Experiential avoidance (EA), or the evasion of unpleasant internal experiences, is key to changes in emotional responsivity in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). EA has been linked to altered negative emotional reactivity in PTSD, but it remains unclear whether EA is linked to altered positive reactivity in PTSD, i.e. anhedonia. Therefore the study examined how manipulating EA influences emotional responsiveness in a non-clinical adult population (N=74). Positive emotion reactivity (self-report and psychophysiology) was measured before and after viewing a laboratory analogue trauma induction, with half of participants instructed to adopt the detached protector (DP) mode as an example of EA during trauma viewing and half of participants in an uninstructed control condition. Following the DP mode instructions reduced negative emotion experience during the trauma induction, relative to the control condition. However counter to prediction, there was no carry over onto blunted positive emotion experience or psychophysiological response in the experimental condition (relative to the control condition) when recalling positive memories and imagining positive future events. No significant relationships were identified between trait EA levels and anhedonia symptoms or pre-manipulation positive emotional responsiveness in the laboratory. Overall, the current findings offer no support for the hypothesis that EA contributes to anhedonia.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Leadership, over the years, has changed due to the rise of new technology, globalisation of markets and increased shareholders' tempo. Leaders are expected to accomplish projectsfaster and with fewer resources. Therefore, to be able to respondto these rapid changes in organisations and the market place, leaders are faced with the challenge of changingthe way people work together. The typical ways of relatingto one another seem more ineffective with each changing day. Organisationsshould therefore face the fact that, today, the quality of relationships is as importantto business success as the quality of products and services produced. Working with people involves some degree of skills in the realm of feeling, along with whatever cognitive elements are at play. This process stands in sharp contrast to purely cognitive competencies, which a computer can be programmed to execute about as well as a person can do it. Emotional intelligence skills, however, are synergistic with cognitive ones, and star performers will have both. The new measure that organisations make use of and take for granted, is that employees will have enough intellectual ability and technical know-how to get the job done. Their focus has moved to personal qualities such as initiative, empathy, adaptability and persuasiveness. It has been found that corporations that seek to employ MBA graduates are looking for capabilities such as communication skills, interpersonal skills and initiative when employing. Research supports the claim that Emotional Intelligence is a form of intelligence, in that it encompasses a set of skills which are coherent and can be measured. Emotional intelligence competencies, such as persuasion, motivation, focus and leadership, can be acquired or learnt. Emotional intelligence should further be seen as an acquired skill that can enhance intellectual performance. Emotional intelligence management therefore gives individuals the opportunity to further their knowledge of people. Emotional intelligence training is mostly about behavioural change: through repeated experiences, people's minds are programmed to react in a certain way when faced with feared encounters or stressors. Old mind patterns keep forcing people to revert to using preset reactions, even though this may be unintentional. Emotional intelligence training will therefore take time and commitmentfrom both the student's and the lecturer's perspectives. Most higher education programs, however, do not focus on emotional intelligence training as part of their curricula, and therefore a serious void exists in terms of essential skills required for success in the workplace, used for piloting their careers and for leadership. Even though more statistical research needs to be done to prove