The interactive effects of affect lability, negative urgency, and sensation seeking on young adult problematic drinking.

PubMed

Karyadi, Kenny; Coskunpinar, Ayca; Dir, Allyson L; Cyders, Melissa A

2013-01-01

Prior studies have suggested that affect lability might reduce the risk for problematic drinking among sensation seekers by compensating for their deficiencies in emotional reactivity and among individuals high on negative urgency by disrupting stable negative emotions. Due to the high prevalence of college drinking, this study examined whether affect lability interacted with sensation seeking and negative urgency to influence college student problematic drinking. 414 college drinkers (mean age: 20, 77% female, and 74% Caucasian) from a US Midwestern University completed self-administered questionnaires online. Consistent with our hypotheses, our results indicated that the effects of sensation seeking and negative urgency on problematic drinking weakened at higher levels of affect lability. These findings emphasize the importance of considering specific emotional contexts in understanding how negative urgency and sensation seeking create risk for problematic drinking among college students. These findings might also help us better understand how to reduce problematic drinking among sensation seekers and individuals high on negative urgency.

The Interactive Effects of Affect Lability, Negative Urgency, and Sensation Seeking on Young Adult Problematic Drinking

PubMed Central

Karyadi, Kenny; Coskunpinar, Ayca; Dir, Allyson L.; Cyders, Melissa A.

2013-01-01

Prior studies have suggested that affect lability might reduce the risk for problematic drinking among sensation seekers by compensating for their deficiencies in emotional reactivity and among individuals high on negative urgency by disrupting stable negative emotions. Due to the high prevalence of college drinking, this study examined whether affect lability interacted with sensation seeking and negative urgency to influence college student problematic drinking. 414 college drinkers (mean age: 20, 77% female, and 74% Caucasian) from a US Midwestern University completed self-administered questionnaires online. Consistent with our hypotheses, our results indicated that the effects of sensation seeking and negative urgency on problematic drinking weakened at higher levels of affect lability. These findings emphasize the importance of considering specific emotional contexts in understanding how negative urgency and sensation seeking create risk for problematic drinking among college students. These findings might also help us better understand how to reduce problematic drinking among sensation seekers and individuals high on negative urgency. PMID:24826366

Finding Positive Meaning after Loss: The Mediating Role of Reflection for Bereaved Individuals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyraz, Guler; Horne, Sharon G.; Sayger, Thomas V.

2010-01-01

This study examined the mediating effect of reflection on the relationship between search for meaning, positive affect, negative affect, and positive meaning-finding among 380 bereaved individuals. Using structural equation modeling, reflection was found to mediate the relationship between search for meaning, affect (positive and negative), and…

The impact of gender on treatment effectiveness of body psychotherapy for negative symptoms of schizophrenia: a secondary analysis of the NESS trial data

PubMed Central

Savill, Mark; Orfanos, Stavros; Bentall, Richard; Reininghaus, Ulrich; Wykes, Til; Priebe, Stefan

2016-01-01

Despite promising findings from small-scale studies suggesting that body psychotherapy may be an effective treatment for negative symptoms, these results were not replicated in a recent multisite trial. In this trial a far smaller proportion of women were recruited relative to earlier studies, which may be an issue given the gender mix of the sample evaluated has been found to affect trial outcomes in schizophrenia. Using data from our multisite trial, the interaction between gender and treatment allocation as a predictor of outcomes was examined in 275 participants (72 women and 203 men) randomised to either a body psychotherapy or Pilates group. Negative symptoms were found to significantly reduce in women randomised to the body psychotherapy condition in comparison to Pilates, while no such effect was detected in men. Consistent with the smaller trials, this improvement was found to relate predominantly to expressive deficits. These findings suggest that body psychotherapy may be an effective treatment for negative symptoms in women. These findings emphasise the importance of sample characteristics in determining trial outcome in psychological treatment studies. PMID:27871030

Effects of Age on Negative Subsequent Memory Effects Associated with the Encoding of Item and Item–Context Information

PubMed Central

Mattson, Julia T.; Wang, Tracy H.; de Chastelaine, Marianne; Rugg, Michael D.

2014-01-01

It has consistently been reported that “negative” subsequent memory effects—lower study activity for later remembered than later forgotten items—are attenuated in older individuals. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated whether these findings extend to subsequent memory effects associated with successful encoding of item–context information. Older (n = 25) and young (n = 17) subjects were scanned while making 1 of 2 encoding judgments on a series of pictures. Memory was assessed for the study item and, for items judged old, the item's encoding task. Both memory judgments were made using confidence ratings, permitting item and source memory strength to be unconfounded and source confidence to be equated across age groups. Replicating prior findings, negative item effects in regions of the default mode network in young subjects were reversed in older subjects. Negative source effects, however, were invariant with respect to age and, in both age groups, the magnitude of the effects correlated with source memory performance. It is concluded that negative item effects do not reflect processes necessary for the successful encoding of item–context associations in older subjects. Negative source effects, in contrast, appear to reflect the engagement of processes that are equally important for successful episodic encoding in older and younger individuals. PMID:23904464

When hard times take a toll: the distressing consequences of economic hardship and life events within the family-work interface.

PubMed

Young, Marisa; Schieman, Scott

2012-03-01

Using two waves of data from a national survey of working Americans (N = 1,122), we examine the associations among economic hardship, negative life events, and psychological distress in the context of the family-work interface. Our findings demonstrate that family-to-work conflict mediates the effects of economic hardship and negative events to significant others on distress (net of baseline distress and hardship). Moreover, economic hardship and negative events to significant others moderate the association between family-to-work conflict and distress. While negative events to others exacerbate the positive effect of family-to-work conflict on distress, we find the opposite for economic hardship: The positive association between hardship and distress is weaker at higher levels of family-to-work conflict. These patterns hold across an array of family, work, and sociodemographic conditions. We discuss how these findings refine and extend ideas of the stress process model, including complex predictions related to processes of stress-buffering, resource substitution, and role multiplication.

Strategy Effects Counteract Distractor Inhibition: Negative Priming with Constantly Absent Probe Distractors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frings, Christian; Wentura, Dirk

2006-01-01

It is an accepted, albeit puzzling finding that negative priming (NP) hinges on the presence of distractors in probe displays. In three experiments without probe distractors, the authors yielded evidence that response-biasing processes based on the contingency between prime and probe displays may have caused this finding. It is argued that it is…

Analysis of the Encoding Factors That Produce the Negative Repetition Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulligan, Neil W.; Peterson, Daniel J.

2014-01-01

Perhaps the most basic finding in memory research is the repetition effect--the fact that repetition enhances memory. Peterson and Mulligan (2012) recently documented a surprising "negative repetition effect," in which participants who studied a list of cue-target pairs twice recalled "fewer" targets than a group who studied…

Negative affect and parental aggression in child physical abuse.

PubMed

Mammen, Oommen K; Kolko, David J; Pilkonis, Paul A

2002-04-01

Parental negative affect is a risk factor for child physical abuse. As negative affect contributes to aggression, and because physical abuse involves an aggressive act directed at the child, we examined the relationship between negative affect and parent-to-child aggression (PTCA) in parents reported to Child Protective Services for physical abuse. Baseline assessment data were retrospectively examined on 49 participants in a treatment study for child physical abuse. The negative affects studied were depression, anxiety, and hostility on the Beck Depression Inventory and the Brief Symptom Inventory. PTCA was assessed using the physical aggression subscales (Minor and Severe Physical Violence) of the Conflict Tactics Scale. The contribution of these negative affects to PTCA was examined after controlling individually for the effects of parental attributions and contextual variables widely regarded as etiological factors in child physical abuse. Contributions of negative affect to PTCA after individually controlling for other predictors were found for Minor Physical Violence but not Severe Physical Violence. Findings were strongest with depression on the Beck Depression Inventory and to a lesser extent with hostility on the Brief Symptom Inventory. Finding that negative affect contributed to PTCA in this sample suggests that it may be important to study the effects of emotion-focused treatments in physically abusive parents. These findings also suggest that PTCA may have qualities of impulsive aggression, a form of aggression that is conceptualized as driven by negative affect, occurs in response to aversive events, and is not planned.

An investigation of the effect of body dissatisfaction on selective attention toward negative shape and weight-related information.

PubMed

Smith, Evelyn; Rieger, Elizabeth

2010-05-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of inducing body dissatisfaction on selective attention toward negative shape and weight-related information. A total of 54 female undergraduate university students were randomly allocated to one of three induction conditions: body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and neutral. Subsequently, participants' attentional bias toward negative shape/weight words was measured using a dot probe task. Contrary to the hypotheses, participants in the body dissatisfaction condition did not demonstrate an increase in attention toward negative shape/weight words compared with the negative mood and neutral conditions. Indeed, it was the negative mood induction that resulted in significantly increased attention toward negative shape/weight words relative to the body dissatisfaction condition. The finding that the negative mood (rather than the body dissatisfaction) induction triggered an attentional bias toward shape- and weight-related information is discussed in terms of the anxiety literature given the nature of the mood induction utilized. This finding might help to account for the high comorbidity between eating disorders and anxiety disorders and suggests the possible relevance of attentional training interventions designed for anxiety disorders in the treatment of eating disorders. 2009 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Can positive social exchanges buffer the detrimental effects of negative social exchanges? Age and gender differences.

PubMed

Fiori, Katherine L; Windsor, Tim D; Pearson, Elissa L; Crisp, Dimity A

2013-01-01

Findings from existing research exploring whether positive social exchanges can help to offset (or 'buffer' against) the harmful effects of negative social exchanges on mental health have been inconsistent. This could be because the existing research is characterized by different approaches to studying various contexts of 'cross-domain' and 'within-domain' buffering, and/or because the nature of buffering effects varies according to sociodemographic characteristics that underlie different aspects of social network structure and function. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the buffering effects of global perceptions of positive exchanges on the link between global negative exchanges and mental health varied as a function of age and gender. We used a series of regressions in a sample of 556 Australian older adults (ages 55-94) to test for three-way interactions among gender, positive social exchanges, and negative social exchanges, as well as age and positive and negative social exchanges, in predicting mental health, controlling for years of education, partner status, and physical functioning. We found that positive exchanges buffered against negative exchanges for younger old adults, but not for older old adults, and for women, but not for men. Our findings are interpreted in light of research on individual differences in coping responses and interpersonal goals among late middle-aged and older adults. Our findings are in line with gerontological theories (e.g., socioemotional selectivity theory), and imply that an intervention aimed at using positive social exchanges as a means of coping with negative social exchanges might be more successful among particular populations (i.e., women, 'younger' old adults). Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Negative incidental emotions augment fairness sensitivity.

PubMed

Liu, Cuizhen; Chai, Jing Wen; Yu, Rongjun

2016-04-22

Previous studies have shown that task-unrelated emotions induced incidentally exert carryover effects on individuals' subsequent decisions in financial negotiations. However, the specificity of these emotion effects are not clear. In three experiments, we systematically investigated the role of seven transiently induced basic emotions (disgust, sadness, anger, fear, happiness, surprise and neutral) on rejection of unfair offers using the ultimatum game. We found that all negative emotions (disgust, sadness, anger and fear), but not happiness or surprise, significantly increased rejection rates, suggesting that the effect of incidental negative emotions on fairness is not specific to the type of negative emotion. Our findings highlight the role of fleeting emotions in biasing decision-making processes and suggest that all incidental negative emotions exert similar effects on fairness sensitivity, possibly by potentiating attention towards negative aspects of the situation.

Cross-Cultural Generalizability of Year in School Effects: Negative Effects of Acceleration and Positive Effects of Retention on Academic Self-Concept

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, Herbert W.

2016-01-01

Given that the Big-Fish-Little-Pond-Effect, the negative effect of school-average achievement on academic self-concept, is one of the most robust findings in educational psychology (Marsh, Seaton et al., 2007), this research extends the theoretical model, based on social comparison theory, to study relative year in school effects (e.g., being 1…

Sensitivity of negative subsequent memory and task-negative effects to age and associative memory performance.

PubMed

de Chastelaine, Marianne; Mattson, Julia T; Wang, Tracy H; Donley, Brian E; Rugg, Michael D

2015-07-01

The present fMRI experiment employed associative recognition to investigate the relationships between age and encoding-related negative subsequent memory effects and task-negative effects. Young, middle-aged and older adults (total n=136) were scanned while they made relational judgments on visually presented word pairs. In a later memory test, the participants made associative recognition judgments on studied, rearranged (items studied on different trials) and new pairs. Several regions, mostly localized to the default mode network, demonstrated negative subsequent memory effects in an across age-group analysis. All but one of these regions also demonstrated task-negative effects, although there was no correlation between the size of the respective effects. Whereas negative subsequent memory effects demonstrated a graded attenuation with age, task-negative effects declined markedly between the young and the middle-aged group, but showed no further reduction in the older group. Negative subsequent memory effects did not correlate with memory performance within any age group. By contrast, in the older group only, task-negative effects predicted later memory performance. The findings demonstrate that negative subsequent memory and task-negative effects depend on dissociable neural mechanisms and likely reflect distinct cognitive processes. The relationship between task-negative effects and memory performance in the older group might reflect the sensitivity of these effects to variations in amount of age-related neuropathology. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Memory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of positive emotion on consolidation of memory for faces: the modulation of facial valence and facial gender.

PubMed

Wang, Bo

2013-01-01

Studies have shown that emotion elicited after learning enhances memory consolidation. However, no prior studies have used facial photos as stimuli. This study examined the effect of post-learning positive emotion on consolidation of memory for faces. During the learning participants viewed neutral, positive, or negative faces. Then they were assigned to a condition in which they either watched a 9-minute positive video clip, or a 9-minute neutral video. Then 30 minutes after the learning participants took a surprise memory test, in which they made "remember", "know", and "new" judgements. The findings are: (1) Positive emotion enhanced consolidation of recognition for negative male faces, but impaired consolidation of recognition for negative female faces; (2) For males, recognition for negative faces was equivalent to that for positive faces; for females, recognition for negative faces was better than that for positive faces. Our study provides the important evidence that effect of post-learning emotion on memory consolidation can extend to facial stimuli and such an effect can be modulated by facial valence and facial gender. The findings may shed light on establishing models concerning the influence of emotion on memory consolidation.

The Effects of Parents' Psychiatric Disorders on Children's High School Dropout.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farahati, F.; Marcotte, D. E.; Wilcox-Gok, V.

2003-01-01

Investigates the effect of parents' mental illness on the schooling of their children. Finds that parents' mental illnesses increase the probability of high school dropout of children, though these effects differ markedly with disease. Also finds that parental mental illness has more consistently negative effects on girls than on boys. (Contains…

The interactive effects of negative symptoms and social role functioning on suicide ideation in individuals with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Jahn, Danielle R; Bennett, Melanie E; Park, Stephanie G; Gur, Raquel E; Horan, William P; Kring, Ann M; Blanchard, Jack J

2016-02-01

Findings regarding the protective effect of social role functioning on suicide ideation in individuals with schizophrenia have been mixed. One reason for such inconsistencies in the literature may be that individuals with prominent negative symptoms of schizophrenia may not experience a desire for social closeness, and therefore social role functioning may not influence suicide risk in these individuals. The aim of this study was to examine the moderating effects of self-reported desire for social closeness and interviewer-rated negative symptoms on the relationship between social role functioning and suicide ideation. Our sample consisted of 162 individuals who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders; all participants completed self-report questionnaires and clinician-administered interviews, and moderation hypotheses were tested with a non-parametric procedure. The results indicated that motivation and pleasure-related negative symptoms moderated the relationship between social role functioning and suicide ideation; self-reported desire for social closeness and negative symptoms related to expression did not have such a moderating effect. Specifically, better social role functioning was associated with less suicide ideation only in those individuals who had low motivation and pleasure-related negative symptoms; no significant relationship was observed between social role functioning and suicide ideation among those with elevated motivation and pleasure-related negative symptoms. These findings suggest that assessing for negative symptoms and social role functioning may inform suicide risk assessments in individuals with schizophrenia, and improving social role functioning may reduce suicide ideation among those with few motivation and pleasure-related negative symptoms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Unique Effects of Parental Alcohol and Affective Disorders, Parenting, and Parental Negative Affect on Adolescent Maladjustment

PubMed Central

Haller, Moira; Chassin, Laurie

2010-01-01

Using a high-risk community sample, multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for mothers (N=416) and fathers (N= 346) to test the unique, prospective influence of parental negative affect on adolescent maladjustment (internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and negative emotionality) two years later over and above parental alcohol and affective disorders, major disruption in the family environment, and parenting. Adolescent sex was tested as a moderator. Results indicated that maternal (but not paternal) negative affect had a unique, prospective effect on adolescent internalizing symptoms in girls and negative emotionality in both sexes, but did not predict adolescent externalizing symptoms. Findings demonstrate that mothers’ negative affect may have unique effects on adolescent adjustment, separate from the effects of clinically significant parental psychopathology, parenting, and disruption in the family environment. PMID:23761947

The Unique Effects of Parental Alcohol and Affective Disorders, Parenting, and Parental Negative Affect on Adolescent Maladjustment.

PubMed

Haller, Moira; Chassin, Laurie

2011-07-01

Using a high-risk community sample, multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for mothers ( N =416) and fathers ( N = 346) to test the unique, prospective influence of parental negative affect on adolescent maladjustment (internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and negative emotionality) two years later over and above parental alcohol and affective disorders, major disruption in the family environment, and parenting. Adolescent sex was tested as a moderator. Results indicated that maternal (but not paternal) negative affect had a unique, prospective effect on adolescent internalizing symptoms in girls and negative emotionality in both sexes, but did not predict adolescent externalizing symptoms. Findings demonstrate that mothers' negative affect may have unique effects on adolescent adjustment, separate from the effects of clinically significant parental psychopathology, parenting, and disruption in the family environment.

Negative incidental emotions augment fairness sensitivity

PubMed Central

Liu, Cuizhen; Chai, Jing Wen; Yu, Rongjun

2016-01-01

Previous studies have shown that task-unrelated emotions induced incidentally exert carryover effects on individuals’ subsequent decisions in financial negotiations. However, the specificity of these emotion effects are not clear. In three experiments, we systematically investigated the role of seven transiently induced basic emotions (disgust, sadness, anger, fear, happiness, surprise and neutral) on rejection of unfair offers using the ultimatum game. We found that all negative emotions (disgust, sadness, anger and fear), but not happiness or surprise, significantly increased rejection rates, suggesting that the effect of incidental negative emotions on fairness is not specific to the type of negative emotion. Our findings highlight the role of fleeting emotions in biasing decision-making processes and suggest that all incidental negative emotions exert similar effects on fairness sensitivity, possibly by potentiating attention towards negative aspects of the situation. PMID:27101931

How do people learn from negative evidence? Non-monotonic generalizations and sampling assumptions in inductive reasoning.

PubMed

Voorspoels, Wouter; Navarro, Daniel J; Perfors, Amy; Ransom, Keith; Storms, Gert

2015-09-01

A robust finding in category-based induction tasks is for positive observations to raise the willingness to generalize to other categories while negative observations lower the willingness to generalize. This pattern is referred to as monotonic generalization. Across three experiments we find systematic non-monotonicity effects, in which negative observations raise the willingness to generalize. Experiments 1 and 2 show that this effect emerges in hierarchically structured domains when a negative observation from a different category is added to a positive observation. They also demonstrate that this is related to a specific kind of shift in the reasoner's hypothesis space. Experiment 3 shows that the effect depends on the assumptions that the reasoner makes about how inductive arguments are constructed. Non-monotonic reasoning occurs when people believe the facts were put together by a helpful communicator, but monotonicity is restored when they believe the observations were sampled randomly from the environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Negative affect, negative urgency, thought suppression, and bulimic symptoms: a moderated mediation analysis in a sample at-risk for bulimic symptoms.

PubMed

Lavender, Jason M; Green, Daniel; Anestis, Michael D; Tull, Matthew T; Gratz, Kim L

2015-05-01

Research suggests that negative affect, negative urgency, and thought suppression are related to bulimic symptoms, either directly or indirectly. This study examined associations between these constructs in a sample at-risk for bulimic symptoms. Participants (N = 80) recruited from a residential substance abuse treatment facility completed self-report questionnaires. A regression-based bootstrapping approach was used to examine the indirect effect of negative affect on bulimic symptoms through negative urgency and the moderating role of thought suppression in the association between negative affect and negative urgency. Results revealed a significant indirect effect, significant moderation, and a significant moderated mediation effect, with an indirect effect of negative affect on bulimic symptoms through negative urgency, conditional upon low to moderate (but not high) levels of thought suppression. These findings suggest that negative affect may promote rash actions, particularly in the context of low to moderate thought suppression, leading to increased risk of bulimic symptoms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Increased Perceptual and Conceptual Processing Difficulty Makes the Immeasurable Measurable: Negative Priming in the Absence of Probe Distractors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frings, Christian; Spence, Charles

2011-01-01

Negative priming (NP) refers to the finding that people's responses to probe targets previously presented as prime distractors are usually slower and more error prone than to unrepeated stimuli. In a typical NP experiment, each probe target is accompanied by a distractor. It is an accepted, albeit puzzling, finding that the NP effect depends on…

Negative frequencies in wave propagation: A microscopic model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horsley, S. A. R.; Bugler-Lamb, S.

2016-06-01

A change in the sign of the frequency of a wave between two inertial reference frames corresponds to a reversal of the phase velocity. Yet from the point of view of the relation E =ℏ ω , a positive quantum of energy apparently becomes a negative-energy one. This is physically distinct from a change in the sign of the wave vector and can be associated with various effects such as Cherenkov radiation, quantum friction, and the Hawking effect. In this work we provide a more detailed understanding of these negative-frequency modes based on a simple microscopic model of a dielectric medium as a lattice of scatterers. We calculate the classical and quantum mechanical radiation damping of an oscillator moving through such a lattice and find that the modes where the frequency has changed sign contribute negatively. In terms of the lattice of scatterers we find that this negative radiation damping arises due to the phase of the periodic force experienced by the oscillator due to the relative motion of the lattice.

The Emergence of Parent-Child Coercive Processes in Toddlerhood

PubMed Central

Chang, Hyein; Shaw, Daniel S.

2015-01-01

Parent-child coercion typically emerges in toddlerhood with the child’s first acts of willful defiance and the parent’s first disciplinary attempts. We explored how parents and children may contribute to this process by examining bidirectional and interactive effects between child and maternal negative behavior in 310 low-income, ethnically diverse boys. Using multiple informants and methods, child negative emotionality and maternal negative control were assessed at 18 months and child disruptive behavior and maternal negative control were measured at 24 months. Indicative of parent effects, maternal negative control at 18 months amplified the relation between children’s negative emotionality at 18 months and disruptive behavior at 24 months. Child effects were found in an unexpected direction such that children’s negative emotionality at 18 months predicted decreases in mothers’ negative control at 24 months. Findings are discussed within a transactional framework that emphasizes mutual influence of children and parents over the course of development. PMID:26068801

Effects of induced and naturalistic mood on the temporal allocation of attention to emotional information.

