Empati är en grundförutsättning för människors interaktion, kommunikation och förståelse för varandra. Forskning har visat att individer med depression och olika personlighetsstörningar har en tendens till nedsatt empati. I en enkätstudie med 205 deltagare, varav 162 kvinnor, undersöktes om sinnesstämning har ett samband med empati. Deltagarna försattes i en sinnesstämning, de fick tänka på positiva eller negativa händelse. Sedan läsa en negativt riktad vinjett om en gripande händelse. Sinnesstämning mättes med The Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) och empati med hjälp av Batsons empatiskala. Studien avser att fylla luckan som finns om sinnesstämning och empati hos människor i allmänhet. Manipulationen gav inget signifikant resultat. Resultatet visar dock ett positivt samband mellan sinnesstämning och empati från självskattningsskalorna. Deltagarna med positiv sinnesstämning rapporterade mer empati. Kvinnor kände mer empati är män och de äldre mer än yngre. Studien relaterar till att högre välmående hos individer kan skapa mer empati i samhället.

Animal research suggests that exposure to inescapable stressors can lead to an endogenous opioid-mediated form of pain inhibition, known as stress-induced analgesia (SIA). Similar results have been found with humans, although the literature is much less extensive and at times contradictory where uncontrollable stressors have led to an increase, rather than a decrease in pain. More recently, there has been some suggestion that emotions play an important role in pain modulation, and that particular negative moods are associated with opioid-mediated hypoalgesia. This research aimed to clarify the psychological (cognitive and affective) factors underlying endogenous opioid-mediated pain inhibition in humans. The purpose of Study 1 was to examine the effects of stressor controllability and predictability on pain intensity (PI) and unpleasantness (UP) ratings during a cold pressor task (CPT) in 56 male and female subjects. The stressor involved a timed mental arithmetic task during which three moderately noxious electrical shocks were delivered. Although subjects were informed that shock delivery was contingent on math performance, the shock schedule was preset and identical across conditions. Perceived control over the shocks was manipulated between subjects by altering the difficulty of the math task. Shock predictability was manipulated by changing the colour of the computer screen to warn of an impending shock. Subjects were randomly allocated to four experimental conditions (controllable-predictable, controllable-unpredictable, uncontrollable-predictable, and uncontrollable-unpredictable shocks). Visual analogue ratings of ‘perceived self-efficacy’ (to avoid the shocks) and mood (anxiety, confusion, discouragement, anger, sluggishness, liveliness) were completed before, during and after the math task. Significantly greater discouragement and lower self-efficacy was reported in ‘uncontrollable’ conditions indicating that ‘controllability’ was manipulated effectively. Results indicated that a perceived lack of control over shocks during the math task led to significantly greater decreases in PI, but not UP, ratings during the last stages of a 4-minute fixed interval CPT after the math task. Shock predictability failed to influence subjective pain ratings alone; however, unpredictability interacted with lack of control to initially increase pain, followed by analgesia. Stress-induced increases in negative affect (anxiety, discouragement, anger) were associated with decreases in cold pressor PI, but with increased shock PI and UP during the math task. It was concluded that lack of control over an aversive event and negative affect led to SIA during a prolonged pain stimulus, whereas shock predictability had little influence on pain. In Study 2, 70 male and female subjects received either an opioid antagonist (naltrexone) or a placebo before the math task (using a double-blind, counterbalanced design), in order to determine the role of endogenous opioids in SIA. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions to investigate whether the shocks themselves may have contributed to analgesia observed after the math task: (1) easy task-few shocks, (2) hard task-few shocks, (3) hard task-many shocks. Increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), anxiety, anger and discouragement indicated that negative affect and sympathetic arousal were induced during the math task. Endogenous opioids inhibited the rise in anger, but not discouragement or anxiety, during the math task. There was some evidence that perceived lack of control over shocks, and not the shocks themselves, led to opioid-mediated decreases in cold pressor UP after the math task. In correlational analyses, discouraged subjects under opioid blockade reported more cold pressor UP after the math task than their placebo counterparts. However, this effect was not strong enough to reach statistical significance in regression analyses. Anxiety, anger, discouragement and lack of control over shocks increased shock PI and UP during the math task. A growing body of research with normotensive subjects has linked increased cardiovascular activity with insensitivity to pain, but the role of endogenous opioids remains contentious. In addition to the investigations outlined above, Study 2 aimed to examine the contribution of endogenous opioids in the cardiovascular-pain relationship. However, there was no evidence of an interaction between pain and cardiovascular activity in this study. Study 3 was carried out to investigate