the relative significance of emotional competencies as compared to cognitive abilities, analyses indicates that emotional intelligence translates into hard results within the workplace. For example, sales people can create better and more trusting relationships with clients, customer care representatives can handle customers more effectively, and engineers are able to not only deal with the technical skills required by their positions, but are able to relate to co-workers in a more constructive manner. Taking into consideration that researchers within the field of emotional intelligence believe that emotional intelligence is a more reliable predictor of success in the workplace, it would therefore make sense to start including emotional intelligence training in higher education programs. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Leierskap het oor die jare verander, as gevolg van faktore soos vooruitgang in tegnologie, globalisering van markte en versterkte druk van aandeelhouers. Daar word verder verwag van leiers om projekte te realiseer met minder hulpbronne en in korter periodes. Ten einde opgewasse te wees teen hierdie veranderinge, word leiers inherent gekonfronteer met die uitdaging om die manier waarop mense in groepe saamwerk te verander, omrede die bestaande wyses waarop mense met mekaar betrokke is, meer en meer as oneffektief bestempel word. Dit is 'n realiteit dat die kwaliteit van hedendaagse werksverhoudinge net so belangrik tot 'n suksesvolle besigheid is, as die produkte en dienste gelewer. Wanneer daar met mense omgegaan word, behels dit beide 'n gevoels- en kognitiewe element. Hierdie proses is in direkte kontras met suiwer kognitiewe vaardigheid, wat net soveel 'n kwaliteit van 'n rekenaar as die van 'n mens is. Emosionele intelligensie is egter in sinergie met kognitiewe intelligensie, en uitblinkers besit beide kwaliteite. Die nuwe maatstaf wat deur organisasies gebruik word gaan van die veronderstelling uit dat werknemers voldoende tegniese vaardigheid besit om die taak na wense te verrig. Daar is klaarblyklik 'n fokusverskuiwing wat homself meer leen tot kwaliteite soos inisiatief, empatie, aanpasbaarheid en oorredingsvermoë. Daar is verder bevind dat besighede wat MBA gegradueerdes wil aanstel, meerendeels op die uitkyk is vir individue met kommunikasievaardighede, interpersoonlike behendigheid en inisiatief. Navorsing is dit verder eens dat emosionele intelligensie 'n daadwerklike vorm van intelligensie is, gesiene dat dit gemeet kan word en dat dit bestaan uit 'n stel samehangende vaardighede. Emosionele intelligensie vaardighede, soos oorreding, motivering, fokus en leierskap, kan verder aangeleer word. Dit behoort dus gesien te word as 'n verworwe vaardigheid wat 'n persoon se intellektuele kapasiteit versterk. Die bestuur van emosionele intelligensie skep ook die moontlikheid van verdere geesteswetenskaplike studie, en opleiding in emosionele intelligensie omvat meerendeels gedragsverandering. Deur herhaalde blootstelling word die brein geprogrammeer om op spesifieke maniere te reageer wanneer vrese gekonfronteer word. Selfs al word daar gepoog om anders te reageer, word daar teruggeval op ingebedde gedragspatrone. Opleiding in emosionele intelligensie neem dus tyd en toewyding van beide die dosent en sy student. Die meeste tersiêre opvoedingsprogramme fokus egter nie op emosionele intelligensie as deel van die kurrikulum nie, en daar is dus 'n ernstige leemte in die voorbereiding van studente betreffende voldoende vermoëns wat deur leierskap in 'n beroep vereis word. Alhoewel verdere statistiese navorsing benodig word om die relatiewe belangrikheid van emosionele behendigheid teenoor kognitiewe vaardigheid te bepaal, is daar indikasies dat emosionele intelligensie wel bepalend kan wees in die werksomgewing. Verkoopspersoneel kan byvoorbeeld sterker en meer vertrouenswaardige verhoudings bewerkstellig met kliënte, kliëntedienste kan meer effektief hanteer word en ingenieurs kan bemagtig word om in meer as slegs die tegniese aspekte van hulle werk met medewerkers om te gaan. In ag genome dat menige navorsers dit eens is dat emosionele intelligensie 'n getroue voorspeller van sukses is, maak dit dus sin om opleiding in emosionele intelligensie in tersiêre opleidingsprogramme te vervat.