PubMed

Farach, Frank J; Treat, Teresa A; Jungé, Justin A

2014-01-01

Building upon recent findings that affective states can influence the allocation of spatial attention, we investigate how state, trait and induced mood are related to the temporal allocation of attention to emotional information. In the present study, 125 unscreened undergraduates completed a modified rapid serial visual presentation task designed to assess the time course of attention to positive and negative information, comparing a neutral baseline mood induction to either a positive or negative mood induction. Induced negative mood facilitated attentional engagement to positive information while decreasing attentional engagement to negative information. Greater naturally occurring negative state mood was associated with faster or more efficient disengagement of attention from negative information in the presence of manipulated negative mood, relative to baseline. The engagement findings were inconsistent with our mood-congruence hypotheses and may be better explained by mood repair or affective counter-regulation theories. In contrast, the disengagement findings for state mood were somewhat consistent with our mood-congruence hypotheses. The relationship between mood and attention to emotional information may differ depending on the combination of attentional mechanism (engagement versus disengagement), aspect of mood (state, trait or induced), stimulus valence (positive versus negative) and timescale (early versus late) under investigation.

Child Negative Emotionality and Parental Harsh Discipline in Chinese Preschoolers: The Different Mediating Roles of Maternal and Paternal Anxiety

PubMed Central

Xing, Xiaopei; Zhang, Hongli; Shao, Shuhui; Wang, Meifang

2017-01-01

Previous research has suggested that harsh discipline is still prevalent in modern Chinese families and it is necessary to explore the cause and the potential mechanisms of Chinese parental use of harsh discipline. This study examined the mediating effects of parental anxiety in the relations between child negative emotionality and parental harsh discipline in China. Using a sample of 328 Chinese father-mother dyads with their young children, findings revealed that maternal anxiety mediated the relations between child negative emotionality and maternal psychological aggression and corporal punishment, but the mediating effects of paternal anxiety on the relations between child negative emotionality and paternal harsh discipline was not significant. The findings provide an important supplement and extension to previous examinations of the factors associated with Chinese parental use of harsh discipline and its mechanisms. PMID:28326056

Child Negative Emotionality and Parental Harsh Discipline in Chinese Preschoolers: The Different Mediating Roles of Maternal and Paternal Anxiety.

PubMed

Xing, Xiaopei; Zhang, Hongli; Shao, Shuhui; Wang, Meifang

2017-01-01

Previous research has suggested that harsh discipline is still prevalent in modern Chinese families and it is necessary to explore the cause and the potential mechanisms of Chinese parental use of harsh discipline. This study examined the mediating effects of parental anxiety in the relations between child negative emotionality and parental harsh discipline in China. Using a sample of 328 Chinese father-mother dyads with their young children, findings revealed that maternal anxiety mediated the relations between child negative emotionality and maternal psychological aggression and corporal punishment, but the mediating effects of paternal anxiety on the relations between child negative emotionality and paternal harsh discipline was not significant. The findings provide an important supplement and extension to previous examinations of the factors associated with Chinese parental use of harsh discipline and its mechanisms.

Prosocial Behavior Mitigates the Negative Effects of Stress in Everyday Life

PubMed Central

Raposa, Elizabeth B.; Laws, Holly B.; Ansell, Emily B.

2015-01-01

Recent theories of stress reactivity posit that, when stressed, individuals tend to seek out opportunities to affiliate with and nurture others in order to prevent or mitigate the negative effects of stress. However, few studies have tested empirically the role of prosocial behavior in reducing negative emotional responses to stress. The current analyses used daily diary data to investigate whether engaging in prosocial behavior buffered the negative effects of naturally-occurring stressors on emotional well-being. Results showed that on a given day, prosocial behavior moderated the effects of stress on positive affect, negative affect, and overall mental health. Findings suggest that affiliative behavior may be an important component of coping with stress, and indicate that engaging in prosocial behavior might be an effective strategy for reducing the impact of stress on emotional functioning. PMID:27500075

Prosocial Behavior Mitigates the Negative Effects of Stress in Everyday Life.

PubMed

Raposa, Elizabeth B; Laws, Holly B; Ansell, Emily B

2016-07-01

Recent theories of stress reactivity posit that, when stressed, individuals tend to seek out opportunities to affiliate with and nurture others in order to prevent or mitigate the negative effects of stress. However, few studies have tested empirically the role of prosocial behavior in reducing negative emotional responses to stress. The current analyses used daily diary data to investigate whether engaging in prosocial behavior buffered the negative effects of naturally-occurring stressors on emotional well-being. Results showed that on a given day, prosocial behavior moderated the effects of stress on positive affect, negative affect, and overall mental health. Findings suggest that affiliative behavior may be an important component of coping with stress, and indicate that engaging in prosocial behavior might be an effective strategy for reducing the impact of stress on emotional functioning.

Pervasive negative effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation: The myth continues

PubMed Central

Cameron, Judy; Banko, Katherine M.; Pierce, W. David

2001-01-01

A major concern in psychology and education is that rewards decrease intrinsic motivation to perform activities. Over the past 30 years, more than 100 experimental studies have been conducted on this topic. In 1994, Cameron and Pierce conducted a meta-analysis of this literature and concluded that negative effects of reward were limited and could be easily prevented in applied settings. A more recent meta-analysis of the literature by Deci, Koestner, and Ryan (1999) shows pervasive negative effects of reward. The purpose of the present article is to resolve differences in previous meta-analytic findings and to provide a meta-analysis of rewards and intrinsic motivation that permits tests of competing theoretical explanations. Our results suggest that in general, rewards are not harmful to motivation to perform a task. Rewards given for low-interest tasks enhance free-choice intrinsic motivation. On high-interest tasks, verbal rewards produce positive effects on free-choice motivation and self-reported task interest. Negative effects are found on high-interest tasks when the rewards are tangible, expected (offered beforehand), and loosely tied to level of performance. When rewards are linked to level of performance, measures of intrinsic motivation increase or do not differ from a nonrewarded control group. Overall, the pattern of results indicates that reward contingencies do not have pervasive negative effects on intrinsic motivation. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are addressed. PMID:22478353

Pervasive negative effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation: The myth continues.

PubMed

Cameron, J; Banko, K M; Pierce, W D

2001-01-01

A major concern in psychology and education is that rewards decrease intrinsic motivation to perform activities. Over the past 30 years, more than 100 experimental studies have been conducted on this topic. In 1994, Cameron and Pierce conducted a meta-analysis of this literature and concluded that negative effects of reward were limited and could be easily prevented in applied settings. A more recent meta-analysis of the literature by Deci, Koestner, and Ryan (1999) shows pervasive negative effects of reward. The purpose of the present article is to resolve differences in previous meta-analytic findings and to provide a meta-analysis of rewards and intrinsic motivation that permits tests of competing theoretical explanations. Our results suggest that in general, rewards are not harmful to motivation to perform a task. Rewards given for low-interest tasks enhance free-choice intrinsic motivation. On high-interest tasks, verbal rewards produce positive effects on free-choice motivation and self-reported task interest. Negative effects are found on high-interest tasks when the rewards are tangible, expected (offered beforehand), and loosely tied to level of performance. When rewards are linked to level of performance, measures of intrinsic motivation increase or do not differ from a nonrewarded control group. Overall, the pattern of results indicates that reward contingencies do not have pervasive negative effects on intrinsic motivation. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are addressed.

Negative Priming in Free Recall Reconsidered

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Negative priming in free recall is the finding of impaired memory performance when previously ignored auditory distracters become targets of encoding and retrieval. This negative priming has been attributed to an aftereffect of deploying inhibitory mechanisms that serve to suppress auditory distraction and minimize interference with learning and retrieval of task-relevant information. In 6 experiments, we tested the inhibitory account of the effect of negative priming in free recall against alternative accounts. We found that ignoring auditory distracters is neither sufficient nor necessary to produce the effect of negative priming in free recall. Instead, the effect is more readily accounted for by a buildup of proactive interference occurring whenever 2 successively presented lists of words are drawn from the same semantic category. PMID:26595066

Manipulating affective state influences conditioned appetitive responses.

PubMed

Arnaudova, Inna; Krypotos, Angelos-Miltiadis; Effting, Marieke; Kindt, Merel; Beckers, Tom

2017-10-06

Affective states influence how individuals process information and behave. Some theories predict emotional congruency effects (e.g. preferential processing of negative information in negative affective states). Emotional congruency should theoretically obstruct the learning of reward associations (appetitive learning) and their ability to guide behaviour under negative mood. Two studies tested the effects of the induction of a negative affective state on appetitive Pavlovian learning, in which neutral stimuli were associated with chocolate (Experiment 1) or alcohol (Experiment 2) rewards. In both experiments, participants showed enhanced approach tendencies towards predictors of reward after a negative relative to a positive performance feedback manipulation. This increase was related to a reduction in positive affect in Experiment 1 only. No effects of the manipulation on conditioned reward expectancies, craving, or consumption were observed. Overall, our findings support the idea of counter-regulation, rather than emotional congruency effects. Negative affective states might therefore serve as a vulnerability factor for addiction, through increasing conditioned approach tendencies.

"We Dance and Find Each Other"1: Effects of Dance/Movement Therapy on Negative Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Hildebrandt, Malin K; Koch, Sabine C; Fuchs, Thomas

2016-11-10

The treatment of deficits in social interaction, a shared symptom cluster in persons with schizophrenia (negative symptoms) and autism spectrum disorder (DSM-5 A-criterion), has so far remained widely unsuccessful in common approaches of psychotherapy. The alternative approach of embodiment brings to focus body-oriented intervention methods based on a theoretic framework that explains the disorders on a more basic level than common theory of mind approaches. The randomized controlled trial at hand investigated the effects of a 10-week manualized dance and movement therapy intervention on negative symptoms in participants with autism spectrum disorder. Although the observed effects failed to reach significance at the conventional 0.05 threshold, possibly due to an undersized sample, an encouraging trend towards stronger symptom reduction in the treatment group for overall negative symptoms and for almost all subtypes was found at the 0.10-level. Effect sizes were small but clinically meaningful, and the resulting patterns were in accordance with theoretical expectations. The study at hand contributes to finding an effective treatment approach for autism spectrum disorder in accordance with the notion of embodiment .

“We Dance and Find Each Other”1: Effects of Dance/Movement Therapy on Negative Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Hildebrandt, Malin K.; Koch, Sabine C.; Fuchs, Thomas

2016-01-01

The treatment of deficits in social interaction, a shared symptom cluster in persons with schizophrenia (negative symptoms) and autism spectrum disorder (DSM-5 A-criterion), has so far remained widely unsuccessful in common approaches of psychotherapy. The alternative approach of embodiment brings to focus body-oriented intervention methods based on a theoretic framework that explains the disorders on a more basic level than common theory of mind approaches. The randomized controlled trial at hand investigated the effects of a 10-week manualized dance and movement therapy intervention on negative symptoms in participants with autism spectrum disorder. Although the observed effects failed to reach significance at the conventional 0.05 threshold, possibly due to an undersized sample, an encouraging trend towards stronger symptom reduction in the treatment group for overall negative symptoms and for almost all subtypes was found at the 0.10-level. Effect sizes were small but clinically meaningful, and the resulting patterns were in accordance with theoretical expectations. The study at hand contributes to finding an effective treatment approach for autism spectrum disorder in accordance with the notion of embodiment. PMID:27834905

Lack of association between dopaminergic antagonism and negative symptoms in schizophrenia: a positron emission tomography dopamine D2/3 receptor occupancy study

PubMed Central

Fervaha, Gagan; Caravaggio, Fernando; Mamo, David C.; Mulsant, Benoit H.; Pollock, Bruce G.; Nakajima, Shinichiro; Gerretsen, Philip; Rajji, Tarek K.; Mar, Wanna; Iwata, Yusuke; Plitman, Eric; Chung, Jun Ku; Remington, Gary; Graff-Guerrero, Ariel

2016-01-01

Rationale Several pre-clinical studies suggest that antipsychotic medications cause secondary negative symptoms. However, direct evidence for a relationship among antipsychotic medications, their direct effects on neurotransmitter systems, and negative symptoms in schizophrenia remains controversial. Objective The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between antipsychotic-related dopamine D2/3 receptor occupancy and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Methods Forty-one clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia participated in this prospective dose reduction positron emission tomography (PET) study. Clinical assessments and [11C]-raclopride PET scans were performed before and after participants underwent gradual dose reduction of their antipsychotic medication by up to 40% from the baseline dose. Results No significant relationship was found between antipsychotic-related dopamine D2/3 receptor occupancy and negative symptom severity at baseline or follow-up. Similar null findings were found for subdomains of negative symptoms (amotivation and diminished expression). Occupancy was significantly lower following dose reduction; however, negative symptom severity did not change significantly, though a trend toward reduction was noted. Examination of change scores between these two variables revealed no systematic relationship. Conclusions Our cross-sectional and longitudinal results failed to find a significant dose-dependent relationship between severity of negative symptoms and antipsychotic-related dopaminergic antagonism in schizophrenia. These findings argue against the notion that antipsychotics necessarily cause secondary negative symptoms. Our results are also in contrast with the behavioural effects of dopaminergic antagonism routinely reported in pre-clinical investigations, suggesting that the role of this variable in the context of chronic treatment and schizophrenia needs to be re-examined. PMID:27557949

Negativity bias and task motivation: testing the effectiveness of positively versus negatively framed incentives.

PubMed

Goldsmith, Kelly; Dhar, Ravi

2013-12-01

People are frequently challenged by goals that demand effort and persistence. As a consequence, philosophers, psychologists, economists, and others have studied the factors that enhance task motivation. Using a sample of undergraduate students and a sample of working adults, we demonstrate that the manner in which an incentive is framed has implications for individuals' task motivation. In both samples we find that individuals are less motivated when an incentive is framed as a means to accrue a gain (positive framing) as compared with when the same incentive is framed as a means to avoid a loss (negative framing). Further, we provide evidence for the role of the negativity bias in this effect, and highlight specific populations for whom positive framing may be least motivating. Interestingly, we find that people's intuitions about when they will be more motivated show the opposite pattern, with people predicting that positively framed incentives will be more motivating than negatively framed incentives. We identify a lay belief in the positive correlation between enjoyment and task motivation as one possible factor contributing to the disparity between predicted and actual motivation as a result of the framing of the incentive. We conclude with a discussion of the managerial implications for these findings. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Negative Emotions and Alcohol Use Initiation in High-Risk Boys: The Moderating Effect of Good Inhibitory Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pardini, Dustin; Lochman, John; Wells, Karen

2004-01-01

Studies on the relation between negative affect and later alcohol use have provided mixed results. Because definitions of negative affect often include diverse emotions, researchers have begun to dismantle this higher-order construct in an attempt to explain these inconsistent findings. More recent evidence also indicates that good inhibitory…

Preschool Children's Adjustment Following a Hurricane: Risk and Resilience in the Face of Adversity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terranova, Andrew M.; Morris, Amanda Sheffield; Myers, Sonya; Kithakye, Mumbe; Morris, Michael D. S.

2015-01-01

Research Findings: It is clear that disasters negatively affect both adults and children. Yet there is little research examining the mechanisms whereby some people are negatively affected by disasters whereas others are resilient to these negative effects. Family functioning and child characteristics might be factors that influence the impact of…

Time course of effects of emotion on item memory and source memory for Chinese words.

PubMed

Wang, Bo; Fu, Xiaolan

2011-05-01

Although many studies have investigated the effect of emotion on memory, it is unclear whether the effect of emotion extends to all aspects of an event. In addition, it is poorly understood how effects of emotion on item memory and source memory change over time. This study examined the time course of effects of emotion on item memory and source memory. Participants learned intentionally a list of neutral, positive, and negative Chinese words, which were presented twice, and then took test of free recall, followed by recognition and source memory tests, at one of eight delayed points of time. The main findings are (within the time frame of 2 weeks): (1) Negative emotion enhances free recall, whereas there is only a trend that positive emotion enhances free recall. In addition, negative and positive emotions have different points of time at which their effects on free recall reach the greatest magnitude. (2) Negative emotion reduces recognition, whereas positive emotion has no effect on recognition. (3) Neither positive nor negative emotion has any effect on source memory. The above findings indicate that effect of emotion does not necessarily extend to all aspects of an event and that valence is a critical modulating factor in effect of emotion on item memory. Furthermore, emotion does not affect the time course of item memory and source memory, at least with a time frame of 2 weeks. This study has implications for establishing the theoretical model regarding the effect of emotion on memory. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Worker and mother roles, spillover effects, and psychological distress.

PubMed

Barnett, R C; Marshall, N L

1992-01-01

This paper examines the relationship between the occupancy and quality of multiple-roles and psychological distress in a stratified random sample of 403 women employed as licensed practical nurses and social workers. We examined the main effects of the quality of the employee and parent roles and the interaction effects between these variables. Negative- and positive-spillover effects, from job to parenting and from parenting to job, were examined in an attempt to illuminate the processes by which multiple roles affect employed mothers' vulnerability or resilience to psychological distress. We found no negative-spillover effects from job to parenting or from parenting to job, but we did find positive-spillover effects from job to parenting. Women with rewarding jobs were protected from the negative mental-health effects of troubled relationships with their children. This protection accrued to employed mothers regardless of their partnership status or the age of their children. Although based on cross-sectional analyses, these findings suggest mechanisms by which employed mothers reap a mental-health advantage from multiple roles, even when some of those roles are stressful.

The Effect Of Stem Degrees On The Performance And Retention Of Junior Officers In The U.S. Navy

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s thesis 4 . TITLE AND SUBTITLE THE EFFECT OF STEM DEGREES ON THE PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION OF JUNIOR OFFICERS IN...has positive and significant effects on retention and on promotion to O- 4 , and a negative effect on Fitness Report performance. Further research can...inconclusive, this thesis’s findings show that a STEM degree has positive and significant effects on retention and on promotion to O- 4 , and a negative effect

Benefits of negative social exchanges for emotional closeness.

PubMed

Fung, Helene H; Yeung, Dannii Y; Li, Kin-Kit; Lang, Frieder R

2009-09-01

Negative exchanges in social relationships have traditionally been studied as having negative consequences. This study explored whether they might have positive effects for relationship closeness. The sample included 351 adults, aged between 18 and 91 years, residing in Hong Kong, China. Closeness of social partners to the participants was measured by the Social Convoy Questionnaire, and the levels of negative exchanges and social support from each social partner were assessed. Multilevel analyses revealed that more negative exchanges were associated with a more positive change in closeness over a 2-year period, even after statistically controlling for social support and sociostructural characteristics of the participant and the social partner. Findings extended our knowledge on the positive effects of negative exchanges and their moderating conditions.

Testing a model of depression among Thai adolescents.

PubMed

Vatanasin, Duangjai; Thapinta, Darawan; Thompson, Elaine Adams; Thungjaroenkul, Petsunee

2012-11-01

This predictive correlational study was designed to test a comprehensive model of depression for Thai adolescents. This sample included 800 high school students in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Data were collected using self-reported measures of depression, negative automatic thoughts, effective social problem solving, ineffective social problem solving, rumination, parental care, parental overprotection, and negative life events. Structural equation modeling revealed that negative automatic thoughts, effective and ineffective social problem solving mediated the effects of rumination, negative life events, and parental care and overprotection on adolescent depression. These findings provide new knowledge about identified factors and the mechanisms of their influence on depression among Thai adolescents, which are appropriate for targeting preventive interventions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Neural evidence for description dependent reward processing in the framing effect.

PubMed

Yu, Rongjun; Zhang, Ping

2014-01-01

Human decision making can be influenced by emotionally valenced contexts, known as the framing effect. We used event-related brain potentials to investigate how framing influences the encoding of reward. We found that the feedback related negativity (FRN), which indexes the "worse than expected" negative prediction error in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), was more negative for the negative frame than for the positive frame in the win domain. Consistent with previous findings that the FRN is not sensitive to "better than expected" positive prediction error, the FRN did not differentiate the positive and negative frame in the loss domain. Our results provide neural evidence that the description invariance principle which states that reward representation and decision making are not influenced by how options are presented is violated in the framing effect.

Positivity effect in healthy aging in observational but not active feedback-learning.

PubMed

Bellebaum, Christian; Rustemeier, Martina; Daum, Irene

2012-01-01

The present study investigated the impact of healthy aging on the bias to learn from positive or negative performance feedback in observational and active feedback learning. In active learning, a previous study had already shown a negative learning bias in healthy seniors older than 75 years, while no bias was found for younger seniors. However, healthy aging is accompanied by a 'positivity effect', a tendency to primarily attend to stimuli with positive valence. Based on recent findings of dissociable neural mechanisms in active and observational feedback learning, the positivity effect was hypothesized to influence older participants' observational feedback learning in particular. In two separate experiments, groups of young (mean age 27) and older participants (mean age 60 years) completed an observational or active learning task designed to differentially assess positive and negative learning. Older but not younger observational learners showed a significant bias to learn better from positive than negative feedback. In accordance with previous findings, no bias was found for active learning. This pattern of results is discussed in terms of differences in the neural underpinnings of active and observational learning from performance feedback.

On the Nature of Clitics and Their Sensitivity to Number Attraction Effects

PubMed Central

Santesteban, Mikel; Zawiszewski, Adam; Erdocia, Kepa; Laka, Itziar

2017-01-01

Pronominal dependencies have been shown to be more resilient to attraction effects than subject-verb agreement. We use this phenomenon to investigate whether antecedent-clitic dependencies in Spanish are computed like agreement or like pronominal dependencies. In Experiment 1, an acceptability judgment self-paced reading task was used. Accuracy data yielded reliable attraction effects in both grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, only in singular (but not plural) clitics. Reading times did not show reliable attraction effects. In Experiment 2, we measured electrophysiological responses to violations, which elicited a biphasic frontal negativity-P600 pattern. Number attraction modulated the frontal negativity but not the amplitude of the P600 component. This differs from ERP findings on subject-verb agreement, since when the baseline matching condition obtained a biphasic pattern, attraction effects only modulated the P600, not the preceding negativity. We argue that these findings support cue-retrieval accounts of dependency resolution and further suggest that the sensitivity to attraction effects shown by clitics resembles more the computation of pronominal dependencies than that of agreement. PMID:28928686

Exposure to thin-ideal media affect most, but not all, women: Results from the Perceived Effects of Media Exposure Scale and open-ended responses.

PubMed

Frederick, David A; Daniels, Elizabeth A; Bates, Morgan E; Tylka, Tracy L

2017-12-01

Findings conflict as to whether thin-ideal media affect women's body satisfaction. Meta-analyses of experimental studies reveal small or null effects, but many women endorse appearance-related media pressure in surveys. Using a novel approach, two samples of women (Ns=656, 770) were exposed to bikini models, fashion models, or control conditions and reported the effects of the images their body image. Many women reported the fashion/bikini models made them feel worse about their stomachs (57%, 64%), weight (50%, 56%), waist (50%, 56%), overall appearance (50%, 56%), muscle tone (46%, 52%), legs (45%, 48%), thighs (40%, 49%), buttocks (40%, 43%), and hips (40%, 46%). In contrast, few women (1-6%) reported negative effects of control images. In open-ended responses, approximately one-third of women explicitly described negative media effects on their body image. Findings revealed that many women perceive negative effects of thin-ideal media in the immediate aftermath of exposures in experimental settings. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the Nature of Clitics and Their Sensitivity to Number Attraction Effects.

