Social-contextual influences on expectancies for managing anger and sadness: The transition from middle childhood to adolescence.

This study examined the influence of emotion type (i.e., anger, sadness), audience type (i.e., mother, father, best friend), gender, and age on 140 5th-, 8th-, and 11th-grade adolescents' emotion management decisions, emotional self-efficacy, and outcome expectancies. Participants were read 8 vignettes and responded to 8 questions per vignette. Results indicated that 8th-grade adolescents reported regulating emotion most and expected the least interpersonal support from mothers. Children expressed greater self-efficacy and regulation of sadness than of anger. Boys reported dissembling emotion and expecting a negative interpersonal response to emotional behavior more than did girls. Children were more concerned with protecting feelings of friends than with protecting feelings of fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Remember children's emotions: Sources of concordant and discordant accounts between parents and children.

Parents were asked to recall recent events that had evoked happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in their children. Children (N?=?77, 2 years 3 months to 6 years 6 months) indicated whether they remembered each event, and if so, they described the event and how it had made them feel. Agreement between parent and child concerning how the child felt varied as a function of emotion. Children agreed with their parents' emotion attributions most often for events that parents recalled as having evoked happiness and sadness, less often for fear, and least often for anger. Children disagreed with parents' attributions of happiness and sadness most often when parents and children differed concerning the attribution of children's goals. Discordant reports about children's anger were most frequent when parents and children reported conflicting goals. Discordant reports about fear were most frequent when parents and children focused on different parts of the temporal sequence surrounding the event. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated control of neurotransmitter release

Little research has focused on children's decoding of emotional meaning in expressive body movement: none has considered which movement cues children use to detect emotional meaning. The current study investigated the general ability to decode happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in dance forms of expressive body movement and the specific ability to detect differences in the intensity of anger and happiness when the relative amount of movement cue specifying each emotion was systematically varied. Four-year-olds (n = 25), 5-year-olds (n = 25), 8-year-olds (n = 29), and adults (n = 24) completed an emotion contrast task and 2 emotion intensity tasks. Decoding ability exceeding chance levels was demonstrated for sadness by 4-year-olds; for sadness, fear, and happiness by 5-year-olds: and for all emotions by 8-year-olds and adults. Children as young as 5 years were shown to rely on emotion-specific movement cues in their decoding of anger and happiness intensity. The theoretical significance of these effects across development is discussed.     

Children's decoding of emotion in expressive body movement: The development of cue attunement.

Little research has focused on children's decoding of emotional meaning in expressive body movement; none has considered which movement cues children use to detect emotional meaning. The current study investigated the general ability to decode happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in dance forms of expressive body movement and the specific ability to detect differences in the intensity of anger and happiness when the relative amount of movement cue specifying each emotion was systematically varied. Four-year-olds (n?=?25), 5-year-olds (n?=?25), 8-year-olds (n?=?29), and adults (n?=?24) completed an emotion contrast task and 2 emotion intensity tasks. Decoding ability exceeding chance levels was demonstrated for sadness by 4-year-olds; for sadness, fear, and happiness by 5-year-olds; and for all emotions by 8-year-olds and adults. Children as young as 5 years were shown to rely on emotion-specific movement cues in their decoding of anger and happiness intensity. The theoretical significance of these effects across development is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's and adults' recognition of spontaneous and posed emotional expressions in young children.

Investigated the degree to which 4–5 yr olds (n?=?48) can enact expressions of emotion recognizable by peers and adults; the study also examined whether accuracy of recognition was a function of age and whether the expression was posed or spontaneous. Adults (n?=?103) were much more accurate than children in recognizing neutral states, slightly more accurate in recognizing happiness and anger, and equally accurate in recognizing sadness. Children's spontaneous displays of happiness were more recognizable than posed displays, but for other emotions there was no difference between the recognizability of posed and spontaneous expressions. Children were highly accurate in identifying the facial expressions of happiness, sadness, and anger displayed by their peers. Sex and ethnicity of the child whose emotion was displayed interacted to influence only adults' recognizability of anger. Results are discussed in terms of the social learning and cognitive developmental factors influencing (a) adults' and children's decoding (recognition) of emotional expressions in young children and (b) encoding (posing) of emotional expressions by young children. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of mother–child emotion regulation strategies on children's expression of anger and sadness.

