Emotions in Everyday Life

Despite decades of research establishing the causes and consequences of emotions in the laboratory, we know surprisingly little about emotions in everyday life. We developed a smartphone application that monitored real-time emotions of an exceptionally large (N = 11,000+) and heterogeneous participants sample. People’s everyday life seems profoundly emotional: participants experienced at least one emotion 90% of the time. The most frequent emotion was joy, followed by love and anxiety. People experienced positive emotions 2.5 times more often than negative emotions, but also experienced positive and negative emotions simultaneously relatively frequently. We also characterized the interconnections between people’s emotions using network analysis. This novel approach to emotion research suggests that specific emotions can fall into the following categories 1) connector emotions (e.g., joy), which stimulate same valence emotions while inhibiting opposite valence emotions, 2) provincial emotions (e.g., gratitude), which stimulate same valence emotions only, or 3) distal emotions (e.g., embarrassment), which have little interaction with other emotions and are typically experienced in isolation. Providing both basic foundations and novel tools to the study of emotions in everyday life, these findings demonstrate that emotions are ubiquitous to life and can exist together and distinctly, which has important implications for both emotional interventions and theory.     

Comparison of emotion recognition from facial expression and music

The recognition of basic emotions in everyday communication involves interpretation of different visual and auditory clues. The ability to recognize emotions is not clearly determined as their presentation is usually very short (micro expressions), whereas the recognition itself does not have to be a conscious process. We assumed that the recognition from facial expressions is selected over the recognition of emotions communicated through music. In order to compare the success rate in recognizing emotions presented as facial expressions or in classical music works we conducted a survey which included 90 elementary school and 87 high school students from Osijek (Croatia). The participants had to match 8 photographs of different emotions expressed on the face and 8 pieces of classical music works with 8 offered emotions. The recognition of emotions expressed through classical music pieces was significantly less successful than the recognition of emotional facial expressions. The high school students were significantly better at recognizing facial emotions than the elementary school students, whereas girls were better than boys. The success rate in recognizing emotions from music pieces was associated with higher grades in mathematics. Basic emotions are far better recognized if presented on human faces than in music, possibly because the understanding of facial emotions is one of the oldest communication skills in human society. Female advantage in emotion recognition was selected due to the necessity of their communication with the newborns during early development. The proficiency in recognizing emotional content of music and mathematical skills probably share some general cognitive skills like attention, memory and motivation. Music pieces were differently processed in brain than facial expressions and consequently, probably differently evaluated as relevant emotional clues.     

额叶EEG偏侧化预测情绪灵活性

随着社会竞争的日益加剧,人们在生活、学习、工作中都可能遇到各种与情绪有关的事件,如何根据情境的要求和个人的需要对情绪进行灵活性的反应,对每个人而言都至关重要.情绪灵活性的研究已成为情绪心理学、临床心理学、健康心理学等多个领域热衷讨论的课题.研究发现,左侧和右侧前额叶皮层半球不同程度地涉及加工和调节对情绪刺激的情绪反应,因此,额叶脑电图(EEG)偏侧化与情绪灵活性存在密切关系.但是,额叶EEG偏侧化是否是情绪灵活性的一个客观指标,以及额叶EEG偏侧化怎样预测情绪灵活性,至今仍不清楚.本研究测量了通过情绪电影范式诱发被试产生高兴、悲伤、愤怒、恐惧、厌恶等情绪过程中的额叶EEG活动.结果显示,情绪灵活性的激活模式反映的是情绪的动机维度,而不是情绪的效价维度.在静息状态下,对于与接近动机相关的情绪,额叶EEG左侧化的个体的左侧化程度增加;对于与回避动机相关的情绪,其左侧化程度降低.与之相对,静息状态额叶EEG右侧化的个体,无论对于与趋近动机相关的情绪还是与回避动机相关的情绪,额叶EEG偏侧化的程度没有发生改变.研究表明,额叶EEG偏侧化模式能够预测情绪灵活性,额叶EEG左侧化的个体有更灵活的情绪反应,额叶EEG右侧化的个体则有相对不灵活的情绪反应.     