PubMed

Santesteban, Mikel; Zawiszewski, Adam; Erdocia, Kepa; Laka, Itziar

2017-01-01

Pronominal dependencies have been shown to be more resilient to attraction effects than subject-verb agreement. We use this phenomenon to investigate whether antecedent-clitic dependencies in Spanish are computed like agreement or like pronominal dependencies. In Experiment 1, an acceptability judgment self-paced reading task was used. Accuracy data yielded reliable attraction effects in both grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, only in singular (but not plural) clitics. Reading times did not show reliable attraction effects. In Experiment 2, we measured electrophysiological responses to violations, which elicited a biphasic frontal negativity-P600 pattern. Number attraction modulated the frontal negativity but not the amplitude of the P600 component. This differs from ERP findings on subject-verb agreement, since when the baseline matching condition obtained a biphasic pattern, attraction effects only modulated the P600, not the preceding negativity. We argue that these findings support cue-retrieval accounts of dependency resolution and further suggest that the sensitivity to attraction effects shown by clitics resembles more the computation of pronominal dependencies than that of agreement.

Drinking Patterns Among Older Couples: Longitudinal Associations With Negative Marital Quality.

PubMed

Birditt, Kira S; Cranford, James A; Manalel, Jasmine A; Antonucci, Toni C

2018-04-16

Research with younger couples indicates that alcohol use has powerful effects on marital quality, but less work has examined the effects of drinking among older couples. This study examined whether dyadic patterns of drinking status among older couples are associated with negative marital quality over time. Married participants (N = 4864) from the Health and Retirement Study reported on alcohol consumption (whether they drink alcohol and average amount consumed per week) and negative marital quality (e.g., criticism and demands) across two waves (Wave 1 2006/2008 and Wave 2 2010/2012). Concordant drinking couples reported decreased negative marital quality over time, and these links were significantly greater among wives. Wives who reported drinking alcohol reported decreased negative marital quality over time when husbands also reported drinking and increased negative marital quality over time when husbands reported not drinking. The present findings stress the importance of considering the drinking status rather than the amount of alcohol consumed of both members of the couple when attempting to understand drinking and marital quality among older couples. These findings are particularly salient given the increased drinking among baby boomers and the importance of marital quality for health among older couples.

When good is stickier than bad: Understanding gain/loss asymmetries in sequential framing effects.

PubMed

Sparks, Jehan; Ledgerwood, Alison

2017-08-01

Considerable research has demonstrated the power of the current positive or negative frame to shape people's current judgments. But humans must often learn about positive and negative information as they encounter that information sequentially over time. It is therefore crucial to consider the potential importance of sequencing when developing an understanding of how humans think about valenced information. Indeed, recent work looking at sequentially encountered frames suggests that some frames can linger outside the context in which they are first encountered, sticking in the mind so that subsequent frames have a muted effect. The present research builds a comprehensive account of sequential framing effects in both the loss and the gain domains. After seeing information about a potential gain or loss framed in positive terms or negative terms, participants saw the same issue reframed in the opposing way. Across 5 studies and 1566 participants, we find accumulating evidence for the notion that in the gain domain, positive frames are stickier than negative frames for novel but not familiar scenarios, whereas in the loss domain, negative frames are always stickier than positive frames. Integrating regulatory focus theory with the literatures on negativity dominance and positivity offset, we develop a new and comprehensive account of sequential framing effects that emphasizes the adaptive value of positivity and negativity biases in specific contexts. Our findings highlight the fact that research conducted solely in the loss domain risks painting an incomplete and oversimplified picture of human bias and suggest new directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Cross-Lagged Associations Between Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms and Negative Cognitive Style: The Role of Negative Life Events.

PubMed

Kindt, Karlijn C M; Kleinjan, Marloes; Janssens, Jan M A M; Scholte, Ron H J

2015-11-01

Previous research has established that cognitive theory-based depression prevention programs aiming change in negative cognitive style in early adolescents do not have strong effects in universal settings. Although theories suggest that a negative cognitive style precedes depressive symptoms, empirical findings are mixed. We hypothesized that negative cognitive style may not predict depressive symptoms in adolescents with normative depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms, negative cognitive style and dependent negative life events were assessed in young adolescents (N = 1343; mean age = 13.4 years, SD = 0.77; 52.3 % girls) at four time points over an 18-month period. Using a cross-lagged panel design, results revealed that depressive symptoms predicted a negative cognitive style but not vice versa. However, when including dependent negative life events as a variable, depressive symptoms did not prospect a negative cognitive style consistently. When dependent negative life events were used as a time-varying covariate, depressive symptoms and a negative cognitive style were not related. We concluded that negative cognitive style is not predictive of depressive symptoms in a community sample of young adolescents. Moreover, the findings suggest that longitudinal relationships between depressive symptoms and a negative cognitive style are not meaningful when dependent negative life events are not considered.

London Education and Inclusion Project (LEIP): Exploring Negative and Null Effects of a Cluster-Randomised School-Intervention to Reduce School Exclusion—Findings from Protocol-Based Subgroup Analyses

PubMed Central

Obsuth, Ingrid; Cope, Aiden; Sutherland, Alex; Pilbeam, Liv; Murray, Aja Louise; Eisner, Manuel

2016-01-01

This paper presents subgroup analyses from the London Education and Inclusion Project (LEIP). LEIP was a cluster-randomised controlled trial of an intervention called Engage in Education-London (EiE-L) which aimed to reduce school exclusions in those at greatest risk of exclusion. Pupils in the control schools attended an hour-long employability seminar. Minimisation was used to randomly assign schools to treatment and control following baseline data collection. The study involved 36 schools (17 in treatment—373 pupils; 19 in control—369 pupils) with >28% free school meal eligibility across London and utilised on pupil self-reports, teacher reports as well as official records to assess the effectiveness of EiE-L. Due to multiple data sources, sample sizes varied according to analysis. Analyses of pre-specified subgroups revealed null and negative effects on school exclusion following the intervention. Our findings suggest that the design and implementation of EiE-L may have contributed to the negative outcomes for pupils in the treatment schools when compared to those in the control schools. These findings call into question the effectiveness of bolt-on short-term interventions with pupils, particularly those at the highest risk of school exclusion and when they are faced with multiple problems. This is especially pertinent given the possibility of negative outcomes. Trial Registration: Controlled Trials: ISRCTN23244695 PMID:27045953

Rate and predictors of negative effects of psychotherapy in psychiatric and psychosomatic inpatients.

PubMed

Rheker, Julia; Beisel, Sylvia; Kräling, Svenja; Rief, Winfried

2017-08-01

Studies examining the rates of negative effects of psychotherapy are rare and the reported rates differ widely. To be able to calculate adequate benefit-cost ratios in conjunction with different samples and settings, we need a deeper understanding of these effects. We therefore investigated whether different treatment settings would reveal varying rates and kinds of negative effects by recruiting patients from a psychiatric (n=93) and a psychosomatic rehabilitation (n=63) hospital. Negative effects of psychotherapy were assessed with the Inventory for the Assessment of Negative Effects of Psychotherapy post-treatment. To investigate whether patients' pre-treatment expectations have an influence on reported negative effects, patients filled in the Patient Questionnaire on Therapy Expectation and Evaluation prior to treatment begin. Patients from the psychiatric hospital reported an average 1.41 negative effects, with 58.7% reporting at least one negative effect. Those from the psychosomatic hospital reported 0.76 negative effects on average, with 45.2% of patients reporting at least one negative effect. The differences between these samples are significant. The two samples' top three reported types of negative effects are that patients had experienced more downs during or just before the end of the therapy, that patients had difficulty making important decisions without the therapist, and that patients were concerned that colleagues or friends might find out about the therapy. A regression analysis revealed that the clinical setting (psychosomatic rehabilitation hospital vs. psychiatric hospital) and expectations in the form of hope of improvement were significant predictors for negative effects of psychotherapy. Our study highlights the need to examine the negative effects of psychotherapy in different settings and samples to better evaluate the benefit-cost ratios of treatments for different patient groups. It also shows that we need guidelines for assessing and reporting negative effects. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The polarizing effect of arousal on negotiation.

PubMed

Brown, Ashley D; Curhan, Jared R

2013-10-01

In this research, we examined the impact of physiological arousal on negotiation outcomes. Conventional wisdom and the prescriptive literature suggest that arousal should be minimized given its negative effect on negotiations, whereas prior research on misattribution of arousal suggests that arousal might polarize outcomes, either negatively or positively. In two experiments, we manipulated arousal and measured its effect on subjective and objective negotiation outcomes. Our results support the polarization effect. When participants had negative prior attitudes toward negotiation, arousal had a detrimental effect on outcomes, whereas when participants had positive prior attitudes toward negotiation, arousal had a beneficial effect on outcomes. These effects occurred because of the construal of arousal as negative or positive affect, respectively. Our findings have important implications not only for negotiation, but also for research on misattribution of arousal, which previously has focused on the target of evaluation, in contrast to the current research, which focused on the critical role of the perceiver.

Reliving emotional personal memories: affective biases linked to personality and sex-related differences.

PubMed

Denkova, Ekaterina; Dolcos, Sanda; Dolcos, Florin

2012-06-01

Although available evidence suggests that the emotional valence and recollective properties of autobiographical memories (AMs) may be influenced by personality- and sex-related differences, overall these relationships remain poorly understood. The present study investigated these issues by comparing the effect of general personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism) and specific traits linked to emotion regulation (ER) strategies (reappraisal and suppression) on the retrieval of emotional AMs and on the associated postretrieval emotional states, in men and women. First, extraversion predicted recollection of positive AMs in both men and women, whereas neuroticism predicted the proportion of negative AMs in men and the frequency of rehearsing negative AMs in women. Second, reappraisal predicted positive AMs in men, and suppression predicted negative AMs in women. Third, while reliving of positive memories had an overall indirect effect on postretrieval positive mood through extraversion, reliving of negative AMs had a direct effect on postretrieval negative mood, which was linked to inefficient engagement of suppression in women. Our findings suggest that personality traits associated with positive affect predict recollection of positive AMs and maintenance of a positive mood, whereas personality traits associated with negative affect, along with differential engagement of habitual ER strategies in men and women, predict sex-related differences in the recollection and experiencing of negative AMs. These findings provide insight into the factors that influence affective biases in reliving AMs, and into their possible link to sex-related differences in the susceptibility to affective disorders.

Effect of emotional cues on prospective memory performance in patients with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Yang, Tian-Xiao; Cui, Xi-Long; Wang, Ya; Huang, Jing; Lui, Simon S Y; Zhang, Rui-Ting; Cheung, Eric F C; Chan, Raymond C K

2018-05-24

Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to remember to carry out future intentions when prompted by a cue, and previous studies have suggested that emotional PM cues may enhance PM performance. This study examined the influence of emotional cues on PM performance in patients with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. All participants were required to respond to emotional or neutral PM cues while completing a working memory task. Healthy participants showed improved PM performance with positive and negative cues. Patients with major depressive disorder were not impaired in PM performance and showed significant improvement in PM performance when cued by negative but not positive cues. Patients with schizophrenia had impaired PM performance irrespective of cue emotionality. In addition, the majority of patients with schizophrenia failed to show an emotional enhancement effect, and only those who had normal arousal ratings for negative PM cues showed emotional enhancement effect. These findings show for the first time that patients with schizophrenia exhibit PM impairments even with emotional cues, and suggest that arousal may be a critical factor for schizophrenia patients to utilize emotional cues to facilitate execution of future actions. In patients with major depressive disorder, our findings suggest that the negative bias in attention and retrospective memory may also extend to memory for future actions. These novel findings have both theoretical and clinical implications. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Differential interference effects of negative emotional states on subsequent semantic and perceptual processing

PubMed Central

Gorlick, Marissa A.; Mather, Mara

2012-01-01

Past studies have revealed that encountering negative events interferes with cognitive processing of subsequent stimuli. The present study investigated whether negative events affect semantic and perceptual processing differently. Presentation of negative pictures produced slower reaction times than neutral or positive pictures in tasks that require semantic processing, such as natural/man-made judgments about drawings of objects, commonness judgments about objects, and categorical judgments about pairs of words. In contrast, negative picture presentation did not slow down judgments in subsequent perceptual processing (e.g., color judgments about words, and size judgments about objects). The subjective arousal level of negative pictures did not modulate the interference effects on semantic/perceptual processing. These findings indicate that encountering negative emotional events interferes with semantic processing of subsequent stimuli more strongly than perceptual processing, and that not all types of subsequent cognitive processing are impaired by negative events. PMID:22142207

Differential interference effects of negative emotional states on subsequent semantic and perceptual processing.

PubMed

Sakaki, Michiko; Gorlick, Marissa A; Mather, Mara

2011-12-01

Past studies have revealed that encountering negative events interferes with cognitive processing of subsequent stimuli. The present study investigates whether negative events affect semantic and perceptual processing differently. Presentation of negative pictures produced slower reaction times than neutral or positive pictures in tasks that require semantic processing, such as natural or man-made judgments about drawings of objects, commonness judgments about objects, and categorical judgments about pairs of words. In contrast, negative picture presentation did not slow down judgments in subsequent perceptual processing (e.g., color judgments about words, size judgments about objects). The subjective arousal level of negative pictures did not modulate the interference effects on semantic or perceptual processing. These findings indicate that encountering negative emotional events interferes with semantic processing of subsequent stimuli more strongly than perceptual processing, and that not all types of subsequent cognitive processing are impaired by negative events. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

The indirect effect of emotion dysregulation in terms of negative affect and smoking-related cognitive processes.

PubMed

Johnson, Adrienne L; McLeish, Alison C

2016-02-01

Although negative affect is associated with a number of smoking-related cognitive processes, the mechanisms underlying these associations have yet to be examined. The current study sought to examine the indirect effect of emotion regulation difficulties in terms of the association between negative affect and smoking-related cognitive processes (internal barriers to cessation, negative affect reduction smoking motives, negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies). Participants were 126 daily cigarette smokers (70.4% male, Mage=36.5years, SD=13.0; 69.8% Caucasian) who smoked an average of 18.5 (SD=8.7) cigarettes per day and reported moderate nicotine dependence. Formal mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS to examine the indirect effect of negative affect on internal barriers to cessation and negative affect reduction smoking motives and outcome expectancies through emotion regulation difficulties. After accounting for the effects of gender, daily smoking rate, and anxiety sensitivity, negative affect was indirectly related to internal barriers to cessation and negative affect reduction smoking motives through emotion regulation difficulties. There was no significant indirect effect for negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies. These findings suggest that greater negative affect is associated with a desire to smoke to reduce this negative affect and perceptions that quitting smoking will be difficult due to negative emotions because of greater difficulties managing these negative emotions. Thus, emotion regulation difficulties may be an important target for smoking cessation interventions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aging and goal-directed emotional attention: distraction reverses emotional biases.

PubMed

Knight, Marisa; Seymour, Travis L; Gaunt, Joshua T; Baker, Christopher; Nesmith, Kathryn; Mather, Mara

2007-11-01

Previous findings reveal that older adults favor positive over negative stimuli in both memory and attention (for a review, see Mather & Carstensen, 2005). This study used eye tracking to investigate the role of cognitive control in older adults' selective visual attention. Younger and older adults viewed emotional-neutral and emotional-emotional pairs of faces and pictures while their gaze patterns were recorded under full or divided attention conditions. Replicating previous eye-tracking findings, older adults allocated less of their visual attention to negative stimuli in negative-neutral stimulus pairings in the full attention condition than younger adults did. However, as predicted by a cognitive-control-based account of the positivity effect in older adults' information processing tendencies (Mather & Knight, 2005), older adults' tendency to avoid negative stimuli was reversed in the divided attention condition. Compared with younger adults, older adults' limited attentional resources were more likely to be drawn to negative stimuli when they were distracted. These findings indicate that emotional goals can have unintended consequences when cognitive control mechanisms are not fully available.

Mobile Phone Use, Emotion Regulation, and Well-Being.

PubMed

Hoffner, Cynthia A; Lee, Sangmi

2015-07-01

This study examined the use of mobile phones to regulate negative emotions, considering both the role of different aspects of phone use and individual differences in emotion regulation strategies. A total of 287 young adult smartphone users completed an online survey that addressed use of mobile phones for negative emotion regulation. They responded to a phone loss scenario by rating how much they would miss various uses/functions of the phone (which could be involved in emotion regulation). Habitual use of reappraisal to regulate emotion was associated with missing both interpersonal contact and social support, but not access to entertainment/information. In contrast, habitual use of emotion suppression was associated only with missing entertainment/information content. Regulating negative emotions via mobile phone was associated with missing all three uses/functions of the phone, but perception that the phone was effective in remediating negative emotion was associated only with missing social support. Well-being was related to greater use and perceived effectiveness of the mobile phone for emotion regulation. Overall, this study demonstrates that mobile phones can yield psychological benefits, depending on how they are used. Findings suggest that using the phone for social support is most likely to lead to effective remediation of negative emotion. Interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed.

Religious coping moderates the relation between racism and psychological well-being among Christian Asian American college students.

PubMed

Kim, Paul Youngbin; Kendall, Dana L; Webb, Marcia

2015-01-01

The authors examined the moderating role of positive and negative religious coping in the relation between racism and psychological well-being in a sample of Catholic and Protestant Asian American college students (N = 107). On the basis of prior theorizing on the 2 types of religious coping, combined with some limited empirical evidence, they predicted that positive religious coping would have a buffering effect (Hypothesis 1) on the racism-mental health relation and that negative religious coping would have an exacerbating effect (Hypothesis 2). Participants completed an online survey containing measures corresponding to the study variables. Results indicated that the interaction between positive religious coping and racism was nonsignificant, so Hypothesis 1 was not supported. For Hypothesis 2, the negative religious coping and racism interaction term was statistically significant, but the moderating effect was in an unexpected direction, such that negative religious coping actually protected against the deleterious impact of racism on mental health. The findings suggest that the theorized deleterious influence of negative religious coping may need to be reconsidered in an Asian American setting. The findings have the potential to inform practitioners who work with Asian American college students to better cope with the detrimental consequences of racism. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Positive and negative affect produce opposing task-irrelevant stimulus preexposure effects.

PubMed

Lazar, Josef; Kaplan, Oren; Sternberg, Terri; Lubow, R E

2012-06-01

In three experiments, groups were exposed to either positive or negative affect video clips, after which they were presented with a series of task-irrelevant stimuli. In the subsequent test task, subjects were required to learn an association between the previously irrelevant stimulus and a consequence, and between a new stimulus and a consequence. Induced positive affect produced a latent inhibition effect (poorer evidence of learning with the previously irrelevant stimulus than with the novel stimulus). In opposition to this, induced negative affect resulted in better evidence of learning with a previously irrelevant stimulus than with a novel stimulus. In general, the opposing effects also were present in participants scoring high on self-report questionnaires of depression (Experiments 2 and 3). These unique findings were predicted and accounted for on the basis of two principles: (a) positive affect broadens the attentional field and negative affect contracts it; and (b) task-irrelevant stimuli are processed in two successive stages, the first encodes stimulus properties, and the second encodes stimulus relationships. The opposing influences of negative and positive mood on the processing of irrelevant stimuli have implications for the role of emotion in general theories of cognition, and possibly for resolving some of the inconsistent findings in research with schizophrenia patients.

Adolescents' responses to anti-tobacco advertising: exploring the role of adolescents' smoking status and advertisement theme.

PubMed

Sutfin, Erin L; Szykman, Lisa R; Moore, Marian Chapman

2008-01-01

Anti-smoking media directed at adolescents use many different message themes, but little evidence exists as to which is most effective. Additionally, little is known about how teens who smoke respond to anti-tobacco ads. This study examined smoking and nonsmoking adolescents' responses to three popular thematic approaches: (1) endangering others, (2) negative life circumstances, and (3) industry manipulation. Sixteen groups of high school students (total N=488) were randomly assigned in a balanced fashion to one of three anti-tobacco ad conditions or a control condition. Outcome variables included adolescents' immediate emotional and cognitive responses, and intentions to smoke. Adolescents exposed to negative life circumstances ads reported lower intentions to smoke than those exposed to control and industry manipulation ads. Additionally, adolescents' responses differed based on smoking status. Smokers liked the ads less and had fewer positive and more negative thoughts. Findings suggest a media campaign focusing on negative life circumstances can be an effective component of a tobacco control program aimed at adolescents. Mechanisms through which the negative life circumstances ads influence adolescents' intentions to smoke are discussed. Findings also suggest that smokers respond differently to anti-tobacco ads, and their responses need to be considered when developing effective anti-tobacco advertising campaigns.

Associations between biological markers of prenatal stress and infant negative emotionality are specific to sex.

PubMed

Braithwaite, Elizabeth C; Murphy, Susannah E; Ramchandani, Paul G; Hill, Jonathan

2017-12-01

Fetal programming is the idea that environmental stimuli can alter the development of the fetus, which may have a long-term effect on the child. We have recently reported that maternal prenatal cortisol predicts infant negative emotionality in a sex-dependent manner: high prenatal cortisol was associated with increased negative emotionality in females, and decreased negative emotionality in males. This study aims to test for this sex-specific effect in a different cohort, and investigate whether sex differences in fetal programming may be specific to glucocorticoid mechanisms by also examining a maternal salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) by sex interaction. 88 pregnant women (mean gestational age=27.4 weeks, SD=7.4) collected saliva samples at home over two working days to be assayed for the hormone cortisol (range=0.13-88.22nmol/l) and the enzyme alpha-amylase (range=4.57-554.8units/ml). Samples were collected at waking, 30-min post-waking and 12h post-waking. Two months after birth participants reported infant negative emotionality using the distress to limits subscale of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire. The interaction between maternal prenatal cortisol and infant sex to predict distress to limits approached significance (p=0.067). In line with our previous finding there was a positive association between prenatal cortisol and negative emotionality in females, and a negative association in males. The interaction between sAA and sex to predict distress was significant (p=0.025), and the direction of effect was the same as for the cortisol data; high sAA associated with increased negative emotionality in females and reduced negative emotionality in males. In line with our previous findings, this research adds to an emerging body of literature, which suggests that fetal programming mechanisms may be sex-dependent. This is the first study to demonstrate that maternal prenatal sAA may be an important biomarker for infant behavior, and the findings have implications for understanding sex differences in developmental psychopathology. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Are the Negative Effects of Divorce on Well-Being Dependent on Marital Quality?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalmijn, Matthijs; Monden, Christiaan W. S.

2006-01-01

We test the so-called escape hypothesis, which argues that for people from a poor marriage, a divorce has a less negative or even a positive effect on well-being. In an analysis of two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 4,526), we find only limited evidence. When people divorce from a dissatisfactory or unfair marriage,…

Neural evidence for description dependent reward processing in the framing effect

PubMed Central

Yu, Rongjun; Zhang, Ping

2014-01-01

Human decision making can be influenced by emotionally valenced contexts, known as the framing effect. We used event-related brain potentials to investigate how framing influences the encoding of reward. We found that the feedback related negativity (FRN), which indexes the “worse than expected” negative prediction error in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), was more negative for the negative frame than for the positive frame in the win domain. Consistent with previous findings that the FRN is not sensitive to “better than expected” positive prediction error, the FRN did not differentiate the positive and negative frame in the loss domain. Our results provide neural evidence that the description invariance principle which states that reward representation and decision making are not influenced by how options are presented is violated in the framing effect. PMID:24733998

Novel stimuli are negative stimuli: evidence that negative affect is reduced in the mere exposure effect.

