Effects of arousal on judgments of others' emotions.

Previous evidence indicates that arousal cues information from memory associated with a similar level of arousal and that people will base judgments on the information that is most available to them. The present authors hypothesized that (a) increases in arousal would increase the likelihood that Ss would interpret positive statements and positive facial expressions as indicating a positive emotion associated with high arousal (joy) rather than a positive emotion associated with low arousal (serenity), and (b) increases in arousal would increase the likelihood that Ss would interpret negative statements and negative expressions as indicating a negative emotion associated with high arousal (anger) rather than a negative emotion associated with low arousal (sadness or depression). Two studies, with 37 adults and 38 students, tested the hypotheses. Results of each study support the 1st but not the 2nd hypothesis. Explanations for why arousal had the predicted effects on positive but not on negative stimuli are offered. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do schizophrenic patients show a disjunctive relationship among expressive, experiential, and psychophysiological components of emotion?

Recent research has found a discrepancy between schizophrenic patients' outward expression of emotion and their reported emotional experience. In this study, which attempts to replicate and extend the findings of previous studies, participants with and without schizophrenia viewed emotional film clips while their facial expressions were videotaped and skin conductance was recorded. Participants also reported their subjective experience of emotion following each film. Those with schizophrenia were less facially expressive than controls during the emotional films and reported experiencing as much positive and negative emotion, replicating previous findings. Additionally, schizophrenic patients exhibited greater skin conductance reactivity to all films than controls. These findings suggest a disjunction among emotional response domains for schizophrenic patients; alternative explanations for the findings are considered as well as suggestions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smile intensity and warm touch as thin slices of child and family affective style.

The authors investigate the claim that thin slices of expressive behavior serve as reliable indicators of affective style in children and their families. Using photographs, the authors assessed smile intensity and tactile contact in kindergartners and their families. Consistent with claims that smiling and touch communicate positive emotion, measures of children’s smile intensity and warm family touch were correlated across classroom and family contexts. Consistent with studies of parent–child personality associations, parents’ warm smiles and negative facial displays resembled those of their children. Finally, consistent with observed relations between adult personality and positive display, children’s smiling behavior in the classroom correlated with parent ratings of children’s Extraversion/Surgency. These results highlight the utility of thin slices of smiling and touch as indicators of child and family affective style. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of pravastatin, a HMG CoA reductase inhibitor, on blood lipids and aortic lipidosis in cholesterol-fed White Carneau pigeons

The goals of this study were (a) to examine differing views on the relationship between self-report of emotion and physiological expression of emotion, (b) to differentiate between negative emotional contexts during imagery using facial electromyogram (EMG), and (c) to describe the facial muscle patterning and autonomic physiology of situations that involve expelling or avoiding disgusting sensory stimulation. Fifty subjects imagined situations eliciting disgust, anger, pleasure, and joy in 8-s trials using a tone-cued imagery procedure. Heart rate, skin conductance level, and facial EMG at the corrugator, zygomatic, and levator labii superioris/alesque muscle regions were recorded during imagery, and self-reports of emotion were collected after imagery trials. Self-reports of emotion produced results consistent with the affective categorization of the images. Activity at the levator labii region was higher during disgust than during anger imagery. Corrugator region increase characterized the negative as compared with the positive emotional contents, and activity at the zygomatic region was higher during joy imagery than during the other three emotions. Heart rate acceleration was greater during disgust, anger, and joy imagery than during pleasant imagery. Disgust imagery could be discriminated from anger imagery using facial EMG, and the expressive physiology of disgust was occasioned by the action set of active avoidance or rejection of sensory stimulation.     

Parental socialization of children's dysregulated expression of emotion and externalizing problems.