To better understand the effect of emotions on formal and informal interactions in the workplace, I focus on emotional dynamics, the exchange and experience of emotions occurring within repeated interpersonal interactions. Emotional Ability (EA; how individuals perceive, use, understand, and manage their own or others’ emotions) is a key component in emotional dynamics. Specifically, I focus on the role of EA on individuals’ choices of coworkers for gaining emotional support (the receipt of empathy, caring, trust, and concern), and in turn, their occupational well-being and task performance. In addition, I investigate the “ripple effects” of EA, how the EA of focal actors may benefit others in the network. The value of Emotional Ability is thus in reaching beyond the individual’s(ego’s) benefit to extend to others (alters) who are tied to ego, in turn benefiting the entire social network (group of actors) and ultimately contributing to the organization’s emotional health. I further investigate possible moderators of the EA-benefits relationship: relationship perceived emotional competence (as assessed by others), emotional self-efficacy (individuals’ beliefs in their own EA) and empathic concern (propensity to experience feelings of warmth, compassion and concern for others). This study is part of a larger research agenda to develop an affective relational theory (ART) to examine how emotional dynamics affect relational dynamics in organizations.

My goal was to examine potential moderators that affect emotional coordination between romantic partners. I conducted three separate empirical studies that are conceptually related. I used data collected in conjunction with Dr. Emily Butler (all 3 papers), and Dr. Shanmukh Kamble of Karnatak University, India (paper 3). Using models of two forms of emotional coordination in partners - emotion transmission and synchrony - I examined the moderating effects of attachment, cooperation and marriage type on emotional coordination between partners. The purpose of first paper was to examine the role that individual factors, specifically differences in attachment avoidance and anxiety, have on the transmission of emotions between partners. Interestingly, results were counter to hypotheses based on attachment differences in emotion regulation, which suggests the limitations of taking an individual perspective within dyadic contexts. The second paper examined how cooperation impacts emotional coordination between partners. I found that cooperation produces different emotional coordination patterns for men and women. Specifically, when both partners were at high levels of cooperation, men showed an in-phase emotional coordination pattern (changes in unison), whereas women showed an anti-phase emotional coordination (changes in opposite directions). Therefore, while both partners were engaging in similar behaviors their emotional experience was different. In the third paper, I moved to a more global analysis of factors that moderate emotional synchrony between partners. Specifically, I examined how different marriage-types in American and Indian cultures (love versus arranged marriages) impact emotional synchrony between partners. I expected that Indian-love marriages would show similar synchronization patterns to American marriages, and that both would show more synchrony in comparison with Indian-arranged marriages. Unexpectedly, Indian-love and Indian-arranged marriages were similar and both displayed lower synchrony than American couples. These findings suggest that emotional experience between partners may be influenced by the boarder culture, irrespective of marriage type. Taken together, these papers provide evidence for when emotional coordination between couples can have beneficial or detrimental effects on the relationship, depending on individual, dyadic and cultural factors.

Therapeutic education initiatives embodying a whole child approach can be seen to address the intellectual, emotional, bodily and spiritual as being part of a child’s educational self. Through designing and implementing the concept of “aesthetic life narratives” in a primary school classroom, my research produces a curricular example of how therapeutic notions such as those found in psychological thought can be integrated into contemporary Scottish education through narrative and aesthetic means, exemplifying how individual children can make sense of expressive processes and roles introduced to them in an educational context. The specific characteristics of the research space and the particular interactive quality of research participation also illustrate how different children are able to participate in a short-term emotional education intervention specifically designed to be empowering. At the same time, my experience shows that the complex dynamic between the subjective life of a researcher and the historical nature of a child’s experience with caregivers in their home life can shape educational/research experience, as well as its adult and child participants, in ways unanticipated. What transpired in the process of applying philosophical ideas to the real lives of children in my research produced ethical implications regarding critical reflexivity and the socio-cultural regard of the child that are of wider relevance to educators, researchers, counsellors and policy makers who interact with children in their own work.

Psychological constructs may have significant influence on police leadership. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between, Emotional Intelligence, Self-Efficacy and Leadership Effectiveness within a policing context. Leadership within the policing environment in particular the South African context has raised contentious issues over the past decade. This research adopted a quantitative study and the sample was made up of 107 police personnel in commanding positions. The measuring instruments used were the Assessing Emotions Scale, Self-Efficacy Scale and Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The results of this research study confirm a positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy and Leadership Effectiveness. The insights gained from the findings may be used to guide selection of future leaders within the policing environment and may also be used to establish future developmental programmes and research initiatives. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. A.(Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

High prevalence rates exist for physical (i.e., threatened or actual physical force) and relational (i.e., actions meant to harm another’s social relationships) aggression within early adolescence, and these behaviors lead to detrimental social, physical, and mental health outcomes. Thus, there is a need to identify risk and protective processes related to these subtypes of aggression, especially those that can inform violence prevention efforts. Prior studies including early adolescents have shown emotion dysregulation to be a risk factor for aggression. However, few studies have incorporated the emotional competence process of poor emotional awareness, which may be a risk factor for emotion dysregulation and, in turn, for aggression. Furthermore, little research has assessed relations between subtypes of emotion dysregulation (i.e., anger and sadness) and physical and relational aggression. The current study examined longitudinal relations between poor emotional awareness and these subtypes of emotion dysregulation and aggression, as well as concurrent pathways between the emotion dysregulation and aggression variables. Exploratory tests for gender differences were also conducted. Rating scales were collected from 528 sixth graders (51% girls, 49% boys; missing data n = 8) and their teachers over a six month period in the fall and spring of the school year. Across the full sample, 65% of students identified as African-American, 19% European-American, 2%, Hispanic Latino, 11% Multiracial, and 3% as “Other”(missing data n = 8). Results indicated no significant differences by gender in the strength of relations between study variables. Poor emotional awareness was not directly related to changes in subsequent frequency of physical or relational aggression. However, poor emotional awareness at Time 1 was associated with later rates of anger and sadness dysregulation. Furthermore, an indirect effect was found for poor emotional awareness on both physical and relational aggression via anger dysregulation, and this was true for student- and teacher-rated outcomes. Sadness dysregulation showed a negative concurrent association with teacher-rated physical aggression; and there was an indirect effect of poor emotional awareness on teacher-rated physical aggression via sadness dysregulation. Study findings have important implications for theoretical treatises, youth violence prevention programs, and future directions for research, which are all discussed.

