Objectives: To determine if emotion regulation mediates the link between emotional maltreatment and disordered eating behaviour in a community sample of adolescents. Design and method: Participants were 222 secondary school pupils (aged 14-18 years) from a state high school in a rural area in Scotland. Standardised questionnaire measures were used to gather data on history of emotional abuse and neglect using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), emotion regulation strategies using the Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire (REQ) and subclinical disordered eating behaviour using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ). Pearson correlation and multiple mediation analyses were conducted to determine significant relationships and to identify whether dysfunctional emotion regulation was a mediator of the relationship between emotional maltreatment and disordered eating behaviour. Results: Multiple mediation analyses found both emotional abuse and emotional neglect to have a significant direct relationship with EAT-26 total score and DEBQ restraint scores - mediated by internal dysfunctional emotion regulation (with external dysfunctional emotion regulation also being a significant mediator in the analysis with emotional neglect and EAT-26 total). The direct relationship between emotional abuse/neglect and DEBQ emotional eating scores was non-significant, although a specific indirect effect through internal dysfunctional emotion regulation was observed. Conclusions: To the best of the author‟s knowledge, this is the first study which has looked at history of emotional maltreatment and disordered eating behaviour focussing on the influence of emotion regulation in particular. Results were indicative of significant indirect effects between emotional abuse and neglect and all measures of disordered eating through internal dysfunctional emotion regulation. Findings suggest the role of emotion regulation warrants further study in the research on childhood maltreatment and disordered eating behaviour.

Personal tutoring is a term commonly used in the policy and practice of higher education. Extant literature utilizes the term, but there is no common understanding of its ethos within the higher education profession. Consequently the tacit nature, purpose and outcomes of one-to-one interactions between tutors and students, which have been at the heart of UK higher education since medieval times, risk invasion by policy imperatives such as employability and student retention, or risk marginalization as off-stage activities that occur in invisible space at the periphery of higher education practice. The thesis begins by exploring research and literature on the social and institutional contexts of activities which involve personal, supportive interaction between tutors and students, alongside literature on emotion work and emotional labour, counselling supervision and therapy culture, using a theoretical lens of critical social interactionism. This produced themes which were used to frame part of the data production and analysis. The purpose of the research is to explore the essence of the personal tutorial from the tutor’s practice perspective, and to locate this in its social and institutional contexts, enabling tutors to illuminate the essence of practice that takes place behind closed doors. The focus of data production is the reflective accounts of tutors participating in the study. Ten participants from a range of UK universities produced brief written reflections about one-to-one interactions with students, followed by an individual interaction between researcher and participant, based on exploring the written reflection. These methods are underpinned by critical theory which relates to the emancipatory, transformative outcomes of facilitated critical reflective practice. Participants revealed critical reflection is unlikely to occur in the absence of facilitation. The opportunity for tutors to take part in facilitated, critical reflective practice to explore personal interactions with students produced awareness of what shapes the nature and outcomes of personal tutoring, often resulting in transformation and articulation of practice. Contextualization by participants tended to be limited to institutional and personal factors, there was less engagement with wider social policy issues. There was little evidence that participants were aware of literature and practice models relating to personal tutoring, and little evidence of professional development opportunities in this area. Practice generally occurred in invisible space and time, and tended to be based on personal judgement rather than practice ethos. If personal tutoring is to become established as an essential practice at the heart of higher education, action will be needed to recognize and value its ethos, including social and pedagogical purpose.

Background: Maternal postnatal depression (MPND) has been associated with child emotional, behavioural and cognitive problems, placing them at greater risk for later psychopathology. Therefore research into mechanisms of risk transmission is important. This longitudinal study considers the emotional quality of the mother-child relationship, using a measure of Expressed Emotion (EE), as a potential mechanism explaining the link between MPND and child emotional and behavioural problems in the postnatal period. It was predicted mothers with higher depressive symptoms at 3-months would show more negative EE and their child would have more internalising and externalising problems at 2-years, with maternal EE acting as a mediator. Methods: Data from the longitudinal Oxford Father’s Project for 130 (of 192 originally recruited) mother-child dyads was used. Mother’s depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at 3-months. Maternal EE, specifically critical and positive comments, was coded from the Preschool Five Minute Speech Sample measured at 2-years. Maternal, paternal and independently rated child outcomes were measured at 2-years using the Child Behaviour Checklist for ages 1.5-5. Results: Mothers, fathers and “others” rated child problems similarly. EE-positive comments showed stability from 1-2 years. Mothers with more depressive symptoms at 3-months showed more EE-criticism at 2-years especially towards boys and rated their children higher in internalising and externalising problems. Maternal EE-criticism predicted child internalising and externalising problems at 2-years. EE was not a significant mediator between maternal depressive symptoms and child problems. Conclusions: Children of mothers with more depressive symptoms 3-months post-birth experience more maternal EE-criticism and show more internalising and externalising problems aged 2-years. Given the long-term consequences of early childhood problems, postnatal depression should be screened and treated early to reduce EE-criticism and negative child outcomes. Research should consider why mothers experiencing postnatal depression may be more critical of male children and how this may impact on development.