PubMed

Robinson, Brent M; Elias, Lorin J

2005-04-01

Repeated exposure of a nonreinforced stimulus results in an increased preference for that stimulus, the mere exposure effect. The present study repeatedly presented positive, negative, and neutrally affective faces to 48 participants while they made judgments about the emotional expression. Participants then rated the likeability of novel neutrally expressive faces and some of these previously presented faces, this time in their neutral expression. Faces originally presented as happy were rated as the most likeable, followed by faces originally presented as neutral. Negative and novel faces were not rated significantly differently from each other. These findings support the notion that the increase in preference towards repeatedly presented stimuli is the result of the reduction in negative affect, consistent with the modified two-factor uncertainty-reduction model and classical conditioning model of the mere exposure effect.

Intraday LeBaron effects

PubMed Central

Bianco, Simone; Corsi, Fulvio; Renò, Roberto

2009-01-01

We study the relation at intraday level between serial correlation and volatility of the Standard and Poor (S&P) 500 stock index futures returns. At daily and weekly levels, serial correlation and volatility forecasts have been found to be negatively correlated (LeBaron effect). After finding a significant attenuation of the original effect over time, we show that a similar but more pronounced effect holds by using intraday measures, by such as realized volatility and variance ratio. We also test the impact of unexpected volatility, defined as the part of volatility which cannot be forecasted, on the presence of intraday serial correlation in the time series by employing a model for realized volatility based on the heterogeneous market hypothesis. We find that intraday serial correlation is negatively correlated to volatility forecasts, whereas it is positively correlated to unexpected volatility.

Negative Self-Focused Cognitions Mediate the Effect of Trait Social Anxiety on State Anxiety

PubMed Central

Schulz, Stefan M.; Alpers, Georg W.; Hofmann, Stefan G.

2008-01-01

The cognitive model of social anxiety predicts that negative self-focused cognitions increase anxiety when anticipating social threat. To test this prediction, 36 individuals were asked to anticipate and perform a public speaking task. During anticipation, negative self-focused cognitions or relaxation were experimentally induced while self-reported anxiety, autonomic arousal (heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance level), and acoustic eye-blink startle response were assessed. As predicted, negative self-focused cognitions mediated the effects of trait social anxiety on self-reported anxiety and heart rate variability during negative anticipation. Furthermore, trait social anxiety predicted increased startle amplitudes. These findings support a central assumption of the cognitive model of social anxiety. PMID:18321469

Specific and non-specific match effects in negative priming.

PubMed

Labossière, Danielle I; Leboe-McGowan, Jason P

2018-01-01

The negative priming effect occurs when withholding a response to a stimulus impairs generation of subsequent responding to a same or a related stimulus. Our goal was to use the negative priming procedure to obtain insights about the memory representations generated by ignoring vs. attending/responding to a prime stimulus. Across three experiments we observed that ignoring a prime stimulus tends to generate higher identity-independent, non-specific repetition effects, owing to an overlap in the coarse perceptual form of a prime distractor and a probe target. By contrast, attended repetition effects generate predominantly identity-specific sources of facilitation. We use these findings to advocate for using laboratory phenomena to illustrate general principles that can be of practical use to non-specialists. In the case of the negative priming procedure, we propose that the procedure provides a useful means for investigating attention/memory interactions, even if the specific cause (or causes) of negative priming effects remain unresolved. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of Couple Interactions and Relationship Quality on Plasma Oxytocin and Cardiovascular Reactivity: Empirical Findings and Methodological Considerations

PubMed Central

Smith, Timothy W.; Uchino, Bert N.; MacKenzie, Justin; Hicks, Angela; Campo, Rebecca A.; Reblin, Maija; Grewen, Karen; Amico, Janet A.; Light, Kathleen C.

2016-01-01

Cardiovascular reactivity is a potential mechanism underlying associations of close relationship quality with cardiovascular disease. Two models describe oxytocin as another mechanism. The “calm and connect” model posits an association between positive relationship experiences and oxytocin levels and responses, whereas the “tend and befriend” model emphasizes the effects of negative relationship experiences in evoking oxytocin release. In this study of 180 younger couples, relationship quality had a small, marginally significant inverse association with plasma oxytocin levels, and neither positive nor negative couple interactions evoked change in plasma oxytocin. Negative couple interactions evoked significant cardiovascular reactivity, especially among women. Hence, in the largest study of these issues to date, there was little support for key tenets of the “calm and connect” model, and only very modest support for the ”tend and befriend” model. However, findings were consistent with the view that CVR contributes to the effects of relationship difficulties on health. PMID:22543270

Parental age and offspring mortality: Negative effects of reproductive ageing may be counterbalanced by secular increases in longevity.

PubMed

Barclay, Kieron; Myrskylä, Mikko

2018-07-01

As parental ages at birth continue to rise, concerns about the effects of fertility postponement on offspring are increasing. Due to reproductive ageing, advanced parental ages have been associated with negative health outcomes for offspring, including decreased longevity. The literature, however, has neglected to examine the potential benefits of being born at a later date. Secular declines in mortality mean that later birth cohorts are living longer. We analyse mortality over ages 30-74 among 1.9 million Swedish men and women born 1938-60, and use a sibling comparison design that accounts for all time-invariant factors shared by the siblings. When incorporating cohort improvements in mortality, we find that those born to older mothers do not suffer any significant mortality disadvantage, and that those born to older fathers have lower mortality. These findings are likely to be explained by secular declines in mortality counterbalancing the negative effects of reproductive ageing.

Teens' Alcohol Consumption and Schooling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Renna, Francesco

2008-01-01

While research outside economics has found that drinking has a negative effect on cognitive skills, some economists have failed to find any negative relationship between drinking and academic performance. This paper argues that the reason for this discrepancy is due to the way education is measured in the economic literature. Herein, binge…

Does infant negative emotionality moderate the effect of maternal depression on motor development?

PubMed

Sacchi, C; De Carli, P; Vieno, A; Piallini, G; Zoia, S; Simonelli, A

2018-04-01

Maternal depression represents an important social/environmental factor in early childhood; however, its effect on children's motor development may vary depending on the role of infants' dispositional variables. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the interaction between maternal depressive symptoms in the first two years of a child's life and the child's temperamental negative emotionality on motor development during this time. Using a cross-sectional study, we assessed 272 infants aged 0 to 24 months old and their mothers. We measured the following variables: maternal depression, infant's negative emotionality, and motor development. A three-way interaction effect highlights that negative emotionality in infants and maternal depression together affect children's overall motor growth trajectory. Infants with low negative emotionality display no effect of maternal depression on motor development. Conversely, infants with high negative emotionality seem to be more susceptible to the effect of maternal depression. Specifically, high maternal depression tends to foster the negative effect of infant's negativity on motor development across time, albeit not significantly. Finally, the absence of maternal depression significantly buffers negative temperament in infants. Findings highlighted the importance of integrating different perspectives when describing early motor growth. In fact, only when considering the interdependence of potential predictors their effect on the motor growth significantly emerges. Screening for early temperamental vulnerability might help in tailoring interventions to prevent maternal depression from affecting infants' motor development. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Moderating Effect of Interaction Avoidance Between Abusive Supervision and Subordinates' Job Promotions.

PubMed

Peltokorpi, Vesa

2017-10-03

While abusive supervision is shown to have negative stress-related effects on targets, less is known about the factors capable of mitigating these negative effects and their career-related outcomes. In this paper, we drew on the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1986) and the upward mobility theory (Turner, 1960) to explore the moderating effect of subordinates' interaction avoidance between abusive supervision and job promotions. To test this moderating effect, we collected data from 604 full-time employees at three points in time over a 12-month time period in Japan. The findings suggest that interaction avoidance moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and promotions, such that this relationship will be less negative as interaction avoidance increases.

Emotion dysregulation explains the relation between insomnia symptoms and negative reinforcement smoking cognitions among daily smokers.

PubMed

Kauffman, Brooke Y; Farris, Samantha G; Alfano, Candice A; Zvolensky, Michael J

2017-09-01

Insomnia co-occurs with smoking. However, mechanisms that may explain their comorbidity are not well known. The present study tested the hypothesis that insomnia would exert an indirect effect on negative reinforcement smoking processes via emotion dysregulation among 126 adult non-treatment seeking daily smokers (55 females; M age =44.1years, SD=9.72). Negative reinforcement smoking processes included negative reinforcement smoking outcome expectancies, negative reinforcement smoking motives, and two negative expectancies from brief smoking abstinence (somatic symptoms and harmful consequences). Insomnia symptoms yielded a significant indirect effect through emotion dysregulation for negative reinforcement smoking outcome expectancies, negative reinforcement smoking motives, and harmful consequences expectancies from brief smoking abstinence. In contrast to prediction, however, insomnia was not associated with somatic symptom expectancies from brief smoking abstinence through emotion dysregulation. These data may suggest that the indirect effect of emotion dysregulation is more relevant to cognitive-affective negative reinforcement processes rather than somatic states. Overall, the present findings contribute to a growing body of literature linking emotion dysregulation as an explanatory mechanism for insomnia and smoking and uniquely extend such work to an array of clinically significant negative reinforcement smoking processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Positive and Negative Affect During Sexual Activity: Differences Between Homosexual and Heterosexual Men and Women, With and Without Sexual Problems.

PubMed

Peixoto, Maria Manuela; Nobre, Pedro

2016-01-02

Empirical research suggests that emotional response during sexual activity discriminates between sexually functional and dysfunctional heterosexual men and women, with clinics presenting lower positive and higher negative affect. However, there is no evidence about the role of emotions in gay men and lesbian women with sexual problems. The present study analyzed affective states during sexual activity in homosexual and heterosexual men and women, with and without sexual problems. Participants in this study were 156 men and 168 women. A 2 (group) × 2 (sexual orientation) multivariate analysis of variance was performed. Participants completed a web-survey assessing sexual functioning and the Positive Affect-Negative Affect Scale. Findings indicated a main effect of group, with groups with sexual problems reporting significantly more negative and lower positive affect compared with men and women without sexual problems, regardless of sexual orientation. However, findings have also shown an interaction effect in the male sample with gay men, contrary to heterosexual men, reporting similar affective responses regardless of having a sexual dysfunction or not. Overall, findings emphasize the role of affective responses during sexual activity in men and women with sexual problems, suggesting the importance of addressing emotional responses in assessment and treatment of sexual problems in individuals with different sexual orientations.

Affective mediators of a physical activity intervention for depression in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Kratz, Anna L; Ehde, Dawn M; Bombardier, Charles H

2014-02-01

Previous analyses showed that a telephone-based intervention to increase physical activity in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) and depression resulted in significantly improved depressive symptoms compared to a wait-list control group. The aim of this study was to test positive affect and negative affect as mediators of the effect of the physical activity counseling on depressive symptoms. Ninety-two adults with MS, who met diagnostic criteria for either major depression or dysthymia and who reported low levels of physical activity, were randomized 1:1 to a 12-week telephone-based motivational interviewing (MI) intervention to improve physical activity (n = 44) or to a 12-week wait-list control group (n = 48). Self-reported positive and negative affect, physical activity, and depressive symptoms were gathered at baseline and postintervention. Path-analysis was used to test whether positive affect and negative affect mediated the positive effects of the intervention on depressive symptoms. Both positive and negative affect were significant mediators of the effects of the intervention on depressive symptoms; however, only positive affect mediated the association between changes in physical activity and improved depressive symptoms. Findings support physical activity and positive affect as key mediators of the MI treatment effect on improved mood. Decreases in negative affect were also evident in the treatment group, but were not related to improved physical activity. Findings may suggest the use of exercise-based interventions in conjunction with treatments that specifically target negative affective mechanisms for depression. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Political conservatism predicts asymmetries in emotional scene memory.

PubMed

Mills, Mark; Gonzalez, Frank J; Giuseffi, Karl; Sievert, Benjamin; Smith, Kevin B; Hibbing, John R; Dodd, Michael D

2016-06-01

Variation in political ideology has been linked to differences in attention to and processing of emotional stimuli, with stronger responses to negative versus positive stimuli (negativity bias) the more politically conservative one is. As memory is enhanced by attention, such findings predict that memory for negative versus positive stimuli should similarly be enhanced the more conservative one is. The present study tests this prediction by having participants study 120 positive, negative, and neutral scenes in preparation for a subsequent memory test. On the memory test, the same 120 scenes were presented along with 120 new scenes and participants were to respond whether a scene was old or new. Results on the memory test showed that negative scenes were more likely to be remembered than positive scenes, though, this was true only for political conservatives. That is, a larger negativity bias was found the more conservative one was. The effect was sizeable, explaining 45% of the variance across subjects in the effect of emotion. These findings demonstrate that the relationship between political ideology and asymmetries in emotion processing extend to memory and, furthermore, suggest that exploring the extent to which subject variation in interactions among emotion, attention, and memory is predicted by conservatism may provide new insights into theories of political ideology. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Response efficacy: the key to minimizing rejection and maximizing acceptance of emotion-based anti-speeding messages.

PubMed

Lewis, I M; Watson, B; White, K M

2010-03-01

This study sought to improve understanding of the persuasive process of emotion-based appeals not only in relation to negative, fear-based appeals but also for appeals based upon positive emotions. In particular, the study investigated whether response efficacy, as a cognitive construct, mediated outcome measures of message effectiveness in terms of both acceptance and rejection of negative and positive emotion-based messages. Licensed drivers (N=406) participated via the completion of an on-line survey. Within the survey, participants received either a negative (fear-based) appeal or one of the two possible positive appeals (pride or humor-based). Overall, the study's findings confirmed the importance of emotional and cognitive components of persuasive health messages and identified response efficacy as a key cognitive construct influencing the effectiveness of not only fear-based messages but also positive emotion-based messages. Interestingly, however, the results suggested that response efficacy's influence on message effectiveness may differ for positive and negative emotion-based appeals such that significant indirect (and mediational) effects were found with both acceptance and rejection of the positive appeals yet only with rejection of the fear-based appeal. As such, the study's findings provide an important extension to extant literature and may inform future advertising message design. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanical Deformation of a Lithium-Metal Anode Due to a Very Stiff Separator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ferrese, A; Newman, J

2014-05-21

This work builds on the two-dimensional model presented by Ferrese et al. [J. Electrochem. Soc., 159, A1615 (2012)1, which captures the movement of lithium metal at the negative electrode during cycling in a Li-metal/LiCoO2 cell. In this paper, the separator is modeled as a dendrite-inhibiting polymer separator with an elastic modulus of 16 GPa. The separator resists the movement of lithium through the generation of stresses in the cell. These stresses affect the negative electrode through two mechanisms altering the thermodynamics of the negative electrode and deforming the negative electrode mechanically. From this analysis, we find that the dendrite-inhibiting separatormore » causes plastic and elastic deformation of the lithium at the negative electrode which flattens the electrode considerably when compared to the liquid-electrolyte case. This flattening of the negative electrode causes only very slight differences in the local state of charge in the positive electrode. When comparing the magnitude of the effects flattening the negative electrode, we find that the plastic deformation plays a much larger role than either the pressure-modified reaction kinetics or elastic deformation. This is due to the low yield strength of the lithium metal, which limits the stresses such that they have only a small effect on the reaction kinetics. (C) 2014 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.« less

Interdisciplinarity and Impact: Distinct Effects of Variety, Balance, and Disparity

PubMed Central

Wang, Jian; Thijs, Bart; Glänzel, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

Interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognized as the solution to today’s challenging scientific and societal problems, but the relationship between interdisciplinary research and scientific impact is still unclear. This paper studies the association between the degree of interdisciplinarity and the number of citations at the paper level. Different from previous studies compositing various aspects of interdisciplinarity into a single indicator, we use factor analysis to uncover distinct dimensions of interdisciplinarity corresponding to variety, balance, and disparity. We estimate Poisson models with journal fixed effects and robust standard errors to analyze the divergent relationships between these three factors and citations. We find that long-term (13-year) citations (1) increase at an increasing rate with variety, (2) decrease with balance, and (3) increase at a decreasing rate with disparity. Furthermore, interdisciplinarity also affects the process of citation accumulation: (1) although variety and disparity have positive effects on long-term citations, they have negative effects on short-term (3-year) citations, and (2) although balance has a negative effect on long-term citations, its negative effect is insignificant in the short run. These findings have important implications for interdisciplinary research and science policy. PMID:26001108

Drama-induced affect and pain sensitivity.

PubMed

Zillmann, D; de Wied, M; King-Jablonski, C; Jenzowsky, S

1996-01-01

This study was conducted to examine the pain-ameliorating and pain-sensitizing effects of exposure to emotionally engaging drama. Specifically, the consequences for pain sensitivity of exposure to dramatic expositions differing in both excitatory and hedonic qualities were determined. Hedonically negative, neutral, and positive affective states were induced in male respondents by exposure to excerpts from cinematic drama. Pain sensitivity was assessed by the cuff-pressure procedure before and after exposure and by the cold pressor test after exposure only. When compared against the control condition, pain sensitivity diminished under conditions of hedonically positive affect. An inverse effect was suggested for hedonically negative conditions, but proved tentative and statistically unreliable. The findings are consistent with earlier demonstrations of mood effects on pain sensitivity. Unlike inconclusive earlier findings concerning the magnitude of directional effects, however, they suggest an asymmetry that emphasizes the pain-ameliorating effect of positive affects while lending little, if any, support to the proposal of a pain-sensitizing effect of negative affects. The investigation did not accomplish the intended creation of conditions necessary to test the proposal that heightened sympathetic activity diminishes pain sensitivity. The utility of a rigorous determination of this hypothesized relationship is emphasized, and procedures for a viable test of the proposal are suggested.

Are the memories of older adults positively biased?

PubMed

Fernandes, Myra; Ross, Michael; Wiegand, Melanie; Schryer, Emily

2008-06-01

There is disagreement in the literature about whether a "positivity effect" in memory performance exists in older adults. To assess the generalizability of the effect, the authors examined memory for autobiographical, picture, and word information in a group of younger (17-29 years old) and older (60-84 years old) adults. For the autobiographical memory task, the authors asked participants to produce 4 positive, 4 negative, and 4 neutral recent autobiographical memories and to recall these a week later. For the picture and word tasks, participants studied photos or words of different valences (positive, negative, neutral) and later remembered them on a free-recall test. The authors found significant correlations in memory performance, across task material, for recall of both positive and neutral valence autobiographical events, pictures, and words. When the authors examined accurate memories, they failed to find consistent evidence, across the different types of material, of a positivity effect in either age group. However, the false memory findings offer more consistent support for a positivity effect in older adults. During recall of all 3 types of material, older participants recalled more false positive than false negative memories.

Partial Sleep Deprivation Attenuates the Positive Affective System: Effects Across Multiple Measurement Modalities.

PubMed

Finan, Patrick H; Quartana, Phillip J; Remeniuk, Bethany; Garland, Eric L; Rhudy, Jamie L; Hand, Matthew; Irwin, Michael R; Smith, Michael T

2017-01-01

Ample behavioral and neurobiological evidence links sleep and affective functioning. Recent self-report evidence suggests that the affective problems associated with sleep loss may be stronger for positive versus negative affective state and that those effects may be mediated by changes in electroencepholographically measured slow wave sleep (SWS). In the present study, we extend those preliminary findings using multiple measures of affective functioning. In a within-subject randomized crossover experiment, we tested the effects of one night of sleep continuity disruption via forced awakenings (FA) compared to one night of uninterrupted sleep (US) on three measures of positive and negative affective functioning: self-reported affective state, affective pain modulation, and affect-biased attention. The study was set in an inpatient clinical research suite. Healthy, good sleeping adults (N = 45) were included. Results indicated that a single night of sleep continuity disruption attenuated positive affective state via FA-induced reductions in SWS. Additionally, sleep continuity disruption attenuated the inhibition of pain by positive affect as well as attention bias to positive affective stimuli. Negative affective state, negative affective pain facilitation, nor negative attention bias were altered by sleep continuity disruption. The present findings, observed across multiple measures of affective function, suggest that sleep continuity disruption has a stronger influence on the positive affective system relative to the negative affective affective system. © Sleep Research Society 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Mindful attention predicts greater recovery from negative emotions, but not reduced reactivity.

PubMed

Cho, Sinhae; Lee, Hyejeen; Oh, Kyung Ja; Soto, José A

2017-09-01

This study investigated the role of dispositional mindful attention in immediate reactivity to, and subsequent recovery from, laboratory-induced negative emotion. One hundred and fourteen undergraduates viewed blocks of negative pictures followed by neutral pictures. Participants' emotional responses to negative pictures and subsequent neutral pictures were assessed via self-reported ratings. Participants' emotional response to negative pictures was used to index level of emotional reactivity to unpleasant stimuli; emotional response to neutral pictures presented immediately after the negative pictures was used to index level of emotional recovery from pre-induced negative emotion (residual negativity). Results indicated that mindful attention was not associated with the emotional response to negative pictures, but it was associated with reduced negative emotion in response to the neutral pictures presented immediately after the negative pictures, suggesting better recovery as opposed to reduced reactivity. This effect was especially pronounced in later experimental blocks when the accumulation of negative stimuli produced greater negative emotion from which participants had to recover. The current study extends previous findings on the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and reduced negative emotion by demonstrating that mindful attention may facilitate better recovery from negative emotion, possibly through more effective disengagement from previous stimuli.

Puzzles and further explorations in the interrelationships of successive births with husband's income, spouses' education and race.

PubMed

Simon, J L

1975-05-01

When fertility is examined in the detail of individual parity progressions and birth-order transitions, important interactions between the effects of income and education are seen. Among the findings are: the negative effect of education on fertility is stronger at all parities for less educated compared to more highly educated women. Additional income has a more positive effect for more highly educated than for less educated women. For women with 0-8 years of education the effect of more income is positive when the family has no children but negative thereafter, but for college-educated women the effect of more income is positive. And additional income has a less positive (more negative) effect on fertility among nonwhites than among whites.

Impact of acute administration of escitalopram on the processing of emotional and neutral images: a randomized crossover fMRI study of healthy women.

PubMed

Outhred, Tim; Das, Pritha; Felmingham, Kim L; Bryant, Richard A; Nathan, Pradeep J; Malhi, Gin S; Kemp, Andrew H

2014-07-01

Acute neural effects of antidepressant medication on emotion processing biases may provide the foundation on which clinical outcomes are based. Along with effects on positive and negative stimuli, acute effects on neutral stimuli may also relate to antidepressant efficacy, yet these effects are still to be investigated. The present study therefore examined the impact of a single dose of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor escitalopram (20 mg) on positive, negative and neutral stimuli using pharmaco-fMRI. Within a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover design, healthy women completed 2 sessions of treatment administration and fMRI scanning separated by a 1-week washout period. We enrolled 36 women in our study. When participants were administered escitalopram relative to placebo, left amygdala activity was increased and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) activity was decreased during presentation of positive pictures (potentiation of positive emotion processing). In contrast, escitalopram was associated with decreased left amygdala and increased right IFG activity during presentation of negative pictures (attenuation of negative emotion processing). In addition, escitalopram decreased right IFG activity during the processing of neutral stimuli, akin to the effects on positive stimuli (decrease in negative appraisal). Although we used a women-only sample to reduce heterogeneity, our results may not generalize to men. Potential unblinding, which was related to the subjective occurrence of side effects, occurred in the study; however, manipulation check analyses demonstrated that results were not impacted. These novel findings demonstrate that a single dose of the commonly prescribed escitalopram facilitates a positive information processing bias. These findings provide an important lead for better understanding effects of antidepressant medication.

