Earlier studies suggest that emotion affects long duration estimates of 3-7 seconds and more, but how emotions affect shorter events is not well known. The aim of the thesis was to investigate how emotion, in terms of emotional Valence and Arousal, affects subjective time estimates of short (sub-second) and long (half-a-minute) durations. Participants (N= 26) were exposed to neutral and emotive video clips resembling the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Bradley, 1995) while making time discrimination judgments (short duration estimates: PSE). Afterwards they made long duration estimates (Long Time Estimates: LTE) and ratings of Valence and Arousal of every video clip. Significant results were that Arousal affected LTE estimates, with longer LTE estimates, the higher the Arousal level. The results indicate that Arousal, but not Valence, affects subjective time perception both of short and long durations. / Tidigare studier antyder att emotioner påverkar uppskattningen av långa durationer på 3-7 sekunder, men hur emotioner påverkar kortare durationer är mindre känt. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur emotioner, i form av emotionell Valens och Arousal, påverkar subjektiva tidsestimat av korta (sub-sekund) och långa (halv-minuts) durationer. Deltagare (N= 26), exponerades för stimuli i form av neutrala och emotionellt laddade videosekvenser utvalda att efterlikna the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Bradley, 1995) och utförde samtidigt intervalldiskriminationer (korttidsestimat: PSE). Efteråt utförde de långa durationsestimat (långtidsestimat: LTE) och skattningar av Valens och Arousal för samtliga videoklipp. Signifikanta resultat var att Arousal gav längre durationsskattningar för LTE estimaten, med längre LTE estimat, ju högre Arousal-nivå. Resultaten indikerar att Arousal, men inte Valens, påverkar subjektiv tidsuppfattning för både korta och långa durationer.

The current prevailing notion is that the limbic system is inextricably linked to emotion, and indeed, most textbooks, research articles, and scientific lectures tout the limbic system as being the predominant purveyor of emotional processing in the brain. Yet, more than a half-century of research has produced surprisingly little evidence in support of such a notion, suggesting that the concept of an emotional limbic system is overly simplistic. The primary objective of this thesis is to determine whether the limbic system is necessary for one aspect of emotion, namely, its conscious experience. Neurological patients with focal damage to different regions of the limbic system - including the hippocampus, amygdala, insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) - underwent multiple emotion induction procedures using affectively-laden film clips. For comparison, two other groups of participants were tested: patients with brain damage outside of the limbic system and healthy participants without brain damage. Two emotion inductions aimed at eliciting diffuse emotional states of positive or negative affect, and five emotion inductions aimed at eliciting specific emotional states of happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, or fear. Immediately following the end of each film clip, the return of emotion back to its baseline state was tracked over a three minute "emotion recovery" time period. The results of the experiment revealed three main findings. First, limbic system damage did not disrupt the experience of emotion during the film clips, with patients reporting high levels of the induced target emotion at a magnitude comparable to both comparison groups. Second, patients with bilateral damage circumscribed to either the hippocampus or the vmPFC demonstrated an abnormally slow rate of emotion recovery, indicating that these limbic regions are important for the successful downregulation of emotion. Third, patients with large bilateral lesions affecting multiple limbic structures (including the medial temporal lobes and insular cortices) showed an abnormally rapid rate of emotion recovery, with the induced emotion returning to baseline levels within 60 seconds following the end of each film. Based on these findings, it is concluded that the limbic system is not necessary for the experience of emotion, but is necessary for sustaining and regulating that experience after the emotion-inducing stimulus is no longer directly accessible to consciousness.

The climate change mitigation targets to maintain a relatively stable climate may not be met. Even if targets are met, substantial climate change could occur. In a changing climate, how can social science facilitate composed decision making? One way is through studying emotional reactions to a changing climate. Therefore, this thesis examined how engagement with climate catastrophe scenarios influenced various emotions. Relative to other conditions, “negative” emotions (e.g., fear) were predicted to increase in scenarios related to climate change, and “positive” emotions (e.g., serenity) were predicted to decrease in the same scenarios. Participants engaged with one of five conditions, four of which reflected environmental effects (e.g., local harmful effect from climate change). Before and after condition engagement, participants took a questionnaire of specific emotions. Conditions that described environmental harm were associated with large decreases in “positive” emotions (e.g., serenity) compared to other primes. However, they were not consistently associated with “negative” emotions (e.g., fear). Conversely, qualitative responses frequently mentioned increases in feelings of “fear” or “sadness”; however, decreases in emotions like “calmness” were rarely mentioned. Error played some role in emotional measurement. Nonetheless, psychological research about climate change may include a blind spot: focusing on emotions that are provoked by climate change while ignoring emotions that are depleted by it. A decrease in a “positive” emotion (e.g., calmness) may be conceptually distinct from an increase in an assumed “negative” counterpart (e.g., fear). What are the implications of this distinction? Does avoidance of climate change stem from fear of the subject, or more from its perception as a “buzzkill”? Overall, research of emotional reactions to climate change could facilitate engagement, mitigative behavior, contingency planning, and a more composed transition in a changing climate. / Graduate

