Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires

How mood-related physiological states bias economic decisions

When making decisions, humans are susceptible to all sorts of biases, relative to rational norms. An important factor is incidental changes in affective states, such as variations in mood between happiness and sadness. We previously developed a computational model, in which mood affects choice by forming a predisposition to face costs and seek more rewards. Here, we generalized this theory to account for how specific inductions of happiness and sadness affect different types of economic decisions involving a tradeoff between costs (risk, delay, effort) and benefits (financial rewards). Across exploratory and confirmatory studies (N = 94), we observed a consistent bias exerted by transitory mood states, whether they were assessed through self-reports (rated happiness minus sadness) or inferred from physiological measures (valence of facial expression times intensity of autonomous arousal). This choice bias was best explained by our computational model, with a mood-scaled bonus added to the value of the more rewarded but more costly option, irrespective of the cost type (risk, delay or effort). Additionally, gaze tracking during decision making confirmed that the choice bias was driven by an early preference for the mood-congruent option. Together, these results demonstrate the feasibility of predicting irrational choices from objective measures of affective states.

Networking trait resilience: Unifying fragmented trait resilience systems from an ecological systems theory perspective

OBJECTIVE

This study reconceptualized trait resilience, defining it as a network of systems; utilizing direct resilience assessments-engineering, ecological, adaptive capacity, social cohesion-and proxy resilience assessments-personality, cognitive, emotional, eudaimonia, and health.

BACKGROUND

The background of the study addresses the fragmented conceptualization of trait resilience by proposing a unifying network model based on ecological systems theory, illustrating the dynamic interplay of resilience factors across varying levels of disturbance.

METHOD

In Study One, four USA or UK samples (total n = 2396) were used to depict the trait resilience network. Study Two (n = 1091) examined the relationship between the network and disturbance at two time-points, using mental health levels as a disturbance metric.

RESULTS

Study One found that adaptive capacity, and sometimes positive emotional processes, were central variables to the network. Study Two found that in lower disturbance groups, adaptive capacity remained important, while in higher disturbance groups, a broader set of variables became central to the network.

CONCLUSIONS

Study One suggests a Broaden-and-Build approach, where adaptive capacity is a foundational resilience capability, reciprocally associated with positive emotional mechanisms. Study Two suggests a new "Dynamic Resilience Spectrum Theory," proposing that increased disturbances necessitate the use of a more diverse set of resilience traits.

The ripple effect of compassion on psychosocial flourishing: A mediational model of individual and organizational factors in Indian public sector

The study draws insights from the ethos of Buddhism and underpinnings of positive activity model to investigate the mediational role of individual emotions and organizational support in the relationship between workplace compassion and psychosocial flourishing. Data were collected from the employees of a public sector organization in India who were selected using purposive sampling technique. An exploratory sequential mixed method approach was followed, that includes qualitative phase of focus group studies involving 42 participants to identify the main themes of the study, and a theoretical model is proposed following thematic literature review. Quantitative survey responses from 218 employees were used to conduct further statistical analysis. The authors tested the proposed model and hypothesis through parallel mediation analysis using structural equation modelling. Results showed that workplace compassion significantly influences psychosocial flourishing of the compassion givers, positive and negative emotions as well as perceived organizational support significantly and positively mediate compassion and flourishing relationship. Advocating the idea of productive paradox wherein compassion for others leads to utmost self-benefit, the study highlights the reciprocal gains of well-being and fulfillment to compassion giving employees at service-centered workplaces.

The Effect of Positive Emotions on Prosocial Behavior During Ego-Depletion: Evidence From fNIRS

Purpose

The psychological and neural mechanisms between relieving ego depletion and prosocial behavior have yet to be clearly explored. To address this, we combined behavioral experiments and fNIRS to explore how positive emotions promote prosocial tendencies under ego depletion.

Methods

In Experiment 1, 119 college participants (Mage=19.7±1.46) completed a dual-task self-control paradigm, confirming that ego depletion negatively impacts prosocial behavior. Experiment 2 involved 48 college participants (Mage=20.26±2.06) and combined behavioral tasks with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine how positive emotions mitigate ego depletion and enhance prosocial behavior.

Results

Experiment 1 showed that participants in the low ego depletion group had a significantly higher bonus allocation amount than the high ego depletion group (t (62) =-2.24, p < 0.05). Experiment 2 showed that after both groups completed the ego depletion task, participants in the positive emotion group allocated significantly higher bonus amounts than those in the neutral emotion group (t (46) =2.06, p <0.05). And the β values for channel ch15 (right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus) and channel ch20 (right medial superior frontal gyrus) were significantly higher in the positive emotion group compared to the neutral emotion group (p < 0.05). The β value for channel ch7 (left medial superior frontal gyrus) was also higher in the positive emotion group, approaching statistical significance (p = 0.068).

Conclusion

Those findings revealed that high ego depletion reduced prosocial behavior. Additionally, positive emotions alleviated ego depletion and promoted prosocial behavior by activating the medial superior frontal gyrus (SFGmed) and right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (SFGdor) negatively.

Effects of gamification on EFL learning: a quasi-experimental study of reading proficiency and language enjoyment among Chinese undergraduates

Background

In foreign language education, educators struggle with declining student engagement as traditional EFL teaching, relying on passive lectures and dull materials, hampers proficiency and dampens passion. Gamification has emerged as a potential solution. This quasi-experimental study, based on the broaden-and-build theory, examined the effects of gamification on reading proficiency and foreign language learning enjoyment (FLLE) among Chinese undergraduates studying English as a foreign language (EFL).

Methods

Data were collected from 220 first-year undergraduates at a Chinese university through reading assessments and the Chinese Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale, supplemented by interviews with nine participants picked from the first-year undergraduates.

Results

The findings revealed a significant increase in gamification's benefits for EFL reading proficiency. FLLE's private dimension, tied to personal enjoyment, was crucial. Additionally, gamified settings improved focus, teamwork, and communication.

Discussion

This study supports integrating gamification to boost engagement and outcomes. However, the study was limited to a specific context and duration. Therefore, future studies should identify key gamification elements and their long-term impact.

How Power from the Network Is Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth During COVID-19: The Mediating Roles of Gratitude and Cognitive Reappraisal

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant psychological challenges worldwide, but individuals may also experience post-traumatic growth (PTG)-positive psychological changes following adversity. Identifying factors associated with PTG during global public health crises is crucial for advancing trauma recovery research and informing evidence-based interventions. As interpersonal interactions increasingly move to virtual platforms, online social support has become a key source of psychological resilience. Yet, how online social support facilitates PTG remains unclear, especially in large-scale adversities, like the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates the association between online social support and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the mediating roles of gratitude and positive reappraisal.

METHOD

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in March 2022, recruiting 556 college students (70.83% female). Online social support, PTG, gratitude, and cognitive reappraisal were assessed using validated tools, including the College Students' Online Social Support Testing Questionnaire, Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Gratitude Adjective Checklist, and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ).

RESULTS

Participants reported moderate PTG levels. Online social support was positively associated with PTG and exerted both direct and indirect effects. The indirect effects occurred through a sequential mediation pathway, wherein online social support first enhanced gratitude, which in turn, promoted cognitive reappraisal, ultimately contributing to higher PTG levels.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the significant association between online social support and post-traumatic growth (PTG) during the COVID-19 pandemic, both directly and through the sequential mediating effects of gratitude and cognitive reappraisal. These findings underscore the importance of leveraging digital platforms to provide emotional and cognitive resources that support resilience and growth in times of large-scale adversity. Psychological interventions should prioritize cultivating gratitude and enhancing cognitive reappraisal skills as effective strategies to mitigate the negative psychological impacts of crises and facilitate PTG outcomes.

