Social operant conditioning of autobiographical memory sharing

The memories for past autobiographical experiences that we share can influence relationship formation and consolidation with important implications for our mental health. However, little is known about how people's responses to our memories can influence subsequent memory sharing. Previous research examined how operant processes (i.e., punishment with aversive sounds) influence the sharing of memories for specific events from our past. Understanding the (social) mechanisms associated with difficulty sharing specific autobiographical memories is important given the association between these difficulties and a range of psychiatric diagnoses. We investigate the effects of verbal and non-verbal social operants on the willingness to share specific autobiographical memories. Participants shared memories with a confederate who coded their memories as specific or non-specific and responded in either an engaged/attentive, dismissive manner or gave no feedback depending on participants' assigned condition. Participants who were reinforced for sharing specific memories and punished for sharing non-specific memories, were more likely to share specific than non-specific memories compared to those who received no feedback. Reinforcement alone was not sufficient for modifying specificity. The ways that we respond to people when they share memories with us can influence their subsequent willingness to share specific events from their past.

Support provision in a digitalized world: The consequences of social sharing across different communication channels

People tend to share their emotional experiences with others, with sharing increasingly done online. This raises questions about the quality of computer-mediated vs. face-to-face sharing. The present review (1) outlines conditions for sharing to improve emotional and relational well-being, (2) discusses when computer-mediated sharing with other people may (not) be conducive to these conditions, and (3) reviews recent research on the effectiveness of computer-mediated sharing with humans and virtual agents. It is concluded that the emotional and relational consequences of sharing are dependent on the responsiveness of the listener, regardless of the communication channel. Differences exist, however, in the extent to which channels are conducive to various forms of responding, with implications for speakers' emotional and relational well-being.

Why do people (not) share guilt with others?

ABSTRACTDo people share their feelings of guilt with others and, if so, what are the reasons for doing this or not doing this? Even though the social sharing of negative emotional experiences, such as regret, has been extensively studied, not much is known about whether people share feelings of guilt and why. We report three studies exploring these questions. In Study 1, we re-analysed data about sharing guilt experiences posted on a social website called "Yahoo Answers", and found that people share intrapersonal as well as interpersonal guilt experiences with others online. Study 2 found that the main motivations of sharing guilt (compared with the sharing of regret) were "venting", "clarification and meaning", and "gaining advice". Study 3 found that people were more likely to share experiences of interpersonal guilt and more likely to keep experiences of intrapersonal guilt to themselves. Together, these studies contribute to a further understanding of the social sharing of the emotion guilt.

How food overconsumption has hijacked our notions about eating as a pleasurable activity

The negative effects of overconsumption of food have been extensively studied, with a focus on overweight and negative food attitudes. In this overview, we argue that this negative perspective has spilled over to food consumption in general, which is in contrast with eating as a pleasurable activity that contributes to people's well-being. We review four areas of research that have recently emerged: (de)moralization of food consumption, moderate eating for pleasure, intuitive and mindful eating, and the social benefits of eating. Throughout these four themes, it becomes clear that there needs to be a clear distinction between overconsumption of food, bearing negative consequences, and normal levels of food consumption. The latter is positively associated with enjoyment, contentment, and our social and psychological well-being.

The moderating role of rumination and social sharing in the relationship between mistreatment and service sabotage and depersonalization: A cross-sectional study of hospital nurses

BACKGROUND

Research has consistently shown that service sabotage is most often an act of retaliation motivated by customer mistreatment. To date, however, service sabotage has seldom been studied among nurses.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the impact of mistreatment by patients and relatives on service sabotage and depersonalization among nurses and explore the moderating role of two emotion-regulation strategies, rumination and social sharing, in the relationships between mistreatment and both outcomes.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A cross-sectional design was used to collect data from nurses working in a mid-size general hospital in Northern Israel. The sample consisted of 217 nurses. Data were collected using self-reported anonymous questionnaires and analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression.

RESULTS

More than a quarter of the nurses surveyed reported frequent exposure to mistreatment by patients or relatives, and 26.4% reported engaging in sabotage acts occasionally or often. Findings demonstrated that both social sharing and rumination were strategies that were frequently employed following mistreatment. Mistreatment and rumination significantly predicted both service sabotage and depersonalization. The results further revealed that rumination exacerbated the effect of mistreatment on service sabotage and that social sharing increased the impact of mistreatment on depersonalization. Rumination also moderated the relationship between social sharing and service sabotage, such that social sharing was positively associated with service sabotage only among nurses who tended to ruminate more frequently.

CONCLUSIONS

This study contributes to the existing literature by pointing out that when encountering aggressive patients, nurses may engage in revenge seeking behavior in the form of service sabotage, and that not only rumination but also social sharing may intensify the negative effects of mistreatment. Social sharing can become an especially maladaptive coping strategy for individuals who tend to engage in high levels of rumination. The present findings underscore the necessity to further explore the moderating role of emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between mistreatment and work outcomes, and to clarify the conditions under which nurses might tend to engage in acts of sabotage directed at patients.