This study analyzes the experiences of stigmatization and emotion work through the interview responses of eight parents of children with autism. Developing from Goffman’s theories of direct stigma and associative stigma this research integrates Hochschild’s emotion work as a way that parents respond to the stigmatization that they encounter. The results of this study indicate that some parents of children with autism perform suppressive emotion work in the way they respond to stigmatization and obstacles that occur when raising a child with special needs. In addition, stigma occurs in interactions with close friends and family members, creating issues of boundary-crossing. Parents of children with autism respond to stigma by educating those closest to them and normalizing the experiences of themselves and their child. In order to cope with the hardships of stigma, some parents also work to advocate, problem-solve, and build community beyond their immediate relationships.

As musicians, our main goal when we perform a piece is to transmit something to the audience: emotion. And to get this emotion also while performing. It is our way to communicate. When we are soloists, we make our own interpretation of the piece to perform, and the cycle that the music does is from the composer, trough us, and then the audience. But what happens when we are in the orchestra? In an orchestra, we are 100 musicians, each one a very different type of performer, each one with their own mentality, ideas, minds, etc. And also, we have to add a very important level in the music cycle here: the conductor. When we perform a piece with the orchestra, we do not play our own interpretation, but the one of the conductor. So, what happens when you play an interpretation that is not yours among so many other musicians? How do we achieve and transmit this emotion? How can we work this out? Does the relationship between the musicians affects the result? To answer all these questions, I have based my thesis work in two basic pillars: first, literature and documentaries about the emotion in the music and its relation to the orchestral world; and second, a series of interviews with different professional orchestra musicians who have helped me to clarify all these interrogations and which have led me into a conclusion about how the view about these topics is from inside the orchestra. I have preferred to develop my thesis more like an essay to also express my opinion about these subjects we are talking about. / <p><strong>A. Honegger - Danse de la chèvre</strong></p><p><strong>A. Jolivet - Suite en concert</strong></p><p>       <em>I. Moderé </em></p><p><em>       II. Stabile</em></p><p><em>       III. Hardiment</em></p><p><em>       IV. Calme - Véloce - Apaisé</em></p><p>Percussion: Simon Landqvist, Elias Gustafsson, Sabina Šehović, Ivar Koij.</p><p>Conductor: Daniel Berg</p><p><strong>C. Reinecke - Flute concerto</strong></p><p>     <em> I. Allegro molto moderato</em></p><p><em>      II. Lento e mesto</em></p><p><em>      III. Moderato – In tempo animato – Tempo I – Più mosso – Più lentomaestoso</em></p><p>Piano: Georg Öquist</p><p><strong>F. Doppler - Andante and rondo</strong></p><p>Piano: Georg Öquist</p><p>Flute: Rebecka Kaufman</p><p>Sändningen av examenskonserten startar efter ca 5 minuter.</p>

This experiment tested three hypotheses regarding right cerebral involvement in hostility and physiological arousal. First, replication of previous research indicating heightened physiological responding to stress among high hostile individuals was attempted. Second, high hostile individuals were predicted to an increased tendency toward right hemisphere dominance following exposure to a stressor. Third, high hostile individuals were expected to maintain their physiological arousal and shift in cerebral laterality longer than the low-hostile comparison group. Low- and high-hostile participants (25 males per group, drawn from the undergraduate Psychology pool) were identified using the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (CMHS). Physiological measures (SBP, DBP, HR) were recorded at baseline, as were results from a dichotic listening procedure. Participants were then administered the cold-pressor procedure, and physiological recordings were taken again. Dichotic listening procedures were then administered 3 consecutive times to monitor for shifts in cerebral laterality. After the final dichotic listening procedure, physiological measures were taken once again to determine recovery rates. Results did not support the a priori hypotheses. Specifically, low-hostile individuals were consistently higher on the physiological measures when compared to the high-hostiles. The predicted maintenance of increased physiological arousal was also not supported by the data. Neuropsychological measures also failed to differentiate between the groups, and failed to demonstrate the predicted shift in cerebral laterality. / Master of Science

