Thesis advisor: Lisa Feldman Barrett / A central question in the study of human behavior is whether or not certain categories of emotion, such as anger, fear and sadness (termed "discrete emotions"), are universally recognized in the nonverbal behaviors of others (termed the "universality of attribution hypothesis"). In this dissertation, the universality of attribution hypothesis was revisited in order to examine whether individuals from remote cultural contexts perceive the same mental states in nonverbal cues as individuals from a Western cultural context. The studies described in this dissertation removed certain features of prior universality studies that served to obscure the underlying nature of cross-cultural perceptions. In study 1, perception of posed emotional vocalizations by individuals from a US cultural context were compared to those of individuals from the Himba ethnic group, who reside in remote regions of Namibia and have limited contact with individuals outside their community. In contrast to recent data claiming to support the universality hypothesis, we did not find evidence that emotions were universally perceived when participants were asked to freely label the emotion they perceived in vocalizations. In contrast, our findings did support the hypothesis that affective dimensions of valence and arousal are perceived across cultural contexts. In the second study, emotion perceptions based on facial expressions were compared between participants from US and Himba cultural contexts. Consistent with the results of Study 1, Himba individuals did not perceive the Western discrete emotion categories that their US counterparts did. Our data did support the hypothesis that Himba participants were routinely engaging in action perception, rather than mental state inference. Across both cultural contexts, when conceptual knowledge about emotions was made more accessible by presenting emotion words as part of the task, perception was impacted. In US participants, perceptions conformed even more strongly with the previously assumed "universal" model. Himba participants appeared to rely more on mental state categories when exposed to concepts, but a substantial amount of cultural variation was still observed. Finally, in Study 3, perceptions of emotion were examined in a US cultural context after the focus of participants was manipulated, either onto mental states (broadly), emotions or behaviors. Perceptions of emotion did not differ substantially across these three conditions, indicating that within a US cultural context the tendency to infer mental states from facial expressions is somewhat inflexible. Overall, the findings of this dissertation indicate that emotion perception is both culturally and linguistically relative and that attempts to apply the Western cultural model for emotions as a universal one obscures important cultural variation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

The thesis investigates the endogenous generation of emotion (EnGE). Two main questions were pursued: 1) How is the volitional generation of emotion neurally and behaviourally implemented? and 2) How can this ability be used for emotional self- regulation? This was investigated in two projects: In the first project, neural, psychophysiological, and behavioural indices of EnGE were investigated in a large, representative sample. The second project investigated the behavioural, functional and structural correlates of meditation practices involving endogenous generation of positive emotion, in a sample of expert meditators. Answering the first question, the first project indicated that EnGE is neurally supported by the cooperation of nodes of the Default Mode (DMN), extended Salience (SN), and left Frontoparietal Control (FPCN) Networks. Results suggest dissociable functional component processes were implemented by these networks, with DMN supporting the generation of simulated representations, while SN supported the generation of core affective qualities of self-generated emotional experiences. FPCN co-activation patterns suggested it supports the coordination of the generation process. The second project showed similar activations during loving-kindness and compassion meditation. Moreover, expert meditators showed increased cortical thickness in, primarily, the left FPCN. This suggests endogenous emotion generation is neurally effected by left FPCN, entraining core affective processes supported by SN and simulation construction supported by DMN. EnGE-based emotional self-regulation was investigated in a second set of studies. Neural and behavioural measures indicated that expert meditators could successfully regulate their emotional reactions to negative external stressors. Comparing compassion with reappraisal-based emotion regulation, regulatory effects differed, with compassion-based regulation primarily increasing positive emotion while reappraisal primarily decreased negative emotion. Moreover, in the large, representative sample, EnGE-abilities were associated with trait affect and emotion management styles. Moreover, evidence was found that EnGE-abilities partially mediate the relationship between positive trait affect and adaptive, instrumental emotion management styles. These results suggest that EnGE can be used in a reactive fashion to regulate emotional reactions to negative stressors, and that EnGE-abilities support emotion management in the normal population. / Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die endogene Generation von Emotionen (EnGE). Zwei Hauptfragen wurde verfolgt: 1) Wie die willentliche Erzeugung von Emotionen neuronal oder im Verhalten implementiert ist, und 2) wie diese Fähigkeit für die emotionale Selbstregulation verwendet werden kann. Dies wurde in zwei Projekten genauer untersucht: Im ersten Projekt wurden neuronale und psychophysiologische Mechanismen sowie Verhaltensweisen in Bezug auf EnGE in einer großen und repräsentativen Stichprobe untersucht. Das zweite Projekt untersuchte die verhaltensbedingten, funktionellen, und strukturellen Korrelate von bestimmten Meditationsübungen, die die endogene Erzeugung von positiven Emotionen beinhalten, in einer Stichprobe von Meditationsexperten. In Bezug auf die erste Forschungsfrage, haben wir im ersten Projekt Daten erhoben, die nahelegen, dass EnGE auf neuronaler Ebene durch die Kooperation von wichtigen Arealen des Default Mode Netzwerks (DMN), sowie des erweiterten Salience (SN) und des linken Frontoparietal Control (FPCN) Netzwerks unterstützt wird. Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass unterscheidbare funktionelle Komponenten-Prozesse durch diese Netzwerke implementiert werden. Das DMN unterstützt dabei die Erzeugung von simulierten Repräsentationen, während das SN die Generation der „core“ affektive Qualitäten von selbstgenerierten emotionalen Erfahrungen unterstützt. Das FPCN Ko-Aktivierungsmuster legt eine Rolle bei der Koordination von Erzeugungsprozessen nahe. Das zweite Projekt zeigte ähnliche Aktivierungen durch Loving-kindness und Mitgefühls-Meditation. Weiterhin zeigten Meditationsexperten eine erhöhte kortikale Dicke vor allem im linken FPCN. Diese Ergebnisse lassen vermuten, dass eine endogene Emotionsgeneration neuronal vom linken FPCN beeinflusst wird, dass eine SN Aktivierung „core“ affektive Prozesse unterstützt, und dass die Simulationskonstruktion vom DMN gesteuert wird. EnGE-basierte emotionale Selbstregulation wurde mittels dem zweiten Set von Experimenten genauer untersucht. Neuronale- und Verhaltensmaße weisen darauf hin, dass Meditationsexperten ihre eigenen emotionalen Reaktionen auf negative externe Stressoren erfolgreich regulieren konnten. Ein Vergleich von Mitgefühlsmeditation und Neubewertungs- basierter (reappraisal) Emotionsregulation zeigte, dass die Regulationseffekte insofern unterschiedlich sind, dass Mitgefühl-basierte Regulation zunächst positive Emotionen erhöht, während eine Neubewertungsstrategie hauptsächlich negative Emotionen reduziert. Außerdem wurden in der großen und repräsentativen Stichprobe EnGE-Fähigkeiten mit habituellem Affekt (trait affect) und Emotionsmanagement-Stilen assoziiert. EnGE- Fähigkeiten wurden teilweise durch die Beziehung zwischen positiven habituellem Affekt und adaptiven instrumentellen Emotionsmanagement-Stilen vermittelt. Diese Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass EnGE in einer reaktiven Weise für eine Regulation von Emotionsreaktionen auf negative Stressoren verwendet werden kann und das EnGE Fähigkeiten das Emotionsmanagement in einer normalen Population unterstützen.

