Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-63). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR45956

The objective of this study is to determine whether the practice of yoga is associated with enhanced emotion regulation and empathy, and if the relationship between these variables is mediated by mindfulness. It was hypothesized that the participants with more yoga experience will show more skillful emotion regulation, more mindfulness, and higher empathetic ability. The relationship of exercise experience to the dependent variables was also examined to evaluate if it differed from the relationship of yoga experience to the dependent variables. It was also hypothesized that mindfulness mediates the effect of yoga experience on the other variables. The study sampled both a college students (n =185) and individuals in the community (n =81) with a range of yoga experience, from no experience to experts. Yoga experience was measured with three independent variables in the community sample, including lifetime number of hours of yoga, frequency of yoga practice, and importance of yoga practice. In the college student sample, individuals who practiced yoga were compared to those who had never practiced yoga in a dichotomous independent variable. The Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ; Godin & Shepard, 1985), Five Factor Mindfulness Measure (FFMQ; Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003), and Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980) were used to assess the study constructs. Preliminary analyses were conducted to examine the relationship of demographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity/race, religion, religious attendance, income, education, and relationship status) with the dependent variables, and demographic variables that were found to be significantly related to dependent variables were controlled for in the primary analyses. The hypotheses were analyzed using hierarchical regression, simple regression, and mediation. The study hypotheses were partially supported by the study findings. In the community sample, those with more yoga experience exhibited increased mindfulness, improved emotion regulation, and higher perspective taking. Mindfulness was found to mediate the relationship between yoga experience and suppression and the relationship between yoga experience and reappraisal. The results of the college student sample yielded non-significant findings. The implications of the study findings are discussed. / text

The effective encoding and interpretation of facial expressions is critical to inferring the intentions, motivation, and emotional state of others. Asperger syndrome (AS) is a pervasive, neurodevelopmental condition characterized by significant deficits in social interaction, impaired use of language, and stereotyped interests and activities. Deficient encoding and interpretation of facial expressions is likely related to the social difficulties experienced by those with AS. A video-based intervention administered via Internet is proposed for young children with AS. This research hopes to clarify the questions (1) are young children with AS able to interpret simple emotions and (2) can they learn the skills necessary to interpret complex emotions. Data will be analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. / text

According to Greek mythology, when the god of opportunity appears, there is but an instant in which a person must seize him in order to take advantage of the god's beneficence. If the moment is missed, the god passes by, finalizing the loss of opportunity. As a rhetorical concept, kairos emphasizes the importance of seizing--even creating--opportunities in a manner that is situationally effective and appropriate. Though kairos is often discussed as a single, pivotal moment of opportunity, this study argues that in order to better understand kairos and its role in rhetorical studies, the concept must be understood much more expansively.One of the central ways in which this dissertation broadens the concept of kairos is by acknowledging the long-standing conceptual and iconographic link between kairos and metanoia. In artwork and epigrams, the god of opportunity is often depicted with a female figure named Metanoia who brings elements such as repentance, reflection, regret, and transformation into the kairotic moment. Additionally, exploring the connections between kairos and metanoia introduces the concepts of metis (cunning or skill) and akairos (the inopportune) into kairos. Thus this dissertation expands the realm of kairos to include both opportune and inopportune moments that the savvy (or metis-endowed) rhetor can navigate.In addition to acknowledging the vital roles that metanoia, metis, and akairos play in the kairotic moment, this dissertation argues that an expanded theory of kairos offers new avenues for studying and employing emotion in the field of rhetoric and composition. In particular, it introduces the concept of akairos as both a rhetorical strategy (akairotic rhetoric) and an entry point into analytical discussions of the ways in which emotion functions on both individual and societal levels to alter perceptions of the possible. This dissertation argues that an expanded theory of kairos, one that recognizes the importance of akairos, extends the options for emotion as rhetorical device by challenging the etiquettes of emotion that traditional theories of kairos maintain.

Emotions are an important part of the workplace. Emotional labor describes the monitoring and management of one's emotions at work. Employees perform emotional labor in response to explicit and perceived display rules for emotional expressions in the workplace. While compliance with these rules is generally beneficial for the organization, it may be detrimental to employee well-being.This study proposes a process model of emotional labor that extends from display rules to job attitudes and behaviors. It is unique in that it investigates display rules and emotional labor at the group level of analysis. It also includes coworkers as well as customers as targets of emotional labor. Display rule commitment is proposed as an important moderator between emotional labor and important individual job attitudes and behaviors that may account for previously mixed findings in the literature.The hypotheses of this study received general support. Specifically, group level display rules and emotional labor were viable constructs that had important consequences for job outcomes. Display rule commitment was an important predictor of job attitudes and behaviors and moderated the relationship between group level surface acting and emotional exhaustion. In addition, group level emotional labor showed a significant effect on a number of important job outcomes. It also moderated the relationship between individual level emotional labor and job attitudes and behaviors. These findings provide several promising new insights and directions for emotional labor research.