Towards a Psychological Construct of Being Moved

The emotional state of being moved, though frequently referred to in both classical rhetoric and current language use, is far from established as a well-defined psychological construct. In a series of three studies, we investigated eliciting scenarios, emotional ingredients, appraisal patterns, feeling qualities, and the affective signature of being moved and related emotional states. The great majority of the eliciting scenarios can be assigned to significant relationship and critical life events (especially death, birth, marriage, separation, and reunion). Sadness and joy turned out to be the two preeminent emotions involved in episodes of being moved. Both the sad and the joyful variants of being moved showed a coactivation of positive and negative affect and can thus be ranked among the mixed emotions. Moreover, being moved, while featuring only low-to-mid arousal levels, was experienced as an emotional state of high intensity; this applied to responses to fictional artworks no less than to own-life and other real, but media-represented, events. The most distinctive findings regarding cognitive appraisal dimensions were very low ratings for causation of the event by oneself and for having the power to change its outcome, along with very high ratings for appraisals of compatibility with social norms and self-ideals. Putting together the characteristics identified and discussed throughout the three studies, the paper ends with a sketch of a psychological construct of being moved.     

The Role of Emotion in Musical Improvisation: An Analysis of Structural Features

One of the primary functions of music is to convey emotion, yet how music accomplishes this task remains unclear. For example, simple correlations between mode (major vs. minor) and emotion (happy vs. sad) do not adequately explain the enormous range, subtlety or complexity of musically induced emotions. In this study, we examined the structural features of unconstrained musical improvisations generated by jazz pianists in response to emotional cues. We hypothesized that musicians would not utilize any universal rules to convey emotions, but would instead combine heterogeneous musical elements together in order to depict positive and negative emotions. Our findings demonstrate a lack of simple correspondence between emotions and musical features of spontaneous musical improvisation. While improvisations in response to positive emotional cues were more likely to be in major keys, have faster tempos, faster key press velocities and more staccato notes when compared to negative improvisations, there was a wide distribution for each emotion with components that directly violated these primary associations. The finding that musicians often combine disparate features together in order to convey emotion during improvisation suggests that structural diversity may be an essential feature of the ability of music to express a wide range of emotion.     

Traits émotionnels, intelligence émotionnelle: intÉrêt de ces concepts et Étude de leurs interrelations

Studies on personality traits conducted during the past decade indicate that there is a set of emotion-related traits on which individuals differ. Moreover, other studies showed that there are some abilities related to the processing of both emotions and emotional information, referred to as the concept of emotional intelligence. The authors of the article evaluated one hundred adults (ranging in age from 20–50) using the French version of a series of scales to measure stable emotionrelated traits and emotional intelligence. The results showed that these instruments provide accurate internal consistency and reliability, and that there are significant relationships between the individual emotional characteristics observed. A factorial analysis conducted with varimax rotation underlined five primary factors identified as: Clear-sightedness of emotions, Emotional richness, Identification, Understanding and Emotional control. The average emotional profiles based on these five primary factors depend on gender and age. In particular, the female and the oldest participants showed a greater emotional richness. The examination of these five factors should lead to a better understanding of the relationships which exist between these emotional characteristics and cognitive performances, and their involvement in clinical syndromes.     

Emotional Noun Processing: An ERP Study with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation

Reading is an important part of our daily life, and rapid responses to emotional words have received a great deal of research interest. Our study employed rapid serial visual presentation to detect the time course of emotional noun processing using event-related potentials. We performed a dual-task experiment, where subjects were required to judge whether a given number was odd or even, and the category into which each emotional noun fit. In terms of P1, we found that there was no negativity bias for emotional nouns. However, emotional nouns elicited larger amplitudes in the N170 component in the left hemisphere than did neutral nouns. This finding indicated that in later processing stages, emotional words can be discriminated from neutral words. Furthermore, positive, negative, and neutral words were different from each other in the late positive complex, indicating that in the third stage, even different emotions can be discerned. Thus, our results indicate that in a three-stage model the latter two stages are more stable and universal.     

The Cognitive Building Blocks of Emotion Regulation: Ability to Update Working Memory Moderates the Efficacy of Rumination and Reappraisal on Emotion

The ability to regulate emotions is a critical component of healthy emotional functioning. Therefore, it is important to determine factors that contribute to the efficacy of emotion regulation. The present article examined whether the ability to update emotional information in working memory is a predictor of the efficacy of rumination and reappraisal on affective experience both at the trait level (Study 1) and in daily life (Study 2). In both studies, results revealed that the relationship between use of reappraisal and high arousal negative emotions was moderated by updating ability. Specifically, use of reappraisal was associated with decreased high arousal negative emotions for participants with high updating ability, while no significant relationship was found for those with low updating ability. In addition, both studies also revealed that the relationship between rumination and high arousal negative emotions was moderated by updating ability. In general, use of rumination was associated with elevated high arousal negative emotions. However, this relationship was blunted for participants with high updating ability. That is, use of rumination was associated with less elevated high arousal negative emotions for participants with high updating ability. These results identify the ability to update emotional information in working memory as a crucial process modulating the efficacy of emotion regulation efforts.     

