The organization of affect and the analytic experience.

Describes parental affect dyskinesia, which may lead to a pathological affect exchange pattern between mother and child, ultimately disrupting the child's experience of self, including feelings, thoughts, wishes, perceptions, and tension states. Reparation occurs in the analytic treatment experience where the disrupted affect experience of the child is reimplanted within the more functional sort of the analytic relationship with the analyst. The author presents the case of a 14-yr-old male to demonstrate the uniqueness and effectiveness of analytic treatment for a dysfunctional mother–child dyad. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Levels of perceptual organization and cognition: Conflicting evidence.

Low relations generally have been found between performance on perceptual and cognitive tasks. This experiment was designed to test the high relation reported by Krech & Calvin (see 28: 2250) between the ability to organize a group of dots into an articulated pattern and scores on the vocabulary section of the Wechsler Bellevue. The Krech measure yielded a higher relation than other perceptual measures to verbal test performance, although lower than that obtained by Krech & Calvin. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Levels of personality organization and production of associative sequences in process-reactive schizophrenia.

The 1st part of this study was essentially a replication of an earlier study which reported that genetic theory helped clarify the process-reactive dimension of schizophrenia. The Rorschach and Proverbs tests of 40 schizophrenic Ss were scored according to a genetic scoring system and correlated with Elgin Prognostic Scale scores which measured process-reactive status. Results were negative. Ss were also given 2 association tasks in which they were asked to name animals and persons they had known and several measures were obtained from these associative sequences. A significant difference between process and reactive groups was found on total number of associations on both tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of a problem-solving skill: Levels of organization and use of working memory.

We examined the acquisition of a problem-solving skill at three levels of organization—strategy, subgoal, and operator—and investigated changes in temporary storage, manipulation of information, and coordination of multiple representations. 6 college students practiced minimizing the simulated cost of solving diagnostic problems with digital electronic circuits for approximately 50 hr (347 problems). Ss were tested on declarative knowledge, inferential skills at the subgoal level, and ability to solve problems during working memory tasks. The working memory tasks required retention of a preload, concurrent processing, or integration of displayed information with the contents of working memory. The data support the view that restructuring is goal sensitive and strategic. The results suggest a multiple-level analysis of skill acquisition in which practice allows strategic restructuring of cognitive processes at 3 levels of organization. Implications for models of skill acquisition and working memory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medial prefrontal cortex lesions in the female rat affect sexual and maternal behavior and their sequential organization.

Temporal sequences of sexual and maternal behaviors in female rats and their correlation with each other and with performance on a sensory-motor gating response inhibition task assessed by prepulse inhibition (PPI) were investigated following medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) lesions. Following excitotoxic mPFC (n = 10) or sham (n = 9) lesions, sexual behaviors across the ovarian cycle were scored. After mating and parturition, maternal interactions were scored until pups reached postnatal Day 10. After resumption of the ovarian cycle, the female rats were tested for PPI. Compared with sham lesions, mPFC lesions impaired proceptive behaviors and some maternal behaviors (e.g., pup retrieval, pup licking) but did not affect others (e.g., nest building, pup mouthing). Lesions disrupted temporal sequences of solicitations (number of male orientations followed, within 4 s, by a level change) and pup retrievals (number of pup retrievals followed, within 5 s, by another retrieval). These sequential behavior patterns were significantly correlated with each other and with PPI. However, when PPI effects were partialled out, group differences were less strong, but persisted. This study demonstrated that mPFC manipulations affect actions rich in sequential structure in response to biologically relevant stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Images and affect: A functional analysis of out-group stereotypes.

Drawing from research on inter-nation images, the authors proposed and tested a functional theory of out-group stereotypes in 3 experiments. In the theory, it is hypothesized that behavioral orientations elicited by specific patterns of intergroup relationships (goal compatibility, relative power, and relative status) give rise to unique schematic representations of an out-group. The representations specified in the theory include 1 positive image (i.e., ally) and 3 differentiated negative images (i.e., enemy, dependent, barbarian). In all 3 experiments, participants read and imagined scenarios describing an intergroup situation in which the structure of relationships between in-group and out-group was varied. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that relationship cues were sufficient to elicit the predicted images, and some of the images were more likely to be activated under high incidental arousal. In a 3rd experiment an implicit measure was used to demonstrate that the images are activated spontaneously. Overall, results implicate the role of affective state and behavioral intent in shaping the content of social stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Urge and affect: A facial coding analysis of smokers.

This study used an established facial coding system to assess participants' immediate affective responses during a smoking cue exposure protocol. Current smokers, randomly assigned to either a 12-hr smoking-deprived or a smoking-nondeprived condition, were exposed to both smoking and control cues. During exposure, the authors manipulated participants' perceived opportunity to smoke. Participants' reactions to the cues were videotaped and coded using P. Ekman and W. V. Friesen's (1978) Facial Action Coding System. Information regarding smoking opportunity, although altering participants' expressed affect, had no effect on the strength of their reported urge to smoke. The facial coding data are consistent with previous findings using self-report measures of affect and support the use of facial coding as a sensitive and unobtrusive measure of the affective responses to drug cue exposure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unemployment and depressive affect: A motivational and attributional analysis.

