Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been shown to have significantly deleterious effects on an individual’s overall health (Felitti et al., 1998), including poor subjective experiences of health (Khrapatina & Berman, 2017). Difficulties in emotion regulation (DERs), which reflect the inability to identify, interpret, and manage strong emotions, may be one mechanism through which ACEs affect health. Successful emotion regulation has been associated with high levels of self-reported health, whereby DERs has been linked to poor selfreported health (Kinnunen et al., 2005). The current study seeks to determine whether DERs (Gratz & Roemer, 2004) mediate the relationship between ACEs and subjective experiences of health. Utilizing a sample of students from a mid-sized university in rural Appalachia, the mediating role of DERs was tested using the PROCESS macro for SPSS with bootstrapping (5000 samples). Results demonstrated that DERS did significantly mediate the relationship between ACEs and self-reported health [R2 = .12, F(2,616) = 43.60, p < .000; indirect effect of DERS total t(616) = -7.01, p < .000, CI = -.04, -.02]. The identification of DERs as one mechanism through which ACEs increases the risk of poor self-reported health offers one target for interventions designed to mitigate the negative outcomes of ACEs and promote resilience in the face of past adversity

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Thesis advisor: Maureen Ritchey / Regulating negative emotions that arise while recalling an unpleasant event presents a persistent challenge. As a reconstructive process, recall offers an opportunity to ease the burden of repeated regulation by updating negative memories, with the potential for long-term reductions in the negative affect associated with a memory. However, little is known about the recall-related brain processes that support lasting effects of emotion regulation on episodic memories. Across three studies, the current project examined the behavioral and neural correlates of regulating emotionally negative memories. First, a stimulus database of real-life news videos optimized for studying naturalistic emotional memory was developed. Then, the behavioral effects of two emotion regulation strategies, memory reappraisal and memory suppression, were tested. Finally, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the brain processes associated with lasting reappraisal-related changes in memory valence. We found that reappraisal was associated with lasting reductions in the negative valence of naturalistic memories, whereas suppression had no effect on memory valence. We also found that recall-related activity in lateral occipital cortex was associated with a reappraisal-mediated reduction in negative valence 24-hours after reappraisal. These results suggest that brain processes involved in the initial retrieval of negative content also support the emotion regulation of those memories, consistent with research showing that memory reactivation is critical for robust memory updating. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to risky health behaviors (e.g., alcohol, substance use), chronic health conditions (e.g., diabetes, cancer), higher medical costs, and early death. Children exposed to trauma are seven times more likely to develop a substance use disorder in adolescence or adulthood compared to those who were not exposed. However, not all children who experience ACEs will grow up to have detrimental outcomes. One aspect of parenting that may be particularly relevant for promoting risk or resilience in the context of adversity is parental emotion socialization (ES). Despite the established link between ACEs and substance use, no research, to date, has examined whether ES serves as a risk or protective factor in the context of ACEs and subsequent substance use. As such, the present study aims to fill this gap by examining ES as a moderator of the relationship between ACEs and substance use. Participants (N=550, age M=20.4, SD=4.7) were recruited from SONA systems: a university operated online platform where students may choose to voluntarily participate in a variety of self-report research studies in exchange for course credit or extra credit. The present project comes from a larger study called the Religion, Emotions and Current Health (REACH) study. Retrospective measures regarding the participants' adverse childhood experiences and their parent’s emotion socialization behavior include The Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey (ACEs) and The Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES). Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) was used to assess for current substance use. All analyses will be conducted using the R package for statistical computing. Bivariate correlations will be examined for all variables using Pearson’s correlation coefficient method. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis will be implemented to determine if parental emotion socialization moderates the relationship between childhood adversity and substance use. The estimated multiple regression formula, ( Y) ̂= i + b1X + b2M + b3XM + ey; where Y ̂ = outcome (i.e., current substance use), X = the predictor variable (i.e., ACEs), M = primary moderator variable (i.e., parental emotion socialization from childhood), and b3XM= interaction will be applied with R’s base lm(Y~X*Z) function. The proposed study will test two main hypotheses: 1) ACEs from childhood will act as a predictor for current substance use in adulthood (as reflected in the literature) 2) ES will act as a moderator on the relationship between ACEs and substance use; however, the nature of this interaction will vary depending on the type of ES behaviors. Specifically, the link between ACEs in childhood and substance use in early adulthood will be exacerbated by a childhood marked by high levels of non-supportive ES; whereas, the link between ACEs in childhood and substance use in early adulthood will be lessened (buffered) by a childhood marked by high levels of supportive ES.