Two experiments compared the effects of two cognitive responses (i.e., rumination and cognitive reappraisal) individuals may adopt when confronted with a threat to self-regard. In Study 1, participants received negative feedback about their social skills and then rated the credibility of the source of the criticism. In Study 2, participants received negative feedback and then were given the opportunity to enhance the self on an unrelated task. Compared to reappraising the negative feedback, ruminating about the feedback led to poorer evaluations of the source of negative feedback and increased self-enhancement, respectively. These findings suggest that, compared to rumination, cognitive reappraisal helps to minimize defensive responses to ego threat.

Two experiments compared the effects of two cognitive responses (i.e., rumination and cognitive reappraisal) individuals may adopt when confronted with a threat to self-regard. In Study 1, participants received negative feedback about their social skills and then rated the credibility of the source of the criticism. In Study 2, participants received negative feedback and then were given the opportunity to enhance the self on an unrelated task. Compared to reappraising the negative feedback, ruminating about the feedback led to poorer evaluations of the source of negative feedback and increased self-enhancement, respectively. These findings suggest that, compared to rumination, cognitive reappraisal helps to minimize defensive responses to ego threat.

No description available.

acase@tulane.edu / Sensitive parenting requires modulation of emotions in order to effectively organize and orient behavioral responses. There is considerable evidence that psychological distress is one of many factors that can negatively impact parenting practices. Difficulties in emotion regulation may be a pathway for the impact of psychological distress on parenting, as emotion regulation has been implicated in psychological distress; however, emotion regulation is not often examined in parenting models. The current study tested these relations in a low-income, community sample of caregivers of preschoolers (n = 64; age range 18-74 years). Results indicated that difficulties in emotion regulation mediated the relation between psychological distress and parenting sensitive engagement (b = -0.48, SE = 0.24, CI [-1.04, -0.07]). Difficulties in emotion regulation predicted decreased sensitive engagement, above and beyond the effect of psychological distress (b = -.69, SE = .33, t = -2.07, p = .044, CI [-1.35, -.20]). However, there was no total effect of psychological distress on sensitive engagement (b = -0.04, SE = 0.26, t = -0.13, p = .893, CI [-0.56, 0.49]). Acceptance of emotional responses (b = -0.34, SE = 0.15, p = .017, CI [-0.66, -0.11]) and clarity (b = -0.50, SE = 0.24, p = .025, CI [-0.97, -0.05]), or understanding of emotions, were found to predict sensitive engagement above and beyond the other dimensions of emotion regulation. Results suggest that emotion regulation is a process by which psychological distress affects parents’ sensitive engagement with their preschool-aged children. Additionally, acceptance and clarity are two dimensions of emotion regulation that may be more relevant for parents’ sensitive engagement than other dimensions. / 1 / Justin Thomas Carreras