The present study is a mixed method longitudinal design, containing three objectives. Object one was to develop a team-specific survey instrumentin order to measure emotion, concentration and performance during a game. Object two was to examine the dynamics of emotion, concentration and performance in successful and less successful games. Object three was to study the relationship between emotion, concentration and performance in successful and less successful games. The participants (n= 15, age= 22.8) in the study consisted of 15 women, all players in the same elite handball team.Qualitative data was obtained by two workshops in order to construct the instrument. Quantitative data was collected after games, using the team specific instrument. The study includes data over a six game period containing four successful games and two less successful games. Results showed a significant difference between successful and less successful games regarding all three variables measured. Both positive and negative relationships were found. The results also showed different relationships regarding successful and less successful games. Several practical team-specific applications were suggested, such as working with emotional regulation to enhance performance. Investigating if athletes are more prone to be influenced emotionally by their performance when performing poorlyis one of several suggestions proposed for future directions.

Adolescents experience heightened emotional arousal and difficulty regulating that arousal. Adolescent girls have emotion regulation difficulties particularly associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. In adults, the emotion dysregulation associated with depression and anxiety has been linked to not accepting emotions. Emotional non-acceptance is the act of judging certain emotional experiences as inadmissible and trying to avoid, suppress, or ignore those experiences. In adults, non-acceptance is thought to paradoxically lead to amplified emotional arousal and difficulty regulating arousal. Previous research supports this idea for the subjective experience of emotion but not the physiological response. The goal of the current study was to elicit these differences in physiology in order to better understand the effects of emotional non-acceptance on emotion regulation. Eighty-two adolescent girls were asked to perform a spontaneous speech while physiological and subjective responses were measured. These same measures were taken before and after the speech. Trait-like emotional non-acceptance was also measured. Although trait non-acceptance predicted differences in one aspect of physiology, there were no other effects of emotional acceptance or non-acceptance on physiological response. In line with previous research, emotional acceptance and non-acceptance had their effects on the subjective experience of emotion, both in reaction to, and recovery from, the speech. Interestingly, in the current sample, induced non-acceptance had no effects on arousal or regulation. Also, greater effects were found for self-reported positive emotion than any other measure of emotional response. Results support the idea that emotional non-acceptance and acceptance affect the appraisal of emotional experiences but do not affect the emotional arousal itself. Also, the findings of this study suggest that emotional non-acceptance has more qualities of a trait than a state. The implications for the model of emotional acceptance and the effects of puberty on emotion regulation are discussed. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-29 14:18:38.431

In this dissertation, I argue that accounts of cosmopolitan literature tend to equate cosmopolitanism with sympathetic feeling. I further contend that sympathy is in fact implicitly central to a wider body of contemporary cosmopolitan theory. I distinguish between two strains of cosmopolitan thought that depend upon two distinct models of feeling: “critical cosmopolitanism,” which depends upon a cognitive-evaluative model of sympathy, and “affective cosmopolitanism,” which depends upon a relational model. Both branches of cosmopolitanism envision sympathy as perfectly human or humane; they gloss over the potential for feeling shame in cosmopolitan encounters. The minority of scholarship that does consider shame in relation to cosmopolitan practice also reifies shame as ideally human or humane. Whether through sympathy or shame, cosmopolitan subjects become cosmopolitan through feeling. I offer readings of J.M. Coetzee’s later fiction in order to critique the idealization of feeling as distinctly cosmopolitan. Coetzee’s work, I conclude, suggests another model for cosmopolitanism, one which foregrounds the limits of feeling for realizing mutuality and equality. / Thesis (Ph.D, English) -- Queen's University, 2012-06-26 10:17:59.252