Debunking vaccination myths: strong risk negations can increase perceived vaccination risks.

PubMed

Betsch, Cornelia; Sachse, Katharina

2013-02-01

Information about risks is often contradictory, especially in the health domain. A vast amount of bizarre information on vaccine-adverse events (VAE) can be found on the Internet; most are posted by antivaccination activists. Several actors in the health sector struggle against these statements by negating claimed risks with scientific explanations. The goal of the present work is to find optimal ways of negating risk to decrease risk perceptions. In two online experiments, we varied the extremity of risk negations and their source. Perception of the probability of VAE, their expected severity (both variables serve as indicators of perceived risk), and vaccination intentions. Paradoxically, messages strongly indicating that there is "no risk" led to a higher perceived vaccination risk than weak negations. This finding extends previous work on the negativity bias, which has shown that information stating the presence of risk decreases risk perceptions, while information negating the existence of risk increases such perceptions. Several moderators were also tested; however, the effect occurred independently of the number of negations, recipient involvement, and attitude. Solely the credibility of the information source interacted with the extremity of risk negation: For credible sources (governmental institutions), strong and weak risk negations lead to similar perceived risk, while for less credible sources (pharmaceutical industries) weak negations lead to less perceived risk than strong negations. Optimal risk negation may profit from moderate rather than extreme formulations as a source's trustworthiness can vary.

Sibship size and educational attainment. A joint test of the Confluence Model and the Resource Dilution Hypothesis

PubMed Central

Jæger, Mads Meier

2012-01-01

Studies on family background often explain the negative effect of sibship size on educational attainment by one of two theories: the Confluence Model (CM) or the Resource Dilution Hypothesis (RDH). However, as both theories – for substantively different reasons – predict that sibship size should have a negative effect on educational attainment most studies cannot distinguish empirically between the CM and the RDH. In this paper, I use the different theoretical predictions in the CM and RDH on the role of cognitive ability as a partial or complete mediator of the effect of sibship size to distinguish the two theories and to identify a unique RDH effect on educational attainment. Using sibling data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) and a random effect Instrumental Variable model I find that, in addition to a negative effect on cognitive ability, sibship size also has a strong negative effect on educational attainment which is uniquely explained by the RDH. PMID:22468016

Mood-congruent false memories persist over time.

PubMed

Knott, Lauren M; Thorley, Craig

2014-01-01

In this study, we examined the role of mood-congruency and retention interval on the false recognition of emotion laden items using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Previous research has shown a mood-congruent false memory enhancement during immediate recognition tasks. The present study examined the persistence of this effect following a one-week delay. Participants were placed in a negative or neutral mood, presented with negative-emotion and neutral-emotion DRM word lists, and administered with both immediate and delayed recognition tests. Results showed that a negative mood state increased remember judgments for negative-emotion critical lures, in comparison to neutral-emotion critical lures, on both immediate and delayed testing. These findings are discussed in relation to theories of spreading activation and emotion-enhanced memory, with consideration of the applied forensic implications of such findings.

Fetal Growth and Neurobehavioral Outcomes in Childhood

PubMed Central

Chatterji, Pinka; Lahiri, Kajal; Kim, Dohyung

2014-01-01

Using a sample of sibling pairs from a nationally representative U.S. survey, we examine the effects of the fetal growth rate on a set of neurobehavioral outcomes in childhood measured by parent-reported diagnosed developmental disabilities and behavior problems. Based on models that include mother fixed effects, we find that the fetal growth rate, a marker for the fetal environment, is negatively associated with lifetime diagnosis of developmental delay. We also find that the fetal growth rate is negatively associated with disruptive behaviors among male children. These results suggest that developmental disabilities and problem behaviors may play a role in explaining the well-documented association between birth weight and human capital outcomes measured in adulthood. PMID:25464342

A contingency model of conflict and team effectiveness.

PubMed

Shaw, Jason D; Zhu, Jing; Duffy, Michelle K; Scott, Kristin L; Shih, Hsi-An; Susanto, Ely

2011-03-01

The authors develop and test theoretical extensions of the relationships of task conflict, relationship conflict, and 2 dimensions of team effectiveness (performance and team-member satisfaction) among 2 samples of work teams in Taiwan and Indonesia. Findings show that relationship conflict moderates the task conflict-team performance relationship. Specifically, the relationship is curvilinear in the shape of an inverted U when relationship conflict is low, but the relationship is linear and negative when relationship conflict is high. The results for team-member satisfaction are more equivocal, but the findings provide some evidence that relationship conflict exacerbates the negative relationship between task conflict and team-member satisfaction. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Selective mood-induced body image disparagement and enhancement effects: are they due to cognitive priming or subjective mood?

PubMed

Rotenberg, Ken J; Taylor, Daniel; Davis, Ron

2004-04-01

The study evaluated the effects of mood induction procedures on body image. Eighty female undergraduates participated in combinations of two valences (negative vs. positive) and two types (self-referent vs. other-referent) of mood induction procedures (MIPs). A measure of subjective mood and seven measures of body image were administered before and after the MIPs. Individuals in the self-referent MIP who had high negative body image at the pretest demonstrated increases in negative body image after exposure to the negative valence MIP (a disparagement effect) and decreases in negative body image after exposure to the positive valence MIP (an enhancement effect). This pattern was not evident in the other-referent MIP. Also, changes in negative body image were not appreciably associated with changes in subjective mood. The findings yielded support for the cognitive priming hypothesis but not for the subjective mood hypothesis. Further means of examining the cognitive priming hypothesis were outlined. Copyright 2004 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 35: 317-332, 2004.

Older fathers' children have lower evolutionary fitness across four centuries and in four populations

PubMed Central

Willführ, Kai P.; Frans, Emma M.; Verweij, Karin J. H.; Bürkner, Paul-Christian; Myrskylä, Mikko; Voland, Eckart; Zietsch, Brendan P.; Penke, Lars

2017-01-01

Higher paternal age at offspring conception increases de novo genetic mutations. Based on evolutionary genetic theory we predicted older fathers' children, all else equal, would be less likely to survive and reproduce, i.e. have lower fitness. In sibling control studies, we find support for negative paternal age effects on offspring survival and reproductive success across four large populations with an aggregate N > 1.4 million. Three populations were pre-industrial (1670–1850) Western populations and showed negative paternal age effects on infant survival and offspring reproductive success. In twentieth-century Sweden, we found minuscule paternal age effects on survival, but found negative effects on reproductive success. Effects survived tests for key competing explanations, including maternal age and parental loss, but effects varied widely over different plausible model specifications and some competing explanations such as diminishing paternal investment and epigenetic mutations could not be tested. We can use our findings to aid in predicting the effect increasingly older parents in today's society will have on their children's survival and reproductive success. To the extent that we succeeded in isolating a mutation-driven effect of paternal age, our results can be understood to show that de novo mutations reduce offspring fitness across populations and time periods. PMID:28904145

Exploring the Relationship between Negative Urgency and Dysregulated Eating: Etiologic Associations and the Role of Negative Affect

PubMed Central

Racine, Sarah E.; Keel, Pamela K.; Burt, S. Alexandra; Sisk, Cheryl L.; Neale, Michael; Boker, Steven; Klump, Kelly L.

2013-01-01

Negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to engage in rash action in response to negative affect) has emerged as a critical personality trait contributing to individual differences in binge eating. However, studies investigating the extent to which genetic and/or environmental influences underlie the effects of negative urgency on binge eating are lacking. Moreover, it remains unclear whether negative urgency-binge eating associations are simply due to the well-established role of negative affect in the development/maintenance of binge eating. The current study addresses these gaps by examining phenotypic and etiologic associations between negative urgency, negative affect, and dysregulated eating (i.e., binge eating, emotional eating) in a sample of 222 same-sex female twin pairs from the Michigan State Twin Registry. Negative urgency was significantly associated with both dysregulated eating symptoms, even after controlling for the effects of negative affect. Genetic factors accounted for the majority (62–77%) of this phenotypic association, although a significant proportion of this genetic covariation was due to genetic influences in common with negative affect. Non-shared environmental factors accounted for a relatively smaller (23–38%) proportion of the association, but these non-shared environmental effects were independent of negative affect. Findings suggest that the presence of emotion-based rash action, combined with high levels of negative affect, may significantly increase genetic risk for dysregulated eating. PMID:23356217

Exploring the relationship between negative urgency and dysregulated eating: etiologic associations and the role of negative affect.

PubMed

Racine, Sarah E; Keel, Pamela K; Burt, S Alexandra; Sisk, Cheryl L; Neale, Michael; Boker, Steven; Klump, Kelly L

2013-05-01

Negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to engage in rash action in response to negative affect) has emerged as a critical personality trait contributing to individual differences in binge eating. However, studies investigating the extent to which genetic and/or environmental influences underlie the effects of negative urgency on binge eating are lacking. Moreover, it remains unclear whether negative urgency-binge eating associations are simply a result of the well-established role of negative affect in the development/maintenance of binge eating. The current study addresses these gaps by examining phenotypic and etiologic associations between negative urgency, negative affect, and dysregulated eating (i.e., binge eating, emotional eating) in a sample of 222 same-sex female twin pairs from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Negative urgency was significantly associated with both dysregulated eating symptoms, even after controlling for the effects of negative affect. Genetic factors accounted for the majority (62-77%) of this phenotypic association, although a significant proportion of this genetic covariation was due to genetic influences in common with negative affect. Nonshared environmental factors accounted for a relatively smaller (23-38%) proportion of the association, but these nonshared environmental effects were independent of negative affect. Findings suggest that the presence of emotion-based rash action, combined with high levels of negative affect, may significantly increase genetic risk for dysregulated eating. © 2013 American Psychological Association

The Achievement Impacts of Arkansas Open-Enrollment Charter Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mills, Jonathan N.

2013-01-01

This article examines the impacts of Arkansas charter schools on the academic achievement of participating students. Our findings are that charter schools have small but statistically significant, negative impacts on student achievements for both math and literacy. Such negative effects, however, tend to decline with the number of years of charter…

Interactive Effects between Maternal Parenting and Negative Emotionality on Social Functioning among Very Young Chinese Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ren, Lixin; Zhang, Xiao; Zhou, Ning; Ng, Mei Lee

2017-01-01

Research Findings: This study examined how child negative emotionality interacted with mothers' self-reported parenting in predicting different aspects of social functioning among very young Chinese children. A total of 109 Chinese nursery children in Hong Kong participated with their parents. Maternal supportive and aversive parenting practices…

Aid and good governance: Examining aggregate unintended effects of aid.

PubMed

Dijkstra, Geske

2018-06-01

Although donors generally aim to improve governance in recipient countries by various means, critics claim that the aggregate effect of large aid flows is the deterioration of governance. Aid is said to weaken domestic accountability, sustain authoritarian regimes, increase political instability, weaken government capacities, and increase corruption. Conducting a systematic search in Web of Science, this paper reviews the empirical evidence for these unintended aggregate effects of aid on the political, administrative, and judicial dimensions of good governance. It finds that the negative effects of aid on governance are much exaggerated. The aggregate effect of aid on democracy has become more positive after the Cold War, and the effect of aid on government capacity and on reducing corruption has also improved over time. Furthermore, most studies show a positive effect of aid on political stability. These findings imply that donor intentions matter: donors that are serious about their intended effects on governance are able to mitigate the possible negative unintended effects of their aid. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Mindfulness and Perspective-Taking on Implicit Associations Toward the Elderly: a Relational Frame Theory Account

PubMed Central

McEnteggart, Ciara; Barnes-Holmes, Yvonne; Lowe, Rob; Evans, Nicky; Vilardaga, Roger

2017-01-01

Perspective-taking interventions have been shown to improve attitudes toward social outgroups. In contrast, similar interventions have produced opposite effects (i.e., enhanced negativity) in the context of attitudes toward elderly groups. The current study investigated whether a brief perspective-taking intervention enhanced with mindfulness would be associated with less negativity than perspective-taking alone. One hundred five participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions which comprised of an active or control perspective-taking component and an active or control mindfulness component. Participants were then administered an Implicit Associated Test to assess implicit biases toward the elderly. Results supported previous findings in that the condition in which perspective-taking was active but mindfulness was inactive was associated with greater negative implicit bias toward the elderly; however, some of this negativity decreased in the active perspective-taking and active mindfulness condition. The current findings and other mixed effects that have emerged from perspective-taking interventions are discussed from a Relational Frame Theory perspective. PMID:29399210

Underestimating Calorie Content When Healthy Foods Are Present: An Averaging Effect or a Reference-Dependent Anchoring Effect?

PubMed Central

Forwood, Suzanna E.; Ahern, Amy; Hollands, Gareth J.; Fletcher, Paul C.; Marteau, Theresa M.

2013-01-01

Objective Previous studies have shown that estimations of the calorie content of an unhealthy main meal food tend to be lower when the food is shown alongside a healthy item (e.g. fruit or vegetables) than when shown alone. This effect has been called the negative calorie illusion and has been attributed to averaging the unhealthy (vice) and healthy (virtue) foods leading to increased perceived healthiness and reduced calorie estimates. The current study aimed to replicate and extend these findings to test the hypothesized mediating effect of ratings of healthiness of foods on calorie estimates. Methods In three online studies, participants were invited to make calorie estimates of combinations of foods. Healthiness ratings of the food were also assessed. Results The first two studies failed to replicate the negative calorie illusion. In a final study, the use of a reference food, closely following a procedure from a previously published study, did elicit a negative calorie illusion. No evidence was found for a mediating role of healthiness estimates. Conclusion The negative calorie illusion appears to be a function of the contrast between a food being judged and a reference, supporting the hypothesis that the negative calorie illusion arises from the use of a reference-dependent anchoring and adjustment heuristic and not from an ‘averaging’ effect, as initially proposed. This finding is consistent with existing data on sequential calorie estimates, and highlights a significant impact of the order in which foods are viewed on how foods are evaluated. PMID:23967216

Learning to Dislike Chocolate: Conditioning Negative Attitudes toward Chocolate and Its Effect on Chocolate Consumption.

PubMed

Wang, Yan; Wang, Guosen; Zhang, Dingyuan; Wang, Lei; Cui, Xianghua; Zhu, Jinglei; Fang, Yuan

2017-01-01

Evaluative conditioning (EC) procedures can be used to form and change attitudes toward a wide variety of objects. The current study examined the effects of a negative EC procedure on attitudes toward chocolate, and whether it influenced chocolate evaluation and consumption. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental condition in which chocolate images were paired with negative stimuli, or the control condition in which chocolate images were randomly paired with positive stimuli (50%) and negative stimuli (50%). Explicit and implicit attitudes toward chocolate images were collected. During an ostensible taste test, chocolate evaluation and consumption were assessed. Results revealed that compared to participants in the control condition, participants in the experimental condition showed more negative explicit and implicit attitudes toward chocolate images and evaluated chocolate more negatively during the taste test. However, chocolate consumption did not differ between experimental and control conditions. These findings suggest that pairing chocolate with negative stimuli can influence attitudes toward chocolate, though behavioral effects are absent. Intervention applications of EC provide avenues for future research and practices.

Are positive and negative reinforcement "different"? Insights from a free-operant differential outcomes effect.

PubMed

Magoon, Michael A; Critchfield, Thomas S; Merrill, Dustin; Newland, M Christopher; Schneider, W Joel

2017-01-01

Although theoretical discussions typically assume that positive and negative reinforcement differ, the literature contains little unambiguous evidence that they produce differential behavioral effects. To test whether the two types of consequences control behavior differently, we pitted money-gain positive reinforcement and money-loss-avoidance negative reinforcement, scheduled through identically programmed variable-cycle schedules, against each other in concurrent schedules. Contingencies of response-produced feedback, normally different in positive and negative reinforcement, were made symmetrical. Steeper matching slopes were produced compared to a baseline consisting of all positive reinforcement. This free-operant differential outcomes effect supports the notion that that stimulus-presentation positive reinforcement and stimulus-elimination negative reinforcement are functionally "different." However, a control experiment showed that the feedback asymmetry of more traditional positive and negative reinforcement schedules also is sufficient to create a "difference" when the type of consequence is held constant. We offer these findings as a small step in meeting the very large challenge of moving negative reinforcement theory beyond decades of relative quiescence. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Learning to Dislike Chocolate: Conditioning Negative Attitudes toward Chocolate and Its Effect on Chocolate Consumption

PubMed Central

Wang, Yan; Wang, Guosen; Zhang, Dingyuan; Wang, Lei; Cui, Xianghua; Zhu, Jinglei; Fang, Yuan

2017-01-01

Evaluative conditioning (EC) procedures can be used to form and change attitudes toward a wide variety of objects. The current study examined the effects of a negative EC procedure on attitudes toward chocolate, and whether it influenced chocolate evaluation and consumption. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental condition in which chocolate images were paired with negative stimuli, or the control condition in which chocolate images were randomly paired with positive stimuli (50%) and negative stimuli (50%). Explicit and implicit attitudes toward chocolate images were collected. During an ostensible taste test, chocolate evaluation and consumption were assessed. Results revealed that compared to participants in the control condition, participants in the experimental condition showed more negative explicit and implicit attitudes toward chocolate images and evaluated chocolate more negatively during the taste test. However, chocolate consumption did not differ between experimental and control conditions. These findings suggest that pairing chocolate with negative stimuli can influence attitudes toward chocolate, though behavioral effects are absent. Intervention applications of EC provide avenues for future research and practices. PMID:28900409

It gets better with time: Enhancement of age-related positivity effect in the six months following a highly negative public event.

PubMed

Ford, Jaclyn H; DiBiase, Haley D; Ryu, Ehri; Kensinger, Elizabeth A

2018-05-01

Age is associated with shifts toward more positive memory retrieval. The current study examined these shifts following a negative public event. Participants completed two surveys examining emotional responses to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, one immediately following the attack and another 6 months later. Age was associated with different effects of time on how individuals reflected on this event. Time was associated with an increased focus on negative components in young adults but a decreased focus in older adults. These findings reveal a role of time in age-related positivity effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Healthy and happy in Europe? On the association between happiness and life expectancy over time.

PubMed

Bjørnskov, Christian

2008-04-01

This paper revisits the standard finding in individual-level studies that happiness leads to longevity. It does so in a cross-country time-series analysis in which the use of a random effects estimator controls for most relevant time-invariant factors. The findings suggest that happiness is negatively associated with longevity at the national level, and suggests a potential indirect transmission channel, as national happiness is negatively associated with public health expenditures. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the results for public policy and future research.

The positive bystander effect: passive bystanders increase helping in situations with high expected negative consequences for the helper.

PubMed

Fischer, Peter; Greitemeyer, Tobias

2013-01-01

The present field study investigated the interplay between the presence of a passive bystander (not present versus present) in a simulated bike theft and expected negative consequences (low versus high) in predicting intervention behavior when no physical victim is present. It was found that an additional bystander increases individual intervention in situations where the expected negative consequences for the helper in case of intervention were high (i.e., when the bike thief looks fierce) compared to situations where the expected negative consequences for the helper were low (i.e., when the bike thief does not look fierce). In contrast, no such effect for high vs. low expected negative consequences was observed when no additional bystander observed the critical situation. The results are discussed in light of previous laboratory findings on expected negative consequences and bystander intervention.

Sleep deprivation affects reactivity to positive but not negative stimuli.

PubMed

Pilcher, June J; Callan, Christina; Posey, J Laura

2015-12-01

The current study examined the effects of partial and total sleep deprivation on emotional reactivity. Twenty-eight partially sleep-deprived participants and 31 totally sleep-deprived participants rated their valence and arousal responses to positive and negative pictures across four testing sessions during the day following partial sleep deprivation or during the night under total sleep deprivation. The results suggest that valence and arousal ratings decreased under both sleep deprivation conditions. In addition, partial and total sleep deprivation had a greater negative effect on positive events than negative events. These results suggest that sleep-deprived persons are more likely to respond less to positive events than negative events. One explanation for the current findings is that negative events could elicit more attentive behavior and thus stable responding under sleep deprivation conditions. As such, sleep deprivation could impact reactivity to emotional stimuli through automated attentional and self-regulatory processes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A structural equation model of the relationship between insomnia, negative affect, and paranoid thinking

PubMed Central

Rowse, Georgina; Webb, Thomas L.

2017-01-01

Background A growing body of evidence points to relationships between insomnia, negative affect, and paranoid thinking. However, studies are needed to examine (i) whether negative affect mediates the relation between insomnia and paranoid thinking, (ii) whether different types of insomnia exert different effects on paranoia, and (iii) to compare the impact of objective and self-reported sleeping difficulties. Method Structural equation modelling was therefore used to test competing models of the relationships between self-reported insomnia, negative affect, and paranoia. n = 348 participants completed measures of insomnia, negative affect and paranoia. A subset of these participants (n = 91) went on to monitor their sleep objectively (using a portable sleep monitor made by Zeo) for seven consecutive nights. Associations between objectively recorded sleep, negative affect, and paranoia were explored using linear regression. Results The findings supported a fully mediated model where self-reported delayed sleep onset, but not self-reported problems with sleep maintenance or objective measures of sleep, was directly associated with negative affect that, in turn, was associated with paranoia. There was no evidence of a direct association between delayed sleep onset or sleep maintenance problems and paranoia. Conclusions Taken together, the findings point to an association between perceived (but not objective) difficulties initially falling asleep (but not maintaining sleep) and paranoid thinking; a relationship that is fully mediated by negative affect. Future research should seek to disentangle the causal relationships between sleep, negative affect, and paranoia (e.g., by examining the effect of an intervention using prospective designs that incorporate experience sampling). Indeed, interventions might profitably target (i) perceived sleep quality, (ii) sleep onset, and / or (iii) emotion regulation as a route to reducing negative affect and, thus, paranoid thinking. PMID:29049381

Prefrontal cortical thinning links to negative symptoms in schizophrenia via the ENIGMA consortium.