For decades, emotion researchers have debated a series of issues related to the influence of emotionally laden information on the way in which people process and remember information. The present investigation was designed to experimentally test both general (Experiment 1 and 2) and person-specific (Experiment 3) influences of emotionally laden words on attention and memory using a digit-parity task in which participants were asked to make a speeded judgement about the parity of two digits flanking a to-be-ignored, centrally presented word. In Experiment 1, when a sexual, threat, school, or neutral word was presented between the digits, only the sexual words, rated high in arousal value by study participants, disrupted digit-parity performance producing longer digit-parity response times relative to all other word categories. Sexual words were also recalled more often by study participants in a surprise free recall task. Mirroring attention and memory results, an evaluation of skin conductance responses (SCRs) demonstrated that participants showed enhanced SCRs for the sexual words relative to all other word categories. Furthermore, when the sexual words were parsed into positive and negative word categories (Experiment 2), trials in which a sex-negative word was presented between the digits produced the longest digit-parity response times. Participants recalled more sex-negative words than any other word category. Importantly, participants’ taboo ratings predicted attention and memory results. Finally, when words relevant to participants’ fears were presented between the digits, digit-parity response times slowed relative to when a fear-irrelevant word was presented between the digits. Memory and skin conductance data provide converging evidence – participants recalled and produced larger skin conductance responses for fear-relevant words compared to fear irrelevant words.

Inaug.-Diss. Phil.-hist. Bern, 1994. / Literaturverz.

Individuals are constantly being exposed to new information and new situations, but memory for these events is not always equal; understanding the factors that affect an individual’s ability to remember the details surrounding these events is extremely important. The purpose of the current study was to examine the potential effects of emotion and source characteristics, such as age and gender, on memory for factual information (i.e., trivia facts) and source identity (i.e., the sources of the information). One hundred and twenty-eight undergraduate students viewed a total of 120 videos depicting eight different sources (two young adult males, two young adult females, two older adult males, and two older adult females) presenting neutral and emotional (positive, negative) trivia facts; participants were then asked to complete a fill-in-thevi blank test on memory for trivia facts and a multiple-choice test on memory for the source of each fact. Results indicated that positively valenced trivia facts were remembered more often than both neutral and negatively valenced facts; emotion was not found to affect memory for the sources of trivia facts or memory for the relationship between trivia fact and source. Results indicated that trivia facts presented by female sources were remembered better than facts presented by male sources; source gender also affected memory for the sources of each fact, such that sources of facts presented by females were remembered better than the source identity for a fact presented by a male source. When the identity of the source was forgotten, participants were more likely to falsely attribute the fact to someone of the same age as the original source. If the original source was female, participants were also more likely to falsely attribute that fact to another female source compared to a male source, but if the original source was male, participants were equally likely to misattribute the source of either gender. The findings from the current study add to the current understanding of the complex effects of emotion on memory and suggest the importance / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A lack of norms limited previous work on the interplay of language and emotion. Valence and arousal are regularly dichotomized affecting generalizability and accuracy. Important questions remain unexplored such as the interaction between these dimensions along with individual and group differences. Chapters 2 and 3 report collections of affective and concreteness norms. In Chapter 4, these norms are used to reveal that valence is negatively and arousal is positively correlated with reaction time, both monotonically. Previously, it has been argued that people categorically distinguish between positive and negative or prioritize emotional over neutral stimuli. We demonstrate that this automatic vigilance must be graded. Chapter 5 introduces a method for measuring approach and avoidance in proportion to valence and arousal. A previously demonstrated congruency effect between valence and approach and avoidance movements is categorical. We showed that people choose distances proportionally to word valence and that responses are affected by word frequency, gender, and personality. Finally, Chapter 6 combines the distribution of affect with word frequency information to reveal how language is organized around communicative needs. A compound bias toward high-arousal emotional and low-arousal, mid-valence word types along with more frequent use of positive words suggest that humans need tools to talk about danger and thrills as well as the mundane, while fostering relationships by focusing on the positive. Thus, this dissertation provides important resources – large sets of norms – for the extension of studies on emotion and language. It shows the value of these norms in revisiting past studies of word processing, enabling new methods for testing the motivations behind emotional effects, and considering how the distribution of emotion across language informs our understanding of these motivations. Throughout each chapter, group and individual differences are explored. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)