Emotional states affect the degree of duration distortion more than distortion direction: a meta-analytic research

The impact of induced emotional states on duration perception remains unclear. This study investigated duration distortion in emotional states through two meta-analyses based on 17 English articles (28 studies) retrieved from the PubMed and Web of Science databases, published up to March 19, 2024. Meta-Analysis 1 examined both the distortion direction (i.e., underestimation or overestimation compared to neutral states) and the distortion degree (i.e., the extent to which perceived duration deviated from that in neutral states). Meta-Analysis 2 focused solely on the degree of distortion. The results indicated that when both the direction and degree were considered, the findings on duration distortion in emotional states were inconsistent. However, when the direction of distortion was not considered, there was a significant effect on the degree of duration distortion in emotional states. Moderator analysis revealed that the emotional valence moderated the effect size of emotion states on the degree of duration distortion, regardless of whether the direction of distortion was considered. While duration measurement paradigm only moderates the degree of duration distortion without direction. Specifically, the duration overestimation effect was observed in negative states when the distortion direction was considered. A greater distortion degree was observed in negative emotional states or duration judgment tasks. However, neither emotional arousal nor the duration itself moderated the distortion degree, irrespective of whether the direction of distortion was considered. These findings underscore the importance of considering the influence of induced emotional states on the degree of duration distortion, in addition to the direction.

How can ethical leadership increase employees' bootlegging innovation behavior in China?: a serial mediation model of psychological wellbeing and psychological entitlement

Bootlegging innovation behavior poses challenges to organizational management but significantly contributes to development and innovation. The relationship between leadership style and bootlegging innovation behavior is particularly noteworthy. Ethical leadership often instills a sense of reliability and integrity in employees, fostering trust and reciprocity, which benefits both leaders and the organization. To investigate how ethical leadership enhances employees' willingness to innovate and engage in innovative behavior, this study collected survey data from 382 private-sector employees in southeast China. The findings revealed a positive correlation between ethical leadership and bootlegging innovation behavior. Furthermore, psychological wellbeing and psychological entitlement were found to mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and bootlegging innovation behavior. The integrity and inclusiveness demonstrated by ethical leadership help employees feel valued, enhancing their psychological wellbeing. This, in turn, increases their psychological entitlement and willingness to realize their self-worth, making them more inclined to put innovative ideas into practice-even without explicit authorization. The key contribution of this study lies in identifying the chain-mediating effect of psychological wellbeing and psychological entitlement in the relationship between ethical leadership and bootlegging innovation behavior. By exploring this complex and nuanced process, the study provides actionable recommendations for fostering bootlegging innovation behavior among employees. It also broadens the research scope of bootlegging innovation and offers fresh perspectives for future research endeavors.

Sadness is reduced by virtual hugging

This study investigated the possible effect of virtual interpersonal hugging on alleviating individual sad emotion. Using emotional self-assessment and skin conductance responses, we recorded subjective and objective indicators before and after sad emotion induction, and after virtual interpersonal hugging, and assessed the role of (1) the characteristics of hugging, (2) participants' familiarity with the virtual hugging target, and (3) participants' face resemblance and perspective toward the virtual me-avatar initiating the hugging. Results showed that (1) hugging a virtual target, but not the mere action of hugging, improves the regulation of sad emotion, (2) visual information dominates haptic information in the virtual hugging process, (3) facial familiarity of virtual targets of hugging and facial resemblance of the me-avatar to participants do not affect the emotion regulation effect, and (4) first-person perspective of the virtual me-avatar influences both perceived ownership of hugging action and emotion regulation. Overall, virtual interpersonal hugging contributes to the regulation of sad emotion.

Goal orientation shifts attentional focus and impairs reward-motivated memory

While motivation typically enhances memory, some studies show that, in certain contexts, motivation associated with rewards can impair memory. Goal states associated with motivation can impact attention, which in turn influences what information is encoded and later remembered. There is limited research on how different incentive contexts, which manipulate attentional orientation to memoranda, lead to either reward-motivated memory enhancements or impairments in item and relational memory. Here, we test how different reward-motivated states may narrow or broaden attention with downstream consequences on memoranda. In study 1, giving participants a rewarded timed goal during visual search impaired both their item and relational memory relative to un-timed participants who were simply told that they would be rewarded for searching regardless of speed (despite having equated time). In study 2, we show that giving participants an elaborative goal after visual search completion remediates item and relational memory deficits in the Feedback group. Finally, in study 3, we show that elaborative processing of target items during visual search resulted in reward-motivated memory benefits for the item, but not relational memory for the context in which the item was encoded. Together, these findings support a model where the goal-relevant alterations in attentional breadth to reward may ultimately filter what information is remembered or forgotten.

How list composition affects the emotional enhancement of memory in younger and older adults

Young adults show an immediate emotional enhancement of memory (EEM) when emotional and non-emotional information are presented in mixed lists but not pure lists, but it is unclear whether older adults' memories also benefit from the cognitive factors producing the list-composition effect. The present study examined whether the list-composition effect extended to older adults (55+), testing the following alternatives: (1) younger and older adults could show the list-composition effect, (2) due to age-related decreases in cognitive resources, older adults may show weaker effects of list-composition, or (3) due to age-related positivity effects, older adults' list-composition effect may vary by valence. Results supported the first alternative: the list-composition effect occurred for older as well as younger adults, when testing memory for pictures (Experiment 1) or words (Experiment 2). In a third experiment, we explored whether mixing information at only encoding or retrieval (and blocking in the other phase) would suffice for the list composition effect to occur. Results revealed that mixed encoding/blocked retrieval did not elicit the EEM in either age group. Overall, the results suggest age-related stability in the cognitive processes that give rise to the immediate EEM.

Examining Bi-directional links between distinct affect states and tobacco lapse during a cessation attempt

BACKGROUND

Theoretical models of addiction highlight the bi-directional links of certain distinct affect states and tobacco lapse, but to date, few studies have examined bi-directional associations, instead examining associations with global affect measures (e.g., negative affect versus feelings of guilt). The present study examines bi-directional associations among 23 distinct affect states with individuals who tobacco lapse among use attempting to quit in an observational study.

DESIGN

Participants (N288, 49 = 288, 49 % female, aged 19-73, 51 % White, 14 % Black, 10 % Hispanic) were provided tobacco quit support and nicotine replacement therapy. Participants completed ecological momentary assessments (EMA) 4x a day for 10 days post-quit. EMAs assessed affect and lapse in near real-time. Multilevel models tested affect at time t predicting lapse between time t and t + 1, and lapse reported at time t predicting affect at time t + 1.

FINDINGS

Adjusting for covariates, results suggested that at the between-person level, pride was associated with lower odds of lapse, whereas guilt was associated with higher odds of lapse. At the within-person level, disgust and shame were associated with higher odds of lapse. Results also suggested that lapsing was associated with increased feelings of guilt, shame, and enthusiasm, and decreased feelings of sadness.

CONCLUSIONS

Results are generally consistent with the abstinence violation effects, suggesting that addiction to tobacco is facilitated by cycles of guilt and shame. Results further this line of research by suggesting that alleviation of sadness and promotion of enthusiasm may serve to maintain addiction, and that pride may be a promising avenue to promote resilience against lapse.