The relations of parents' warmth, emotional expressivity, and discussion of emotion to 2nd–5th graders' regulation of emotional expressivity, externalizing problem behaviors, and expressivity were examined. Parents' and children's facial expressions to evocative slides were observed, as was parents' discussion of the slides, and parents and teachers provided information on children's regulation of expressivity and problem behavior. Analyses supported the hypothesis that the effect of parental variables on children's problem behavior was at least partly indirect through their children's regulation of emotion. Children's low negative (versus positive) facial expressivity to negative slides was associated with problem behavior for boys. A reversed model did not support the possibility that children's functioning had causal effects on parenting. The findings suggest that parents' emotion-related behaviors are linked to children's regulation of expressivity and externalizing behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The intensity of facial expression is determined by underlying affective state and social situation.

The present study concerned the influence of the presence of others on facial expressions of emotion. The proposition that facial expressive displays are better predicted by the social context than by emotional state (A. J. Fridlund, 1991) was tested in an experiment varying both the sociality of the context and the intensity of the emotion elicitor as well as the relationship between expressor and audience. The results indicate that the intensity of expressive displays cannot be satisfactorily predicted by either of these factors alone but is influenced by a complex interplay of all 3 factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modulation of Focused Attention by Faces Expressing Emotion: Evidence From Flanker Tasks.

Three experiments evaluated whether facial expression can modulate the allocation of focused attention. Identification of emotionally expressive target faces was typically faster when they were flanked by identical (compatible) faces compared with when they were flanked by different (incompatible) faces. This flanker compatibility effect was significantly smaller when target faces expressed negative compared with positive emotion (see Experiment 1A); however, when the faces were altered to disrupt emotional expression, yet retain feature differences, equal flanker compatibility effects were observed (see Experiment 1B). The flanker-compatibility effect was also found to be smaller for negative target faces compared compatibility with neutral target faces, and for both negative and neutral target faces compared with positive target faces (see Experiment 2). These results suggest that the constriction of attention is influenced by facial expressions of emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facial, autonomic, and subjective components of emotion: The facial feedback hypothesis versus the externalizer–internalizer distinction.

Evaluated the facial feedback hypothesis (facial expressions regulate affective experience) and the externalizer–internalizer distinction (expressive behavior and autonomic responses are negatively related) by manipulating facial expressiveness and measuring blood volume, skin conductance, and heart rate, as well as self-reports of emotion, in 108 undergraduates. Ss were subjected to 6 stimuli in the form of videotaped scenes and were filmed reacting with expressions of suppression, spontaneous behavior, or exaggeration. Higher levels of facial expressiveness were accompanied by higher levels of autonomic activity and subjective reports of affective experience. This relationship was obtained in comparisons among experimental conditions as well as correlational analyses within conditions. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expressive control during a disappointment: Variations related to preschoolers' behavior problems.

Individual differences in expressive control during a disappointment were examined in relation to preschool boys' and girls' concurrent behavior and to their risk for developing disruptive behavior disorders. A disappointment paradigm was used to examine expressive control in 79 4- and 5-yr-old children with low, moderate, or high risk. Boys at risk showed more negative emotion in the experimenter's (E's) presence than low-risk boys. In E's absence, low-risk boys' negative emotion was equivalent to at-risk boys'. Boys' negative emotion, particularly anger, predicted their disruptiveness during the disappointment and general symptoms of oppositionality. At-risk girls differed from low-risk girls after E left, displaying less negative emotion than low-risk girls. Girls' minimization of negative emotion predicted attention deficit and conduct disorder symptoms. Gender-specific expressive control is discussed in terms of gender differences in emotion regulation and psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multichannel responses to an interpersonal stressor: Interrelationships among facial display, heart rate, self-report of emotion, and threat appraisal.

60 undergraduates were exposed to a potent, provocative interpersonal stressor while facial displays of emotion were unobtrusively videotaped and heart rate was continuously monitored. Following the stressor situation, Ss completed the Differential Emotions Scale and a questionnaire designed to assess S's appraisal of threat. The video-taped facial expressions were coded by 13 naive judges to assess the intensity of the expression displayed. Minimally expressive Ss reported experiencing more guilt, displayed a significant heart rate increase, and evaluated the situation as more threatening than did the expressive Ss. Results are consistent with aspects of a discharge model of emotion that predict an inverse relationship between overt emotional displays and physiological reactivity in response to an emotional stressor. Findings argue against a facial-feedback hypothesis. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion.