Many devastating problems face South Africa’s young children that can hamper their emotional and social development. The Emotional Literacy and Persona Doll programme (Buchanan, 2007) attempts to intervene in the young child’s emotional development. Persona Dolls are used to encourage emotional expression and management in young children. Previous research has indicated the positive effects of the Persona Dolls and Emotional Literacy programmes with children. However, the development in the trainees and practitioners who use these dolls has yet to be researched. This research study assessed the development of empathy, and the personal experiences of trainees who underwent the emotional literacy and Persona Doll training programme in South Africa. Participants included social workers, psychologists, and preschool and foundation phase teachers. Participants’ empathy was assessed before the first training session, and at the end of the training through Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (1980). Participants also documented their feelings, experiences, and thoughts while undergoing the training, in a journal. Process notes of persona doll sessions and evaluation forms were also used in the study. Although the quantitative results did not show any significant results in terms of an improvement in empathy for the trainees, the qualitative results demonstrated that the participants found that they were more able to think and talk about their own emotions, and the emotions of others. This is a crucial aspect of emotional literacy, where one is able to identify and think about one’s own emotions. Furthermore, the group of participants learnt important reflection and containment skills, which they believe they can and are using in their work with others, and with their families. While there is no statistically grounded argument for the improvement of empathy, and in extension emotional literacy, the participants in the training seemed to have developed their own emotional literacy skills, and found that they are better able to work with children and adults in the realm of emotional work. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Ububele is a resource and training centre located in the greater Alexandra Township of Johannesburg. One of Ububele’s projects, the Ububele Persona Doll project, is a programme that is aimed at developing emotional literacy in pre-school children using a life-size handmade doll in a group setting. This research has sought to explore the use of the Ububele Persona Dolls. The sample consisted of eighteen Grade R children at the Ububele Therapeutic Nursery School and their teacher. They were video recorded during six regular Ububele Persona Doll sessions. The use of the dolls in developing emotional literacy in pre-school children, as well as their potential for use in group therapy was assessed in three different stages. Firstly, the presence of emotional material in the form of emotional adjectives was assessed. The teacher’s response patterns and level of empathy, as well as the effectiveness of the responses in terms of the goals of emotional literacy development were analysed. Lastly, the transcripts were examined for the presence of material, with regard to thematic content that could be used in group therapy. The presence of emotional adjectives suggested that there was useful emotional material present, although the material was mainly brought up by the teacher and the range of the material was limited. The teacher’s responses were most frequently informative, didactive or directive responses and questioning responses. However, she did make use of paraphrases and restatements, reflections and verbal encouragers to a lesser degree. With regards to the empathic levels of the responses, most of the responses involved exact replications of what was said by the child and no empathic responses requiring an understanding of human behaviour were given. The goals of emotional literacy training were all being achieved within the sessions. A number of themes, including physical discipline, abuse and neglect, broken or non-nuclear families, and death and dying, emerged. These themes could be concentrated on by a group facilitator.

This research aimed to explore the narratives of romantic jealousy in the context of infidelity for heterosexual and homosexual men from Johannesburg South Africa. This study takes on a qualitative approach using a narrative analysis in combination with a structural and thematic content analysis. The narratives of the heterosexual and homosexual men revealed the role which jealousy plays in every relationship, and how it can affect the emotions and behaviours of both partners. This study found that the narratives of these men were in contradiction to what evolutionary theories as well as past research on the topic have suggested. Evolutionary perspectives propose that heterosexual men are more inclided to sexual infidelity, this was however found to be in contradiction to the beliefs and ideas held by the participants of this study. Heterosexual participants of this study reported that for them emotional infidelity would be more jealousy provoking, as it would be a sure indication that the relationship would end. Past research findings on the other hand have suggested that homosexual males are more inclined to emotional infidelity, as they do not face the risk of cuckholdry. However the same can not be said for the narratives of the homosexual participants of this study. The narrative of all except for one homosexual participant indicated that homosexual men felt that they would be greatly affected by sexual infidelity rather than emotional infidelity. There explanations revolved around the open ended nature and ease of access to sex which is prevalent in the gay community. It is also important to note that simmilarly to the heterosexual group, most of the participnats who experienced sexual jealousy also experienced sexual infidelity. Indicating a link between the type of infidelity you experience to the type of jealousy you feel. This research identified that heterosexual participants felt that in their live stories they found emotional jealousy to be the worst apsect of infidelity while homosexual men felt that sexual jealousy was the worst aspect of infidelity.