Negatively biased facial affect discernment may prompt socially inhibited behavior. Characterizing normative patterns of facial affect discernment across emotions and expression intensity during middle childhood will help to identify subtle, yet meaningful, deviations that may emerge for individuals and potentially negatively impact their social behavior. Facial affect discernment for happy, sad, and angry expressions across low, medium, and high intensities and parent-reported socially inhibited behavior were measured in this study in a sample of 7-10 year-old children (N = 80; 53% female). Discernment accuracy improved with increased expression intensity for all emotions. Specifically, we found a quartic effect for the association between intensity and accuracy for anger and negative quadratics effects with decelerating positive rates of changes for associations between intensity and accuracy for happiness and intensity and accuracy for sadness. Additionally, discernment accuracy for happiness was generally better than for sadness and anger; discernment accuracy for anger was generally better than for sadness. However, at low intensity, discernment accuracy for sadness was comparable to accuracy for happiness but better than for anger. Neither misidentification of neutral and low intensity faces as negative nor discernment accuracy of happiness at low intensity was significantly associated with socially inhibited behaviors. Although accurate discernment of anger and sadness at low intensity was not significantly related to socially inhibited behavior, better discernment accuracy of anger and sadness at medium intensity was significantly related to more socially inhibited behavior. Overall, these results enhance understanding of normative facial affect discernment and its relation to maladaptive social behaviors in middle childhood, a developmental stage at which intervention efforts may prove effective at heading off detrimental outcomes associated with socially inhibited behavior such as loneliness, low self-esteem, peer victimization, social anxiety, and depression that increase in late childhood and adolescence.

Older adults have been shown to avoid negative and prefer positive information to a higher extent than younger adults. This positivity bias influences their information processing as well as decision-making. We investigate age-related positivity bias in charitable giving in two studies. In Study 1 we examine motivational factors in monetary donations, while Study 2 focuses on the emotional effect of actual monetary donations. In Study 1, participants (n = 353, age range 20-74 years) were asked to rate their affect toward a person in need and then state how much money they would be willing to donate to help this person. In Study 2, participants (n = 108, age range 19-89) were asked to rate their affect toward a donation made a few days prior. Regression analysis was used to investigate whether or not the positivity bias influences the relationship between affect and donations. In Study 1, we found that older adults felt more sympathy and compassion and were less motivated by negative affect when compared to younger adults, who were motivated by both negative and positive affect. In Study 2, we found that the level of positive emotional reactions from monetary donations was higher in older participants compared to younger participants. We find support for an age-related positivity bias in charitable giving. This is true for motivation to make a future donation, as well as affective thinking about a previous donation. We conclude that older adults draw more positive affect from both the planning and outcome of monetary donations and hence benefit more from engaging in monetary charity than their younger counterparts. (authors' abstract)

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine whether maternal sensitivity acts as a mediator in the associations between a mother‟s childhood history of care and her child‟s emotion regulation and attachment security at 2 ½ years of age. It was hypothesized that children of mothers who perceived their own childhood experiences with parents as caring and accepting would display more adaptive regulatory behaviors in fear-eliciting contexts and be more securely attached than children of mothers who recollected rejection in their own childhood experiences, with maternal sensitivity mediating these associations. Participants were 82 toddlers and their mothers. Mothers rated their childhood experiences of care and acceptance with their own parents prior to the laboratory procedure. Each child was presented with four novel stimuli, with mothers present, but not involved for the first two tasks and involved in the remaining two. Presentation of the novel stimuli was in pairs including one toy task (i.e., monster or robot) and one person task (i.e., clown or masks). Children‟s emotion regulation behaviors were coded continuously during the mother not involved condition, whereas observed maternal sensitivity was rated in the mother involved condition. Information about maternal sensitivity and children‟s attachment behaviors was reported by mothers using a diary technique. A path analysis was used to test the model examining the relationship between maternal history of care and sensitivity and children‟s attachment security and emotion regulation behaviors (i.e., distraction, withdrawal, contact with mother). Maternal sensitivity mediated the association between a mother‟s childhood history of care and acceptance and child attachment. Post-hoc analysis showed that this conditional indirect effect was significant only for children of mothers with less than a complete college education. In contrast, a childhood history of care and acceptance did not predict children‟s emotional regulation behaviors, although it interacted with education to predict distraction. Maternal sensitivity was associated positively with distraction and negatively with withdrawal, whereas children‟s attachment security was not associated with any emotion regulation behavior. Results are discussed in relation to attachment theory and continuities and discontinuities in the transmission process in mother-child relationships.

