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Ocampo J, Keltner D. Dispositional compassion shifts social preferences in systematic ways. J Pers 2023. [PMID: 38111088 DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/20/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION How people attach value to the outcomes of self and other-social preferences-is central to social behavior. Recently, how dispositional and state emotion shape such social preferences has received researchers' attention. METHOD The present investigation asked whether and to what extent dispositional and state compassion predict shifts in social preferences across 4 samples: two correlational samples (final ns 153 & 368, study 1a and 1b) and two experimental samples (final ns: 430 & 530, studies 2 and 3). RESULTS In keeping with recent accounts of compassion, dispositional compassion predicted general preference for equality, expressed as dispreference for both monetary advantage over another (interaction βs = -0.36, -0.33, -0.25, -0.22; all p < 0.001) and monetary disadvantage relative to others (βs: 0.26, 0.27, 0.28, 0.17; all p < 0.01; positive coefficients imply dispreference). This dispositional effect persisted when controlling for prosociality, positivity, agreeableness, and respectfulness. Furthermore, these dispositional compassion effects were relatively unchanged by experimental emotion inductions in studies 3 and 4. The experimental inductions of state compassion and state pride showed little evidence of systematic effects on social preferences relative to each other or a neutral condition. DISCUSSION Discussion focused on individual differences in emotion and social preferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Ocampo
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Dacher Keltner
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
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2
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Takano R, Nomura M. A closer look at the time course of bodily responses to awe experiences. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22506. [PMID: 38110602 PMCID: PMC10728215 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49681-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/20/2023] Open
Abstract
The structure and function of awe have been examined by focusing on the average level of outcomes during awe experiences. In the present study, we tested the psychophysiological process of experiencing awe, focusing on time-series changes in skin conductance responses (SCRs), a moment-by-moment measure of sympathetic nervous responses, and pupil diameter, which is dilated or constricted through the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. The responses were measured through an experiment where 77 Japanese university students watched emotional (awe, amusement, or neutral) videos while moving a joystick when they felt supernatural agency or non-agency, examining the underlying psychological processes. We found that experiencing awe was associated with frequent and steep changes in SCRs and frequent changes in pupil diameter. The joystick inclination, the perceptions of the supernatural, was kept at a high level from the start to the end of awe experiences. These results may reflect the psychophysiological processes of awe: the "fluctuation" of the sympathetic nervous system might underlie awe-specific experiences. Our findings shed new light on the mechanisms of the body-mind interaction in awe experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryota Takano
- Department of Social Psychology, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
| | - Michio Nomura
- Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.
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3
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Yu CWF, Haase CM, Chang JH. Habitual Expressive Suppression of Positive, but not Negative, Emotions Consistently Predicts Lower Well-being across Two Culturally Distinct Regions. AFFECTIVE SCIENCE 2023; 4:684-701. [PMID: 38156251 PMCID: PMC10751279 DOI: 10.1007/s42761-023-00221-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023]
Abstract
Habitual expressive suppression (i.e., a tendency to inhibit the outward display of one's emotions; hereafter suppression) is often conceptualized as a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy. Yet, is this equally true for suppression of positive and of negative emotions? Across three studies and seven samples (total N > 1300 people) collected in two culturally distinct regions (i.e., Taiwan and the US), we examined the separability and distinct well-being effects of suppressing positive vs. negative emotions. Results consistently showed that (a) people suppressed their positive (vs. negative) emotions less, (b) the construct of suppression of positive (vs. negative) emotions was conceptually farther away from that of suppression of emotions in general, (c) suppression of positive and of negative emotions were only moderately correlated, and (d) only suppression of positive, but not negative, emotions, predicted lower well-being. An internal meta-analysis (k = 52 effect sizes) showed that these associations were robust to the inclusion of age, gender, and region as covariates. Future research may further probe the respective links between suppression of positive and of negative emotions and well-being across more cultural regions and across the life-span.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen-Wei Felix Yu
- Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Claudia M. Haase
- Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA
| | - Jen-Ho Chang
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
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4