Asian traditions of knowledge: the disputed questions of science,nature and ecology

The search for ‘ecological insights’ in venerable Asian traditions of thought prompts questions about how such traditions understood humans in relation to nature. Answers which focus on philosophical and religious ideas may overlook culturally important understandings of people and places articulated within scientific and medical thinking. The paper tentatively explores the prospects for gleaning a form of ethics of place from the study of traditional Hindu and Chinese medical sources. Although there are serious problems with the idea that any unadulterated assimilation from other traditions can take place, these sources can be thought of as incorporating a place-centred (topocentric) ethic. By looking closely at Francis Zimmerman’s study of Hindu medicine, it is argued that a poetics of place can be ascribed to Ayurvedic discourses on health and disease. It may be possible to associate a similar poetics with classical Chinese medical worldviews, these being reconcilable with—though not the same as—contemporary ecological understandings of humans in relation to the world. Although no pristine reconstruction of Asian traditions of medical thought can be made, the conclusion of the present paper is that it would be wrong to dismiss these traditions as ‘antienvironmental’, based purely on the study of philosophical and religious texts.     

Music therapy in supportive cancer care

The purpose of this paper is to show some aspects of music therapy application in cancer care and to present the integration of music therapy program into a continuous supportive cancer care for inpatients. A cancer diagnosis is one of the most feared and serious life events that causes stress in individuals and families. Cancer disrupts social, physical and emotional well-being and results in a range of emotions, including anger, fear, sadness, guilt, embarrassment and shame. Music therapy is a part of a complementary medicine program in supportive cancer care which accompanies medical treatment. There are many benefits of music therapy for cancer patients—interactive music therapy techniques (instrumental improvisation, singing) as well as receptive music therapy techniques (listening to recorded or live music, music and imaginary) can be used to improve mood, decrease stress, pain, anxiety level and enhance relaxation. Music therapy is an effective form of supporting cancer care for patients during the treatment process. It may be also basic for planning effective programs of rehabilitation to promote wellness, improve physical and emotional well-being and the quality of life.     

Cross-cultural patterns in dynamic ratings of positive and negative natural emotional behaviour

Background

Studies of cross-cultural variations in the perception of emotion have typically compared rates of recognition of static posed stimulus photographs. That research has provided evidence for universality in the recognition of a range of emotions but also for some systematic cross-cultural variation in the interpretation of emotional expression. However, questions remain about how widely such findings can be generalised to real life emotional situations. The present study provides the first evidence that the previously reported interplay between universal and cultural influences extends to ratings of natural, dynamic emotional stimuli.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Participants from Northern Ireland, Serbia, Guatemala and Peru used a computer based tool to continuously rate the strength of positive and negative emotion being displayed in twelve short video sequences by people from the United Kingdom engaged in emotional conversations. Generalized additive mixed models were developed to assess the differences in perception of emotion between countries and sexes. Our results indicate that the temporal pattern of ratings is similar across cultures for a range of emotions and social contexts. However, there are systematic differences in intensity ratings between the countries, with participants from Northern Ireland making the most extreme ratings in the majority of the clips.

Conclusions/Significance

The results indicate that there is strong agreement across cultures in the valence and patterns of ratings of natural emotional situations but that participants from different cultures show systematic variation in the intensity with which they rate emotion. Results are discussed in terms of both ‘in-group advantage’ and ‘display rules’ approaches. This study indicates that examples of natural spontaneous emotional behaviour can be used to study cross-cultural variations in the perception of emotion.     

Reading faces: differential lateral gaze bias in processing canine and human facial expressions in dogs and 4-year-old children

Sensitivity to the emotions of others provides clear biological advantages. However, in the case of heterospecific relationships, such as that existing between dogs and humans, there are additional challenges since some elements of the expression of emotions are species-specific. Given that faces provide important visual cues for communicating emotional state in both humans and dogs, and that processing of emotions is subject to brain lateralisation, we investigated lateral gaze bias in adult dogs when presented with pictures of expressive human and dog faces. Our analysis revealed clear differences in laterality of eye movements in dogs towards conspecific faces according to the emotional valence of the expressions. Differences were also found towards human faces, but to a lesser extent. For comparative purpose, a similar experiment was also run with 4-year-old children and it was observed that they showed differential processing of facial expressions compared to dogs, suggesting a species-dependent engagement of the right or left hemisphere in processing emotions.     