Emotion regulation plays a central role in mental health and illness, but little is known about even the most basic forms of emotion regulation. To examine the acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion, we asked 180 female participants to watch sad, neutral, and amusing films under 1 of 2 conditions. Suppression participants (N?=?90) inhibited their expressive behavior while watching the films; no suppression participants (N?=?90) simply watched the films. Suppression diminished expressive behavior in all 3 films and decreased amusement self-reports in sad and amusing films. Physiologically, suppression had no effect in the neutral film, but clear effects in both negative and positive emotional films, including increased sympathetic activation of the cardiovascular system. On the basis of these findings, we suggest several ways emotional inhibition may influence psychological functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ability to regulate emotion is associated with greater well-being, income, and socioeconomic status.

Are people who are best able to implement strategies to regulate their emotional expressive behavior happier and more successful than their counterparts? Although past research has examined individual variation in knowledge of the most effective emotion regulation strategies, little is known about how individual differences in the ability to actually implement these strategies, as assessed objectively in the laboratory, are associated with external criteria. In two studies, we examined how individual variation in the ability to modify emotional expressive behavior in response to evocative stimuli is related to well-being and financial success. Study 1 showed that individuals who can best suppress their emotional reaction to an acoustic startle are happiest with their lives. Study 2 showed that individuals who can best amplify their emotional reaction to a disgust-eliciting movie are happiest with their lives and have the highest disposable income and socioeconomic status. Thus, being able to implement emotion regulation strategies in the laboratory is closely linked to well-being and financial success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cerebral mechanisms underlying facial, prosodic, and lexical emotional expression: A review of neuropsychological studies and methodological issues.

Cortical contributions to human emotional expression are examined with a focus on interhemispheric (right vs left) and intrahemispheric (anterior vs posterior) mechanisms. This article reviews behavioral studies of emotional expression in brain-damaged patients with unilateral lesions and in normal adults. Studies involving facial, prosodic, and lexical (verbal) communication channels are reviewed for patients; facial asymmetry studies are reviewed for normal Ss. Data are presented separately for posed and spontaneous conditions and for positive and negative emotions. Findings support right-hemisphere dominance for emotional expression, especially for prosodic and lexical expression in brain-damaged patients and for facial expression in normal Ss. Methodological factors are suggested to account for differences among facial expressions studies in brain-damaged patients. The data are discussed in terms of neuropsychological theories of emotion and directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult judgments and fine-grained analysis of infant facial expressions: Testing the validity of a priori coding formulas.

Three studies tested whether infant facial expressions selected to fit Max formulas (C. E. Izard, 1983) for discrete emotions are recognizable signals of those emotions. Forced-choice emotion judgments (Study 1) and emotion ratings (Study 2) by naive Ss fit Max predictions for slides of infant joy, interest, surprise, and distress, but Max fear, anger, sadness, and disgust expressions in infants were judged as distress or as emotion blends in both studies. Ratings of adult facial expressions (Study 2 only) fit a priori classifications. In Study 3, the facial muscle components of faces shown in Studies 1 and 2 were coded with the Facial Action Coding System (FACS; P. Ekman and W. V. Friesen, 1978) and Baby FACS (H. Oster and D. Rosenstein, in press). Only 3 of 19 Max-specified expressions of discrete negative emotions in infants fit adult prototypes. Results indicate that negative affect expressions are not fully differentiated in infants and that empirical studies of infant facial expressions are needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal facial behavior and the recognition and production of emotional expression by maltreated and nonmaltreated children.

