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Seow JH, Du H, Koopmann-Holm B. What is a compassionate face? Avoided negative affect explains differences between U.S. Americans and Chinese. Cogn Emot 2024:1-10. [PMID: 39176992 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2385708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 06/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/23/2024] [Indexed: 08/24/2024]
Abstract
While a compassionate face for Germans mirrors others' suffering, for U.S. Americans, a compassionate face is one that expresses a slight smile, partly because U.S. Americans want to avoid feeling negative ("avoided negative affect"; ANA) more than do Germans. The present work examines what people in a non-WEIRD (i.e. Chinese) cultural context think a compassionate face looks like. Additionally, it investigates whether an individually-measured cultural variable (i.e. ANA) can explain differences in conceptualisations of compassion between Chinese and U.S. Americans. Participants in China and the U.S. selected the face that most resembles a compassionate face in a reverse correlation task and completed a measure of ANA. As predicted, Chinese mental representations of a compassionate face included more sadness and less happiness compared to U.S. American mental representations of a compassionate face, and Chinese participants wanted to avoid feeling negative less than did U.S. Americans. Finally, ANA mediated the cultural differences in conceptualisations of compassion. We discuss how ANA and conceptualisations of compassion might be related to how people view the experience versus the expression of different emotions. This work has important implications for therapeutic settings and the meaning of compassion in an increasingly globalised and connected world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Hui Seow
- Department of Psychology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA
| | - Hongfei Du
- Department of Psychology, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, Zhuhai, People's Republic of China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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Șimon S, Fărcașiu MA, Dragomir GM. Cultural Perspectives, Feelings and Coping Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Romanian Students. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:12445. [PMID: 36231745 PMCID: PMC9566601 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191912445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Revised: 09/21/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Socio-cultural patterns and communication styles differ from culture to culture. As such, the way in which people deal with a crisis situation is also culture-dependent. The COVID-19 pandemic has pointed, once more, to the cultural diversity of the world through a variety of reactions to the measures imposed by the global spread of the deadly virus. The present research aims at identifying the feelings, coping behaviors and communication patterns of the younger Romanian generation during the COVID-19 pandemic and at explaining them from a cultural standpoint, in an effort to raise awareness of the cultural (un)predictability of human reactions to certain external stimuli. The survey conducted online on 409 students at Politehnica University of Timișoara (Romania) revealed that most of students' socio-cultural behavior could have been anticipated by the Romanian authorities when they decided a certain pandemic action plan, and that the few unexpected results indicate the versatility of a culture that is still changing under the Western European influence caused by the fact that Romania has adhered to European Union principles for more than fifteen years.
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Jovanović V, Rudnev M, Iqbal N, Rice SPM, Żemojtel-Piotrowska M. Cross-Cultural Measurement of Positive and Negative Emotions in Adolescence: Evidence from Three Countries. JOURNAL OF HAPPINESS STUDIES 2022; 23:3143-3160. [PMID: 35645608 PMCID: PMC9123922 DOI: 10.1007/s10902-022-00521-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Cross-cultural assessment of affective well-being among adolescents has received scarce attention in positive psychological research. The present study investigated cross-cultural measurement invariance of the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) among adolescents from three countries (India, Poland, and Serbia). The sample included a total of 1080 adolescents (53.6% female; M age = 16.75, range = 15-19 years). Surveys were administered online in each country. Measurement invariance testing provided evidence for partial scalar invariance of the SPANE across cultures, with item "afraid" showing nonivariance across the three countries. Latent factor correlations between positive and negative emotions were stronger in Serbia compared to Poland and India. Positive emotions and life satisfaction had strong positive associations in all three countries (ranging from 0.68 to 0.75). The inverse correlations between negative emotions and life satisfaction were - 0.27, - 0.54, - 0.69 in India, Poland, and Serbia, respectively. Polish adolescents demonstrated the lowest levels of affective well-being, whereas Indian and Serbian adolescents did not differ substantially in levels of positive and negative emotions. The present study demonstrated that the SPANE is a reliable and useful tool for the assessment of positive and negative emotions among adolescents from different cultural settings. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10902-022-00521-6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veljko Jovanović
- Department of Psychology, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
| | | | - Naved Iqbal
- Department of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