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Floman JL, Brackett MA, LaPalme ML, Ponnock AR, Barsade SG, Doyle A. Development and Validation of an Ability Measure of Emotion Understanding: The Core Relational Themes of Emotion (CORE) Test. J Intell 2023; 11:195. [PMID: 37888427 PMCID: PMC10607998 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11100195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 08/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotion understanding (EU) ability is associated with healthy social functioning and psychological well-being. Across three studies, we develop and present validity evidence for the Core Relational Themes of Emotions (CORE) Test. The test measures people's ability to identify relational themes underlying 19 positive and negative emotions. Relational themes are consistencies in the meaning people assign to emotional experiences. In Study 1, we developed and refined the test items employing a literature review, expert panel, and confusion matrix with a demographically diverse sample. Correctness criteria were determined using theory and prior research, and a progressive (degrees of correctness) paradigm was utilized to score the test. In Study 2, the CORE demonstrated high internal consistency and a confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensional factor structure. The CORE showed evidence of convergence with established EU ability measures and divergent relationships with verbal intelligence and demographic characteristics, supporting its construct validity. Also, the CORE was associated with less relational conflict. In Study 3, the CORE was associated with more adaptive and less maladaptive coping and higher well-being on multiple indicators. A set of effects remained, accounting for variance from a widely used EU test, supporting the CORE's incremental validity. Theoretical and methodological contributions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- James L. Floman
- Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Marc A. Brackett
- Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Matthew L. LaPalme
- Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Annette R. Ponnock
- Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Sigal G. Barsade
- Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Aidan Doyle
- Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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5
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Hinojosa JA, Guasch M, Montoro PR, Albert J, Fraga I, Ferré P. The bright side of words: Norms for 9000 Spanish words in seven discrete positive emotions. Behav Res Methods 2023:10.3758/s13428-023-02229-8. [PMID: 37749425 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02229-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
In recent years, assumptions about the existence of a single construct of happiness that accounts for all positive emotions have been questioned. Instead, several discrete positive emotions with their own neurobiological and psychological mechanisms have been proposed. Of note, the effects of positive emotions on language processing are not yet properly understood. Here we provide a database for a large set of 9000 Spanish words scored by 3437 participants in the positive emotions of awe, contentment, amusement, excitement, serenity, relief, and pleasure. We also report significant correlations between discrete positive emotions and several affective (e.g., valence, arousal, happiness, negative discrete emotions) and lexico-semantic (e.g., frequency of use, familiarity, concreteness, age of acquisition) characteristics of words. Finally, we analyze differences between words conveying a single emotion ("pure" emotion words) and those denoting more than one emotion ("mixed" emotion words). This study will provide researchers a rich source of information to do research that contributes to expanding the current knowledge on the role of positive emotions in language. The norms are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21533571.v2.
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Affiliation(s)
- José A Hinojosa
- Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Dpto. Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Centro de Investigación Nebrija en Cognición (CINC), Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Marc Guasch
- Department of Psychology and CRAMC, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Pedro R Montoro
- Departamento de Psicología Básica 1, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain
| | - Jacobo Albert
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Isabel Fraga
- Cognitive Processes & Behaviour Research Group, Department of Social Psychology, Basic Psychology & Methodology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Pilar Ferré
- Department of Psychology and CRAMC, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
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Grogans SE, Bliss-Moreau E, Buss KA, Clark LA, Fox AS, Keltner D, Cowen AS, Kim JJ, Kragel PA, MacLeod C, Mobbs D, Naragon-Gainey K, Fullana MA, Shackman AJ. The nature and neurobiology of fear and anxiety: State of the science and opportunities for accelerating discovery. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 151:105237. [PMID: 37209932 PMCID: PMC10330657 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Fear and anxiety play a central role in mammalian life, and there is considerable interest in clarifying their nature, identifying their biological underpinnings, and determining their consequences for health and disease. Here we provide a roundtable discussion on the nature and biological bases of fear- and anxiety-related states, traits, and disorders. The discussants include scientists familiar with a wide variety of populations and a broad spectrum of techniques. The goal of the roundtable was to take stock of the state of the science and provide a roadmap to the next generation of fear and anxiety research. Much of the discussion centered on the key challenges facing the field, the most fruitful avenues for future research, and emerging opportunities for accelerating discovery, with implications for scientists, funders, and other stakeholders. Understanding fear and anxiety is a matter of practical importance. Anxiety disorders are a leading burden on public health and existing treatments are far from curative, underscoring the urgency of developing a deeper understanding of the factors governing threat-related emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon E Grogans