Emotional arousal lingers in time to bind discrete episodes in memory

Temporal stability and change in neutral contexts can transform continuous experiences into distinct and memorable events. However, less is known about how shifting emotional states influence these memory processes, despite ample evidence that emotion impacts non-temporal aspects of memory. Here, we examined if emotional stimuli influence temporal memory for recent event sequences. Participants encoded lists of neutral images while listening to auditory tones. At regular intervals within each list, participants heard emotional positive, negative, or neutral sounds, which served as "emotional event boundaries" that divided each sequence into discrete events. Temporal order memory was tested for neutral item pairs that either spanned an emotional sound or were encountered within the same auditory event. Encountering a highly arousing event boundary led to faster response times for items encoded within the next event. Critically, we found that highly arousing sounds had different effects on binding ongoing versus ensuing sequential representations in memory. Specifically, highly arousing sounds were significantly more likely to enhance temporal order memory for ensuing information compared to information that spanned those boundaries, especially for boundaries with negative valence. These findings suggest that within aversive emotional contexts, fluctuations in arousal help shape the temporal organisation of events in memory.

Well-being balance and lived experiences: understanding the impact of life situations on human flourishing

Background

This study aimed to determine the most significant indicators of positive well-being and understand differences in sources of well-being across different life situations, age groups, genders, and income levels, utilizing a novel measure of positive well-being, the Well-being Balance and Lived Experiences (WBAL) Assessment, which evaluates the frequency of various positive experiences and feelings across a range of activation and arousal levels that have previously been demonstrated to affect subjective well-being and human flourishing.

Methods

A sample of 496 evaluable subjects aged 20-69 and census-balanced for gender were recruited from a U.S. population panel. Differences in well-being and sources of well-being were analyzed across subgroups via MANOVA analysis followed by post-hoc ANOVA and Tukey's HSD analyses using Cohen's d to determine size and direction of effects between categorical subgroups.

Results

Life situations, including relationship, parenting and employment status, were shown to have a more significant effect on overall well-being than the demographic variables of age, gender and household income. Reported well-being improved significantly with life situations, including companionate relationships (d=0.38, p<0.001) and parenting (d=0.35, p<0.001), that provide greater opportunities for more frequent social connection (d's=0.25, p<0.01 to 0.62, p<0.001) and purposeful contribution to others' well-being (d's=0.34 to 0.71, p<0.001), associated with increased feelings of significance (d's=0.40 to 0.45, p<0.001) and efficacy (d's=0.37 to 0.44, p<0.001). An age-related positivity effect was observed, with older adults reporting more frequent positive feelings than younger age groups (d=0.31, p<0.01). Measures of mindset positivity, variety of positive experiences and feelings, and frequency and range of positive feelings across arousal levels each corresponded closely with overall well-being.

Conclusion

Life situations, including relationship, parenting and employment status, had a more broad and significant effect on wellbeing than age, gender or income. Across life situations, purposeful contribution and social connection, with associated feelings of efficacy and significance were key drivers of differences in well-being. Mindset positivity and variety of positive experiences and feelings correspond closely with overall well-being. Findings from this study can help guide the design and implementation of intervention programs to improve well-being for individuals and targeted subgroups, demonstrating the utility of the WBAL Assessment to evaluate discrete modifiable sources of positive well-being.

Public attitudes to genetic technology for invasive pest control and preferences for engagement and information: a segmentation analysis

Advances in genetic technology hold promise in managing the increasing problem of invasive pests. The current study sought to improve our understanding of public perceptions, and potential public engagement pathways and information needs as the technology is researched and potentially developed for deployment. A survey of 1,149 Australians was conducted, and the sample was segmented into 4 groups based on their attitudes: Certain Objectors, Fence Sitters, Cautious Supporters, and Certain Supporters. 'Light touch' engagement activities appeared to satisfy most people; yet more intensive engagements could be appropriate for a small group who hold negative views towards the technology. Across the board, people wanted to know about the potential risks, and the regulation and controls surrounding the gene editing technology. Those who held more positive views also showed an interest in the scientific processes and techniques, while people who held more negative views wanted to know what was being done to deal with social and ethical issues. The results provide insight into 1) the diversity of views, and associated beliefs and feelings, among the public when confronted with a synthetic biology solution to an environmental problem, 2) how public engagement activities can be tailored to align with people's engagement beliefs and stated preferences, and 3) what issues biotechnology developers should address as they endeavour to design genetic technology in a socially responsible way.

Network analysis of interpersonal sensitivity and self-efficacy in nursing students

BACKGROUND

Interpersonal sensitivity and self-efficacy are key psychological traits that critically impact the mental well-being and professional growth of nursing students. However, the complex interplay between interpersonal sensitivity and self-efficacy of nursing students has not been fully explored.

PURPOSE

This study aimed to explore the complex relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and self-efficacy in nursing students using network analysis, identifying key symptoms within this network.

METHOD

A total of 864 nursing students were recruited in this study. The Chinese Version of the Short Form of the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (IPSM-CS) and The New General Self-Efficacy Scale (NGSES) were used to assess interpersonal sensitivity and self-efficacy, respectively. Centrality and bridge centrality indices were used to identify central symptoms and bridge symptoms. Network stability was examined using the case-dropping procedure. The Network Comparison Test was used to investigate the network differences by gender in nursing students.

RESULTS

The strongest direct relation was observed between the symptoms of interpersonal sensitivity "I feel happy when someone compliments me" and "I can make other people feel happy". "I feel happy when someone compliments me" exhibited the highest node strength within the interpersonal sensitivity and self-efficacy network, followed by "If others knew the real me, they would not like me" and "I worry about being criticized for things that I have said or done". "Faced with difficult tasks, confident that it can be accomplished" exhibited the highest bridge strength, followed by "Ability to successfully overcome many challenges". The stability tests of the whole network indicated robustness.

CONCLUSION

This study highlighted the intricate and dynamic association between interpersonal sensitivity and self-efficacy among nursing students. Identifying central and bridge symptoms can provide nursing educators with valuable insights, benefiting them in enhancing nursing students' mental health by giving positive feedback, fostering self-awareness, and reinforcing coping strategies.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER

Not applicable.

Analyzing Antecedent Configurations of Group Emotion Generation in Public Emergencies: A Multi-Factor Coupling Approach

To enhance emergency management and public opinion governance, improve the accuracy of forecasting group emotional responses, and elucidate the complex pathways of multi-factor coupling in the formation of group emotions, this study constructs a theoretical framework grounded in the social combustion theory. Through web scraping and text sentiment analysis, group emotional tendencies were measured in 40 public emergency cases from the past five years. Using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method, the study explored the coupling, configuration effect, and formation pathways of factors such as "burning substance", "accelerant", and "ignition" in the emergence of group emotions. The results reveal significant differences in the generation pathways of positive versus negative group emotion. Inter-group threat as a "burning substance" is more likely to trigger negative group emotion, while "accelerant" plays a pivotal role in shaping and guiding emotional responses. Notably, the government's response speed is critical for fostering positive emotions, whereas the emergence of rumors significantly contributes to the spread of negative group emotions. Additionally, the occurrence of stimulating events markedly increases the generation of negative group emotions. This study provides an important theoretical foundation and practical insights for the management and regulation of group emotions.