PubMed

Walton, E; Hibar, D P; van Erp, T G M; Potkin, S G; Roiz-Santiañez, R; Crespo-Facorro, B; Suarez-Pinilla, P; van Haren, N E M; de Zwarte, S M C; Kahn, R S; Cahn, W; Doan, N T; Jørgensen, K N; Gurholt, T P; Agartz, I; Andreassen, O A; Westlye, L T; Melle, I; Berg, A O; Morch-Johnsen, L; Færden, A; Flyckt, L; Fatouros-Bergman, H; Jönsson, E G; Hashimoto, R; Yamamori, H; Fukunaga, M; Jahanshad, N; De Rossi, P; Piras, F; Banaj, N; Spalletta, G; Gur, R E; Gur, R C; Wolf, D H; Satterthwaite, T D; Beard, L M; Sommer, I E; Koops, S; Gruber, O; Richter, A; Krämer, B; Kelly, S; Donohoe, G; McDonald, C; Cannon, D M; Corvin, A; Gill, M; Di Giorgio, A; Bertolino, A; Lawrie, S; Nickson, T; Whalley, H C; Neilson, E; Calhoun, V D; Thompson, P M; Turner, J A; Ehrlich, S

2018-01-01

Our understanding of the complex relationship between schizophrenia symptomatology and etiological factors can be improved by studying brain-based correlates of schizophrenia. Research showed that impairments in value processing and executive functioning, which have been associated with prefrontal brain areas [particularly the medial orbitofrontal cortex (MOFC)], are linked to negative symptoms. Here we tested the hypothesis that MOFC thickness is associated with negative symptom severity. This study included 1985 individuals with schizophrenia from 17 research groups around the world contributing to the ENIGMA Schizophrenia Working Group. Cortical thickness values were obtained from T1-weighted structural brain scans using FreeSurfer. A meta-analysis across sites was conducted over effect sizes from a model predicting cortical thickness by negative symptom score (harmonized Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms or Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores). Meta-analytical results showed that left, but not right, MOFC thickness was significantly associated with negative symptom severity (β std = -0.075; p = 0.019) after accounting for age, gender, and site. This effect remained significant (p = 0.036) in a model including overall illness severity. Covarying for duration of illness, age of onset, antipsychotic medication or handedness weakened the association of negative symptoms with left MOFC thickness. As part of a secondary analysis including 10 other prefrontal regions further associations in the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus and pars opercularis emerged. Using an unusually large cohort and a meta-analytical approach, our findings point towards a link between prefrontal thinning and negative symptom severity in schizophrenia. This finding provides further insight into the relationship between structural brain abnormalities and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Similarity to the Self Affects Memory for Impressions of Others in Younger and Older Adults

PubMed Central

Park, Jung M.; Gutchess, Angela H.

2015-01-01

Objectives. Similarity to the self has been shown to affect memory for impressions in younger adults, suggesting a self-reference effect in person memory. Because older adults show comparable self-reference effects, but prioritize memory for positive over negative information relative to young adults, we examined age differences in self-similarity effects on memory for positive and negative impressions. Method. Younger and older adults formed positive and negative impressions of others differing in the degree of similarity to the self (high, medium, low). Results. For positive impressions, both groups showed enhanced memory for self-similar others relative to dissimilar others, whereas for negative impressions, memory was poorer for those similar to the self. When collapsed across similarity to the self, younger adults remembered negative impressions better than older adults, but interestingly, older adults exhibited a trend for better memory for the positive impressions. Discussion. Results suggest that self-reference effects in impression memory are preserved with age and that older adults exhibit positivity effects in person memory consistent with previous findings. PMID:24389124

Fluctuations, ghosts, and the cosmological constant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hirayama, T.; Holdom, B.

2004-12-15

For a large region of parameter space involving the cosmological constant and mass parameters, we discuss fluctuating spacetime solutions that are effectively Minkowskian on large time and distance scales. Rapid, small amplitude oscillations in the scale factor have a frequency determined by the size of a negative cosmological constant. A field with modes of negative energy is required. If it is gravity that induces a coupling between the ghostlike and normal fields, we find that this results in stochastic rather than unstable behavior. The negative energy modes may also permit the existence of Lorentz invariant fluctuating solutions of finite energymore » density. Finally we consider higher derivative gravity theories and find oscillating metric solutions in these theories without the addition of other fields.« less

Feeling Better About Self After Receiving Negative Feedback: When the Sense That Ability Can Be Improved Is Activated.

PubMed

Hu, Xinyi; Chen, Yinghe; Tian, Baowei

2016-01-01

Past studies suggest that managers and educators often consider negative feedback as a motivator for individuals to think about their shortcomings and improve their work, but delivering negative feedback does not always achieve desired results. The present study, based on incremental theory, employed an intervention method to activate the belief that a particular ability could be improved after negative feedback. Three experiments tested the intervention effect on negative self-relevant emotion. Study 1 indicated conveying suggestions for improving ability reduced negative self-relevant emotion after negative feedback. Study 2 tested whether activating the sense of possible improvement in the ability could reduce negative self-relevant emotion. Results indicated activating the belief that ability could be improved reduced negative self-relevant emotion after failure, but delivering emotion management information alone did not yield the same effect. Study 3 extended the results by affirming the effort participants made in doing the test, and found the affirmation reduced negative self-relevant emotion. Collectively, the findings indicated focusing on the belief that the ability could be improved in the future can reduce negative self-relevant emotion after negative feedback.

30 CFR 43.6 - Notice of negative finding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Notice of negative finding. 43.6 Section 43.6... Notice of negative finding. (a) If it is determined that a special inspection is not warranted, a written notice of negative finding shall be issued as soon as possible following such determination. (b) If it is...

Playing the Fertility Game at Work: An Equilibrium Model of Peer Effects.

PubMed

Ciliberto, Federico; Miller, Amalia R; Nielsen, Helena Skyt; Simonsen, Marianne

2016-08-01

We study workplace peer effects in fertility decisions using a game theory model of strategic interactions among coworkers that allows for multiple equilibria. Using register-based data on fertile-aged women working in medium sized establishments in Denmark, we uncover negative average peer effects. Allowing for heterogeneous effects by worker type, we find that positive effects dominate across worker types defined by age or education. Negative effects dominate within age groups and among low-education types. Policy simulations show that these estimated effects make the distribution of where women work an important consideration, beyond simply if they work, in predicting population fertility.

Playing the Fertility Game at Work: An Equilibrium Model of Peer Effects

PubMed Central

Ciliberto, Federico; Miller, Amalia R.; Nielsen, Helena Skyt; Simonsen, Marianne

2016-01-01

We study workplace peer effects in fertility decisions using a game theory model of strategic interactions among coworkers that allows for multiple equilibria. Using register-based data on fertile-aged women working in medium sized establishments in Denmark, we uncover negative average peer effects. Allowing for heterogeneous effects by worker type, we find that positive effects dominate across worker types defined by age or education. Negative effects dominate within age groups and among low-education types. Policy simulations show that these estimated effects make the distribution of where women work an important consideration, beyond simply if they work, in predicting population fertility. PMID:27605729

Social Relationships and Salivary Telomere Length Among Middle-Aged and Older African American and White Adults.

PubMed

Lincoln, Karen D; Lloyd, Donald A; Nguyen, Ann W

2017-05-09

A common mechanism underlying premature morbidity may be accelerated biological aging as reflected by salivary telomere length (STL). This study examined the extent to which social relationships, both positive and negative, can be protective or confer risk relative to biological aging. Data from the Health and Retirement Study and multiple regression were used to examine cross-sectional associations between STL, self-reported social support, and negative interaction (e.g., conflict, criticism) with family in a nationally representative sample of African American and non-Hispanic White middle-aged and older adults (N = 4,080). Social support from family was associated with shorter STL. Negative interaction with family had no main effect on STL but interactions characterized by high social support and more frequent negative interactions were associated with longer STL. Negative interaction with family was negatively associated with STL for African Americans and Whites but the magnitude of the effect was greater for African Americans. Study findings highlight the role of social relationships in physiological deterioration among middle-aged and older adults and identify a potential mechanism whereby race is linked to accelerated biological aging. Findings highlight the importance of considering positive and negative aspects of social relationships to understand the consequences of social connections for cellular aging in diverse populations. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Aversive properties of negative incentive shifts in Fischer 344 and Lewis rats

PubMed Central

Brewer, Adam; Johnson, Patrick; Stein, Jeff; Schlund, Michael; Williams, Dean C.

2018-01-01

Research on incentive contrast highlights that reward value is not absolute but rather is based upon comparisons we make to rewards we have received and expect to receive. Both human and nonhuman studies on incentive contrast show that shifting from a larger more-valued reward to a smaller less-valued reward is associated with long periods of nonresponding—a negative contrast effect. In this investigation, we used two different genetic rat strains, Fischer 344 and Lewis rats that putatively differ in their sensitivity to aversive stimulation, to assess the aversive properties of large-to-small reward shifts (negative incentive shifts). Additionally, we examined the extent to which increasing cost (fixed-ratio requirements) modulates negative contrast effects. In the presence of a cue that signaled the upcoming reward magnitude, lever pressing was reinforced with one of two different magnitudes of food (large or small). This design created two contrast shifts (small-to-large, large-to-small) and two shifts used as control conditions (small-to-small, large-to-large). Results showed a significant interaction between rat strain and cost requirements only during the negative incentive shift with the emotionally reactive Fischer 344 rats exhibiting significantly longer response latencies with increasing cost, highlighting greater negative contrast. These findings are more consistent with emotionality accounts of negative contrast and results of neurophysiological research that suggests shifting from a large to a small reward is aversive. Findings also highlight how subjective reward value and motivation is a product of gene-environment interactions. PMID:27864048

Potentiated processing of negative feedback in depression is attenuated by anhedonia

PubMed Central

Mueller, E. M.; Pechtel, P.; Cohen, A.L.; Douglas, S.R.; Pizzagalli, D.A.

2014-01-01

Background Although cognitive theories of depression have postulated enhanced processing of negatively valenced information, previous EEG studies have shown both increased and reduced sensitivity for negative performance feedback in MDD. To reconcile these paradoxical findings, it has been speculated that sensitivity for negative feedback is potentiated in moderate MDD but reduced in highly anhedonic subjects. The goal of this study was to test this hypothesis by analyzing the feedback-related negativity (FRN), frontomedial theta power (FMT), and source-localized anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) activity after negative feedback. Methods Fourteen unmedicated participants with MDD and 15 control participants performed a reinforcement learning task while 128-channel EEG was recorded. FRN, FMT and LORETA source-localized aMCC activity after negative and positive feedback were compared between groups. Results The MDD group showed higher FRN amplitudes and aMCC activation to negative feedback than controls. Moreover, aMCC activation to negative feedback was inversely related to self-reported anhedonia. In contrast, self-reported anxiety correlated with feedback-evoked frontomedial theta (FMT) within the depression group. Conclusions The present findings suggest that, among depressed and anxious individuals, enhanced processing of negative feedback occurs relatively early in the information processing stream. These results extend prior work and indicate that although moderate depression is associated with elevated sensitivity for negative feedback, high levels of anhedonia may attenuate this effect. PMID:25620272

Getting the message across: age differences in the positive and negative framing of health care messages.

PubMed

Shamaskin, Andrea M; Mikels, Joseph A; Reed, Andrew E

2010-09-01

Although valenced health care messages influence impressions, memory, and behavior (Levin, Schneider, & Gaeth, 1998) and the processing of valenced information changes with age (Carstensen & Mikels, 2005), these 2 lines of research have thus far been disconnected. This study examined impressions of, and memory for, positively and negatively framed health care messages that were presented in pamphlets to 25 older adults and 24 younger adults. Older adults relative to younger adults rated positive pamphlets more informative than negative pamphlets and remembered a higher proportion of positive to negative messages. However, older adults misremembered negative messages to be positive. These findings demonstrate the age-related positivity effect in health care messages with promise as to the persuasive nature and lingering effects of positive messages. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

The asymmetrical force of persuasive knowledge across the positive-negative divide.

PubMed

Nordmo, Mads; Selart, Marcus

2015-01-01

In two experimental studies we explore to what extent the general effects of positive and negative framing also apply to positive and negative persuasion. Our results reveal that negative persuasion induces substantially higher levels of skepticism and awareness of being subjected to a persuasion attempt. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in positive persuasion, more claims lead to stronger persuasion, while in negative persuasion, the numerosity of claims carries no significant effect. We interpret this finding along the lines of a satiety-model of persuasion. Finally, using diluted, or low strength claims in a persuasion attempt, we reveal a significant interaction between dispositional reactance and dilution of claims on persuasion knowledge. The interaction states that diluted claims increase the awareness of being subjected to a persuasion attempt, but only for those with a high dispositional level of reactance.

The Immoral Assumption Effect: Moralization Drives Negative Trait Attributions.

PubMed

Meindl, Peter; Johnson, Kate M; Graham, Jesse

2016-04-01

Jumping to negative conclusions about other people's traits is judged as morally bad by many people. Despite this, across six experiments (total N = 2,151), we find that multiple types of moral evaluations--even evaluations related to open-mindedness, tolerance, and compassion--play a causal role in these potentially pernicious trait assumptions. Our results also indicate that moralization affects negative-but not positive-trait assumptions, and that the effect of morality on negative assumptions cannot be explained merely by people's general (nonmoral) preferences or other factors that distinguish moral and nonmoral traits, such as controllability or desirability. Together, these results suggest that one of the more destructive human tendencies--making negative assumptions about others--can be caused by the better angels of our nature. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

The asymmetrical force of persuasive knowledge across the positive–negative divide

PubMed Central

Nordmo, Mads; Selart, Marcus

2015-01-01

In two experimental studies we explore to what extent the general effects of positive and negative framing also apply to positive and negative persuasion. Our results reveal that negative persuasion induces substantially higher levels of skepticism and awareness of being subjected to a persuasion attempt. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in positive persuasion, more claims lead to stronger persuasion, while in negative persuasion, the numerosity of claims carries no significant effect. We interpret this finding along the lines of a satiety-model of persuasion. Finally, using diluted, or low strength claims in a persuasion attempt, we reveal a significant interaction between dispositional reactance and dilution of claims on persuasion knowledge. The interaction states that diluted claims increase the awareness of being subjected to a persuasion attempt, but only for those with a high dispositional level of reactance. PMID:26388821

Group cohesion and organizational commitment: protective factors for nurse residents' job satisfaction, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout.

PubMed

Li, Angela; Early, Sean F; Mahrer, Nicole E; Klaristenfeld, Jessica L; Gold, Jeffrey I

2014-01-01

Stress can have detrimental effects on nurse residents' levels of job satisfaction, compassion, fatigue, and burnout. This can lead to high turnover rates and poor quality of care among novice nurses. Therefore, it is critical to identify protective factors to prevent the onset of negative nurse outcomes (compassion fatigue, burnout, and job dissatisfaction) and to promote positive nurse outcomes (job satisfaction, compassion satisfaction). This study aimed to determine whether factors such as group cohesion and organizational commitment would be protective and moderate the association between stress exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms and other negative nurse outcomes, thus facilitating positive outcomes. Findings showed that group cohesion was effective in moderating the negative effects of current stress exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms on negative nurse outcomes, specifically on increased compassion fatigue and burnout, and reduced compassion satisfaction. In addition, organizational commitment was determined to promote positive nurse outcomes such as job satisfaction and compassion satisfaction. The study findings are promising, as retention of quality nurses is a significant problem for hospitals. Nurse managers and hospital administrators should be aware of the benefits of group cohesion and organizational commitment and strive to make the promotion of these factors a priority. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Antiapoptotic and Trophic Effects of Dominant-Negative Forms of Dual Leucine Zipper Kinase in Dopamine Neurons of the Substantia Nigra In Vivo

PubMed Central

Chen, Xiqun; Rzhetskaya, Margarita; Kareva, Tatyana; Bland, Ross; During, Matthew J.; Tank, A. William; Kholodilov, Nikolai; Burke, Robert E.

2009-01-01

There is extensive evidence that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade mediates programmed cell death in neurons. However, current evidence that the mixed linage kinases (MLKs), upstream in this cascade, mediate cell death is based, in the in vivo context, entirely on pharmacological approaches. The compounds used in these studies have neither complete specificity nor selectivity among these kinases. Therefore, to better address the molecular specificity of the MLKs in mediating neuron death, we used dominant-negative constructs delivered by AAV (adenoassociated virus) vector transfer. We assessed effects in a neurotoxin model of parkinsonism, in which neuroprotection by pharmacologic MLK inhibition has been reported. We find that two dominant-negative forms of dual leucine zipper kinase (DLK) inhibit apoptosis and enhance long-term survival of dopamine neurons, but a dominant negative of MLK3 does not. Interestingly, the kinase-dead form of DLK not only blocks apoptosis but also has trophic effects on dopamine neurons. Although the MAPK cascade activates a number of downstream cell death mediators, we find that inhibition of DLK correlates closely with blockade of phosphorylation of c-jun and prevention of cell death. We conclude that DLK acts primarily through c-jun phosphorylation to mediate cell death in this model. PMID:18199767

Perceived positive and negative consequences after surviving cancer and their relation to quality of life.

PubMed

Castellano-Tejedor, Carmina; Eiroa-Orosa, Francisco-José; Pérez-Campdepadrós, Marta; Capdevila, Lluís; Sánchez de Toledo, José; Blasco-Blasco, Tomás

2015-06-01

Surviving childhood cancer has multiple implications on both physical and psychological domains of the individual. However, its study and possible effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes of adolescent survivors has been understudied. The objective of this study was twofold; to assess positive and negative cancer-related consequences (psychosocial and physical) in a sample of adolescent cancer survivors and to explore their relationship with HRQoL outcomes. Forty-one participants answered two questions about positive and negative consequences in the aftermath of cancer and filled in the KIDSCREEN-52 self-reported version. Data were analysed using mixed methods approach. Overall, 87.8% of the studied sample identified positive consequences and 63.4% negative consequences in survivorship. Four positive categories and five negative categories with regard to cancer-related consequences were found. Changed perspectives in life narratives seem to be the positive consequence more related to HRQoL (physical well-being, mood & emotions, autonomy, social support & peers), followed by useful life experience (physical well-being, autonomy, social support & peers). Psychological impact was the most referred negative consequence with a significant detrimental effect on social support and peers HRQoL dimension. Even if the majority of survivors reported benefit finding in the aftermath of cancer, concomitant positive and negative consequences have been found. However, findings only reveal a significant relationship between positive narratives and HRQoL, and negative consequences do not seem to have a significant influence on overall HRQoL in survivorship. © 2015 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Mindfulness and emotion regulation—an fMRI study

PubMed Central

Lutz, Jacqueline; Herwig, Uwe; Opialla, Sarah; Hittmeyer, Anna; Jäncke, Lutz; Rufer, Michael; Grosse Holtforth, Martin

2014-01-01

Mindfulness—an attentive non-judgmental focus on present experiences—is increasingly incorporated in psychotherapeutic treatments as a skill fostering emotion regulation. Neurobiological mechanisms of actively induced emotion regulation are associated with prefrontally mediated down-regulation of, for instance, the amygdala. We were interested in neurobiological correlates of a short mindfulness instruction during emotional arousal. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated effects of a short mindfulness intervention during the cued expectation and perception of negative and potentially negative pictures (50% probability) in 24 healthy individuals compared to 22 controls. The mindfulness intervention was associated with increased activations in prefrontal regions during the expectation of negative and potentially negative pictures compared to controls. During the perception of negative stimuli, reduced activation was identified in regions involved in emotion processing (amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus). Prefrontal and right insular activations when expecting negative pictures correlated negatively with trait mindfulness, suggesting that more mindful individuals required less regulatory resources to attenuate emotional arousal. Our findings suggest emotion regulatory effects of a short mindfulness intervention on a neurobiological level. PMID:23563850

OVERWEIGHT/OBESITY AND HUMAN CAPITAL FORMATION FROM INFANCY TO ADOLESCENCE: EVIDENCE FROM TWO LARGE US COHORTS.

PubMed

Murasko, Jason E

2015-03-01

Body mass index (BMI) levels in US children and adolescents have increased over the past several decades. The negative health effects of this trend are well-documented. Recent work has evaluated the potential effects on skills formation. Studies are mixed on whether there is an association between high BMI and skills outcomes, and those that estimate causal effects find none. This paper offers estimates on the causal effect of BMI-defined overweight and obesity on skills formation using two large cohorts of contemporary US children followed from infancy to 5 years and from kindergarten (6 years) to the eighth grade (14 years). Significant negative associations were observed in the random effects models for males in early life with respect to a mental skills assessment, for females during the pre-school years for reading and maths assessments, for both males and females during the schooling years for reading assessments and for females during the schooling years for maths assessments. Fixed effects models yielded a significant negative association only with respect to the latter. The implication of these findings is that any improvement in skills outcomes that may accompany reductions in obesity prevalence may depend on whether interventions are general to overall health productivity or whether they are specific to dietary and exercise behaviours.

COMT-by-Sex Interaction Effect on Psychosis Proneness

PubMed Central

de Castro-Catala, Marta; Barrantes-Vidal, Neus; Sheinbaum, Tamara; Moreno-Fortuny, Artal; Kwapil, Thomas R.; Rosa, Araceli

2015-01-01

Schizotypy phenotypes in the general population share etiopathogenic mechanisms and risk factors with schizophrenia, supporting the notion of psychosis as a continuum ranging from nonclinical to clinical deviance. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is a candidate susceptibility gene for schizophrenia that is involved in the regulation of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex. Several recent studies have reported a sex difference in the impact of COMT genotype on psychiatric and cognitive phenotypes and personality traits. The present study investigated the association of COMT Val158Met (rs4680) with psychometric positive and negative schizotypy and psychotic experiences in a sample of 808 nonclinical young adults. The main finding was that sex moderates the association of COMT genotype with the negative dimension of both schizotypy and psychotic experiences. Male subjects carrying the Val allele tended to score higher on the negative dimension of both trait and symptom-like measures. The results from the present study are consistent with recent work suggesting an association between negative schizotypy and diminished prefrontal dopamine availability. They support the idea that a biological differentiation underlies the positive and negative schizotypy dimensions. Additionally, these findings contribute to the growing literature on sex-specific effects of COMT on the predisposition to psychiatric disorders and personality traits. PMID:25722988

Child-evoked maternal negativity from 9 to 27 months: evidence of gene-environment correlation and its moderation by marital distress

PubMed Central

Fearon, R.M. Pasco; Reiss, David; Leve, Leslie D.; Shaw, Daniel S.; Scaramella, Laura V.; Ganiban, Jody M.; Neiderhiser, Jenae M.

2014-01-01

Past research has documented pervasive genetic influences on emotional and behavioral disturbance across the lifespan and on liability to adult psychiatric disorder. Increasingly, interest is turning to mechanisms of gene-environment interplay in attempting to understand the earliest manifestations of genetic risk. We report findings from a prospective adoption study, which aimed to test the role of evocative gene-environment correlation in early development. 561 infants adopted at birth were studied between 9 and 27 months with their adoptive parents and birth mothers. Birth mother psychiatric diagnoses and symptoms scales were used as indicators of genetic influence, and multiple self-report measures were used to index adoptive mother parental negativity. We hypothesized that birth parent psychopathology would be associated with greater adoptive parent negativity, and that such evocative effects would be amplified under conditions of high family adversity. The findings suggested that genetic factors linked to birth mother externalizing psychopathology may evoke negative reactions in adoptive mothers in the first year of life, but primarily when the adoptive family environment was characterized by marital problems. The observed maternal negativity mediated the effects of genetic risk on child adjustment at 27 months. The results underline the importance of genetically-influenced evocative processes in early development. PMID:25216383

Child-evoked maternal negativity from 9 to 27 months: Evidence of gene-environment correlation and its moderation by marital distress.

