporting expressive language usage and suggest different intervention strategies for children with different configurations of attributes. / Psychology

This study was designed to examine the degree to which a small group counseling intervention resulted in attitudinal and behavioral change with adolescent boys identified by their school principals as having conduct problems. An eight-week cognitive-behavioral intervention was co-led by pairs of student services personnel made up of school psychologists, school social workers, and school counselors. The anger management program, called "Better Ways of Getting Mad," was designed from Morganett's Skills for Living: Group Counseling Activities for Young Adolescents (1990). Participants were 87 sixth- or seventh-grade boys at seven middle schools in Prince William County, Virginia, who were not in any special education program. A pretest-posttest, experimental/control group design was used. Variables studied were the extent of the conduct problems measured by the number of discipline referrals and scores on the Conduct Problem Scale of the Conners’ Teacher Rating Scale-39 (CTRS-39); the experience of anger measured by the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI); the expression of anger measured by STAXI; and the cognitive understanding of anger and anger expression measured by the Morganett inventory. Posttest differences between Experimental and Control groups were examined through analyses of covariance. The extent of conduct problems was found to be less for the experimental group than for the control group. A lower number of discipline referrals was also noted. However, neither of these differences were statistically significant. Students who participated in the counseling intervention did not show less intensity in state and trait anger. While students in the experimental group showed an anger expression index score lower than that of the control group score, this was not statistically significant. A significantly higher score in cognitive understanding was found in the experimental group. / Ed. D.

La vengeance réfère à la tentative de blesser ou de faire du mal à celui qui nous a causé du tort par sa faute. Alors que la vengeance se rapporte à l’action, le désir de vengeance réfère à l’émotion qui motive à la vengeance. La colère est une émotion ressentie lorsque nous subissons un dommage (interférence subite à la poursuite d’un but que nous tenons à coeur), alors que la rancune est une émotion qui est suscitée par la perception d’avoir ou le fait d’avoir réellement souffert d’une faute (préjudice qui est infligé de manière responsable d’un individu à une victime). Ces définitions de la colère et de la rancune peuvent se traduire de manière opérationnelle par le fait de provoquer des participants de façon qu’ils perçoivent cela comme accidentelle (sans faute) ou personnelle (avec faute) ; la première provocation induirait un état émotionnel de colère alors que la seconde de rancune. Les études passées ont démontré l’effet de la colère sur le taux de rejets d’offres monétaires très injustes et moyennement injustes comparativement aux offres justes lors d’une tâche de prise de décision économique tel que la tâche Ultimatum Game (UG) ainsi que sur l’amplitude de la Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN), une composante de potentiel reliés aux évènements qui devient plus prononcée lors d’une rétroaction négative associée à des résultats défavorable (ex., réponses incorrectes ou pertes monétaires). Ces données suggèrent que la colère augmenterait l’évaluation affective négative associée aux offres très injustes et moyennement injustes et les comportements de vengeance associés aux taux de rejet. Le rôle des émotions dans la vengeance pose la question de savoir si leur influence se transmet directement dans les comportements de vengeance. Le trait de vengeance réfère à la tendance dispositionnelle à entretenir des attitudes positives envers la vengeance et à la rechercher en réponse à des provocations. Les études antérieures ont démontré que le trait d’affects négatifs modérait la relation entre l'état affects négatifs et l’ampleur de la FRN. Il y a un manque dans nos connaissances sur le rôle du trait de vengeance sur la relation entre l’amplitude de la FRN et le taux de rejet d’offres monétaires. Le premier objectif de la présente étude est de comparer les effets de la colère à ceux de la rancune sur le taux de rejets d’offres monétaires justes, moyennement injustes et très injustes ainsi que sur la FRN durant la tâche UG. Le second objectif est de vérifier le rôle de modérateur du trait de vengeance sur la relation entre la FRN et le taux de rejet des offres, et ce en réponse à des offres très injustes et moyennement injustes. Deux groupes expérimentaux ont été créés : le groupe Colère (GrC) et le groupe Rancune (GrR). Le premier groupe a subi une induction de colère par le biais d'une provocation humaine sans faute pendant la réalisation d'une tâche de créativité. Au cours de la même tâche de créativité, les participants du second groupe ont été soumis à une induction de rancune par le biais d'une provocation humaine avec faute. Ensuite, il a été demandé aux participants de participer à la tâche UG, dans lequel ils devaient accepter ou rejeter des offres monétaires très injustes, moyennement injustes et justes proposées par un participant fictif. En plus de l’analyse du taux de rejet, le signal électroencéphalographique (EEG) a été quantifié puis analysé sur la FRN dans le but de servir de proxy de la perception d’injustice et du niveau de complexité de la prise de décision en fonction du groupe de participants et du type d’offres. Contrairement à ce qui était attendu, les résultats indiquent que le taux de rejet des participants du GrC devant les offres moyennement injustes est significativement plus élevés que celui des participants GrR. De plus, les résultats ne démontrent pas une amplitude FRN significativement plus grande chez les participants GrR comparée à celle chez les participants GrC, et ceci peu importe le type d’offres. De manière congruente avec la littérature, la FRN