Hypothesized on the basis of expectancy/valence theory that the negative affect that follows failure to obtain employment will be stronger among those individuals who are more strongly motivated to seek employment than among those who are less motivated. This hypothesis was tested by administering a questionnaire to 212 unemployed youth (mean age 19.76 yrs). Consistent with the hypothesis, results show that Ss who indicated in their ratings that they were highly motivated to get a job also provided higher ratings of depressive affect. Those Ss with higher levels of depressive affect were less likely to blame themselves for their unemployment and more likely to blame external difficulties, such as the current economic situation. They also provided higher ratings of the valence or perceived attractiveness of work itself. Their retrospective ratings concerning how confident they were of getting a job on leaving school and how much they needed and tried for a job also tended to be higher than those of the less depressed Ss. Results are discussed in relation to the expectancy/valence approach, A. T. Beck's (1967, 1976, 1979) theory of depression, helplessness theory of depression, and recent discussions of cognitive–affect linkages that employ attribution concepts. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freud and the intentionality of affect.

Freud implicitly adopted F. Brentano's (1874 [1973]) thesis that the essence of the mental is intentionality (i.e., mental representation), while rejecting Brentano's Cartesian assumption that intentionality must be conscious. But, how can a feeling like free-floating anxiety, which does not seem to represent or be about anything, be fitted into Freud's representational framework? Several possible answers are examined, including: (1) affects are ideas, (2) affects are always attached to ideas, (3) consciousness is perception of internal mental states, and (4) affects are perceptions of internal bodily processes. Only the "bodily perception" account is systematically developed by Freud, is consistent with Freud's other doctrines, and is intrinsically plausible even in the context of contemporary debate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From attribution to helping: An analysis of the mediating effects of affect and expectancy.

Applied the attributional model of motivation of B. Weiner et al (1971) to the study of helping behavior and predicted that willingness to help another person is influenced by the cause of the need and that the relationship between attribution and helping is mediated by affect and expectancy of future need. 80 undergraduates rated the likelihood that they would lend money to an acquaintance in each of 8 conditions in which causality varied along 3 dimensions: stability, locus, and control. Ss also rated their emotional reactions on 25 affect scales, selected from the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, and estimated the likelihood that the person would require aid again in the future. ANOVA revealed that willingness to help was influenced primarily by the controllability of the cause. Consistent with the mediation hypothesis, a path analysis revealed that the effect of controllability on helping judgments was largely an indirect result of its influence on Ss' affective reactions to the request. The development of an attributional model of helping behavior is discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the primacy of affect.

Discusses R. S. Lazarus's (see PA, Vols 69:11728 and 25:2812) challenge of the view that there are circumstances under which affect precedes cognition and that affective arousal that does not entail prior cognitive appraisal exists. His argument, however, is based entirely on an arbitrary definition of emotion that requires cognitive appraisal as a necessary precondition. To satisfy this concept of emotion, Lazarus has broadened the definition of cognitive appraisal to include even the most primitive forms of sensory excitation, thus obliterating all distinction among cognition, sensation, and perception. No empirical evidence is offered to document the principle of cognitive appraisal as a necessary precondition for emotional arousal. It is concluded that the contrasting view of an affective primacy and independence is derived from a series of findings and phenomena, including the existence of neuroanatomical structures allowing for independent affective process. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students' reports of motivation and negative affect: A theoretical and empirical analysis.

The authors investigated the self-reported relationships among 5th- and 6th-grade students' achievement goals in mathematics, their negative affect about making mistakes, and their self-regulatory beliefs and behaviors. Cluster analysis revealed 4 motivational-affective patterns. Two groups were characterized by positive motivational-affective patterns and 2 suggested more problematic patterns related to different goal patterns, negative affect, and less positive self-regulatory behaviors and beliefs. Path analyses showed that negative affect after failure mediated performance goals and self-regulatory beliefs and behaviors. The authors propose a theory of achievement goals and affect that explains why students differ in their ability to tolerate error during learning. They also discuss practical and theoretical implications of the role of negative affect in achievement motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive affect, negative affect, and social interaction.

Two studies explored the relations of positive and negative affect (PA and NA) to social interaction. In Study 1, unacquainted dyads were surreptitiously videotaped as they participated in a 6-min interaction. Participants then evaluated the quality of the interaction. Independent observers also rated the videotaped interactions. Trait PA was positively related to both participant and observer evaluations of interaction quality. In Study 2, undergraduates kept diaries of their social interactions for 1 week, PA was again related to interaction quality. Both PA and NA were positively related to the number of interactions in which participants engaged, and the amount of time spent engaged in social contact, although different types of social encounters produced these relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal organization of spontaneous emotional expression: A segmentation analysis.