PubMed

Fearon, R M Pasco; Reiss, David; Leve, Leslie D; Shaw, Daniel S; Scaramella, Laura V; Ganiban, Jody M; Neiderhiser, Jenae M

2015-11-01

Past research has documented pervasive genetic influences on emotional and behavioral disturbance across the life span and on liability to adult psychiatric disorder. Increasingly, interest is turning to mechanisms of gene-environment interplay in attempting to understand the earliest manifestations of genetic risk. We report findings from a prospective adoption study, which aimed to test the role of evocative gene-environment correlation in early development. Included in the study were 561 infants adopted at birth and studied between 9 and 27 months, along with their adoptive parents and birth mothers. Birth mother psychiatric diagnoses and symptoms scales were used as indicators of genetic influence, and multiple self-report measures were used to index adoptive mother parental negativity. We hypothesized that birth mother psychopathology would be associated with greater adoptive parent negativity and that such evocative effects would be amplified under conditions of high adoptive family adversity. The findings suggested that genetic factors associated with birth mother externalizing psychopathology may evoke negative reactions in adoptive mothers in the first year of life, but only when the adoptive family environment is characterized by marital problems. Maternal negativity mediated the effects of genetic risk on child adjustment at 27 months. The results underscore the importance of genetically influenced evocative processes in early development.

Beyond Natural Numbers: Negative Number Representation in Parietal Cortex

PubMed Central

Blair, Kristen P.; Rosenberg-Lee, Miriam; Tsang, Jessica M.; Schwartz, Daniel L.; Menon, Vinod

2012-01-01

Unlike natural numbers, negative numbers do not have natural physical referents. How does the brain represent such abstract mathematical concepts? Two competing hypotheses regarding representational systems for negative numbers are a rule-based model, in which symbolic rules are applied to negative numbers to translate them into positive numbers when assessing magnitudes, and an expanded magnitude model, in which negative numbers have a distinct magnitude representation. Using an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging design, we examined brain responses in 22 adults while they performed magnitude comparisons of negative and positive numbers that were quantitatively near (difference <4) or far apart (difference >6). Reaction times (RTs) for negative numbers were slower than positive numbers, and both showed a distance effect whereby near pairs took longer to compare. A network of parietal, frontal, and occipital regions were differentially engaged by negative numbers. Specifically, compared to positive numbers, negative number processing resulted in greater activation bilaterally in intraparietal sulcus (IPS), middle frontal gyrus, and inferior lateral occipital cortex. Representational similarity analysis revealed that neural responses in the IPS were more differentiated among positive numbers than among negative numbers, and greater differentiation among negative numbers was associated with faster RTs. Our findings indicate that despite negative numbers engaging the IPS more strongly, the underlying neural representation are less distinct than that of positive numbers. We discuss our findings in the context of the two theoretical models of negative number processing and demonstrate how multivariate approaches can provide novel insights into abstract number representation. PMID:22363276

Beyond natural numbers: negative number representation in parietal cortex.

PubMed

Blair, Kristen P; Rosenberg-Lee, Miriam; Tsang, Jessica M; Schwartz, Daniel L; Menon, Vinod

2012-01-01

Unlike natural numbers, negative numbers do not have natural physical referents. How does the brain represent such abstract mathematical concepts? Two competing hypotheses regarding representational systems for negative numbers are a rule-based model, in which symbolic rules are applied to negative numbers to translate them into positive numbers when assessing magnitudes, and an expanded magnitude model, in which negative numbers have a distinct magnitude representation. Using an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging design, we examined brain responses in 22 adults while they performed magnitude comparisons of negative and positive numbers that were quantitatively near (difference <4) or far apart (difference >6). Reaction times (RTs) for negative numbers were slower than positive numbers, and both showed a distance effect whereby near pairs took longer to compare. A network of parietal, frontal, and occipital regions were differentially engaged by negative numbers. Specifically, compared to positive numbers, negative number processing resulted in greater activation bilaterally in intraparietal sulcus (IPS), middle frontal gyrus, and inferior lateral occipital cortex. Representational similarity analysis revealed that neural responses in the IPS were more differentiated among positive numbers than among negative numbers, and greater differentiation among negative numbers was associated with faster RTs. Our findings indicate that despite negative numbers engaging the IPS more strongly, the underlying neural representation are less distinct than that of positive numbers. We discuss our findings in the context of the two theoretical models of negative number processing and demonstrate how multivariate approaches can provide novel insights into abstract number representation.

The Effects of Young Children’s Affiliations with Prosocial Peers on Subsequent Emotionality in Peer Interactions

PubMed Central

Fabes, Richard A.; Hanish, Laura D.; Martin, Carol Lynn; Moss, Alicia; Reesing, Amy

2011-01-01

Preschoolers’ (60 boys and 64 girls, M age = 50.73 months) affiliations with prosocial peers were observed in naturally occurring interactions and then examined in relation to positive and negative emotionality within their peer interactions one semester later. Greater affiliation with prosocial peers in the fall was related to enhanced positive emotionality (especially for girls) and decreased negative emotionality (especially for boys) in later peer interactions. These findings held when initial levels of the emotion were controlled and were found above and beyond variations in classroom levels of prosociality. The findings suggest that peers exert influence in early childhood and that these effects can positively affect the quality of young children’s later peer interactions. PMID:23039333

Opposing influences on conflict-driven adaptation in the Eriksen flanker task

PubMed Central

Bugg, Julie M.

2009-01-01

Compatibility effects in conflict paradigms are reduced following incompatible trials, and this effect is referred to as conflict adaptation. A perplexing pattern exists, however, with conflict-driven adaptation emerging in several paradigms (e.g., Stroop, Simon) but not consistently in the Eriksen and Eriksen (1974) flanker task. The present experiments address the seemingly elusive presence of conflict adaptation in this task. Experiment 1 shows that a negative-priming-like slowing may be masking conflict adaptation in the flanker task. In Experiment 2, conflict adaptation was revealed when a larger stimulus set designed to reduce negative priming was implemented. Taken together, the findings indicate that a consideration of processes opposing conflict adaptation in the flanker task may help reconcile prior findings. PMID:18927038

Attribute Framing and Goal Framing Effects in Health Decisions.

PubMed

Krishnamurthy, Parthasarathy; Carter, Patrick; Blair, Edward

2001-07-01

Levin, Schneider, and Gaeth (LSG, 1998) have distinguished among three types of framing-risky choice, attribute, and goal framing-to reconcile conflicting findings in the literature. In the research reported here, we focus on attribute and goal framing. LSG propose that positive frames should be more effective than negative frames in the context of attribute framing, and negative frames should be more effective than positive frames in the context of goal framing. We test this framework by manipulating frame valence (positive vs negative) and frame type (attribute vs goal) in a unified context with common procedures. We also argue that the nature of effects in a goal-framing context may depend on the extent to which the research topic has "intrinsic self-relevance" to the population. In the context of medical decision making, we operationalize low intrinsic self-relevance by using student subjects and high intrinsic self-relevance by using patients. As expected, we find complete support for the LSG framework under low intrinsic self-relevance and modified support for the LSG framework under high intrinsic self-relevance. Overall, our research appears to confirm and extend the LSG framework. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Mediators of the Association of Major Depressive Syndrome and Anxiety Syndrome with Postpartum Smoking Relapse

PubMed Central

Correa-Fernández, Virmarie; Ji, Lingyun; Castro, Yessenia; Heppner, Whitney L.; Vidrine, Jennifer Irvin; Costello, Tracy J.; Mullen, Patricia Dolan; Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila; Velasquez, Mary M.; Greisinger, Anthony; Cinciripini, Paul M.; Wetter, David W.

2012-01-01

Objective Based on conceptual models of addiction and affect regulation, this study examined the mechanisms linking current major depressive syndrome (MDS) and anxiety syndrome (AS) to postpartum smoking relapse. Method Data were collected in a randomized clinical trial from 251 women who quit smoking during pregnancy. Simple and multiple mediation models of the relations of MDS and AS with postpartum relapse were examined using linear regression, continuation ratio logit models, and a Bootstrapping procedure to test the indirect effects. Results Both MDS and AS significantly predicted postpartum smoking relapse. After adjusting for MDS, AS significantly predicted relapse. However, after adjusting for AS, MDS no longer predicted relapse. Situationally-based self-efficacy, expectancies of controlling negative affect by means other than smoking, and various dimensions of primary and secondary tobacco dependence individually mediated the effect of both MDS and AS on relapse. In multiple mediation models, self-efficacy in negative/affective situations significantly mediated the effect of MDS and AS on relapse. Conclusion The findings underscore the negative impact of depression and anxiety on postpartum smoking relapse, and suggest that the effects of MDS on postpartum relapse may be largely explained by comorbid AS. The current investigation provided mixed support for affect regulation models of addiction. Cognitive and tobacco dependence-related aspects of negative and positive reinforcement significantly mediated the relationship of depression and anxiety with relapse, while affect and stress did not. The findings emphasize the unique role of low agency with respect to abstaining from smoking in negative affective situations as a key predictor of postpartum smoking relapse. PMID:22390410

Mediators of the association of major depressive syndrome and anxiety syndrome with postpartum smoking relapse.

PubMed

Correa-Fernández, Virmarie; Ji, Lingyun; Castro, Yessenia; Heppner, Whitney L; Vidrine, Jennifer Irvin; Costello, Tracy J; Mullen, Patricia Dolan; Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila; Velasquez, Mary M; Greisinger, Anthony; Cinciripini, Paul M; Wetter, David W

2012-08-01

Based on conceptual models of addiction and affect regulation, this study examined the mechanisms linking current major depressive syndrome (MDS) and anxiety syndrome (AS) to postpartum smoking relapse. Data were collected in a randomized clinical trial from 251 women who quit smoking during pregnancy. Simple and multiple mediation models of the relations of MDS and AS with postpartum relapse were examined using linear regression, continuation ratio logit models, and a bootstrapping procedure to test the indirect effects. Both MDS and AS significantly predicted postpartum smoking relapse. After adjusting for MDS, AS significantly predicted relapse. However, after adjusting for AS, MDS no longer predicted relapse. Situationally based self-efficacy, expectancies of controlling negative affect by means other than smoking, and various dimensions of primary and secondary tobacco dependence individually mediated the effect of both MDS and AS on relapse. In multiple mediation models, self-efficacy in negative/affective situations significantly mediated the effect of MDS and AS on relapse. The findings underscore the negative impact of depression and anxiety on postpartum smoking relapse and suggest that the effects of MDS on postpartum relapse may be largely explained by comorbid AS. The current investigation provided mixed support for affect regulation models of addiction. Cognitive and tobacco dependence-related aspects of negative and positive reinforcement significantly mediated the relationship of depression and anxiety with relapse, whereas affect and stress did not. The findings emphasize the unique role of low agency with respect to abstaining from smoking in negative affective situations as a key predictor of postpartum smoking relapse. © 2012 American Psychological Association

Positive smoking outcome expectancies mediate the association between negative affect and smoking urge among women during a quit attempt.

PubMed

Cano, Miguel Ángel; Lam, Cho Y; Chen, Minxing; Adams, Claire E; Correa-Fernández, Virmarie; Stewart, Diana W; McClure, Jennifer B; Cinciripini, Paul M; Wetter, David W

2014-08-01

Ecological momentary assessment was used to examine associations between negative affect, positive smoking outcome expectancies, and smoking urge during the first 7 days of a smoking quit attempt. Participants were 302 female smokers who enrolled in an individually tailored smoking cessation treatment study. Multilevel mediation analysis was used to examine the temporal relationship among the following: (a) the effects of negative affect and positive smoking outcome expectancies at 1 assessment point (e.g., time j) on smoking urge at the subsequent time point (e.g., time j + 1) in Model 1; and, (b) the effects of negative affect and smoking urge at time j on positive smoking outcome expectancies at time j + 1 in Model 2. The results from Model 1 showed a statistically significant effect of negative affect at time j on smoking urge at time j + 1, and this effect was mediated by positive smoking outcome expectancies at time j, both within- and between-participants. In Model 2, the within-participant indirect effect of negative affect at time j on positive smoking outcome expectancies at time j + 1 through smoking urge at time j was nonsignificant. However, a statistically significant indirect between-participants effect was found in Model 2. The findings support the hypothesis that urge and positive smoking outcome expectancies increase as a function of negative affect, and suggest a stronger effect of expectancies on urge as opposed to the effect of urge on expectancies.

Positive Smoking Outcome Expectancies Mediate the Association between Negative Affect and Smoking Urge among Women During a Quit Attempt

PubMed Central

Cano, Miguel Ángel; Lam, Cho Y.; Chen, Minxing; Adams, Claire E.; Correa-Fernández, Virmarie; Stewart, Diana W.; McClure, Jennifer B.; Cinciripini, Paul M.; Wetter, David W.

2014-01-01

Ecological momentary assessment was used to examine associations between negative affect, positive smoking outcome expectancies, and smoking urge during the first 7 days of a smoking quit attempt. Participants were 302 female smokers who enrolled in an individually tailored smoking cessation treatment study. Multilevel mediation analysis was used to examine the temporal relationship among: 1) the effects of negative affect and positive smoking outcome expectancies at one assessment point (e.g., time j) on smoking urge at the subsequent time point (e.g., time j + 1) in Model 1; and, 2) the effects of negative affect and smoking urge at time j on positive smoking outcome expectancies at time j + 1 in Model 2. The results from Model 1 showed a statistically significant effect of negative affect at time j on smoking urge at time j + 1, and this effect was mediated by positive smoking outcome expectancies at time j, both within- and between-participant. In Model 2, the within-participant indirect effect of negative affect at time j on positive smoking outcome expectancies at time j + 1 through smoking urge at time j was nonsignificant. However, a statistically significant indirect between-participant effect was found in Model 2. The findings support the hypothesis that urge and positive smoking outcome expectancies increase as a function of negative affect, and suggest a stronger effect of expectancies on urge as opposed to the effect of urge on expectancies. PMID:24796849

Receiver Prejudice and Model Ethnicity: Impact on Advertising Effectiveness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lai, Hsiu-Chen Sandra; And Others

1990-01-01

Assesses the effect of model ethnicity on prejudiced respondents, and thus on advertising effectiveness. Finds that, for the most part, use of Asian models does not cause prejudiced respondents to evaluate a product or advertisement more negatively than when White models are used. (SR)

Video games: good, bad, or other?

PubMed

Prot, Sara; McDonald, Katelyn A; Anderson, Craig A; Gentile, Douglas A

2012-06-01

Video games are a pervasive pastime among children and adolescents. The growing popularity of video games has instigated a debate among parents, researchers, video game producers, and policymakers concerning potential harmful and helpful effects of video games on children. This article provides an overview of research findings on the positive and negative effects of video games, thus providing an empirical answer to the question, are video games good or bad? The article also provides some guidelines to help pediatricians, parents, and other caregivers protect children from negative effects and to maximize positive effects of video games. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Geographically varying effects of weather on tobacco consumption: implications for health marketing initiatives.

PubMed

Govind, Rahul; Garg, Nitika; Sun, Wenbin

2014-01-01

Weather and its fluctuations have been found to influence the consumption of negative hedonic goods. However, such findings are of limited use to health marketers who cannot control the weather, and hence, its effects. The current research utilizes data obtained at the zip-code level to study geographical variations in the effect of weather on tobacco consumption across the entire continental United States. The results allow health marketers to identify areas that will be most responsive to marketing efforts aimed at curtailing negative hedonic consumption and thus implement more effective, region-specific initiatives.

Past racial discrimination exacerbates the effects of racial exclusion on negative affect, perceived control, and alcohol-risk cognitions among Black young adults.

PubMed

Stock, Michelle L; Peterson, Laurel M; Molloy, Brianne K; Lambert, Sharon F

2017-06-01

Racial discrimination is associated with alcohol use and risky sex cognitions and behaviors, which are risk factors for negative health outcomes, including human immunodeficiency virus infection. The current study investigated the causal impact of racial discrimination on alcohol and sexual-risk cognitions while exploring potential mediators that might help explain this relation: negative affect, perceived control, and meaningful existence. We also examined if past discrimination impacts the strength of (moderates) these effects. Participants were 287 Black/African American young adults aged 18-25. They were randomly assigned to be excluded or included by White peers via the game Cyberball. Racial exclusion (vs. inclusion) predicted greater: perceived racial discrimination, negative affect, alcohol use willingness, and reduced perceived control and meaningful existence. Furthermore, excluded participants who experienced more past racial discrimination reported the lowest perceived control, and greatest negative affect and alcohol-risk cognitions. The findings suggest that past racial discrimination exacerbates the harmful health effects of immediate experiences of discrimination.

Broad self-trapped and slow light bands based on negative refraction and interference of magnetic coupled modes.

PubMed

Fang, Yun-Tuan; Ni, Zhi-Yao; Zhu, Na; Zhou, Jun

2016-01-13

We propose a new mechanism to achieve light localization and slow light. Through the study on the coupling of two magnetic surface modes, we find a special convex band that takes on a negative refraction effect. The negative refraction results in an energy flow concellation effect from two degenerated modes on the convex band. The energy flow concellation effect leads to forming of the self-trapped and slow light bands. In the self-trapped band light is localized around the source without reflection wall in the waveguide direction, whereas in the slow light band, light becomes the standing-waves and moving standing-waves at the center and the two sides of the waveguide, respectively.

Problematic Drinking, Impulsivity, and Physical IPV Perpetration: A Dyadic Analysis

PubMed Central

Leone, Ruschelle M.; Crane, Cory A.; Parrott, Dominic J.; Eckhardt, Christopher I.

2016-01-01

Alcohol use and impulsivity are two known risk factors for intimate partner violence (IPV). The current study examined the independent and interactive effects of problematic drinking and five facets of impulsivity (i.e., negative urgency, positive urgency, sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, and lack of perseverance) on perpetration of physical IPV within a dyadic framework. Participants were 289 heavy drinking heterosexual couples (total N = 578) with a recent history of psychological and/or physical IPV recruited from two metropolitan U.S. cities. Parallel multilevel Actor Partner Interdependence Models were utilized and demonstrated Actor problematic drinking, negative urgency, and lack of perseverance were associated with physical IPV. Findings also revealed associations between Partner problematic drinking and physical IPV as well as significant Partner Problematic Drinking x Actor Impulsivity (Negative Urgency and Positive Urgency) interaction effects on physical IPV. Findings highlight the importance of examining IPV within a dyadic framework and are interpreted using the I3 meta-theoretical model. PMID:26828640

Negative Emotion Weakens the Degree of Self-Reference Effect: Evidence from ERPs

PubMed Central

Fan, Wei; Zhong, Yiping; Li, Jin; Yang, Zilu; Zhan, Youlong; Cai, Ronghua; Fu, Xiaolan

2016-01-01

We investigated the influence of negative emotion on the degree of self-reference effect using event-related potentials (ERPs). We presented emotional pictures and self-referential stimuli (stimuli that accelerate and improve processing and improve memory of information related to an individual’s self-concept) in sequence. Participants judged the color of the target stimulus (self-referential stimuli). ERP results showed that the target stimuli elicited larger P2 amplitudes under neutral conditions than under negative emotional conditions. Under neutral conditions, N2 amplitudes for highly self-relevant names (target stimulus) were smaller than those for any other names. Under negative emotional conditions, highly and moderately self-referential stimuli activated smaller N2 amplitudes. P3 amplitudes activated by self-referential processing under negative emotional conditions were smaller than neutral conditions. In the left and central sites, highly self-relevant names activated larger P3 amplitudes than any other names. But in the central sites, moderately self-relevant names activated larger P3 amplitudes than non-self-relevant names. The findings indicate that negative emotional processing could weaken the degree of self-reference effect. PMID:27733836

Mindfulness during romantic conflict moderates the impact of negative partner behaviors on cortisol responses.

PubMed

Laurent, Heidemarie K; Hertz, Robin; Nelson, Benjamin; Laurent, Sean M

2016-03-01

This study was designed to test whether romantic partners' mindfulness-present moment, nonjudgmental awareness-during a conflict discussion could buffer the effects of negative partner behaviors on neuroendocrine stress responses. Heterosexual couples (n=88 dyads) provided 5 saliva samples for cortisol assay during a laboratory session involving a conflict discussion task. Conflict behaviors were coded by outside observers using the System for Coding Interactions in Dyads, and partners rated their mindfulness during the task using the Toronto Mindfulness Scale. Interactions tested using multilevel modeling revealed that participants with higher levels of mindfulness during the conflict showed either quicker cortisol recovery or an absence of slowed recovery in the presence of more negative partner behaviors. Whereas the attitudinal component of mindfulness (curiosity) moderated effects of negative partner engagement in the conflict (i.e., attempts to control, coerciveness, negativity and conflict), the attentional component of mindfulness (decentering) moderated the effect of partner disengagement (i.e., withdrawal). These findings lend support to the idea that mindfulness during a stressful interaction can mitigate the physiological impacts of negative behaviors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Individual differences in cognitive control over emotional material modulate cognitive biases linked to depressive symptoms.

PubMed

Everaert, Jonas; Grahek, Ivan; Koster, Ernst H W

2017-06-01

Deficient cognitive control over emotional material and cognitive biases are important mechanisms underlying depression, but the interplay between these emotionally distorted cognitive processes in relation to depressive symptoms is not well understood. This study investigated the relations among deficient cognitive control of emotional information (i.e. inhibition, shifting, and updating difficulties), cognitive biases (i.e. negative attention and interpretation biases), and depressive symptoms. Theory-driven indirect effect models were constructed, hypothesising that deficient cognitive control over emotional material predicts depressive symptoms through negative attention and interpretation biases. Bootstrapping analyses demonstrated that deficient inhibitory control over negative material was related to negative attention bias which in turn predicted a congruent bias in interpretation and subsequently depressive symptoms. Both shifting and updating impairments in response to negative material had an indirect effect on depression severity through negative interpretation bias. No evidence was found for direct effects of deficient cognitive control over emotional material on depressive symptoms. These findings may help to formulate an integrated understanding of the cognitive foundations of depressive symptoms.

Differential effects of uncertainty on LPP responses to emotional events during explicit and implicit anticipation.

PubMed

Lin, Huiyan; Liang, Jiafeng; Jin, Hua; Zhao, Dongmei

2018-07-01

Previous studies have investigated whether uncertainty influences neural responses to emotional events. The findings of such studies, particularly with respect to event-related potentials (ERPs), have been controversial due to several factors, such as the stimuli that serve as cues and the emotional content of the events. However, it is still unknown whether the effects of uncertainty on ERP responses to emotional events are influenced by anticipation patterns (e.g., explicit or implicit anticipation). To address this issue, participants in the present study were presented with anticipatory cues and then emotional (negative and neutral) pictures. The cues either did or did not signify the emotional content of the upcoming picture. In the inter-stimulus intervals between cues and pictures, participants were asked to estimate the expected probability of the occurrence of a specific emotional category of the subsequent picture based on a scale in the explicit anticipation condition, while in the implicit condition, participants were asked to indicate, using a number on a scale, which color was different from the others. The results revealed that in the explicit condition, uncertainty increased late positive potential (LPP) responses, particularly for negative pictures, whereas LPP responses were larger for certain negative pictures than for uncertain negative pictures in the implicit condition. The findings in the present study suggest that the anticipation pattern influences the effects of uncertainty when evaluation of negative events. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

"A gift wrapped in barbed wire" positive and negative life changes after being diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease.