Seeing fast and slow: the influence of music-induced affective states and individual sensory sensitivity on visual processing speed

There is a speed-accuracy trade-off in perception. The ability to quickly extract sensory information is critical for survival, while extended processing can improve our accuracy. It has been suggested that emotions can change our style of processing, but their influence on processing speed is not yet clear. In three experiments, combining online and laboratory studies with different emotion induction procedures, we investigated the influence of both affective states, manipulated with music, and individual traits in sensory-processing sensitivity on the ability to rapidly segregate two visual flashes. Across studies, the musical manipulations pushed participants towards either rapid or slow processing. Individual variations in sensory-processing sensitivity modulated these effects. Our findings demonstrate that affective states, influenced by music, can shift the balance between fast and slow visual processing, altering our perceptual experience. These results also emphasise the interaction of individual traits in sensory processing and affective states.

Positive and Negative Affect Differentially Predict Individual Differences and Intra-Individual Changes in Daily Cognitive Failures in Younger and Older Adults

(1) Background: Cognitive failures, including lapses in attention, memory, and executive functioning, can negatively affect daily performance and well-being. Negative and positive affectivity have been implicated in cognitive functioning, yet their relationship with cognitive failures remains underexplored. This study investigates the impact of positive and negative affect on cognitive failures, using daily diary methods to examine both within-person and between-person associations in a sample of younger adults from Singapore and adults across the lifespan from the United States (US). (2) Methods: Participants (Singapore: N = 253, US: N = 1726) completed daily diaries over seven (Singapore) or eight (US) consecutive days. Multilevel modelling was used to analyse both within- and between-person relationships between affect and cognitive failures, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic variables. (3) Results: In both the Singapore and US samples, negative affect was consistently positively associated with cognitive failures at both levels (SG within-person: β = 0.21, p < 0.001; SG between-person: β = 0.58, p < 0.001; US within-person: β = 0.08, p < 0.001; US between-person: β = 0.28, p < 0.001), supporting the influence of negative affective experiences on cognitive lapses. However, positive affect showed no significant associations with daily cognitive failures in the Singapore sample (within-person: β = 0.01, p = 0.683; between-person: β = -0.04, p = 0.484) and only a between-person negative association in the US sample (within-person: β = 0.02, p = 0.157; between-person: β = -0.11, p < 0.001). (4) Conclusion: These findings suggest that positive and negative affect differentially influence individual differences and intra-individual changes in daily cognitive failures among both younger and older adults.

Childhood emotional maltreatment and psychological richness among Chinese adolescents: The mediating effect of gratitude

BACKGROUND

Childhood emotional maltreatment impairs adolescents' well-being, but less is known about the link between childhood emotional maltreatment and adolescents' psychological richness, a new form of well-being and the mechanism underlying the link.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to reveal the longitudinal effect of childhood emotional maltreatment on psychological richness as well as the mediating role of gratitude among Chinese adolescents.

METHODS

A total of 577 (354 females; Mage = 16.19 years, SDage = 0.50 years) adolescents participated in this study by voluntarily completing questionnaires. First, we used a regression analysis to test the longitudinal relationship between childhood emotional maltreatment and adolescents' psychological richness. Next, we explored the mediating role of gratitude using a mediation analysis at two time points. For all of the above analyses we used gender, age, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being as covariates.

RESULTS

The regression analysis revealed a negative relationship between childhood emotional maltreatment and psychological richness four months later in teenagers. The results of the mediation analysis showed that the association between psychological richness and childhood emotional maltreatment was mediated by gratitude.

CONCLUSIONS

This research demonstrated that childhood emotional maltreatment had a negative predictive role in teenagers' psychological richness and gratitude acted as a mediator in this relationship. Thus, enhancing gratitude levels may be an important intervention.

The effects of listening on speaker and listener while talking about character strengths: an open science school-wide collaboration

Listening is understood to be a foundational element in practices that rely on effective conversations, but there is a gap in our understanding of what the effects of high-quality listening are on both the speaker and listener. This registered report addressed this gap by training one group of participants to listen well as speakers discuss their character strengths, allowing us to isolate the role relational listening plays in strengths-based conversations. Participants were paired and randomly assigned to a high-quality listening (experimental) or moderate-quality listening (comparison) condition manipulated through a validated video-based training. High-quality listening predicted a more constructive relational experience; specifically, positivity resonance. Intrapersonal experiences (perceived authenticity and state anxiety) were not affected. Those who engaged in high-quality listening expressed a behavioural intention to continue listening, but condition did not predict a behavioural intention for speakers to continue applying character strengths. This is the first evidence of positivity resonance as a shared outcome between both a speaker and listener when the listener conveys high-quality (as opposed to 'everyday') listening. These early findings merit further study with stronger listening manipulations to explore the potential role of listening within interpersonal communication, and inform the applied psychological sciences (counselling, psychotherapy, coaching, organizational, education).

Brain Reactivity and Vulnerability to Social Feedback Following Acute Stress in Early Adolescence

INTRODUCTION

Early adolescence is a time of high psychosocial stress exposure and high stress reactivity, associated with the development of mental disorders. Understanding how the brain reacts to acute and social stressors during this period might help us detect and protect those at risk.

METHODS

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate acute social stress reactivity in non-clinical adolescents between ages 13 and 15 years (N = 61) with a range of depression scores (Beck Depression Inventory scores 0-32). Participants underwent a modified Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST) with psychosocial stress condition consisting of two parts: acute stress (challenging maths) followed by social feedback (positive or negative), separated by brief recovery periods. The test condition was compared to a non-stressful control. We examined brain responses to social feedback relative to the acute stressor and feedback valence.

RESULTS

Psychosocial stress produced differential activation in the paracingulate gyrus, insula, and deactivation in the ventral striatum. Receiving social feedback, compared to acute stress, activated cortical midline regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Positive feedback increased activity in frontal pole and middle frontal gyrus whereas negative feedback did not show any differential response in the whole group. However, participants with depressive symptoms reacted with higher activation in the posterior cingulate cortex to negative feedback.

CONCLUSION

We show that social feedback after an acute stressor activates regions involved in self-referential processing, with positive feedback eliciting generally higher activation and negative feedback impacting only individuals with vulnerable mood traits during early adolescence.

Today's positive affect predicts tomorrow's experience of meaningful coincidences: a cross-lagged multilevel analysis

The perception of meaningful patterns in random arrangements and unrelated events takes place in our everyday lives, coined apophenia, synchronicity, or the experience of meaningful coincidences. However, we do not know yet what predicts this phenomenon. To investigate this, we re-analyzed a combined data set of two daily diary studies with a total of N = 169 participants (mean age 29.95 years; 54 men). We investigated if positive or negative affect (PA, NA) predicts the number of meaningful coincidences on the following day (or vice versa). By means of a cross-lagged multilevel modelling approach (Bayesian estimation) we evaluated with which of two theoretical assumptions the data are more in line. First, if meaningful coincidences are facilitated by a broader and more flexible thinking style, PA should positively predict meaningful coincidences at the following day. However, if the experience of meaningful coincidences signifies a strategy to cope with negative feeling states, NA should predict the experience of meaningful coincidences during the following day. In favour of a more flexible thinking style, we found that PA predicted the number of perceived coincidences the following day. We did not find any effect for NA, and therefore, no evidence arguing for the coping mechanism hypothesis of meaningful coincidences.