In a sample of 153 children from preschool through second grade, relations between the use of emotion regulation strategy and children's expression of anger and sadness were coded during an observational task in which children were intentionally disappointed in the presence of the mother. Multilevel modeling was used to examine strategy use and current and subsequent expressions of anger and sadness. Results indicate that mothers' use of attention refocusing and joint mother–child cognitive reframing lead to lower intensity of expressed anger and sadness. Younger children expressed more sadness than older children, and maternal attention refocusing was less successful among older children than younger ones. Implications of these results for assessing the socialization of emotion regulation in preschool and school-age children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiation in preschooler's categories of emotion.

Two studies (N = 68, ages 2;0–3;11; N = 80, ages 2;6–4;11) explore the idea that, rather than starting with a separate mental category for each discrete emotion, children start with two broad categories (positive and negative) and then differentiate within each until adult-like categories form. Children generated emotion labels for (a) facial expressions or (b) stories about an emotion's cause and consequence. Emotions included were happiness, anger, fear, sadness, and disgust. Both conditions yielded the predicted pattern of differentiation. These studies of younger children found the face more powerful in eliciting correct emotion labels than had prior research, which typically relied on older preschoolers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recognition of facial expressions of mixed emotions in school-age children exposed to terrorism.

This exploratory study aims at investigating the effects of terrorism on children’s ability to recognize emotions. A sample of 101 exposed and 102 nonexposed children (mean age = 11 years), balanced for age and gender, were assessed 20 months after a terrorist attack in Beslan, Russia. Two trials controlled for children’s ability to match a facial emotional stimulus with an emotional label and their ability to match an emotional label with an emotional context. The experimental trial evaluated the relation between exposure to terrorism and children’s free labeling of mixed emotion facial stimuli created by morphing between 2 prototypical emotions. Repeated measures analyses of covariance revealed that exposed children correctly recognized pure emotions. Four log-linear models were performed to explore the association between exposure group and category of answer given in response to different mixed emotion facial stimuli. Model parameters indicated that, compared with nonexposed children, exposed children (a) labeled facial expressions containing anger and sadness significantly more often than expected as anger, and (b) produced fewer correct answers in response to stimuli containing sadness as a target emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of emotion expression during separation in the strange-situation procedure.

The facial expressions of 28 13-mo-old middle-class children were videotaped during the 3-min separation episode of the Ainsworth strange-situation procedure (ASSP). Facial behavior was analyzed to determine the patterns of emotional expressions during separation and to assess the relations between these patterns and types of attachment as assessed by the ASSP. Findings reveal that anger was the dominant negative emotion expressed by the majority of Ss in each of 3 ad hoc groups determined by level of negative emotion. Some high-negative emotion expressers displayed predominantly anger and others mainly sadness. Patterns of emotion expression varied with type of attachment; Ss who showed an insecure-resistant attachment pattern displayed less interest and more sadness than Ss in the securely attached groups. The proportion of time anger was expressed did not differ significantly with type of attachment. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The experience of anger and sadness in everyday problems impacts age differences in emotion regulation.

The authors examined regulation of the discrete emotions anger and sadness in adolescents through older adults in the context of describing everyday problem situations. The results support previous work; in comparison to younger age groups, older adults reported that they experienced less anger and reported that they used more passive and fewer proactive emotion-regulation strategies in interpersonal situations. The experience of anger partially mediated age differences in the use of proactive emotion regulation. This suggests that at least part of the reason why older adults use fewer proactive emotion-regulation strategies is their decreased experience of anger. Results are discussed in the context of lifespan theories of emotional development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In search of the "hot" cognitions: Attributions, appraisals, and their relation to emotion.