20 maltreated and 20 nonmaltreated children (ages?=?3–7 years) and their mothers were observed during a laboratory play session and 7 home observation visits. Ss' facial behavior was video recorded in the lab and coded live by observers in the home. Children also participated in an emotional-expression recognition task. Data analysis showed that both maltreatment status and mothers' facial behavior were predictors of children's recognition scores. Positive relationships were also found between mothers' and children's expressive behavior. Although maltreated and nonmaltreated children differed significantly in their recognition of emotional facial expressions, group differences were not found for either mothers' or children's expressive behavior. Overall, this study's findings indicate that children's recognition and production of facial expressions depends in part on the expressive environment provided by their mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion experience and expression across the adult life span: Insights from a multimodal assessment study.

This investigation represents a multimodal study of age-related differences in experienced and expressed affect and in emotion regulatory skills in a sample of young, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 96), testing formulations derived from differential emotions theory. The experimental session consisted of a 10-min anger induction and a 10-min sadness induction using a relived emotion task; participants were also randomly assigned to an inhibition or noninhibition condition. In addition to subjective ratings of emotional experience provided by participants, their facial behavior was coded using an objective facial affect coding system; a content analysis also was applied to the emotion narratives. Separate repeated measures analyses of variance applied to each emotion domain indicated age differences in the co-occurrence of negative emotions and co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions across domains, thus extending the finding of emotion heterogeneity or complexity in emotion experience to facial behavior and verbal narratives. The authors also found that the inhibition condition resulted in a different pattern of results in the older versus middle-aged and younger adults. The intensity and frequency of discrete emotions were similar across age groups, with a few exceptions. Overall, the findings were generally consistent with differential emotions theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

They stoop to conquer: Guiding and self-regulatory functions of physical posture after success and failure.

Three experiments with 147 undergraduates tested the hypothesis that slumped (depressed) or upright physical postures are not just passive indicators of mental states but can reciprocally affect the mental states and behavior of an individual. By using a methodology similar to that in many facial manipulation studies, the experimenters changed Ss' postures in a standard learned helplessness setting. Results indicate that when a slumped posture was "inappropriate" to the current situation (an S had just succeeded), the slumping seemed to undermine subsequent motivation as well as feelings of control. But when "appropriate" (an S had experienced failure or helplessness), slumping minimized both feelings of helplessness and depression and motivation deficits. A new theoretical analysis—the appropriateness hypothesis—is therefore proposed: A slumped vs upright posture orientation can guide and moderate information-processing and responses to positive and negative mood-relevant stimuli. Implications regarding self-regulatory processes that may operate in emotion, depression, and learned helplessness are discussed. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of recognition of expression.

Ratings of 30 facial expression photographs by 12 Ss on 22 bipolar scales were intercorrelated and subjected to factorial analysis. 4 factors of expressive meaning were obtained; these were labeled pleasantness-unpleasantness, naturalness and submission-artificiality and condescension, intensity of expression-control of expression, and attentional activity-disinterest. Correlating these factors with measures of the facial features resulted in meaningful relationships of each expressive meaning factor with 1 or more of the facial feature measurements. Results were compared with those from other studies and discussed in relation to a theory of emotion and of its recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Emotional Integration of Childhood Experience: Physiological, Facial Expressive, and Self-Reported Emotional Response During the Adult Attachment Interview.

Attachment researchers claim that individual differences in how adults talk about their early memories reflect qualitatively distinct organizations of emotion regarding childhood experiences with caregivers. Testing this assumption, the present study examined the relationship between attachment dimensions and physiological, facial expressive, as well as self-reported emotional responses during the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Consistent with theoretical predictions, more prototypically secure adults behaviorally expressed and reported experiencing emotion consistent with the valence of the childhood events they described. Insecure adults also showed distinctive and theoretically anticipated forms of emotional response: Dismissing participants evidenced increased electrodermal activity during the interview, a sign of emotional suppression, whereas preoccupied adults showed reliable discrepancies between the valence of their inferred childhood experiences and their facial expressive as well as reported emotion during the AAI. Results substantiate a case that the AAI reflects individual differences in emotion regulation that conceptually parallel observations of attachment relationships in infancy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)