This research was designed to contribute to an understanding of child outcomes and parenting practices associated with father-perpetrated maltreatment, as well as to identify processes that may contribute to emotion regulation difficulties in maltreated children. In particular, the studies described in this dissertation investigated paternal emotion socialization practices as potential pathways to emotion dysregulation in physically maltreated children. In the first study, a normative sample of 200 young adults participated in a retrospective analysis, whereby participants completed questionnaires designed to measure the relationships between history of physical maltreatment, emotion socialization, and current-day emotion regulation. In this study, 26.9% of participants endorsed a childhood history of father-perpetrated physical maltreatment. The second study explored these same relationships in a concurrent analysis of physically maltreating and non-maltreating father-child dyads. Fourteen physically maltreated children and their fathers were recruited from the Children’s Aid Society and treatment programs for abusive fathers, and a control group matched on demographic variables was recruited from the community. Father-child dyads participated in an emotion interaction task where they discussed the child’s experience of negative emotions; interactions were videotaped and coded for fathers’ validating and invalidating responses to children’s emotions. Fathers and children also completed measures that further assessed paternal emotion socialization, as well as children’s emotion regulation. Across both studies, findings indicated that physically maltreated children experienced more difficulties with emotion regulation than their non-maltreated peers. Moreover, abusive fathers were more likely to use non-supportive (neglect, punish, invalidation) and anger magnifying socialization practices, and less likely to use supportive (reward, validation) emotion socialization. Finally, results showed that the relationship between physical maltreatment and emotion dysregulation was mediated through the indirect effects of emotion socialization (reward, neglect, punish, magnify anger, validation, invalidation). In particular, data from child maltreatment victims consistently indicated that paternal neglect of negative emotions and magnification of anger were the strongest unique mediators. Together, results highlight the important role of fathers in the regulatory development of maltreated children. Furthermore, they provide support for intervention efforts designed to decrease non-supportive emotion socialization, while fostering anger management, emotional responsivity, and emotion coaching skills for physically abusive fathers.

While the study of emotions is of universal interest because of its central role in the social sciences and humanities, emotions are of special interest for South Africa for both theoretical and applied reasons. South Africa, with its eleven official languages, is a true multicultural society with extreme differences in terms of culture, acculturation, and socio-economic status. Cultural frameworks differ substantially between ethno-cultural groups, and clarification of the differences between cultural frameworks can counter interpretation biases that could result in daily frictions and major conflicts. Additional fundamental cross-cultural research on emotional differences between cultural groups, together with the generation of a mutual understanding of the different cultural frameworks, makes these frameworks explicit and facilitates the incorporation of these frameworks into daily communication and interaction processes. The objectives of this research were to determine what the emotion structure of the Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda languages groups within a sample of Sepedi-, Xitsonga- and Tshivenda-speaking participants is, and how it compares with the European Emotion Structure. Furthermore this research aimed to establish the emotion structure and the relevant and representative features for each emotion component (such as appraisals, action tendencies, and subjective experiences) that have been encoded in a sample of Sepedi-, Xitsonga- and Tshivenda-speaking participants. Like\vise it was deemed necessary to verify (a) the extent to which the emotion words refer to specific positions on each of the emotion features of these language groups and (b) the extent of similarity or dissimilarity between emotion experiences of the Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda groups in the SAPS, as well as to compare the meaning structure between a "bottom-up" and a "top-down" (as conducted in Nicholls' research in 2008) approach between Sepedi-, Xitsonga- and Tshivenda-speaking participants. A survey design with convenience sampling was used to achieve the research objectives. The study population (n=390) consisted of Sepedi-, Xitsonga- and Tshivenda-speaking entry-level police applicants from the South African Police Service (SAPS). The Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda GRlD questionnaires were administered. Statistical methods and procedures (multidimensional scaling and descriptive statistics) were used and Cronbachrs alpha coefficients were determined to analyse the results. Results of this study on the Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda cultural groups indicated the extraction of a two-factor model within the Sepedi group. Due to the extremely low reliability analyses of the Xitsonga and Tshivenda language groups' data, a reliable scale analysis and the meaning structures of these two groups could not be determined. The low reliabilities could be attributed to the direct language translation of the questionnaire and the assessment may not have captured the full understanding of the items in the GRlD instrument. Results of this study for the Sepedi language group corresponded well with the results found in the study for the Sepedi group conducted by Nicholls (2008) on the emotion lexicon on the Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda language groups in South Africa. The Nicholls study (2008) indicated the extraction of a three-dimensional structure (evaluation, arousal, dominance) and a four-factor loading (positive emotion, sadness, fear, anger) for the Sepedi-speaking language group. In comparison, this research presented the extraction of a two-dimensional structure (evaluation and arousal) and a two-factor loading (positive emotion and sadness). Emotion concepts of the Sepedi group indicated that basic emotion concepts (love, joy, anger, sadness, fear, and surprise) readily came to mind in both Nicholls' (2008) and this study. Emotion concepts listed by the Sepedi group could be interpreted as emotion words associated with social, personality or environmental aspects and may be related to negative evaluation, dominance and/or aggression. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.