opioid involvement in the effects of an uncontrollable stressor and stress-induced negative mood on cold pressor PI, UP and pain tolerance, and onset/thresholds of the nociceptive flexion reflex (RIII). Forty-three male and female subjects were administered either naltrexone or a placebo using a double-blind, counterbalanced design before completing a timed mental arithmetic stressor (identical to the ‘hard task-many shocks’ condition in Study 2). Increases in physiological (SBP, DBP) and affective measures (anxiety, anger and discouragement) indicated that the math task induced a marked state of stress. Negative affect increased shock PI and UP during the task, whereas self-efficacious subjects taking the placebo experienced less shock pain. However, uncontrollable stress led to an opioid-antagonised increase in cold pressor UP. Stressor controllability had a similar, but marginal, effect on cold pressor PI, but not pain tolerance. Tolerance of cold pressor pain was not associated with subjective PI and UP ratings, but was positively associated with endurance to non-painful, but unpleasant tasks (Valsalva Manoeuvre, Letter-Symbol Matching Task), indicating that pain tolerance was measuring the ability to tolerate discomfort, in addition to pain. Results of hierarchical multiple regressions demonstrated that increases in discouragement were positively related to increases in cold pressor UP after the math task, for naltrexone recipients only. These findings suggest that discouragement inhibits the UP of a prolonged pain stimulus via opioid mechanisms. RIII latencies and thresholds were not affected by the math task or by opioid blockade; however, these null effects may be due to methodological limitations. Unlike Study 2, higher blood pressure was associated with shock and cold pressor pain inhibition in normotensive subjects, and this relationship appeared to be mediated by opioids. The strong association between chronic pain and depression has led to speculation that the endogenous opioid system and pain modulatory mechanisms may be impaired in depression. At the time that this research was carried out, no studies had examined whether this was the case. In Study 4, the effect of a cognitive stressor (math task used in Study 3) on foot cold pressor PI, UP and pain tolerance and the nociceptive, or R2 component, of the blink reflex was investigated in 61 participants with or without major depression (as met by DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and confirmed by psychometric testing). Naltrexone or placebo was administered to subjects an hour before the math task using a double-blind, counterbalanced design. Increases in physiological (SBP, DBP) and affective measures (anxiety, anger and discouragement) confirmed that the math task induced the targeted emotional state. An opioid-mediated reduction in anxiety occurred mid-way through the math task. Opioid-mediated decreases in foot cold pressor PI and UP were observed in depressed and non-depressed subjects after the math task. R2 onset to 10 mA was facilitated after the task regardless of opioid blockade, suggesting that endogenous opioids are not involved in the modulation of the BR. Increased anxiety and discouragement led to opioid-mediated inhibition of shock PI and UP during the task and, to a lesser extent, foot cold pressor PI and UP after the math task. Anger increased shock pain without being influenced by opioid blockade. Pain tolerance was not influenced by depression, opioid blockade or mood. These findings failed to support the idea that SIA is impaired in major depression, suggesting instead that uncontrollable aversive events and negative mood (anxiety, discouragement) lead to opioid activation and insensitivity to acute pain. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the inverse relationship between resting blood pressure and foot cold pressor PI and UP was opioid-mediated in controls only, suggesting that opioid dysregulation in depression might influence regulatory functions other than SIA. In Study 4, opioid involvement in hetero-segmental pain inhibitory phenomena termed diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNIC) was examined separately, before psychological stress. Specifically, the effect of a heterotopic noxious conditioning stimulus (CS i.e., hand CPT) on R2 onset latency was compared before and after drug absorption (before the math task). An inhibitory effect of the first CS was detected at each electrical stimulus intensity consistent with a DNIC effect. However, this effect was not detected during the second CS, suggesting that some other process masked the DNIC effect. In summary, the findings indicate that uncontrollable aversive events and negative emotion (primarily discouragement) activates endogenous opioids and inhibits pain in human subjects, whether depressed or not. Notably, opioids inhibited the affective component of pain perception, or pain UP, more consistently than PI, suggesting that the antinociceptive function of opioids may be secondary to an important emotional-modulatory role. Endogenous opioids also appeared to mediate the cardiovascular-pain relationship in normotensive non-depressed subjects, suggesting an important stress-regulatory role for these peptides. Opioid-mediated masking of this relationship in major depression suggests that functioning of the endogenous opioid system may be impaired in baroreceptor-mediated analgesia. This finding provides preliminary support for the notion that opioid antinociceptive system dysfunction may contribute to cardiovascular disease in depression.