Personality dynamics turn positive and negative mood into creativity

INTRODUCTION

Research on the link between affect and creativity rests on the assumption that creativity unfolds as a stimulus-driven response to affective states. We challenge this assumption and examine whether personality dynamics moderate the relationships between positive and negative mood with creativity.

THEORETICAL MODEL

According to our model, personality dynamics that generate and maintain positive affect and downregulate negative affect energize creativity. Based on this model, we expect high creativity in response to negative mood if people engage in self-motivation and achieve a reduction in negative mood. We further derive that individual differences in action versus state orientation moderate the within-person relationship between mood and creativity.

METHOD

We conducted an experience-sampling study and examined the relationship between mood and creativity in everyday work-life. Two hundred and ten participants indicated their action-state orientation and reported their mood three times a day over five consecutive workdays. At noon of each day, we assessed self-motivation and in the evening the extent to which participants had generated novel and useful ideas during the day.

RESULTS

We observed high creativity when negative mood declined and self-motivation was high. Action-state orientation moderated the within-person relationships of positive and negative mood with creativity.

CONCLUSION

Personality dynamics determine whether positive and negative mood result in creativity.

Scent-driven Selective Attention on Gambling Outcome: Implications for Responsible Gambling

Many casinos diffuse a pleasant ambient scent into their facilities as a customer experience management practice, but the ethics of this scenting process is questionable. Although the effect of a pleasant scent on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses has been well-documented, its effect on attention during gambling has yet to be explored. Grounded in the tenets of the top-down control of attention and cross-modal correspondence between vision and olfaction, we conduct two eye-tracking experiments that involve different electronic casino games including video slots and live Cussec. The findings consistently show that pleasant ambient scent prolongs attention and induces more frequent attention to the win/loss areas on the video screen. The findings add to the implications related to responsible gambling by inspiring the stakeholders to consider the use of ambient scent in the gambling environment. Theoretically, the findings offer insights into scent as the catalyst that directs attention to goal-related information, while scent and goal do not need to be congruent in traits.

Influence of emotional states on incongruity-resolution and nonsense humour processing

Humour processing is complex and may be influenced by an individual's emotional state. This study explores the differences in incongruity-resolution and nonsense joke humour processing between three groups with different emotional states (positive, neutral and negative). Each group consisted of 32 participants. The positive and negative emotion groups were asked to elicit positive and negative emotions, respectively, through autobiographical recall. In contrast, the neutral emotion group was asked to answer questions unrelated to emotions. Participants were also asked to rate their emotional valence, arousal and conformity with the provided emotion words. Subsequently, they were directed to rate their humour appreciation, humour comprehension and level of surprise at the jokes. The results indicate that these variables interacted with the level of amusement derived from the two humour types. The positive emotion group perceived nonsense jokes as funnier than the negative emotion group, while the negative emotion group perceived nonsense jokes as less amusing than incongruity-resolution jokes. No significant difference was found between the three emotion groups in terms of humour comprehension and surprise at the jokes. The results deepen the understanding of the correlation between emotional states and processing of different humour types.

Proactive personality and its impact on online learning engagement through positive emotions and learning motivation

The rapid change in information technology has made online or blended learning a new norm in higher education. However, the problem of low student engagement in online learning is becoming more prominent. This study explores how college students' proactive personality affects their online learning engagement through the mediating effects of positive emotions and learning motivation. A survey was conducted on college students (N = 1049), and the interrelationships among these variables were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings unveiled that: proactive personality positively predicts online learning engagement, positive emotions and learning motivation. Positive emotions and learning motivation significantly positively influence online learning engagement. Moreover, Positive emotions also exert a significant positive impact on learning motivation. In addition, the mediation of positive emotions and learning motivation further strengthened a significant positive correlation between proactive personality and online learning engagement. Implications for theory and practice, including the limitations, were discussed accordingly.

The effect of pleasurable emotions on weight perception

Based on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and embodied cognition theory, this study explored the effects of two different forms of pleasure on the perception of object weight through two experiments. Experiment 1 induced pleasure by having participants watch a funny video and further investigated the effect of pleasure on weight perception. The results showed that the weight estimation of the pleasure group participants was significantly lower than that of the calm group. Experiment 2 induced pleasure through embodied pleasure postures and further investigated the effect of pleasure on weight perception. The results showed that subjects in the embodied pleasure posture group had lighter weight estimates compared to the calm posture and no posture groups. This study suggests that pleasure affects individuals' perception of the weight of objects, and pleasure makes individuals more optimistic in their perception of object weight.

Hyper-binding: the surprising roles of age and affect

When irrelevant stimuli are processed and then bound to relevant stimuli in memory, it is known as hyper-binding. Hyper-binding has been demonstrated consistently in older-aged participants, but university-aged participants do not typically show hyper-binding. This phenomenon has been attributed to older individuals having greater difficulty filtering out irrelevant information compared to younger adults. Emotions can also influence how individuals attend to and process information, and older individuals report feeling greater positive, and less negative, affect than younger adults. Low arousal positive affect is associated with greater cognitive breadth and reduced distractor suppression. Therefore, it is possible that differences in affect contribute to the differences in hyper-binding demonstrated for younger versus older adults. In four studies, we measured hyper-binding using a standard hyper-binding task and examined whether individual differences in hyper-binding could be predicted by individual differences in self-reported affect. Study 1 included an online community sample between 18 and 45 years of age. Study 2 included university undergraduate students that were tested online. Study 3 participants included university undergraduate students that were tested in the lab. Study 4 participants included an older aged sample that was tested online. Overall, there were no significant relationships between affect and hyper-binding across age samples. Surprisingly, however, significant hyper-binding was observed for all age groups and was not larger for older individuals. The results suggest that individual differences in naturally occurring affect do not meaningfully predict hyper-binding, but the prevalence of hyper-binding across all studies demonstrates it may not be unique to older adults.

Not feeling it: lack of robust emotion effects on breadth of attention

Emotional states are believed to broaden or to narrow the focus of attention. However, numerous inconsistent findings call for renewed efforts to understand the conditions under which such effects occur. We conducted a pair of high-powered web experiments. Emotional states were manipulated across valence categories and appraisal dimensions using autobiographical recall (Experiment 1) and emotional images (Experiment 2). Breadth of attention was assessed using the Navon task coupled with induction sensitivity and mouse tracking analyses. We did not find robust evidence for emotional effects on breadth of attention. Negative images led surprisingly to slightly broader attention in Experiment 2, but this may reflect the slow release of cognitive resources from preceding negative stimuli amplifying the global precedence effect. Breadth of attention also had very small positive relationships with goal-congruence appraisal in the first and control appraisal in the second experiment. We also found no evidence for moderation by mood or personality. Taken together, our findings add to the growing list of failures to observe emotional modulation of breadth of attention and call for continued efforts to chart the boundary conditions of these effects.

Facilitating Thought Progression to Reduce Depressive Symptoms: Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

The constant rise in the prevalence of major depressive disorder calls for new, effective, and accessible interventions that can rapidly and effectively reach a wide range of audiences. Recent developments in the digital health domain suggest that dedicated online platforms may potentially address this gap. Focusing on targeting ruminative thought, a major symptomatic hallmark of depression, in this study we hypothesized that delivering a digital health-based intervention designed to systematically facilitate thought progression would substantially alleviate depression.

OBJECTIVE

The study aims to investigate the efficacy of a novel digital intervention on the reduction of depressive symptoms. This intervention was designed as an easy-to-use gamified app specifically aimed to facilitate thought progression through intense practicing of associative, semantically broad, fast, and creative thought patterns.