Emotional, especially negative microblogs are more popular on the web: evidence from an fMRI study

Microblogs are one of the main social networking channels by which information is spread. Millions of users repost information from microblogs and share embedded emotion at the same time. The present study employed a mimicked interface of microblog (sina Weibo) and recruited university students to investigate users' propensity to repost microblogs of positive, negative or neutral valence, and studied the neural correlates with reposting microblogs of different emotional valence. Ninety pieces of microblog messages, consisting of 30 positive, 30 negative and 30 neutral were read by 28 participants (14 males and 14 females). Their propensity to repost, valence-related neural activity, and reposting-related neural activity were recorded when they read messages and decided whether to repost them. We found reposting behavior was moderated by emotion. Participants preferred to reposting emotional microblogs relative to neutral microblogs, corresponding to amplified activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), insula, precuneus and tempoparietal junction (TPJ), the key nodes of cognitive control, emotion, self-relevance processing and mentalizing respectively. Moreover, negative microblogs were more reposted than positive ones, corresponding to amplified activity in postcentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and TPJ. Reposting negative microblogs induced increased activity in bilateral TPJ, indicating that TPJ plays a key role on decisions to propagate negative information. These findings reveal an important behavioral pattern in which negative information prevails in the transmission through microblogs, as well as the neural correlates with this process. It also provides empirical evidence of how reposting works in microblogs and how the brain is involved in social propagation of information.

I hear you (not): sharers' expressions and listeners' inferences of the need for support in response to negative emotions

When in emotional distress, people often turn to others for support. Paradoxically, even when people perceive social support to be beneficial, it often does not result in emotional recovery. This paradox may be explained by the fact that the sharing process disproportionately centres on support that is not helpful in the long run. A distinction has been made between two types of support that are differentially effective: Whereas socio-affective support alleviates momentary emotional distress, cognitive support fosters long-term recovery. But can listeners tell what support the sharer needs? The present study examines the hypothesis that sharers communicate their support goals by sharing in such a way that it allows listeners to infer the sharer's needs. In Experiment 1, we manipulated participants' support goals, and showed that socio-affective support goals led participants to express more emotions, whereas cognitive support goals resulted in greater use of appraisals. In Experiments 2 and 3, we tested whether these differential expressions would affect the support goals that listeners inferred. We found no evidence for such an effect: Listeners consistently perceived the sharer to predominantly want socio-affective support. These findings help explain why many social sharing instances revolve around socio-affective support, leading to subjectively experienced benefits, but not to genuine recovery.

Sex- and context-dependent effects of oxytocin on social sharing

We interact socially and form bonds with others because such experiences are rewarding. However, an insecure attachment style or social anxiety can reduce these rewarding effects. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) may facilitate social interactions either by increasing their rewarding experience or by attenuating anxiety, although effects can be sex- and attachment-style dependent. In this study, 128 pairs of same-sex friends completed a social sharing paradigm in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design with one friend inside an MRI scanner and the other in a remote behavioral testing room. In this way we could examine whether intranasal-OXT differentially modulated the emotional impact of social sharing and associated neural processing. Additionally, we investigated if OXT effects were modulated by sex and attachment style. Results showed that in women, but not men, OXT increased ratings for sharing stimuli with their friend but not with a stranger, particularly in the friend in the scanner. Corresponding neuroimaging results showed that OXT decreased both amygdala and insula activity as well as their functional connectivity in women when they shared with friends but had the opposite effect in men. On the other hand, OXT did not enhance responses in brain reward circuitry. In the PLC treated group amygdala responses in women when they shared pictures with their friend were positively associated with attachment anxiety and OXT uncoupled this. Our findings demonstrate that OXT facilitates the impact of sharing positive experiences with others in women, but not men, and that this is associated with differential effects on the amygdala and insula and their functional connections. Furthermore, OXT particularly reduced increased amygdala responses during sharing in individuals with higher attachment anxiety. Thus, OXT effects in this context may be due more to reduced anxiety when sharing with a friend than to enhanced social reward.

Sense or sensibility? Social sharers' evaluations of socio-affective vs. cognitive support in response to negative emotions

When in emotional distress, people often turn to others for social support. A general distinction has been made between two types of support that are differentially effective: Whereas socio-affective support temporarily alleviates emotional distress, cognitive support may contribute to better long-term recovery. In the current studies, we examine what type of support individuals seek. We first confirmed in a pilot study that these two types of support can be reliably distinguished. Then, in Study 1, we experimentally tested participants' support evaluations in response to different emotional situations using a vignette methodology. Findings showed that individuals perceived any type of reaction that included socio-affective support as preferable. The evaluation of cognitive support, however, was dependent on the specific emotion: Unlike worry and regret, anger and sadness were characterised by a strong dislike for purely cognitive support. Using different materials, Study 2 replicated these findings. Taken together, the findings suggest that individuals evaluate different types of support in a way that is unlikely to benefit emotional recovery in the long run.