| | - Sean P. M. Rice
- Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR USA
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Shirai M, Kimura T. Degree of Meaningfulness of an Event's Ending Can Modulate Mixed Emotional Experiences Among Japanese Undergraduates. Percept Mot Skills 2022; 129:1137-1150. [PMID: 35510361 DOI: 10.1177/00315125221096991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
While people may experience mixed emotions when confronting a meaningful ending; it is unclear how much an ending's meaningfulness contributes to evoking these mixed emotions. This study examined, among Japanese undergraduate students, whether different degrees of meaningfulness of an ending affected emotional experiences, and how time passage changed emotional intensity. Sixty-one Japanese students (37 females, 24 males; M age = 20.75, SD = 0.80) reported their emotional experiences and the degree of meaningfulness they assigned to the ending of the Heisei era at two time points-before and after the ending. As expected, participants who placed high meaningfulness to the ending of the Heisei era experienced a high level of mixed emotions, indicating that the degree of meaningfulness given to an ending can modulate emotional experiences. Furthermore, the specific emotions experienced (i.e., sadness or happiness) differed depending on the assessment time point, such that the meaningfulness of the ending played a key role in producing mixed emotional experiences in this sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariko Shirai
- Division of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, 13056Shinshu University, Matsumoto, Japan
| | - Toshiaki Kimura
- Faculty of Health Science, 13082Kyoto Tachibana University, Kyoto, Japan
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Oh VYS, Tong EMW. Specificity in the Study of Mixed Emotions: A Theoretical Framework. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2022; 26:283-314. [PMID: 35383513 DOI: 10.1177/10888683221083398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Research on mixed emotions is yet to consider emotion-specificity, the idea that same-valenced emotions have distinctive characteristics and functions. We review two decades of research on mixed emotions, focusing on evidence for the occurrence of mixed emotions and the effects of mixed emotions on downstream outcomes. We then propose a novel theoretical framework of mixed-emotion-specificity with three foundational tenets: (a) Mixed emotions are distinguishable from single-valenced emotions and other mixed emotions based on their emotion-appraisal relationships; (b) Mixed emotions can further be characterized by four patterns that describe relationships between simultaneous appraisals or appraisals that are unique to mixed emotions; and (c) Carryover effects occur only on outcomes that are associated with the appraisal characteristics of mixed emotion. We outline how mixed-emotion-specific effects can be predicted based on the appraisal tendency framework. Temporal dynamics, the application of mixed-emotion-specificity to individual difference research, methodological issues, and future directions are also discussed.
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Wissing MP. Beyond the "Third Wave of Positive Psychology": Challenges and Opportunities for Future Research. Front Psychol 2022; 12:795067. [PMID: 35095679 PMCID: PMC8795509 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.795067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The positive psychology (PP) landscape is changing, and its initial identity is being challenged. Moving beyond the “third wave of PP,” two roads for future research and practice in well-being studies are discerned: The first is the state of the art PP trajectory that will (for the near future) continue as a scientific (sub)discipline in/next to psychology (because of its popular brand name). The second trajectory (main focus of this manuscript) links to pointers described as part of the so-called third wave of PP, which will be argued as actually being the beginning of a new domain of inter- or transdisciplinary well-being studies in its own right. It has a broader scope than the state of the art in PP, but is more delineated than in planetary well-being studies. It is in particular suitable to understand the complex nature of bio-psycho-social-ecological well-being, and to promote health and wellness in times of enormous challenges and changes. A unique cohering focus for this post-disciplinary well-being research domain is proposed. In both trajectories, future research will have to increase cognizance of metatheoretical assumptions, develop more encompassing theories to bridge the conceptual fragmentation in the field, and implement methodological reforms, while keeping context and the interwovenness of the various levels of the scientific text in mind. Opportunities are indicated to contribute to the discourse on the identity and development of scientific knowledge in mainstream positive psychology and the evolving post-disciplinary domain of well-being studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marié P Wissing
- Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
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7