Traditional conceptualizations of psychopathy highlight the importance of affective features of the syndrome in perpetuating social deviance. However, little research has directly investigated the callousness that psychopathic offenders display toward society and their victims. The current study investigated the roles of empathy and alexithymia in psychopathy among male and female incarcerated offenders, particularly in distinguishing psychopathy from antisocial personality disorder. Gender differences were also investigated. Regarding empathy, as predicted, group differences were largest between psychopathic and non-psychopathic offenders; no reliable differences emerged between psychopathic and APD-only offenders. In contrast, alexithymia robustly distinguished between offenders with prominent psychopathic traits, those with only APD, and those with neither condition. Psychopathic females unexpectedly exhibited slightly higher levels of alexithymia than their male counterparts, while empathic deficits were relatively consistent across genders. These findings are discussed in terms of improving assessment methods for the accurate identification and treatment of offenders with prominent psychopathic features.

Title: Facial Expressions of Emotions Author: Bc. Markéta Zajícová Department: Department of Psychology, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts Supervisor: doc. PhDr. MUDr. Mgr. Radvan Bahbouh, Ph.D. Abstract: The theses is dedicated to facial expressions of emotions, it begins with a brief introduction to the topic of emotions as one of the cognitive functions, there is a definition of the term, classification of emotions and their psychopathology, it briefly summarizes the various theories of emotions. The greater part of the theoretical section is devoted to basic emotions and their manifestation in the face, as well as the ability to recognize and imitate them. The theoretical part is closed by the topic of emotional intelligence as a unifying element that highlights the importance of this issue. Empirical part is primarily focused on two abilities related to facial expressions of emotions, specifically the recognition and the production of them, then links these capabilities with additional characteristics as the gender, the education and their self-estimation. The main finding of this theses is that there is a statistical significant relationship (ρ=0.35, α=0.05) between the emotion recognition and production. Key words: Basic Emotion, Facial Expressions of Emotions, Emotion Recognition,...

Background Within the context of developmental psychopathology and the psychological factors associated with the onset of severe mood instability, this thesis proposes that early attachment related interactions underlie the development of reflective functioning and effective emotional regulation necessary for optimal functioning. Both insecure attachment and poor reflective functioning have been linked to various mental disorders in which emotion dysregulation surfaces as a core feature. However, the underlying mechanisms by which these constructs interact to predict increased risk to develop bipolar disorder have yet to be considered. Objectives This project’s objectives were to investigate, through a quantitative cross sectional design, the following questions: 1) In what way are attachment, reflective function and emotion regulation associated with proneness to bipolar disorder? 2) Do reflective functioning, emotion regulation, depression and specific metacognitive patterns mediate the influence of attachment on increased likelihood of developing bipolar disorder? Method An online survey was used to ask 2325 participants to complete questionnaires measuring the variables of hypomanic traits, attachment relationship style, mood, emotion regulation, metacognitive patterns and reflective functioning. The survey was designed to give participants feedback immediately after entry completion, which proved to be a very successful recruitment strategy. For the analysis of the data, structural equation modeling (SEM), multivariate and univariate statistics were used. Results SEM analysis demonstrated that internal dysfunctional emotion regulation is the strongest predictor of bipolar disorder proneness, whilst anxious insecure attachment holds a strong direct relationship with internal dysfunctional emotion regulation not mediated by reflective functioning. Thus, anxious insecure attachment and reflective functioning emerged as indirect predictors to bipolar proneness, being fully mediated by internal dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies, depressive symptoms, perceived well being and negative metacognitive patterns. The use of dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies directly predicted low mood and indirectly predicted decreased well being and increased risk to develop bipolar disorder. Furthermore, in this sample the presence of hypomanic traits alone did not imply proneness to bipolar disorder, but it was the combination of hypomanic traits and depressive symptoms that best predicted increased likelihood of experiencing bipolar disorder. Discussion The results highlight the importance of investigating the underlying mechanisms of severe mood instability. The findings support the manic defense hypothesis, which suggests that manic symptoms emerge to offset underlying depressive mood. It was concluded that severe mood instability emerges and is maintained because of the influence of developmental interpersonal risk factors such as anxious insecure attachment. The latter fosters dysfunctional cognitive features that promote the use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, which in turn give rise to depressive mood, diminished well being and ultimately increased risk to develop bipolar disorder. Thus, to better understand and treat bipolar disorder it is important to focus on tackling these psychological aspects of the disorder.

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