Expression of emotion in Eastern and Western music mirrors vocalization

In Western music, the major mode is typically used to convey excited, happy, bright or martial emotions, whereas the minor mode typically conveys subdued, sad or dark emotions. Recent studies indicate that the differences between these modes parallel differences between the prosodic and spectral characteristics of voiced speech sounds uttered in corresponding emotional states. Here we ask whether tonality and emotion are similarly linked in an Eastern musical tradition. The results show that the tonal relationships used to express positive/excited and negative/subdued emotions in classical South Indian music are much the same as those used in Western music. Moreover, tonal variations in the prosody of English and Tamil speech uttered in different emotional states are parallel to the tonal trends in music. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the association between musical tonality and emotion is based on universal vocal characteristics of different affective states.     

Translating mouse vocalizations: prosody and frequency modulation1

Mental illness can include impaired abilities to express emotions or respond to the emotions of others. Speech provides a mechanism for expressing emotions, by both what words are spoken and by the melody or intonation of speech (prosody). Through the perception of variations in prosody, an individual can detect changes in another's emotional state. Prosodic features of mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), indicated by changes in frequency and amplitude, also convey information. Dams retrieve pups that emit separation calls, females approach males emitting solicitous calls, and mice can become fearful of a cue associated with the vocalizations of a distressed conspecific. Because acoustic features of mouse USVs respond to drugs and genetic manipulations that influence reward circuits, USV analysis can be employed to examine how genes influence social motivation, affect regulation, and communication. The purpose of this review is to discuss how genetic and developmental factors influence aspects of the mouse vocal repertoire and how mice respond to the vocalizations of their conspecifics. To generate falsifiable hypotheses about the emotional content of particular calls, this review addresses USV analysis within the framework of affective neuroscience (e.g. measures of motivated behavior such as conditioned place preference tests, brain activity and systemic physiology). Suggested future studies include employment of an expanded array of physiological and statistical approaches to identify the salient acoustic features of mouse vocalizations. We are particularly interested in rearing environments that incorporate sufficient spatial and temporal complexity to familiarize developing mice with a broader array of affective states.     

肺癌患者病耻感的影响因素调查及与生活质量和负性情绪的相关性研究

摘要 目的：调查并分析肺癌患者病耻感的影响因素,并探讨病耻感与生活质量和负性情绪的相关性。方法：选取2019年1月-2020年9月期间我院收治的肺癌患者159例作为研究对象。采用自制的一般资料调查表收集患者的临床资料,采用中文版肺癌患者病耻感量表（CLCSS）评估入选患者的病耻感,采用Zung焦虑自评量表（SAS）、Zung抑郁自评量表（SDS）评估患者的负性情绪,采用肿瘤患者专用的生活质量核心问卷（EORTC QLQ-C30）评估患者生活质量。应用单因素及多元线性COX回归分析病耻感的影响因素,应用Pearson相关分析病耻感与生活质量和负性情绪的相关性。结果：本研究共发放159份调查问卷,回收有效问卷156份,无效问卷3份,回收成功率为98.11%。肺癌患者病耻感中的社会隔离、耻辱与羞愧、吸烟、总评分以及SAS、SDS评分高于国内常模中位分（P<0.05）,EORTC QLQ-C30评分低于国内常模中位分（P<0.05）,而歧视与国内常模中位分对比无统计学差异（P>0.05）。Pearson相关分析结果显示,CLCSS总评分与SAS、SDS评分均呈正相关,而与EORTC QLQ-C30评分呈负相关（P<0.05）。单因素分析结果可知,不同性别、年龄、婚姻状况、居住地、医疗费用支付方式、文化程度、病程的肺癌患者病耻感评分对比差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）,是否合并慢性病、是否吸烟、不同个人月收入的肺癌患者病耻感评分对比差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。多元线性COX回归分析结果显示,合并慢性病、吸烟、个人月收入<2000元均是影响肺癌患者病耻感的危险因素（P＜0.05）。结论：肺癌患者病耻感处于偏高水平,且与患者生活质量和负性情绪息息相关,其中合并慢性病、吸烟、个人月收入是影响患者病耻感的主要因素,应给予针对性干预,以降低其病耻感,促进患者身心健康。     