Emotional experiences are more likely to be remembered than more neutral, mundane ones. In young adults, negative information may be particularly memorable. Yet, an interesting change seems to happen in aging: As adults grow older, they may start remembering positive information more often than negative information. This positive memory bias in aging is commonly observed and is often explained in terms of changing time perspectives and motivation across the lifespan (i.e., Socioemotional Selectivity Theory; Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999). However, few studies have considered the basic interactions between memory and emotion that could influence this positivity bias. In this thesis, I examine whether certain factors partially independent of aging (i.e., semantic relatedness and distinctiveness, Study 1; mood, Studies 2-4), might influence the presence and magnitude of the positivity bias in memory. In Study 1, I explore the cognitive mechanisms required to produce the positivity bias and apply what is learned in this paper to investigate, in Studies 2-4, whether differences in mood could explain why the positivity bias occurs. In all studies, memory is measured using immediate free recall of positive, negative, and neutral pictures. In Study 1, I manipulate item interrelatedness (i.e., the extent of relatedness among pictures of a same category) and relative distinctiveness (i.e., the processing of a picture category at the same time as or in isolation from the others) to show that older adults’ emotional memory can be entirely explained by these two factors. The distinctive processing of positive pictures relative to other pictures is necessary for producing a positivity bias in older adults, which completely disappears when the distinctive processing of positive pictures is removed. Therefore, in subsequent studies I encourage the distinctive processing of items to increase the likelihood of observing a positivity bias and its possible interaction with mood. In Study 2, I test whether differences in mood predict differences in emotional memory bias in young and older adults using a video mood induction technique validated in a separate pilot study. In Studies 3 and 4, I further test the effect of mood on the positivity bias beyond any age-specific factors, by examining young adults only. This serves to reduce the likelihood of confounds that might exist between age groups (i.e., related to neurocognitive changes or decline), in order to study the true effects of mood on the positivity bias. In Study 3, I use a written priming task to experimentally manipulate mood and time perspective in young adults. In Study 4, I compare differences in naturally occurring moods and emotional memory in two separate young adult samples: university students and non-students. The experimental mood manipulations have minimal influence on the presence of a negativity bias in young adults (Studies 2 and 3), and influence to a small extent the memory advantage of positive over neutral material in older adults (Study 2). Non-student young adults show a similar preferential memory for positive material that is different from what is observed in university students, but this is not easily attributed to differences in mood (Study 4). In light of these results, I argue that the positivity effect in aging memory reflects a temporary contextual advantage for positive information that is not permanent or irreversible. Rather, it seems to depend in varying degrees on the context of study (i.e., relatedness and distinctiveness), mood, and the young-adult reference group. This has implications for how future research defines and studies the positivity effect in aging.

In Weiner's attributional perspective on emotion, recipients appraise outcomes in terms of three attributional dimensions--locus, controllability, and stability. The specific pattern of inferred attributions determines the nature of the resulting emotional experience. Weiner further claims that a sender's own emotion may serve as a precipitating event for a receiver's resulting attributions and emotions. Parkinson critiques the notion that there are inflexible or unique links among senders' emotions, the attributions conveyed by senders' emotions, and the resulting attributions or emotions aroused in recipients. Parkinson implies instead that the nature of the interpersonal relationship between senders and receivers, independent of attributional inferences, is a more important determinant of the specific emotion aroused. The main question asked in the present study was whether a sender's anger or pity led to receiver attributions and emotions consistent with Weiner's model across different types of sender-receiver relationships. Using a variation on Weiner's paradigm, 174 female and 104 male university students were presented with scenarios depicting the interaction of two people who were friends, enemies, or strangers. In each scenario, a receiver's behavior was followed by either a reaction of anger o pity from the sender. Participants then answered four questions to check the effectiveness of manipulations, rated the sender's attributions about the receiver's behavior and the receiver's own attributions, and predicted the intensity of the receiver's own emotional response (including guilt and shame). Because the pity manipulation was deemed ineffective, data were analyzed for the sender-anger condition only. Although Weiner's model was somewhat supported in the friend condition, there was only a weak relation between sender and receiver attributions, as well as either of these attributions and sender anger when examined across the three relationship conditions. Importantly, relationship variables more than attributional ones affected the degree to which receivers responded with guilt and shame to the sender's anger. Discussion focuses on the potential epiphenomenal role of attribution in eliciting emotion and the need to examine Parkinson's view that identity-related concerns, which vary as a function of the nature of the target relationship, are more central to arousing specific emotional responses.

Magister Artium - MA / This mini-thesis explores the poetic journey toward the subconscious images of an individual’s memory. It comprises a collection of 35 authentic poems and a reflective essay that examines the uncovering during the creative process. The project explores opposites and dualities of the mindroom and examines the concept of a hypothetical door as a mechanism to reveal archetypal patterns through memory.

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