50 undergraduate receivers viewed videotapes of the facial/gestural responses of male and female senders to emotionally-loaded slides and indicated via an event recorder when they felt that meaningful events occurred. Substantial agreement on the location of meaningful events was demonstrated, with strikingly different unitization patterns emerging with female vs male senders; females showed more overall nonverbal and meaningful behaviors, and meaningful behavior was more likely to involve facial expressions among females than males. Receivers with previous experience with the videotape marked more points as meaningful than did less experienced receivers, and measures of the quality of segmentation were related to receiving ability among female receivers but not males. Events in the slide period, when the sender viewed the slide silently, were related to the sending accuracy of the sequence, whereas events in the talk period, when the sender described his/her response to the slide, were not. This was the case even though more activity and facial expressions occurred during the talk period. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping styles and affect.

Most stress research has focused on testing the effects of coping strategies on negative outcomes such as distress, anxiety, and pathology. The present study focused on the effects of coping styles on the affective components of subjective well-being. Its main aim was to test differential associations between coping styles and positive and negative affect, using secondary analysis. The data were derived from 3 studies (n = 480) in which various samples—adolescents, university students, and a general population participants—completed trait version questionnaires of coping and affect. The main results, based on correlation and multiple regression analyses, showed that problem-focused coping was positively related to positive affect and negatively related to negative affect, whereas avoidance coping showed the opposite pattern of associations with positive and negative affect. Most important, problem-focused coping was found to be a moderator of avoidance coping effects on both positive and negative affective responses. The conclusions are that coping is an important factor in well-being during normal everyday life, and moreover, the interactive effects of coping styles merit further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental affect and coping.

Parental affect and coping strategies have been identified as being important for the understanding of the processes involved in the socialization of children. In the present study, 24 fathers (mean age 35.21 yrs old) and 62 mothers (mean age 35.05 yrs) (unrelated) described a stressful incident with one of their children and completed questionnaires addressing their appraisal of the event, their affect, and consequent coping strategy. Both child characteristics (age, birth order, and gender) and parent characteristics (gender, affect intensity, and ego level) were examined in relation to parents' appraisal of the cause of the event, their affect, and their coping strategy. Feelings of being angry, afraid, sad, and guilty, and use of coping strategies are discussed in light of the need for further research on emotion in parenting situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning objectives and the organization of prose.

The orienting role of objectives was examined in relation to the organization of 2 texts, defined in terms of the ideational prominence of some of their elements. The texts consisted of short passages on energy, which were studied by 108 female college level students. Ideational prominence, which was experimentally manipulated in the study, did influence learning on its own, but it lost its effect when relevant objectives were also provided. Objectives and structure were interpreted as providing redundant orientation in learning, the importance of each being determined by situational factors. Both orienting factors were also found to be little influenced by a time constraint examined in the study. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive affect: A method of content analysis for verbal samples.

Devised a measure of positive affect using content analysis of verbal samples and found it to have satisfactory interjudge reliability. Normative data from 5 groups (29 17-64 yr old psychiatric patients, 32 established college students, 48 incoming college students, 27 20-60+ yr old women reallocated in a housing development, and 200 new mothers) show an association of positive affect levels with the situations Ss were undergoing. As predicted, positive affect levels were independent of (a) Ss' backgrounds (e.g., sex, education level) and (b) Ss' negative affects as measured by the Gottschalk-Gleser Content Analysis Scales, indicating the necessity for measuring people's positive affect when attempting to understand their experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrophysiologic analysis of the functional organization of cortico-cerebellar connections

The influence of associative (orbital-anterior, parietal) and projective (auditory, sensomotor) cerebral cortex areas stimulation on activity of the Purkinje neurons of cerebellar cortex was studied in adult cats under chloralose-nembutal or nembutal anesthesia. These reactions were compared with the responses to peripheral stimuli. Definite similarity in responses of the Purkinje cells to different cortical (associative, projective) stimuli was found both for types of neurons and their responsiveness. In responses of the Purkinje cells to peripheral stimulation there was no sharp similarity as it was in responses to cortical stimuli. So, in cortical stimulation almost similar number of neurons (above 50%) was excited and in peripheral stimulation the responsiveness of neurons had marked difference: to electrical stimulation of skin there were 44.6%, to auditory 34.2%, to visual 18.8% of neuron responses.     

Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion.

At the heart of emotion, mood, and any other emotionally charged event are states experienced as simply feeling good or bad, energized or enervated. These states--called core affect--influence reflexes, perception, cognition, and behavior and are influenced by many causes internal and external, but people have no direct access to these causal connections. Core affect can therefore be experienced as freefloating (mood) or can be attributed to some cause (and thereby begin an emotional episode). These basic processes spawn a broad framework that includes perception of the core-affect-altering properties of stimuli, motives, empathy, emotional meta-experience, and affect versus emotion regulation; it accounts for prototypical emotional episodes, such as fear and anger, as core affect attributed to something plus various nonemotional processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)