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Oh VYS. Torn Between Valences: Mixed Emotions Predict Poorer Psychological Well-Being and Job Burnout. JOURNAL OF HAPPINESS STUDIES 2022; 23:2171-2200. [PMID: 35095334 PMCID: PMC8783779 DOI: 10.1007/s10902-021-00493-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Conflicting perspectives on whether mixed emotions are adaptive states which promote integrative processes or uncomfortable states which are agonizing make divergent predictions on whether mixed emotions in daily life are conducive towards psychological well-being. We examined this across three studies. Study 1 (N = 335, 135 males; M age = 41.31) examined associations between state mixed emotions and psychological well-being. Study 2 (N = 389; 160 males; M age = 40.86) examined associations between workplace-specific mixed emotions and workplace ill-being assessed based on burnout. Both direct measures and indirect measures were examined in Study 1 and 2, allowing some comparison of methodological issues related to their predictive validity. Study 3 (N = 3444; 1587 males; M age = 55.34) examined bidirectional relationships between an index of emotional ambivalence and psychological well-being about ten years later, controlling for baselines. Demographic covariates, positive emotions, and negative emotions were controlled for in all studies. Analyses were performed using latent variable structural equation modelling. After adjusting for all covariates, the direct measures of mixed emotions predicted poorer psychological well-being (Study 1) and greater burnout (Study 2). However, indirect measures were found to suffer from relatively greater multicollinearity and poorer predictive validity upon controlling for positive and negative emotions. In Study 3, emotional ambivalence predicted poorer long-term psychological well-being, while psychological well-being also predicted lower emotional ambivalence, supporting bidrectionality. The findings provide preliminary evidence that naturalistically experienced mixed emotions may be conflicting and unpleasant, with potentially negative implications for psychological well-being over and above positive and negative emotions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10902-021-00493-z.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Y. S. Oh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
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8
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Cross-cultural differences in the processing of social and non-social positive emotions: An ERP study. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-02604-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Kirchner-Häusler A, Boiger M, Uchida Y, Higuchi Y, Uchida A, Mesquita B. Relatively Happy: The Role of the Positive-to-Negative Affect Ratio in Japanese and Belgian Couples. JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1177/00220221211051016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Satisfied couples in European-American cultural contexts experience higher ratios of positive to negative affect during interactions than their less satisfied counterparts. The current research tests the possibility that this finding is culture-bound. It compares proportions of positive to negative affect during couple interactions in two different cultural contexts: Belgium and Japan. Whereas Belgian relationship goals (e.g., mutual affirmation and self-esteem) call for the experience of positive affect, Japanese relationship goals (e.g., harmony and self-adjustment) call for the avoidance of negative affect. We propose that these differences result in different affect ratios in close relationships. To test this idea, we tracked positive and negative feelings during couple interactions. Fifty-eight Belgian and 80 Japanese romantic couples took part in a lab interaction study, in which they discussed a topic of disagreement. Using a video-mediated recall, participants rated their positive and negative feelings during the interaction; relationship satisfaction was assessed before the interaction. As expected, Belgian couples’ positive-to-negative affect ratios were more positive than those of Japanese couples. Furthermore, in both cultures relationship satisfaction was positively associated with more positive affect ratios, but this effect was significantly stronger for Belgian than Japanese couples. Finally, mediation analyses showed that higher affect ratios were achieved in culturally different and meaningful ways: satisfied Belgian couples showed higher ratios primarily through higher levels of positive feelings, whereas satisfied Japanese couples showed higher ratios primarily through lower levels of negative feelings.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Yoko Higuchi
- Kyoto University, Japan
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Saitama, Japan
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Miyamoto Y, Ryff CD. Culture and Health: Recent Developments and Future Directions
1. JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 64:90-108. [PMID: 35509718 PMCID: PMC9060271 DOI: 10.1111/jpr.12378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Evidence of cultural differences in relationships and emotions has accumulated over the past few decades. As findings on cultural differences in psychological processes have accumulated, there has been growing interest in investigating whether they have implications for other phenomena such as health. Using scientific advances from the MIDUS and MIDJA studies, both publicly available, we examine links between culture and health. We first briefly review the accumulated evidence on cultural influences on health correlates of psychosocial factors. We then feature two recent developments - a more micro-level perspective on biological factors that may be involved in the culture and health linkage, and a more macro-level view of socioeconomic inequality, which also matters for health. Both perspectives inform the pathways through which health effects occur. Finally, we conclude our review by highlighting the changing historical contexts surrounding these cross-cultural investigations. Specifically, we draw attention to widening of economic inequality across cultures and the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic. These happenings bring notable implications for future research on health across cultural contexts.