Research involving attribution theories typically surrounds attributions of responsibility for actions in general. However, people also regularly attribute responsibility to themselves, others, or environmental circumstances for emotions. This research aims to develop a measure of a person's proclivity to attribute responsibility to others for their emotions—the Attributions of Responsibility for Emotions Scale (ARES). The research involves two studies, the first designed to develop items for inclusion in the ARES, and the second designed to validate and determine the reliability of the ARES. Participants in Study 1 included 71 (30 male and 41 female) undergraduate students from Brigham Young University. These participants took part either in focus groups or in responding to a preliminary 24-item version of the ARES online. Participants in Study 2 included 306 undergraduate students from Brigham Young University. These participants responded to several scales, including a 21-item version of the ARES, which all measured constructs similar to responsibility for emotions. Results suggested that a 10-item version of the ARES was the most valid and reliable measure of persons' proclivity for attributing responsibility to others for their emotions.

Most research investigating vocal expressions of emotion has focused on one or more of three questions: whether there exist unique acoustic profiles of individual encoded emotions, whether the nature of emotion expression is universal across cultures, and how accurately decoders can identify expressed emotions. This dissertation begins to answer a fourth question, whether there exist unique patterns in the types of acoustic properties persons focus on to identify vocalized emotions. Three hypotheses were tested: first, whether acoustic patterns are interpreted idiographically or nomothetically as reflected in a comparison of individual vs. group lens model identification ratios; second, whether there exists a decoder by emotion interaction for scores of accuracy; and third, whether such an interaction is mediated by the acoustic properties of the vocalized emotions. Results from hypothesis one indicate there is no difference between individual and group identification ratios, demonstrating that vocalized emotions are decoded nomothetically. Results from hypothesis two indicate there is not a significant decoder by emotion interaction on scores of accuracy, demonstrating that decoders who are generally good (or bad) at identifying some vocalized emotions tend to be generally good (or bad) at identifying all vocalized emotions. There are, however, significant main effects for both emotion and decoder. Anger and happiness are more accurately decoded than fear and sadness. Perhaps most importantly, multivariate results from hypothesis three indicate strong and consistent differences across the four emotions in the way they are identified acoustically. Specifically, decoders identify anger by primarily focusing on spectral characteristics, fear by primarily focusing on frequency (F0), happiness by primarily focusing on rate, and sadness by focusing on both intensity and rate. These acoustic mediation differences across the emotions are also shown to be nomothetic, that is, they are surprisingly consistent across decoders.

Micro-expressions are brief facial expressions of emotion (40 to 500 ms) that are posited to represent true reflections of an individual’s emotional state that have 'leaked’ through voluntary attempts to neutralize or mask the involuntary expression. As such, correct recognition can have important benefits. The Japanese and Caucasian Brief Affect Recognition Task (JACBART) has been proposed as the standardized measure of affect recognition capabilities with micro-expression durations (i.e., facial expressions lasting less than 500 ms). In this paradigm target expressions of emotion are briefly presented between two neutral expressions. However, limited research has explored the temporal thresholds and the various factors that may influence performance in a JACBART paradigm. In three studies, the current thesis sought to determine the effects of a forward mask with a variable duration (Study 1), the inclusion/exclusion of a ‘neutral’ response category (Study 2), and expressions portrayed at lower intensities (Study 3). Although a variable-duration forward mask was found to have little effect on performance, significant effects were observed for the inclusion of a ‘neutral’ response option and when reducing the expression intensity. In addition, a trend was observed across all three studies that demonstrated a recognition advantage for expressions of happiness and surprise. Performances for these two expressions exceeded the psychometric threshold with durations of as little as 5 to 10 ms, whereas presentation times as long as 113 ms were necessary to elicit above-threshold recognition rates with negative emotions (i.e., anger, disgust, fear, and sadness). Altogether, the current findings present some methodological considerations for studies interested in measuring brief affect recognition with a JACBART paradigm. More generally, they expand our understanding of how various relevant factors affect the speed at which facial expressions can be processed.