METHODS

A randomized clinical trial was conducted, comparing changes in depression symptoms between participants who used the app in the intervention group (n=74) and waitlist control group (n=27) over the course of 8 weeks. All participants filled out a battery of clinical questionnaires to assess the severity of depression at baseline and 4 and 8 weeks after starting the study. These primarily included the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 as well as the Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale-Negative Affect Score, Ruminative Response Scale, and Symptoms of Depression Questionnaire. Additional questionnaires were implemented to assess anxiety, positive affect, anhedonia, and quality of life.

RESULTS

The results indicate that across multiple clinical measurements, participants in the intervention group who played the gamified app showed greater and faster improvement in depressive symptoms compared with their waitlist control counterparts. The difference between the groups in MADRS improvement was -7.01 points (95% CI -10.72 to -3.29; P<.001; Cohen d=0.67). Furthermore, the difference in improvement between groups persisted up to 4 weeks posttrial (MADRS differences at week 12: F49,2=6.62; P=.003; ηp2=0.21). At the end of the trial, participants who played the app showed high interest in continuing using the app.

CONCLUSIONS

The results demonstrate that a gamified app designed to facilitate thought progression is associated with improvement in depressive symptoms. Given its innovative and accessibility features, this gamified method aiming to facilitate thought progression may successfully complement traditional treatments for depression in the future, providing a safe and impactful way to enhance the lives of individuals experiencing depression and anxiety.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05685758; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05685758.

The aging of emotional words processing in implicit and explicit emotion task: an ERP study

This study examined how cognitive aging affects emotional word processing using event-related potential technique. Young and older adults completed both implicit lexical decision and explicit emotion categorization tasks involving positive, negative, and neutral words. Behaviorally, older adults displayed a negative emotion effect in the implicit task, which was absent in young adults. While both age groups exhibited both positive and negative emotion effects in the explicit task, older adults demonstrated a greater positivity bias compared to young adults. Event-related potential technique data revealed that young adults exhibited an early negative emotion effect on the P2 and a late emotion effect on the late positivity potentials in the implicit task. In contrast, older adults exhibited an early negativity bias effect on the P2, as well as both negative and positive emotion effects on the N400, and positive emotion effects on the late positivity potentials. In the explicit task, young adults showed both early and late negative emotion effects on the P2 and late positivity potentials, while older adults showed both negative and positive emotion effects on the late positivity potentials. The results suggest distinct processing mechanisms for emotion words in young and older adults, involving both bottom-up and top-down mechanisms, which support the socioemotional selectivity theory.

Love and hate do not modulate the attentional blink but improve overall performance

How may feelings of love and hate impact people's attention? We used a modified Attentional Blink (AB) task in which 300 participants were asked to categorise a name representing a person towards whom they felt either hate, love, or neutral (first target) plus identify a number word (second target), both embedded in a rapidly presented stream of other words. The lag to the second target was systematically varied. Contrary to our hypothesis, results revealed that both hated and loved names resulted in higher accuracy for the second target than neutral names, which was largely independent of lag. Also, there we observed no sustained transfer effects of love and hate onto neutral name trials. The findings differ from prior research on attentional blink and transient, non-personal, stimulus-driven emotions, suggesting that interpersonal feelings activate different attention-relevant mechanisms. Relevant to future research, we speculate that love and hate are motivators of goal-directed behaviour that facilitate subsequent information processing.

Positive valence ≠ positive effect: impact of positive meta-stereotypes on the cognitive performance

The aim of this study was to examine how positive meta-stereotypes impacted cognitive performance among disadvantaged groups and the mediating effect of negative emotions. In Experiments 1 and 2, Chinese migrant children and rural college students were randomly allocated to the positive meta-stereotype, negative meta-stereotype, or a non-meta-stereotype activation group to examine positive meta-stereotypes' effect on creativity and working memory performance. Both experiments revealed that positive meta-stereotypes had a choking under-pressure effect on cognitive performance, and negative emotions may act as significant mediators between meta-stereotypes and cognitive performance. The choking under pressure effect may occur under positive meta-stereotypes, necessitating more clarification on meta-stereotypes' negative effects.

Threat priming diminishes the gaze cueing effect

Gaze cueing effect (GCE) refers to attention orienting towards the gazed-at location, characterised by faster responses to gazed-at than non-gazed-at stimuli. A previous study investigated the effects of affective priming on GCE and reported that threatening primes enhanced GCE. However, it remains unknown whether the threat or heightened arousal potentiated GCE. We investigated how highly arousing threatening and positive primes, compared to low arousing neutral primes modulate GCE. After a brief exposure to an affective prime (pictures of threat or erotica) or a neutral prime, participants detected an asterisk validly or invalidly cued by the gaze direction of a neutral face. The results showed that the threatening primes diminished the magnitude of GCE. The highly arousing positive primes did not have an effect on GCE. Further analyses showed that, as compared to neutral priming, the reaction times after threatening primes were shortened on invalid trials. This finding was interpreted to suggest that the threatening primes enhanced goal-directed target detection and attenuated attention orienting by irrelevant gaze cues via improving executive control. In sum, the present findings indicate that threat priming modulates GCE, not because of heightened arousal but because of the threat.

Assessing the psychometric properties of the World Health Organization -five well-being index (WHO-5) in Filipino samples amid the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

The WHO-5 well-being index is a brief rating scale extensively used to evaluate well-being symptoms. Despite the increasing number of studies validating this instrument across different samples from different countries, its psychometric properties remain unexplored in the Philippine context. Bridging this gap, the present study assessed the psychometric properties of the WHO-5 in Filipinos amid the pandemic.

METHODS

In study one, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was conducted using a sample of Filipinos (N = 2,521) from the general population and a unidimensional model of well-being was extracted. In study two, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to examine the one-factor model in 1,289 Filipino government workers. In study three, nomological validity was examined by performing a mediation analysis using 407 Filipino left-behind emerging adult children with dysfunctionality as mediator, pandemic-related adversities as independent variable, and well-being as the dependent variable.

RESULTS

The results of ESEM and CFA provided support for the WHO-5 one-factor model. Moreover, the negative relationship of well-being to anxiety, depression, and distress lend evidence to the scale's criterion validity. The results of the mediation analysis performed in study three implied that those who experienced pandemic-related adversities tended to have greater dysfunctionality, and in turn, had lower levels of well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the findings suggest that the WHO-5 well-being index is a psychometrically sound tool for measuring Filipinos' well-being.

Daily challenge-hindrance stress and work engagement in preschool teacher: the role of affect and mindfulness

BACKGROUND

The engagement of preschool teachers in their work is pivotal for maintaining teaching quality, ensuring teacher well-being, and fostering children's development. Despite its significance, there is limited knowledge regarding the daily fluctuations in work engagement and the underlying factors influencing it. This study, guided by the Job Demands-Resources model and Affect Event Theory, utilized an experience sampling methodology to investigate the impact of challenge and hindrance stressors on daily work engagement, as well as the mediating role of affect and the moderating effect of mindfulness.

METHODS

Utilizing an experience sampling method, this study collected data from 220 preschool teachers in Shanghai over five consecutive workdays, conducting surveys once daily. Data analysis was performed using multilevel linear models.