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Santos D, Requero B, Martín-Fernández M. Individual differences in thinking style and dealing with contradiction: The mediating role of mixed emotions. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0257864. [PMID: 34559841 PMCID: PMC8462706 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The present research examined how individuals’ thinking style (holistic vs. analytic) is associated with the way they deal with contradictory information and whether experiencing mixed emotions can mediate this relationship. Participants first completed the thinking style measure and then were exposed to two contradictory pieces of information (Studies 1 and 2). In study 2, we also measured the experience of mixed emotions to test the mediating role of this variable. Across two studies, we found that individuals with a holistic thinking style were more able to reconcile contradictory information compared to individuals with an analytic thinking style. Study 2 showed that the relationship between thinking style and dealing with contradiction was mediated by the experience of mixed emotions. This research extends previous findings on confrontation of contradiction and mixed emotions by using an individual-differences rather than a cultural-differences approach, and establishes mixed emotions as a plausible mediating variable.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Santos
- IE School of Human Sciences and Technology, IE University, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Blanca Requero
- Psychology Department, Universidad Villanueva, Madrid, Spain
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12
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Zheng W, Yu A, Li D, Fang P, Peng K. Cultural Differences in Mixed Emotions: The Role of Dialectical Thinking. Front Psychol 2021; 11:538793. [PMID: 33505326 PMCID: PMC7830092 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.538793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Who can feel both happy and sad at the same time, but not discomfort? This study aimed to investigate the cultural differences in mixed emotional experiences induced by conflict stimuli among American and Chinese undergraduate students. In total, 160 Americans and 158 Chinese watched two different valence advertisements (one predominantly positive and the other predominantly negative) that elicited mixed emotions; their feelings were assessed through self-reported measures. Findings indicated the impact that cultural differences have in people’s mixed emotional experiences depends on the emotional components of the mixed emotional situations. The Americans and Chinese both experience a comparably intense mixture of emotions in different valence situations, but their discomfort toward conflicting stimuli is different. Further, dialectical thinking may be a mechanism behind the influence of cultural differences in people’s mixed emotional experiences. Implications for emotion theory and research are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen Zheng
- Department of Medical Psychology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Ailin Yu
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Disi Li
- The Professional Qualification Authority of Ministry of Transport, Beijing, China
| | - Ping Fang
- College of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Kaiping Peng
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Peters BJ, Reis HT, Gable SL. Making the good even better: A review and theoretical model of interpersonal capitalization. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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14
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Cross-cultural and hemispheric laterality effects on the ensemble coding of emotion in facial crowds. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 5:125-152. [PMID: 29230379 DOI: 10.1007/s40167-017-0054-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
In many social situations, we make a snap judgment about crowds of people relying on their overall mood (termed "crowd emotion"). Although reading crowd emotion is critical for interpersonal dynamics, the sociocultural aspects of this process have not been explored. The current study examined how culture modulates the processing of crowd emotion in Korean and American observers. Korean and American (non-East Asian) participants were briefly presented with two groups of faces that were individually varying in emotional expressions and asked to choose which group between the two they would rather avoid. We found that Korean participants were more accurate than American participants overall, in line with the framework on cultural viewpoints: Holistic versus analytic processing in East Asians versus Westerners. Moreover, we found a speed advantage for other-race crowds in both cultural groups. Finally, we found different hemispheric lateralization patterns: American participants were more accurate to perceive the facial crowd to be avoided when it was presented in the left visual field than the right visual field, indicating a right hemisphere advantage for processing crowd emotion of both European American and Korean facial crowds. However, Korean participants showed weak or nonexistent laterality effects, with a slight right hemisphere advantage for European American facial crowds and no advantage in perceiving Korean facial crowds. Instead, Korean participants showed positive emotion bias for own-race faces. This work suggests that culture plays a role in modulating our crowd emotion perception of groups of faces and responses to them.
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