Thesis advisor: Richard Kearney / I propose and analyze moral emotions that are fittingly experienced when one is socially, institutionally, or structurally affiliated with a perpetrator without causally contributing to their harm. The project explores the nature, scope, and urgency of our reactive attitudes and concomitant responsibilities that arise on account of harms caused by social and political relations. Drawing from resources in phenomenology, social epistemology, moral psychology, and feminist ethics, I argue that affective experiences can direct attention towards the moral salience of our relations and open the way for taking accountability for others’ harm. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

Display rules are used by organizations to define appropriate behaviors and expressions while interacting with others in the workplace. Emotional labor is a function of the effort required to adhere to these display rules and has been associated with negative outcomes such as stress and burnout which can lead to higher levels of turnover and health care costs for the organization. In addition, evidence suggests that emotional labor may come at a cognitive cost as well. Hence, reducing the amount of emotional labor should be beneficial to both employees and organizations alike. The current study used a customer service simulation to investigate the effects of emotion regulation training on cognitive, affective, and performance outcomes. Furthermore, personality display rule congruence was proposed as a moderator. Specifically, I compared the effects of training participants to use deep acting or surface acting strategies. Deep acting involves cognitively reappraising situations so that one genuinely feels the appropriate emotion whereas surface acting simply involves modifying the outward display of one's emotions. I expected deep acting to improve interpersonal performance through an affective route and to improve cognitive task performance through a reduction in emotional labor. Seventy-three participants were randomly assigned to one of the two training conditions. Performance was assessed during an interactive customer service simulation. Training participants to use deep acting strategies improved their positive mood, reduced their emotional labor, and increased their cognitive task performance. Emotional labor was negatively associated with cognitive task performance whereas positive mood was positively related to interpersonal performance. Finally, the effects of training on emotional labor, mood, and cognitive performance differed depending on the degree to which participants' personality was congruent with the display rules given to them. However, contrary to expectations, training condition had a stronger effect on negative mood (reduced it), emotional labor (reduced it), and cognitive performance (increased it) the more congruent participants' personalities were to the display rules given. These findings have implications for both employee selection and training.

Thesis advisor: Lisa S. Cahill / This subject of this dissertation is moral formation, that is, the process by which people become more just in their interactions with others. Moral growth, then, refers to how the moral capacities of individuals are developed to facilitate right decisions and good actions. Additionally, moral formation here refers to the shaping of society in ways that bring about more just social arrangements. A key claim is that emotion is vital for both the moral shaping of individuals and society. Emotions fitting to the struggle for justice are developed through relationships and participation in communities of growth.This project is undertaken in dialogue with Karl Barth. I begin in chapter 1 by considering Barth’s theological anthropology grounded in God’s self-disclosure in Jesus Christ which contends that true humanity consists in living in covenant partnership with God and solidarity with fellow humanity. To more closely correspond to this determination is the goal of moral formation. Building on his relational conception of the self, I argue that Barth provides an account of moral formation in his treatment of the growth of the community. Moral progress is rooted in participation in the body of Christ that is growing as a hearing community and increasing in the practice of holy things such as worship and service. Chapter 2 and 3 argue that moral growth does not occur through rational capacities alone, but depends on the development of emotions. These interdisciplinary chapters turn to recent studies of emotions in the natural and social sciences and philosophy. After a survey of various debates, I argue for a relational and cognitive conception of emotions and highlight their critical role in regulating group and social relations. Emotions are fundamental to interpersonal interactions, to group relations, and for the reinforcement and disruption of social structures. While these disciplines provide insight into the nature and development of emotions, I return in chapter 4 to Barth for the project of constructing a normative account. While we must not attempt to supplant the command of God which decides the good, I contend that we ought to evaluate emotions by whether they engender communion with God, solidarity with fellow humans, and care for creation. This account of emotion is further developed in chapter 5 by turning to Barth’s apocalyptic account of the kingdom of God and the lordless powers. While we wait on God to bring about the consummation of the kingdom, Christians are yet to actively struggle for justice in anticipation of that day. This entails unmasking and resisting the powers. Barth’s account of unmasking the lordless powers draws attention to the ways they shape human emotions. He also underscores the importance of emotions, such as hope, in the human struggle for justice. Drawing on Barth’s earlier account of growth, I highlight the role of the church in forming these emotions. This account of moral formation and emotion is illustrated through the example of climate change. A community shaped by love for God, solidarity with other creatures, and a concern for all of creation leads to an awareness of hegemonic forces and fosters emotions shaped by the kingdom that enables the struggle for climate justice. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.