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Eliza Bliss-Moreau
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA; California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Kristin A Buss
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA
| | - Lee Anna Clark
- Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - Andrew S Fox
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA; California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Dacher Keltner
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | | | - Jeansok J Kim
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Philip A Kragel
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Colin MacLeod
- Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Dean Mobbs
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA; Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Kristin Naragon-Gainey
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Miquel A Fullana
- Adult Psychiatry and Psychology Department, Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain; Imaging of Mood, and Anxiety-Related Disorders Group, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, CIBERSAM, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Alexander J Shackman
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
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Abstract
How do experiences in nature or in spiritual contemplation or in being moved by music or with psychedelics promote mental and physical health? Our proposal in this article is awe. To make this argument, we first review recent advances in the scientific study of awe, an emotion often considered ineffable and beyond measurement. Awe engages five processes-shifts in neurophysiology, a diminished focus on the self, increased prosocial relationality, greater social integration, and a heightened sense of meaning-that benefit well-being. We then apply this model to illuminate how experiences of awe that arise in nature, spirituality, music, collective movement, and psychedelics strengthen the mind and body.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Monroy
- Maria Monroy, Department of Psychology,
University of California Berkeley
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8
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He T, Breithaupt F, Kübler S, Hills TT. Quantifying the retention of emotions across story retellings. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2448. [PMID: 36774370 PMCID: PMC9922315 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29178-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Story retelling is a fundamental medium for the transmission of information between individuals and among social groups. Besides conveying factual information, stories also contain affective information. Though natural language processing techniques have advanced considerably in recent years, the extent to which machines can be trained to identify and track emotions across retellings is unknown. This study leverages the powerful RoBERTa model, based on a transformer architecture, to derive emotion-rich story embeddings from a unique dataset of 25,728 story retellings. The initial stories were centered around five emotional events (joy, sadness, embarrassment, risk, and disgust-though the stories did not contain these emotion words) and three intensities (high, medium, and low). Our results indicate (1) that RoBERTa can identify emotions in stories it was not trained on, (2) that the five emotions and their intensities are preserved when they are transmitted in the form of retellings, (3) that the emotions in stories are increasingly well-preserved as they experience additional retellings, and (4) that among the five emotions, risk and disgust are least well-preserved, compared with joy, sadness, and embarrassment. This work is a first step toward quantifying situation-driven emotions with machines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tianyou He
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV47AL, UK
| | - Fritz Breithaupt
- Department of Germanic Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
- Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
| | - Sandra Kübler
- Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, UK
| | - Thomas T Hills
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV47AL, UK.
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9
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Cong YQ, Keltner D, Sauter D. Cultural variability in appraisal patterns for nine positive emotions. JOURNAL OF CULTURAL COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s41809-022-00098-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
AbstractEmotions result from evaluations of events, referred to as appraisals. Specific configurations of appraisals have been shown to characterize different emotions, with some variation occurring across cultures. However, appraisal research to date has focused primarily on negative emotions, though recent efforts have started to also examine the appraisal profiles of positive emotions. Cross-cultural work on the appraisals of positive emotions has, however, been scarce. Here, we examine the appraisal profiles of nine positive emotions in the US and China. Using 13 commonly employed appraisal dimensions, we investigated the evaluations of events eliciting amusement, awe, compassion, desire, gratitude, interest, love, pride, and relief. Eighty participants from China and the US recalled events from their own life involving each of these emotions and provided Likert-scale appraisal ratings for each emotional event. Consistent with previous research, we find distinct appraisal patters for each positive emotion. We also, for the first time, demonstrate cultural variations in appraisals of positive emotions. Our study extends existing research by highlighting differences in appraisals of positive emotions across cultures.
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van Steenbergen H, Sauter D, Saunders B, Pourtois G. Editorial overview: Positive affect: taxonomies, mechanisms and applications. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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