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如果Alfred Hitchcock的電影會讓觀眾驚聲尖叫，如果喜劇泰斗Charlie Chaplin的戲劇會讓觀眾捧腹大笑；那麼真實的跳樓新聞、真實的滅門血案鏡頭，會不會讓觀眾痛苦難耐？ 本篇論文企圖橫跨新聞學與心理學兩大領域，探討影響台灣民眾日常生活至深的電視新聞，其所播放的新聞畫面會帶給觀眾怎樣的心理衝擊？ 本研究鎖定兩大主軸，第一、悲劇性新聞是否較中性新聞更易引發觀看者的負向情緒？第二、同樣的悲劇性新聞，若賦與不同的畫面剪輯，是否會導致觀看者出現不同的情緒反應？本研究之結論如下：其一、以新聞類型區分：悲劇性新聞〈跳樓及滅門血案〉和中性新聞同樣不會強烈引發觀看者的負向情緒；有趣的是，當觀看者愈覺得悲劇性新聞帶給其負向情緒，那麼就會愈感到中性新聞所具備的正向情緒；顯見不同類型的新聞會相互影響情緒反應。其二、以新聞畫面區隔：無論是醫院急診室等相關畫面，或直接呈現跳樓及滅門血案的鏡頭，兩者引發的情緒反應並沒有“顯著差異”；僅管差異性不強，但觀看跳樓、血跡鏡頭確確實實會引發較多的負向情緒，尤其看到墜樓鏡頭會特別感到“緊張、害怕”。當然，收看悲劇性新聞不全然是負向情緒表現較為突出，本研究也發現觀看者在正向情緒反應上，顯示出相當“關心、關愛”悲劇性新聞。 至於悲劇性新聞的鏡頭處理與觀眾情緒反應之間的關連性，實驗結果顯示：畫面內容具震憾性、色調明亮、特寫鏡頭、跟拍鏡頭、畫面時間長、具聲音效果者，都會讓人印象深刻。在男女性別研究上，本論文發現不同性別收看悲劇性新聞時會各自站在不同的角色去詮釋新聞：女性會站在弱勢的被害人角度，而男性則易傾向消防員、旁觀者甚或兇嫌的立場來看待此類新聞；思考立場相左，因而產生女性收看悲劇性新聞的負向情緒較男性為強的結果。 / If Afred Hitchock’s horror films can make an audience scream out loud, and if Charlie Chaplin’s comedies can make an audience laugh until their stomach hurt, then would real life news footage of people jumping off buildings and bloody murders cause an audience to feel sad? This thesis combines the studies of journalism and psychology to explore how broadcast news psychologically impacts Taiwanese audiences. This study focuses on 1) whether tragic news negatively influences viewers' mood more easily than neutral news does; and 2) if the same story edited with different images, causes viewers to feel differently. This study concludes that 1) based on news type: both neutral news and tragic news don't appear to have a negative effect on viewers. More interestingly, the more that viewers feel that sad or bloody news brings a negative mood, the more they feel that neutral news positively affects their mood. And 2) based on the images types: if images like those of an emergency room are replaced by images of people leaping off buildings, using the same narrative, it doesn't make viewers feel any more or less negative. What's notable, however, is that when viewers see images of bloody scenes or of people jumping off buildings, the images still make them feel "nervous" or "afraid." On the other hand, this report also finds that viewers feel especially concerned or empathetic towards what is presented in news stories. As for how tragedy news images influences views’ mood, this report finds that the event's emotional impact, the color tone, brightness, close-ups shots, following shots, length of cut and sounds all contribute to the impression the story leaves on the viewer. On the difference between how men and women react to new stories, the statistics show that women will empathize with the victim and men tend to take the viewpoint of the fireman, witness or the suspect. Because men and women think differently, tragedy news stories affect the mood of women more than they affect the mood of men.

To date, research on the effect of depressive symptomatology on victim-witness identification is scarce even though depressive symptomatology is highly prevalent in the victim-witness experience. Furthermore, being a victim-witness often instigates the use of counselling services, which could cause a shift in affect, and applying mood dependent memory theories, any change in affect should be detrimental to eyewitness accuracy. Still, individuals suffering from subclinical depression, or dysphoria, have exhibited heightened perceptual skills, and depressed affect exhibits remarkable stability over time. Therefore, I theorized that: (1) dysphoric people’s heightened sensitivity and motivation towards accurate understanding may result in more accurate eyewitness identifications, and (2) individuals who express stable levels of dysphoria should have greater eyewitness identification accuracy than should people with stable levels of nondysphoria, with stable levels of severe depressive symptomatology, or with unstable depressive symptomatology. In Study One, 132 students were randomly assigned to one of three autobiographical mood inductions: a positive, negative, or neutral/control. Following this manipulation, participants completed 12 experimental trials each consisting of a target exposure, a 30-second distraction task, and lastly, a six-person simultaneous line-up. Higher levels of dysphoria were associated with greater overall identification accuracy and that temporary mood conferred an advantage only when participants recalled highly sad memories. In Study Two, 173 participants were exposed to 12 target faces at a first session and returned two-to-four weeks later to identify these faces from 12 six-person simultaneous line-ups. Individuals who exhibited stable levels of dysphoria from eyewitness event to the line-up task performed significantly better on the simultaneous line-ups than all of the other groups. Among those exhibiting unstable dysphoria, people whose depressive symptomatology improved were almost as accurate as those who had stable dysphoria. These results support the need for victim-witnesses to receive immediate help to stabilize or improve depressive symptomatology not just for their mental well-being but also to preserve eyewitness accuracy. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2010-09-23 13:11:50.153

Mood drives our daily life actions. Despite the common thought, it has been showed that a negative affect can have several benefits. This thesis purpose is to induce a negative mood through a videogame to improve the intentions of a more “environmental-friendly behavior”. The game is a simulation of a possible daily-life situation in which the player from its house has to reach its working place. What the player will soon understand during the game is that every action has a consequence that has an impact on the environment around him/her. To study the mood of the participants two questionnaires have been used before and after the videogame: one to catch the immediate and less thought feeling and one in which the participants have to describe their mood in more details. Gathered data have been approached both in a qualitative and quantitative way to catch every shade of participants’ mood. Results showed how the negative mood induced by the game improve the awareness and intentions of participants toward the environment problems.