RESULTS

The results from multilevel regression indicated that: (1) daily challenge stressors were positively related to work engagement, (2) daily hindrance stressors were negatively related to work engagement, (3) daily positive affect mediated the relationship between challenge stressors and work engagement, (4) daily negative affect mediated the relationship between hindrance stressors and work engagement, and (5) daily mindfulness played a crucial moderating role by alleviating the adverse effects of hindrance stressors on daily negative affect.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides valuable insights into the daily experiences of preschool teachers and the factors that influence their work engagement. Understanding the impact of stressors, affect, and mindfulness on work engagement can inform the development of interventions and strategies to improve teacher well-being and work engagement.

From the COVID-19 lockdown to the new normal: Two-year changes in daily stress and positive event processes

The emergence of the novel COVID-19 disease and the social distancing measures implemented to curb its spread affected most aspects of daily life. Past work suggests that during times of more severe stress, people respond to daily stressors with relatively higher negative affect. However, little is known about how people responded to daily stressors and positive events at different moments in time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, we examined longitudinal changes in daily event-related affect (covariation of daily stressors or positive events with same-day affect) from Spring 2020 (wave 1) to 2022 (wave 2). The sample consisted of 324 adults aged 18-80 (mean = 52 years; 89% women) from the US and Canada who completed weeklong daily diaries at both waves. The results revealed improvements in affective well-being, stressor-related affect (i.e., smaller fluctuations in affect on stressor days vs. nonstressor days), and positive event-related affect (i.e., lower negative affect on days with vs. without positive events). Furthermore, as people gradually resumed their social activities from 2020 to 2022, people reported being exposed to an increased frequency of both stressors and positive events. This study highlights the potential influence of socio-historical phenomena, such as an ongoing pandemic, on the events that people encounter and how they emotionally respond to them.

Valence versus motivation: The different impact of emotion on space- and object-based attention

Numerous studies have indicated that both the broaden-and-build model and the motivational dimensional model emphasize the impact of emotion on spatial attention by altering the attentional scope. However, no prior research has investigated the impact of emotional valence and motivational intensity on spatial attention within the same paradigm. Furthermore, object-based attention, characterized by distinct neural mechanisms from space-based attention and also susceptible to attentional scope, represents a major pattern of selective attention. Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether and how emotional valence and motivation play a role in object-based attentional selection. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore these areas. Using a two-rectangle paradigm, Experiment 1 found that motivational intensity modulated space-based effects, whereas emotional valence modulated object-based effects. Experiment 2 used a traditional spatial cueing paradigm to further study the stability of modulating effect of motivation intensity on space-based attention, yielding results consistent with those of Experiment 1. The present study indicated that the broaden-and-build model and motivational dimensional model were not either one or the other, but both played a role in object- and space-based attention. This study provides crucial empirical evidence for theoretical complementation and integration of emotional attention.

Effects of Emotional States on the Spatial Perception of Youth Athletes with Different Alerting Efficiencies

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of the attentional alerting network in spatial perceptual processing in youth athletes under different emotional states. Two hundred and fifty participants were recruited to assess alerting efficiency using the Attention Network Test and were divided into high and low alerting efficiency groups based on the front and back 27% of the alerting scores as a dividing metric. Subsequently, participants completed the Spatial Perception Response Task under different emotionally induced conditions. Results showed a correlation between alerting efficiency and spatial perception, the higher the alerting efficiency, the faster and more accurate the spatial perception response. Emotion and spatial location interacted significantly (p < 0.05), and subjects in the angry emotional state had faster spatial responses to the lower left visual field than those in the happy emotional state. Moreover, an interaction was found for location accuracy (p < 0.05). The high alerting efficiency group showed lower accuracy in the anger state than in the happy state. These findings suggest that alerting efficiency can be used as an objective indicator for assessing the spatial perceptual ability of youth athletes, which provides empirical evidence for mental selection and perceptual training of youth athletes.

COVID-19 Vaccine Information Exposure: The Effect of Online Authority vs. Non-Authority Sources on Beliefs, Emotions and Information Engagement Behaviors

Background/Objectives: Limited research has examined the theoretical linkages between exposure to COVID-19 vaccine information sources, vaccination-related beliefs, vaccination-induced emotions, and vaccine information engagement. Methods: An online survey was conducted with a national sample of adults (N = 630) residing in the U.S. to test these relationships, guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework and the Health Belief Model. Results: Study findings showed that exposure to online authority vaccine information sources was positively related to vaccination-benefit beliefs and negatively related to vaccination-barrier beliefs, in addition to hopeful feelings connected to vaccination. Exposure to non-authority sources was positively associated with vaccination-barrier beliefs, hopeful and fearful feelings connected to vaccination, and vaccine information engagement. While vaccination-benefit beliefs and vaccination-barrier beliefs were negatively and positively linked to vaccine information engagement, respectively, these beliefs were each positively connected to hopeful feelings and fearful feelings toward vaccination in that order. Both hopeful and fearful feelings toward vaccination also emerged as positive correlates of vaccine information engagement. Conclusions: This study contributes to our understanding of how cognitive appraisals of and affective responses to risk information disseminated by different types of sources may be related to risk information engagement behavior in a public health crisis. Results bring evidence-based insights to both researchers and health professionals to better equip them to counter vaccine misinformation and reduce vaccination barriers.

Testing the validity of the broaden-and build theory of positive emotions: a network analytic approach

Introduction

The Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotions is one of the best known and applied theories in Positive Psychology. It argues that positive emotions initiate an upward movement by opening up the mind and broadening thoughts and thus represents a counter model to the vicious circle-models of clinical psychology. The number of studies directly testing this theory in all components is scarce, ambiguities in the model impede clear inference.

Method

To draw a conclusive picture on within-model processes, we applied network modeling on the components of the theory across two studies (N 1 = 312; N 2 = 302).

Results

In both studies, the positive relationship between positive emotions, resources and life outcomes is well-supported, yet the role of broadening, as an intermediary component within these is questioned.

Discussion

As the broadening component consistently deviated from the model's predictions and thus did not contribute to the model as expected in either study, the validity of the Broaden-and-Build Theory in its current conceptualization is challenged, and our results point to the need to reassess the role of broadening.

In-Person and Online Studies Examining the Influence of Problem Solving on the Fading Affect Bias

The fading affect bias (FAB) occurs in autobiographical memory when unpleasant emotions fade faster than pleasant emotions and the phenomenon appears to be a form of emotion regulation. As emotion regulation is positively related to problem solving, the current study examined FAB in the context of problem solving. In-person and online studies asked participants to provide basic demographics, describe their problem-solving abilities, and rate various healthy and unhealthy variables, including emotional intelligence and positive problem-solving attitudes. Participants also completed an autobiographical event memory form for which they recalled and described two pleasant and two unpleasant problem-solving and non-problem-solving events and rated the initial and current affect and rehearsals for those events. We found a robust FAB effect that was larger for problem-solving events than for non-problem-solving events in Study 1 but not in Study 2. We also found that FAB was positively related to healthy variables, such as grit, and negatively related to unhealthy variables, such as depression. Moreover, many of these negative relations were inverted at high levels of positive problem-solving attitudes, and these complex interactions were partially mediated by talking rehearsals and thinking rehearsals.