associée aux offres très injustes et moyennement injustes est plus négative que celle associée aux offres justes. Toutefois, dans le cadre de la présente étude, ce résultat sur la FRN a été observé uniquement pour le GrC. Enfin, que ce soit en réponse à des offres très injustes ou moyennement injustes, les résultats ne démontrent pas le rôle modérateur du trait de vengeance dans la relation entre l’amplitude de la FRN et le taux de rejet d’offres monétaires. L’effet de groupe observé sur le taux de rejet des offres moyennement injustes suggère que les personnes en colère résolvent leur conflit cognitif davantage en outre-passant leurs intérêts personnels monétaires comparativement aux personnes qui vivent de la rancune. Ces résultats suggèrent aussi que, contrairement aux individus en état de colère qui perçoivent les offres justes d’une façon différente des autres types d’offres, les individus vivant de la rancune perçoivent les offres justes, moyennement injustes et très injustes de la même façon. Il est possible de croire que l’état de rancune augmente la sensibilité à l’injustice envers des offres qui normalement devrait être perçues comme différentes. Des limites méthodologiques peuvent possiblement expliquer l’absence d’effet de modération du trait de vengeance. / Vengeance refers to the attempt to hurt or harm someone who has caused us harm through their wrong. While revenge refers to action, the desire for vengeance refers to the emotion that motivates revenge. Anger is an emotion felt when we suffer from a perceived or actual harm (sudden interference in the pursuit of an important goal for us), while resentment is an emotion that is aroused by the perception of having or the fact of having actually suffered from a wrong (harm that is responsibly inflicted by an individual on a victim). These definitions of anger and resentment can be operationalized by provoking participants in such a way that they perceive it as accidental (without wrong) or personal (with wrong); the first provocation would induce an emotional state of anger while the second would induce a state of resentment. Past studies have demonstrated the effect of anger on the rejection rate of unfair and mid-value offers compared to fair offers during an economic decision-making task such as the Ultimatum Game (UG), as well as on the amplitude of Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN), an event-related potential that becomes more pronounced during negative feedback associated with unfavorable outcomes (e.g., incorrect responses or monetary losses). These prior studies suggest that anger would increase the negative affective evaluation associated with unfair and mid-value offers and vengeance behaviors associated with rejection rates. The role of emotions in vengeance raises the question of whether their influence is transmitted directly into revenge behaviors. Trait vengeance refers to the dispositional tendency to maintain positive attitudes toward revenge and to seek it in response to provocations. Previous studies demonstrated that trait negative affect moderated the relationship between state negative affect and FRN magnitude. There is a gap in our knowledge about the role of trait vengeance on the relationship between the FRN amplitude and the rejection rate of monetary offers. The first objective of the current study is to compare the effects of anger to those of resentment on the rejection rate of fair, mid-value and unfair offers as well as on the FRN amplitude during the UG. The second objective is to verify the moderating role of trait vengeance on the relationship between FRN amplitude and the rejection rate in response to unfair and mid-value offers. Two experimental groups were created: a group primed with a human provocation without wrong (Unwronged) and a second group primed with a human provocation with wrong (Wronged). The first group underwent anger induction through a human provocation without wrong while performing a creativity task. During the same creativity task, participants in the second group were subjected to a resentment induction through a human provocation with wrong. Next, participants were asked to participate in the UG, in which they had to accept or reject unfair, mid-value, and fair offers proposed by a fictitious participant. In addition to the analysis of the rejection rate, the electroencephalographic (EEG) signal was quantified and then analyzed on the FRN amplitude with the aim of serving as a proxy for the perception of injustice and the level of complexity of decision-making based on the experimental groups and the type of offers. Contrary to what was expected, the results indicate that the rejection rate of the Unwronged group in response to mid-value offers is significantly higher than the Wronged group. Furthermore, the results do not demonstrate a significantly greater FRN amplitude in the Wronged group compared to the Unwronged group, regardless of the type of offers. In accordance with the literature, the FRNs associated with unfair and mid-value offers are more negative compared to the FRN associated with fair offers. However, in the context of the present study, this result on FRN was observed only for the Unwronged group. Finally, whether in response to unfair or mid-value offers, the results do not demonstrate the moderating role of the trait vengeance in the relationship between the FRN amplitude and the rejection rate. The group effect observed on the rejection rate of mid-value offers suggests that angry participants resolve their cognitive conflict more by overriding their personal monetary interests compared to participants who feel resentment. These results also suggest that, unlike individuals in a state of anger who perceive fair offers in a different way from other types of offers, individuals feeling resentment perceive fair, mid-value and unfair offers in the same way. It is possible to believe that the state of resentment increases sensitivity to injustice towards offers that should normally be perceived as different. Methodological limitations can possibly explain the lack of moderation effect of the trait vengeance.