Emotions in farm animals: a new approach to animal welfare in applied ethology

One of the major topics of applied ethology is the welfare of animals reared by humans. Welfare can be defined as a state of harmony between an individual and its environment. Any marked deviation from this state, if perceived by the individual, results in a welfare deficit due to negative emotional experiences. In humans, verbal language helps to assess emotional experiences. In animals, only behavioural and physiological measurements help to detect emotions. However, how to interpret these responses in terms of emotional experiences remains an open question. The information on the cognitive abilities of farm animals, which are available but scattered, could help the understanding of their emotions. We propose a behavioural approach based on cognitive psychology: emotions can be investigated in farm animals in terms of the individual's appraisal of the situation. This evaluative process depends on: (a) the intrinsic characteristics of the eliciting event (suddenness, novelty, pleasantness); (b) the degree of conflict of that event with the individual's needs or expectations; and (c) the individual's coping possibilities offered by the environment. The result of such an evaluation determines the negative versus positive emotions. We propose an analysis of the emotional repertoire of farm animals in terms of the relationship between the evaluative process of the event on the one hand and the behavioural and physiological responses on the other hand.     

Computation of emotions in man and machines

The importance of emotional expression as part of human communication has been understood since Aristotle, and the subject has been explored scientifically since Charles Darwin and others in the nineteenth century. Advances in computer technology now allow machines to recognize and express emotions, paving the way for improved human–computer and human–human communications.Recent advances in psychology have greatly improved our understanding of the role of affect in communication, perception, decision-making, attention and memory. At the same time, advances in technology mean that it is becoming possible for machines to sense, analyse and express emotions. We can now consider how these advances relate to each other and how they can be brought together to influence future research in perception, attention, learning, memory, communication, decision-making and other applications.The computation of emotions includes both recognition and synthesis, using channels such as facial expressions, non-verbal aspects of speech, posture, gestures, physiology, brain imaging and general behaviour. The combination of new results in psychology with new techniques of computation is leading to new technologies with applications in commerce, education, entertainment, security, therapy and everyday life. However, there are important issues of privacy and personal expression that must also be considered.     

The Glass Half Empty: How Emotional Exhaustion Affects the State-Trait Discrepancy in Self-Reports of Teaching Emotions

Following from previous research on intensity bias and the accessibility model of emotional self-report, the present study examined the role of emotional exhaustion in explaining the discrepancy in teachers’ reports of their trait (habitual) versus state (momentary, “real”) emotions. Trait reports (habitual emotions, exhaustion) were assessed via trait questionnaires, and state reports (momentary emotions) were assessed in real time via the experience sampling method by using personal digital assistants (N = 69 high school teachers; 1,089 measures within teachers). In line with our assumptions, multi-level analyses showed that, as compared to the state assessment, teachers reported higher levels of habitual teaching-related emotions of anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, enjoyment, and pride. Additionally, the state-trait discrepancy in self-reports of negative emotions was accounted for by teachers’ emotional exhaustion, with high exhaustion levels corresponding with a greater state-trait discrepancy. Exhaustion levels did not moderate the state-trait discrepancy in positive emotions indicating that perceived emotional exhaustion may reflect identity-related cognitions specific to the negative belief system. Implications for research and educational practice are discussed.     

Emotion through Locomotion: Gender Impact

Body language reading is of significance for daily life social cognition and successful social interaction, and constitutes a core component of social competence. Yet it is unclear whether our ability for body language reading is gender specific. In the present work, female and male observers had to visually recognize emotions through point-light human locomotion performed by female and male actors with different emotional expressions. For subtle emotional expressions only, males surpass females in recognition accuracy and readiness to respond to happy walking portrayed by female actors, whereas females exhibit a tendency to be better in recognition of hostile angry locomotion expressed by male actors. In contrast to widespread beliefs about female superiority in social cognition, the findings suggest that gender effects in recognition of emotions from human locomotion are modulated by emotional content of actions and opposite actor gender. In a nutshell, the study makes a further step in elucidation of gender impact on body language reading and on neurodevelopmental and psychiatric deficits in visual social cognition.     

Talking back to controlling images: Latinos’ changing responses to racism over the life course

‘Controlling images’ are central to the reproduction of racial, class, and gender inequality, yet there is a dearth of knowledge pertaining to Latinos. Drawing from sixty-two in-depth, life history interviews with Latino men, we ask: How do controlling images of Latinos as gang members and sports athletes impose constraints and channel emotions? How do Latinos respond to these images? We document how institutions and people deploying controlling images blockade access to education and upward mobility. We find that life course stage shapes Latinos’ responses to this imagery. In their youth, Latino respondents used emotional strategies to resist racial subjugation. As adults, respondents resisted racist controlling images through leadership activities in the professional realm. Since adults possess more social power than youth, adults were better equipped to engage in leadership endeavours as resistance as compared to youth who, constrained by age, predominately utilized emotional resistance strategies.