Dual Effects of Self-Compassion on Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Posttraumatic Growth: The Roles of Trauma-Related Shame and Guilt

Previous studies have shown that self-compassion can alleviate posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and promote posttraumatic growth (PTG). However, only a few studies explored the dual effects of its positive and negative components on PTSS and PTG. Also, the emotional mechanisms between self-compassion and PTSS/PTG remain unclear. Thus, with the three-wave longitudinal design, we examined the mediating role of trauma-related shame and guilt between self-compassion and PTSS/PTG among traumatized Chinese college students. 782 Chinese college students (467 females; Mage = 18.98, SD = 1.37) who had experienced traumatic events within the previous six months of the initial assessment were included in the study. In the direct effect model, compassionate self-responding (CSR) negatively predicted PTSS and positively predicted PTG. In contrast, uncompassionate self-responding (USR) positively predicted both PTSS and PTG. In the indirect model, CSR negatively predicted PTSS through trauma-related shame and guilt, but also negatively predicted PTG through trauma-related guilt. USR positively predicted PTSS through trauma-related shame and guilt and positively predicted PTG through trauma-related guilt. Thus, CSR can benefit posttraumatic college students by alleviating PTSS and promoting PTG, and USR may also have an adaptive side. Still, we should focus on the maladaptive and adaptive sides of trauma-related emotions in the intervention of posttraumatic college students.

The bidirectional influence between emotional language and inhibitory control in Chinese: An ERP study

The bidirectional influence between emotional language and inhibitory processes has been studied in alphabetic languages, highlighting the need for additional investigation in nonalphabetic languages to explore potential cross-linguistic differences. The present ERP study investigated the bidirectional influence in the context of Mandarin, a language with unique linguistic features and neural substrates. In Experiment 1, emotional adjectives preceded the Go/NoGo cue. The ERPs revealed that negative emotional language facilitated inhibitory control. In Experiment 2, with a Go/NoGo cue preceding the emotional language, the study confirmed that inhibitory control facilitated the semantic integration of negative language in Chinese, whereas the inhibited state may not affect deeper refinement of the emotional content. However, no interaction was observed in positive emotional language processing. These results suggest an interaction between inhibitory control and negative emotional language processing in Chinese, supporting the integrative emotion-cognition view.

Exploring driving anger-caused impairment of takeover performance among professional taxi drivers during partially automated driving

Partially automated systems are expected to reduce road crashes related to human error, even amongst professional drivers. Consequently, the applications of these systems into the taxi industry would potentially improve transportation safety. However, taxi drivers are prone to experiencing driving anger, which may subsequently affect their takeover performance. In this research, we explored how driving anger emotion affects taxi drivers' driving performance in various takeover scenarios, namely Mandatory Automation-Initiated transition (MAIT), Mandatory Driver-Initiated transition (MDIT), and Optional Driver-Initiated transition (ODIT). Forty-seven taxi drivers participated in this 2·3 mixed design simulator experiment (between-subjects: anger vs. calmness; within-subjects: MAIT vs. MDIT vs. ODIT). Compared to calmness, driving anger emotion led to a narrower field of attention (e.g., smaller standard deviations of horizontal fixation points position) and worse hazard perception (e.g., longer saccade latency, smaller amplitude of skin conductance responses), which resulted in longer takeover time and inferior vehicle control stability (e.g., higher standard deviations of lateral position) in MAIT and MDIT scenarios. Angry taxi drivers were more likely to deactivate vehicle automation and take over the vehicle in a more aggressive manner (e.g., higher maximal resulting acceleration, refusing to yield to other road users) in ODIT scenarios. The findings will contribute to addressing the safety concerns related to driving anger among professional taxi drivers and promote the widespread acceptance and integration of partially automated systems within the taxi industry.

Measuring Situational Cognitive Performance in the Wild: A Psychometric Evaluation of Three Brief Smartphone-Based Test Procedures

Mobile devices provide new opportunities to draw conclusions about cognitive performance in everyday situations. To gain insights into cognitive performance patterns in healthy adult populations, we adapted three established cognitive tests for smartphone use: the Digit Symbol Substitution Task (DSST), Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), and Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT). To increase their feasibility for ambulatory assessment, we identified the minimum measurement durations that provide reliable and valid state measures of cognitive performance. Over 2 weeks, 46 participants performed each test once per day at random times, along with self-reports (e.g., on concentration, mood, and mental demands). The validity and reliability of change are promising for the 30-second PVT and 90-second DSST and SART. The DSST and SART provide fruitful outcomes for ambulatory field studies linked to mood, stress, and mental demands. We provide digital versions of the adapted DSST and SART online for free.

Sources of strength: a process evaluation of a university-high school partnership to promote mental health protective factors

The purpose of this manuscript was to discuss the implementation process of a student-led positive psychological and behavioral program (i.e., Sources of Strength) at a local high school to prevent opioid use and suicide behavior. Over the course of 2 years of programming, university undergraduate students worked alongside and mentored high school students to implement school-wide and focused campaigns that targeted each of the domains of the Sources of Strength wheel (i.e., mental health, family support, positive friends, mentors, healthy activities, generosity, spirituality, and medical access). The summed total student reach for 2 years of implementation was 8,682 students. The average participation was 456.95 students per campaign. The average percentage of the school population that engaged in each campaign was 34.7%. While no outcome opioid use or suicide behavior data were collected, the participation in the programming was high. Universities can continue to engage with local high schools to provide support, collaboration, and mentorship to promote positive and supportive school culture. Using university undergraduate students to serve as leaders can provide them with applied learning opportunities, mentorship for high school students, and reduce the expectancy for high school staff to establish the program on their own.

The relative importance of affect variability and mean levels of affect in predicting complex task performance

Although research indicates affect variability-the extent to which an individual's emotions fluctuate-is associated with behavioral outcomes related to adjustment and adaptability, it is unclear to what extent findings make important contributions to the literature when past research has failed to account for the role of mean levels of emotion. Accordingly, we conducted a repeated-measures laboratory study of college students (N = 253) learning to perform a complex computer task to examine the relative importance of affect variability indices (i.e., spin, pulse, and flux) compared to mean levels in explaining variance in off-task attention and task performance before and after changes in task demands (i.e., skill acquisition and adaptation). In doing so, we also disentangled valence and arousal (i.e., activating versus deactivating) aspects of emotion. Relative importance analyses showed mean levels of emotion were the most dominant predictors (i.e., explained the most variance)-negative deactivating emotions for off-task attention and positive activating emotions for performance. However, flux in negative activating and negative deactivating emotions also explained enough variance to be considered important, suggesting that flux has been overlooked in empirical research. Our findings also highlight that future research must account for mean levels when examining relationships between affect variability and outcomes of interest.

Trait emotional intelligence mediates the dispositional gratitude and subjective well-being in young adults

Gratitude has proved to be an enhancer of subjective well-being in previous studies. However, studies that linked the relation between emotional intelligence and its facets when interacting with gratitude, are still limited. In this sense, this study examined the mediating roles of emotional intelligence between gratitude and subjective well-being indicators, by introducing the general factor of emotional intelligence. The first approach to data analysis was to examine the descriptive statistics; the second approach consisted of an Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling, applying also a bifactor analysis. Data was collected from 406 Spanish students, through an online survey that includes the gratitude, trait meta mood scale, satisfaction with life and subjective happiness scale. The mean age of participants was 20.27 years (SD = 4.68), whereas 79.5% were females. The results provided preliminary evidence of the mediation role of the general factor of emotional intelligence between gratitude and subjective well-being, which provided a meaningful insight about the role of trait emotional intelligence. These findings suggested that gratitude promotes emotional intelligence, allowing to an increase in subjective well-being. Nonetheless, there is a need for further research to achieve a better understanding of the role of the emotional intelligence facets between gratitude and subjective well-being.