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本研究目的在整合依附理論、負向情緒調適預期和壓力因應三種理論觀點，建構面臨生涯抉擇的大四學生之情緒經驗歷程模式。研究採問卷調查法，以台灣八所大學783位大四學生為對象。研究工具包括依附風格量表、負向情緒調適預期量表、生涯抉擇壓力因應量表、快樂感受量表和憂鬱量表。資料分析方法為因素分析、信度分析、皮爾遜積差相關分析、t考驗、單因子變異數分析及結構方程模式。 初步模式驗證發現，初始模式與觀察資料間無法適配，故根據修正指標，刪除不適當路徑、整併觀察變項、將部分觀察變項的殘差連結後，產生三個理論模式。進一步進行模式適配度考驗，顯示三個模式與觀察資料間適配度良好，並能有效解釋變項間的關係。模式一：依附會影響負向情緒調適預期；依附會透過正向壓力因應影響情緒經驗。模式二：依附會影響負向情緒調適預期；依附會透過負向壓力因應影響情緒經驗。模式三：依附會透過情緒焦點因應影響情緒經驗；依附會透過負向情緒調適預期和情緒焦點因應影響情緒經驗。 三個模式的共通處為：依附會影響個人的壓力因應；個人的壓力因應會影響其情緒經驗；依附並不會直接影響個人的情緒經驗，但依附會透過壓力因應而對情緒經驗產生影響；依附會影響個人的負向情緒調適預期。 研究建議為：宜積極發展生涯輔導方案與生涯探索課程；協助個案瞭解依附、負向情緒調適預期和壓力因應對其情緒經驗的影響；針對不安全依附者提供預防介入；以不同性別和不同依附型態者為對象，進行模式的建構與驗證；採焦點團體法或縱貫研究法進行研究；將其他重要變項納入模式中，或探究變項間的關係；依附和情緒經驗等測量工具的改進。 / The purpose of the study was to integrate attachment theory, coping theory, and the perspective of expectancies for negative mood regulation (NMR) to develop the process model of emotional experiences for senior college students encountering the stress of career choice. The participants of the study were 783 senior college students in Taiwan. The participants were evaluated by Attachment Style Scale, NMR Scale, Coping Scale, Happiness Scale, and Depression Scale. The data were analyzed by factor analysis, Cronbach α analysis, Pearson product-moment correlation, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and SEM. In the primitive model testing, the original model couldn’t fit with the observed data. Adjustment is thus made, in accordance with the modification index, to delete the unsuitable paths, combine the observed variances and line the error variances of some observed variances. Three models are generated. As shown in the result of model testing, the three models coordinate with the observed data, explaining the relationships among main variables. Model one: Attachment can affect NMR; attachment can affect emotional experiences through positive coping. Model two: Attachment can affect NMR; attachment can affect emotional experiences through negative coping. Model three: Attachment can affect emotional experiences through emotion-focused coping; attachment can affect emotional experiences through NMR and emotion-focused coping. The similarities in the three models were as follows: Firstly, attachment can affect coping. Secondly, coping can affect emotion. Thirdly, attachment can’t affect emotional experiences directly, but attachment can affect emotional experiences through coping. Fourthly, attachment can affect NMR. The suggestions were as follows: 1.The programs of career guidance and the curriculum of career exploration should be developed. 2. The clients should be assisted to understand the influence of attachment, NMR, and coping on their emotional experiences. 3. The preventive intervention should be provided to students of insecure attachment. 4. The models should be developed and tested according to the participants of different gender and attachment styles. 5. The focus group interview and the longitudinal method should be adopted. 6. Other important variables should be added to the model; alternatively, the relationships of these variables be explored. 7. The instructions of measurement in attachment and emotional experiences should be improved.