Two studies examined the hypothesized status of appraisals, relative to attributions, as proximal antecedents of emotion. In Study 1, which looked at 6 emotions (happiness, hope-challenge, anger, guilt, fear-anxiety, and sadness), 136 undergraduates reported on their attributions, appraisals, and emotions during past encounters associated with a variety of situations. In Study 2, which focused on anger and guilt, 120 undergraduates reported on these same variables in response to experimenter-supplied vignettes that systematically manipulated theoretically relevant attributions. The results of both studies indicated that the emotions were more directly related to appraisals than they were to attributions, and Study 2 provided evidence that appraisal serves as a mediator between attribution and emotional response. These findings lend support to the hypothesized status of appraisal as the most proximal cognitive antecedent of emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of specific emotions in children's responses to interparental conflict: A test of the model.

Mothers, fathers, and their 6-year-old children (N?=?164) participated in a study testing key tenets of the specific emotions model of marital conflict. Parents reported their marital conflict strategies, were observed interacting with their children, and rated children's behavioral adjustment. Children reported their emotional reactions to specific interparental conflicts. Results support the specific emotions model. Children's behaviors mirrored the marital or parental behaviors of same-gender parents. Indirect effects of marital aggression through parental behavior were detected, and marital and parental behaviors interacted to predict girls' externalizing. Girls' anger, sadness, and fear increased with fathers' marital aggression. Fear and the anger by fear interaction predicted girls' internalizing. Fathers' marital aggression interacted with anger to predict externalizing and interacted with fear to predict internalizing behavior in boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuities and changes in emotion expressions during brief separation at 13 and 18 months.

16 children were videotaped at 13 and 18 mo of age during the strange-situation procedure (M. D. Ainsworth et al, 1978). Facial expressions (interest, anger, sadness, and emotion blends) during the 2nd separation episode were coded using a system for identifying affect expressions by holistic judgments (Affex) developed by the 2nd author and colleagues (1980). Results show significant continuities in proportion of interest expressions, anger, emotion blends and frequency of expression changes. The major developmental change was seen in an age?×?emotion interaction, showing an increase in the use of facial expression blends or combinations from 13 to 18 mo. Results support the belief that patterns of emotion reflect early, persistent individual differences; they also reflect a developmental trend toward increasing complexity of emotional responses. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The voice conveys specific emotions: Evidence from vocal burst displays.

Studies of emotion signaling inform claims about the taxonomic structure, evolutionary origins, and physiological correlates of emotions. Emotion vocalization research has tended to focus on a limited set of emotions: anger, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise, happiness, and for the voice, also tenderness. Here, we examine how well brief vocal bursts can communicate 22 different emotions: 9 negative (Study 1) and 13 positive (Study 2), and whether prototypical vocal bursts convey emotions more reliably than heterogeneous vocal bursts (Study 3). Results show that vocal bursts communicate emotions like anger, fear, and sadness, as well as seldom-studied states like awe, compassion, interest, and embarrassment. Ancillary analyses reveal family-wise patterns of vocal burst expression. Errors in classification were more common within emotion families (e.g., ’self-conscious,’ ’pro-social’) than between emotion families. The three studies reported highlight the voice as a rich modality for emotion display that can inform fundamental constructs about emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arousal of negative emotions and symptom-specific reactivity in chronic low back pain patients.

Anger may have greater effects on chronic pain severity than other negative emotions and may do so by increasing muscle tension near the site of injury (symptom-specific reactivity). For patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP), relevant muscles are lower paraspinals (LP). Ninety-four CLBP patients and 79 controls underwent anger and sadness recall interviews. EMG and cardiovascular activity were recorded. Patients exhibited greater LP tension increases during anger and slower recovery than controls. Only patients showed greater LP reactivity during anger than sadness. For both groups, trapezius reactivity during anger and sadness did not differ. LP reactivity to anger correlated with everyday pain severity for patients. Anger-induced symptom-specific LP reactivity may be linked to chronic pain aggravation among CLBP patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: The effect of negative emotion expressions on social status conferral.

Four studies examined status conferral (decisions about who should be granted status). The studies show that people confer more status to targets who express anger than to targets who express sadness. In the 1st study, participants supported President Clinton more when they viewed him expressing anger about the Monica Lewinsky scandal than when they saw him expressing sadness about the scandal. This effect was replicated with an unknown politician in Study 2. The 3rd study showed that status conferral in a company was correlated with peers' ratings of the workers' anger. In the final study, participants assigned a higher status position and a higher salary to a job candidate who described himself as angry as opposed to sad. Furthermore, Studies 2–4 showed that anger expressions created the impression that the expresser was competent and that these perceptions mediated the relationship between emotional expressions and status conferral. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion regulation in interpersonal problems: The role of cognitive-emotional complexity, emotion regulation goals, and expressivity.

Young, middle-aged, and older adults' emotion regulation strategies in interpersonal problems were examined. Participants imagined themselves in anger- or sadness-eliciting situations with a close friend. Factor analyses of a new questionnaire supported a 4-factor model of emotion regulation strategies, including passivity, expressing emotions, seeking emotional information or support, and solving the problem. Results suggest that age differences in emotion regulation (such as older adults' increased endorsement of passive emotion regulation relative to young adults) are partially due to older adults' decreased ability to integrate emotion and cognition, increased prioritization of emotion regulation goals, and decreased tendency to express anger. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From unresolved anger to sadness: Identifying physiological correlates.

This study was designed to identify physiological correlates of unresolved anger and sadness, and the shift between these emotions, in a context similar to that of emotion-focused, experiential psychotherapy. Twenty-seven university students reporting unresolved anger toward an attachment figure were induced to experience and express unresolved anger and sadness. Simultaneously, their heart rate variability, finger temperature, and skin conductance levels were monitored. The sequence of emotion induction was counterbalanced. Sympathetic activation, as reflected by finger temperature, increased significantly from anger to sadness, but not from sadness to anger. A follow-up study (N=36) of participants induced to experience and express either anger or sadness in both the 1st and 2nd inductions ruled out an Anger×Time interaction and a sadness-sadness effect, suggesting that the increase in sympathetic activation from anger to sadness was a function of the unique sequence of emotions. These findings represent a first step toward using physiological measures to capture shifts from unresolved anger to vulnerable primary emotions during a therapy-like task and provide evidence for the purported mechanism underlying unresolved anger. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of kindergartners' academic achievement from their effortful control and emotionality: Evidence for direct and moderated relations.

The relations between effortful control, emotionality (anger, sadness, and shyness), and academic achievement were examined in a short-term longitudinal study of 291 kindergartners. Teachers and parents reported on students' effortful control and emotionality. Students completed the Continuous Performance Task and the Letter-Word, Passage Comprehension, and Applied Problems subtests of the Woodcock–Johnson tests of achievement. Effortful control was positively related to achievement. Parent- and teacher-reported anger and teacher-reported sadness and shyness were negatively related to achievement, but many of the main effects were qualified by interactions with effortful control. At low levels of anger or sadness, students high in effortful control performed best, but at high levels of these emotions, all children performed similarly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The expression of determination: Similarities between anger and approach-related positive affect.

In this set of studies, we examine the perceptual similarities between emotions that share either a valence or a motivational direction. Determination is a positive approach-related emotion, whereas anger is a negative approach-related emotion. Thus, determination and anger share a motivational direction but are opposite in valence. An implemental mind-set has previously been shown to produce high-approach-motivated positive affect. Thus, in Study 1, participants were asked to freely report the strongest emotion they experienced during an implemental mind-set. The most common emotion reported was determination. On the basis of this result, we compared the facial expression of determination with that of anger. In Study 2, naive judges were asked to identify photographs of facial expressions intended to express determination, along with photographs intended to express basic emotions (joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, neutral). Correct identifications of intended determination expressions were correlated with misidentifications of the expressions as anger but not with misidentifications as any other emotion. This suggests that determination, a high-approach-motivated positive affect, is perceived as similar to anger. In Study 3, naive judges quantified the intensity of joy, anger, and determination expressed in photographs. The intensity of perceived determination was directly correlated with the intensity of perceived anger (a high-approach-motivated negative affect) and was inversely correlated with the intensity of perceived joy (a low-approach-motivated positive affect). These results demonstrate perceptual similarity between emotions that share a motivational direction but differ in valence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)