PubMed

Purc-Stephenson, Rebecca; Bowlby, Desirae; Qaqish, S T

2015-05-01

A growing interest in posttraumatic growth among individuals who have experienced a traumatic event has given rise to measures such as the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI; Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996). However, such measures may not fully represent all dimensions of change among individuals diagnosed with a chronic disease and fail to highlight the negative changes that may also occur. This study explores the positive and negative changes patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have experienced since diagnosis. Three hundred and seventy-eight IBD patients provided answers to the qualitative question "Could you please describe the (positive/negative) effect(s) IBD has had on your life?" A grounded theory approach using NVivo was performed on participants' responses. Nearly 73 % of participants reported their disease positively affected their life in some way, and five themes related to positive changes emerged from the analysis: Interpersonal Relations, Personal Growth, Valuing Life, New Life Paths, and Spiritual Growth. However, almost 80 % of participants also reported their disease negatively affected their lives, with three themes emerging from the analysis: Freedom Restrictions, Psychological Side Effects, and Social Isolation. Our results support previous findings but also reveal that some dimensions related to the positive changes following adversity are not adequately assessed by the PTGI (e.g., appraising existing friendships, openness to try different forms of treatment or therapies, and psychological preparedness). The implications of these findings for future measurement and research of posttraumatic growth with IBD patients are discussed.

That's not funny! - But it should be: effects of humorous emotion regulation on emotional experience and memory.

PubMed

Kugler, Lisa; Kuhbandner, Christof

2015-01-01

Previous research has shown that humorous reappraisal can reduce elicited negative emotions, suggesting that humor may be a functional strategy to cope with emotionally negative situations. However, the effect of humorous reappraisal on later memory about the emotion-eliciting situation is currently unknown, although this is crucial for more adaptive responding in future situations. To address this issue, we examined the effects of humorous reappraisal on both emotional experience and memory, compared to non-humorous rational reappraisal and a non-reappraisal control condition. Replicating previous findings, humorous reappraisal reduced evoked negative valence and arousal levels very effectively, and the down-regulation of experienced negative emotions was even more pronounced after humorous compared to rational reappraisal. Regarding later memory for emotion-eliciting stimuli, both humorous and rational reappraisal reduced free recall, but recognition memory was unaffected, with memory strength being stronger after humorous than after rational reappraisal. These results indicate that humor seems to be indeed an optimal strategy to cope with negative situations because humor can help us to feel better when confronted with negative stimuli, but still allows us to retrieve stimulus information later when afforded to do so by the presence of appropriate contextual features.

Negative Emotion Does Not Modulate Rapid Feature Integration Effects

PubMed Central

Trübutschek, Darinka; Egner, Tobias

2012-01-01

Emotional arousal at encoding is known to facilitate later memory recall. In the present study, we asked whether this emotion-modulation of episodic memory is also evident at very short time scales, as measured by “feature integration effects,” the moment-by-moment binding of relevant stimulus and response features in episodic memory. This question was motivated by recent findings that negative emotion appears to potentiate first-order trial sequence effects in classic conflict tasks, which has been attributed to emotion-modulation of conflict-driven cognitive control processes. However, these effects could equally well have been carried by emotion-modulation of mnemonic feature binding processes, which were perfectly confounded with putative control processes in these studies. In the present experiments, we tried to shed light on this question by testing explicitly whether feature integration processes, assessed in isolation of conflict–control, are in fact susceptible to negative emotion-modulation. For this purpose, we adopted a standard protocol for assessing the rapid binding of stimulus and response features in episodic memory (Experiment 1) and paired it with the presentation of either neutral or fearful background face stimuli, shown either at encoding only (Experiment 2), or at both encoding and retrieval (Experiment 3). Whereas reliable feature integration effects were observed in all three experiments, no evidence for emotion-modulation of these effects was detected, in spite of significant effects of emotion on response times. These findings suggest that rapid feature integration of foreground stimulus and response features is not subject to modulation by negative emotional background stimuli and further suggest that previous reports of emotion-modulated trial–transition effects are likely attributable to the effects of emotion on cognitive control processes. PMID:22509172

Repetitive Religious Chanting Modulates the Late-Stage Brain Response to Fear- and Stress-Provoking Pictures.

PubMed

Gao, Junling; Fan, Jicong; Wu, Bonnie W; Halkias, Georgios T; Chau, Maggie; Fung, Peter C; Chang, Chunqi; Zhang, Zhiguo; Hung, Yeung-Sam; Sik, Hinhung

2016-01-01

Chanting and praying are among the most popular religious activities, which are said to be able to alleviate people's negative emotions. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this mental exercise and its temporal course have hardly been investigated. Here, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the effects of chanting the name of a Buddha (Amitābha) on the brain's response to viewing negative pictures that were fear- and stress-provoking. We recorded and analyzed electroencephalography (EEG) data from 21 Buddhists with chanting experience as they viewed negative and neutral pictures. Participants were instructed to chant the names of Amitābha or Santa Claus silently to themselves or simply remain silent (no-chanting condition) during picture viewing. To measure the physiological changes corresponding to negative emotions, electrocardiogram and galvanic skin response data were also collected. Results showed that viewing negative pictures (vs. neutral pictures) increased the amplitude of the N1 component in all the chanting conditions. The amplitude of late positive potential (LPP) also increased when the negative pictures were viewed under the no-chanting and the Santa Claus condition. However, increased LPP was not observed when chanting Amitābha. The ERP source analysis confirmed this finding and showed that increased LPP mainly originated from the central-parietal regions of the brain. In addition, the participants' heart rates decreased significantly when viewing negative pictures in the Santa Claus condition. The no-chanting condition had a similar decreasing trend although not significant. However, while chanting Amitābha and viewing negative pictures participants' heart rate did not differ significantly from that observed during neutral picture viewing. It is possible that the chanting of Amitābha might have helped the participants to develop a religious schema and neutralized the effect of the negative stimuli. These findings echo similar research findings on Christian religious practices and brain responses to negative stimuli. Hence, prayer/religious practices may have cross-cultural universality in emotion regulation. This study shows for the first time that Buddhist chanting, or in a broader sense, repetition of religious prayers will not modulate brain responses to negative stimuli during the early perceptual stage, but only during the late-stage emotional/cognitive processing.

Repetitive Religious Chanting Modulates the Late-Stage Brain Response to Fear- and Stress-Provoking Pictures

PubMed Central

Gao, Junling; Fan, Jicong; Wu, Bonnie W.; Halkias, Georgios T.; Chau, Maggie; Fung, Peter C.; Chang, Chunqi; Zhang, Zhiguo; Hung, Yeung-Sam; Sik, Hinhung

2017-01-01

Chanting and praying are among the most popular religious activities, which are said to be able to alleviate people’s negative emotions. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this mental exercise and its temporal course have hardly been investigated. Here, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the effects of chanting the name of a Buddha (Amitābha) on the brain’s response to viewing negative pictures that were fear- and stress-provoking. We recorded and analyzed electroencephalography (EEG) data from 21 Buddhists with chanting experience as they viewed negative and neutral pictures. Participants were instructed to chant the names of Amitābha or Santa Claus silently to themselves or simply remain silent (no-chanting condition) during picture viewing. To measure the physiological changes corresponding to negative emotions, electrocardiogram and galvanic skin response data were also collected. Results showed that viewing negative pictures (vs. neutral pictures) increased the amplitude of the N1 component in all the chanting conditions. The amplitude of late positive potential (LPP) also increased when the negative pictures were viewed under the no-chanting and the Santa Claus condition. However, increased LPP was not observed when chanting Amitābha. The ERP source analysis confirmed this finding and showed that increased LPP mainly originated from the central-parietal regions of the brain. In addition, the participants’ heart rates decreased significantly when viewing negative pictures in the Santa Claus condition. The no-chanting condition had a similar decreasing trend although not significant. However, while chanting Amitābha and viewing negative pictures participants’ heart rate did not differ significantly from that observed during neutral picture viewing. It is possible that the chanting of Amitābha might have helped the participants to develop a religious schema and neutralized the effect of the negative stimuli. These findings echo similar research findings on Christian religious practices and brain responses to negative stimuli. Hence, prayer/religious practices may have cross-cultural universality in emotion regulation. This study shows for the first time that Buddhist chanting, or in a broader sense, repetition of religious prayers will not modulate brain responses to negative stimuli during the early perceptual stage, but only during the late-stage emotional/cognitive processing. PMID:28119651

Experimental observation of negative effective gravity in water waves.

PubMed

Hu, Xinhua; Yang, Jiong; Zi, Jian; Chan, C T; Ho, Kai-Ming

2013-01-01

The gravity of Earth is responsible for the formation of water waves and usually difficult to change. Although negative effective gravity was recently predicted theoretically in water waves, it has not yet been observed in experiments and remains a mathematical curiosity which is difficult to understand. Here we experimentally demonstrate that close to the resonant frequency of purposely-designed resonating units, negative effective gravity can occur for water waves passing through an array of resonators composing of bottom-mounted split tubes, resulting in the prohibition of water wave propagation. It is found that when negative gravity occurs, the averaged displacement of water surface in a unit cell of the array has a phase difference of π to that along the boundary of the unit cell, consistent with theoretical predictions. Our results provide a mechanism to block water waves and may find applications in wave energy conversion and coastal protection.

Experimental Observation of Negative Effective Gravity in Water Waves

PubMed Central

Hu, Xinhua; Yang, Jiong; Zi, Jian; Chan, C. T.; Ho, Kai-Ming

2013-01-01

The gravity of Earth is responsible for the formation of water waves and usually difficult to change. Although negative effective gravity was recently predicted theoretically in water waves, it has not yet been observed in experiments and remains a mathematical curiosity which is difficult to understand. Here we experimentally demonstrate that close to the resonant frequency of purposely-designed resonating units, negative effective gravity can occur for water waves passing through an array of resonators composing of bottom-mounted split tubes, resulting in the prohibition of water wave propagation. It is found that when negative gravity occurs, the averaged displacement of water surface in a unit cell of the array has a phase difference of π to that along the boundary of the unit cell, consistent with theoretical predictions. Our results provide a mechanism to block water waves and may find applications in wave energy conversion and coastal protection. PMID:23715132

The influence of negative emotion on brand extension as reflected by the change of N2: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Ma, Qingguo; Wang, Kai; Wang, Xiaoyi; Wang, Cuicui; Wang, Lei

2010-11-26

The aim of the present study is to find the neural features of the impact of induced negative emotion on brand extension. Facing three sequential stimuli in triples consisted of negative emotion pictures (stimulus 1), beverage brand names (stimulus 2), and product names (stimulus 3) in other categories, 20 participants were asked to indicate the suitability of extending the brand in stimulus 2 to the product category in stimulus 3. The stimulus triples were divided into six conditions depending on the emotion (neutral and negative) and the extension product category in stimulus 3: beverage, clothing, and the household appliance. A negative component reflecting conflict, N2, was recorded for each condition on the subjects' scalp. The induced negative emotion elicited significantly larger amplitude of N2 than did the induced neutral emotion in the moderate extension type (extending to the clothing product), whereas no significant difference was observed in any of the other two extension types. The findings indicate that the induced negative emotion has a specific negative impact on moderate brand extension, and the amplitude of N2 can be viewed as a reference measure reflecting such effect. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuroticism, mood, and retrieval of negative personal memories.

PubMed

Ruiz-Caballero, J A; Bermúdez, J

1995-01-01

Most studies of the effects of neuroticism on memory investigate the recall of self-related material learned during the course of the experimental session. The present study was designed to examine the effects of neuroticism on more complex personal events in real life. High levels of neuroticism were associated with a tendency toward fewer happy thoughts and memories. The results also suggest that neuroticism increased retrieval of negative personal memories independent of depressed mood. These findings are discussed in relation to cognitive vulnerability to depression.

The effect of marijuana scenes in anti-marijuana public service announcements on adolescents' evaluation of ad effectiveness.

PubMed

Kang, Yahui; Cappella, Joseph N; Fishbein, Martin

2009-09-01

This study explored the possible negative impact of a specific ad feature-marijuana scenes-on adolescents' perceptions of ad effectiveness. A secondary data analysis was conducted on adolescents' evaluations of 60 anti-marijuana public service announcements that were a part of national and state anti-drug campaigns directed at adolescents. The major finding of the study was that marijuana scenes in anti-marijuana public service announcements negatively affected ad liking and thought valence toward the ads among adolescents who were at higher levels of risk for marijuana use. This negative impact was not reversed in the presence of strong anti-marijuana arguments. The results may be used to partially explain the lack of effectiveness of the anti-drug media campaign. It may also help researchers design more effective anti-marijuana ads by isolating adverse elements in the ads that may elicit boomerang effects in the target population.

Reconsolidation from negative emotional pictures: is successful retrieval required?

PubMed

Finn, Bridgid; Roediger, Henry L; Rosenzweig, Emily

2012-10-01

Finn and Roediger (Psychological science 22:781-786, 2011) found that when a negative emotional picture was presented immediately after a successful retrieval, later test performance was enhanced as compared to when a neutral picture or a blank screen had been shown. This finding implicates the period immediately following retrieval as playing an important role in determining later retention via reconsolidation. In two new experiments, we investigated whether successful retrieval was required to show the enhancing effect of negative emotion on later recall. In both experiments, the participants studied Swahili-English vocabulary pairs, took an intervening cued-recall test, and were given a final cued-recall test on all items. In Experiment 1, we tested a distinctiveness explanation of the effect. The results showed that neither presentation of a negative picture just prior to successful retrieval nor presentation of a positive picture after successful retrieval produced the enhancing effect that was seen when negative pictures were presented after successful retrieval. In Experiment 2, we tested whether the enhancing effect would occur when a negative picture followed an unsuccessful retrieval attempt with feedback, and a larger enhancement effect occurred after errors of commission than after errors of omission. These results indicate that effort in retrieving is critical to the enhancing effect shown with negative pictures; whether the target is produced by the participant or given by an external source following a commission error does not matter. We interpret these results as support for semantic enrichment as a key element in producing the enhancing effect of negative pictures that are presented after a retrieval attempt.

PERCEIVED RACISM AND NEGATIVE AFFECT: ANALYSES OF TRAIT AND STATE MEASURES OF AFFECT IN A COMMUNITY SAMPLE

PubMed Central

BRONDOLO, ELIZABETH; BRADY, NISHA; THOMPSON, SHOLA; TOBIN, JONATHAN N.; CASSELLS, ANDREA; SWEENEY, MONICA; MCFARLANE, DELANO; CONTRADA, RICHARD J.

2008-01-01

Racism is a significant psychosocial stressor that is hypothesized to have negative psychological and physical health consequences. The Reserve Capacity Model (Gallo & Matthews, 2003) suggests that low socioeconomic status may influence health through its effects on negative affect. We extend this model to study the effects of racism, examining the association of lifetime perceived racism to trait and daily negative affect. A multiethnic sample of 362 American–born Black and Latino adults completed the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire–Community Version (PEDQ–CV). Trait negative affect was assessed with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and state negative affect was measured using ecological momentary assessments (EMA), in the form of an electronic diary. Analyses revealed a significant relationship of lifetime perceived racism to both daily negative affect and trait negative affect, even when controlling for trait hostility and socioeconomic status. The relationship of perceived racism to negative affect was moderated by education, such that the relationships were strongest for those with less than a high school education. The findings support aspects of the Reserve Capacity Model and identify pathways through which perceived racism may affect health status. PMID:19079772

A Cook, A Cardinal, His Priests, and the Press: Deviance as a Trigger for Intermedia Agenda Setting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breen, Michael J.

1997-01-01

Uses content analysis to examine the changes in trends in the aftermath of deviant acts by individual members of the clergy, given that such acts are "triggering events" for further negative stories. Finds strong media agenda-setting effects of the negative triggering events on subsequent coverage of the clergy in general. (SR)

Where Has All the Inhibition Gone? Insights from Electrophysiological Measures into Negative Priming without Probe Distractors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groh-Bordin, Christian; Frings, Christian

2009-01-01

Responses to probe targets that have been distractors in a prime display are slower than responses to unrepeated stimuli, a finding labeled negative priming (NP). However, without probe distractors the NP effect usually diminishes. The present study is the first to investigate ERP correlates of NP without probe distractors to shed light on the…

The Effects of the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law upon Revenue Growth, Bonded Debt, and School Business Leader Perceptions within Selected Illinois School Districts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hylbert, Danny

2002-01-01

Examines the effects of the Illinois Property Tax Extension Limitation Law on the revenue growth of collar counties and suburban school districts in Cook County. Finds that the law negatively affects revenue growth. Also finds, for example, that a majority of school business officials are motivated to increase their districts' bonded indebtedness.…

Do emotional stimuli enhance or impede recall relative to neutral stimuli? An investigation of two "false memory" tasks.

PubMed

Monds, Lauren A; Paterson, Helen M; Kemp, Richard I

2017-09-01

Many eyewitness memory situations involve negative and distressing events; however, many studies investigating "false memory" phenomena use neutral stimuli only. The aim of the present study was to determine how both the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure and the Misinformation Effect Paradigm tasks were related to each other using distressing and neutral stimuli. Participants completed the DRM (with negative and neutral word lists) and viewed a distressing or neutral film. Misinformation for the film was introduced and memory was assessed. Film accuracy and misinformation susceptibility were found to be greater for those who viewed the distressing film relative to the neutral film. Accuracy responses on both tasks were related, however, susceptibility to the DRM illusion and Misinformation Effect were not. The misinformation findings support the Paradoxical Negative Emotion (PNE) hypothesis that negative stimuli will lead to remembering more accurate details but also greater likelihood of memory distortion. However, the PNE hypothesis was not supported for the DRM results. The findings also suggest that the DRM and Misinformation tasks are not equivalent and may have differences in underlying mechanisms. Future research should focus on more ecologically valid methods of assessing false memory.

Family Conflict, Mood, and Adolescents’ Daily School Problems: Moderating Roles of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

PubMed Central

Timmons, Adela C.; Margolin, Gayla

2014-01-01

Using daily diary data, this study examined cross-day associations between family conflict and school problems and tested mediating effects of daily negative mood and moderating effects of psychological symptoms. For 2 weeks, parents and adolescents (N = 106; mean age = 15.4) reported daily conflict; adolescents reported daily negative mood and school problems. Results indicated bidirectional, multi-day spillover between parent-adolescent conflict and school problems with daily negative mood statistically accounting for spillover both within and across days. Externalizing symptoms strengthened links between father-adolescent conflict and school problems, whereas depressive and anxious symptoms strengthened links between parent-adolescent conflict and daily negative mood. By demonstrating cross-domain transmission of daily problems, these findings highlight the salience of everyday events as possible intervention targets. PMID:25346538

Maternal Punitive Reactions to Children's Negative Emotions and Young Adult Trait Anger: Effect of Gender and Emotional Closeness.

PubMed

Perry, Nicole B; Cavanaugh, Alyson; Dunbar, Angel; Leerkes, Esther M

The current study tested whether young adult's recollected reports of their mother's punitive reactions to their negative emotions in childhood predicted anger expression in young adulthood and whether emotional closeness weakens this association. Further, a three-way interaction was tested to examine whether emotional closeness is a stronger protective factor for young women than for young men. Results revealed a significant three-way interaction (gender X emotional closeness X maternal punitive reactions). For young men, maternal punitive reactions to negative emotions were directly associated with increased anger expressions. Maternal punitive reactions to young women's negative emotions in childhood were associated with increased anger in adulthood only when they reported low maternal emotional closeness. Findings suggest that maternal emotional closeness may serve as a buffer against the negative effects of maternal punitive reactions for women's anger expression in young adulthood.

Basic principles of test-negative design in evaluating influenza vaccine effectiveness.

PubMed

Fukushima, Wakaba; Hirota, Yoshio

2017-08-24

Based on the unique characteristics of influenza, the concept of "monitoring" influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) across the seasons using the same observational study design has been developed. In recent years, there has been a growing number of influenza VE reports using the test-negative design, which can minimize both misclassification of diseases and confounding by health care-seeking behavior. Although the test-negative designs offer considerable advantages, there are some concerns that widespread use of the test-negative design without knowledge of the basic principles of epidemiology could produce invalid findings. In this article, we briefly review the basic concepts of the test-negative design with respect to classic study design such as cohort studies or case-control studies. We also mention selection bias, which may be of concern in some countries where rapid diagnostic testing is frequently used in routine clinical practices, as in Japan. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Maternal Punitive Reactions to Children's Negative Emotions and Young Adult Trait Anger: Effect of Gender and Emotional Closeness

PubMed Central

Perry, Nicole B.; Cavanaugh, Alyson; Dunbar, Angel; Leerkes, Esther M.

2015-01-01

The current study tested whether young adult’s recollected reports of their mother’s punitive reactions to their negative emotions in childhood predicted anger expression in young adulthood and whether emotional closeness weakens this association. Further, a three-way interaction was tested to examine whether emotional closeness is a stronger protective factor for young women than for young men. Results revealed a significant three-way interaction (gender X emotional closeness X maternal punitive reactions). For young men, maternal punitive reactions to negative emotions were directly associated with increased anger expressions. Maternal punitive reactions to young women’s negative emotions in childhood were associated with increased anger in adulthood only when they reported low maternal emotional closeness. Findings suggest that maternal emotional closeness may serve as a buffer against the negative effects of maternal punitive reactions for women’s anger expression in young adulthood. PMID:26568644

Gender Difference in Interactions between MAOA Promoter uVNTR Polymorphism and Negative Familial Stressors on Body Mass Index among Chinese Adolescents

PubMed Central

Xie, Bin; Li, Dalin; London, Stephanie J.; Palmer, Paula H.; Johnshon, C. Anderson; Li, Yan; Shih, Jean; Bergen, Andrew W.; Nishita, Denise; Swan, Gary E.; Ahn, Rosa; Conti, David V.

2014-01-01

Summary Objectives Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) modulates metabolism of serotonin and dopamine metabolism, neurotransmitters involved in regulation of appetite and food intake. The gene coding for MAOA contains a 30-bp tandem repeat (uVNTR) polymorphism in its promoter region that has been previously identified to be associated with obesity with mixed findings in the literature. Our goals were to replicate the population effects of this functional polymorphism on obesity risk, and to further explore gender differences and interaction effects with negative stressors. Methods Analyses were conducted with data on genotypes, measured weight and height, and self-reported behavioral characteristics among 1,101 Chinese adolescents 11-15 years old living in Wuhan, China. Results Girls with the high activity allele had significantly lower BMI (β=-0.25±0.98, p=0.011) compared to those with the low activity allele. Experience of negative familial stressors(e.g., death or illness of family members, hit or scolded by parents and increased quarreling with parents, parents argued frequently) significantly weakened this protective genetic effect on BMI (p for interaction=0.043). Stratified analyses showed a significant protective genetic effect on BMI only within the stratum of low stress level (β=-0.44±0.14, p=0.002). No similar effect was observed among boys. Conclusions Our findings confirm the genetic effects of MAOA uVNTR polymorphism on BMI in a Chinese adolescent population and suggest potential genetic interactions with negative familial stressors. PMID:23761378

Positive messaging promotes walking in older adults

PubMed Central

Notthoff, Nanna; Carstensen, Laura L.

2014-01-01

Walking is among the most cost-effective and accessible means of exercise. Mounting evidence suggests that walking may help to maintain physical and cognitive independence in old age by preventing a variety of health problems. However, older Americans fall far short of meeting the daily recommendations for walking. In two studies, we examined whether considering older adults’ preferential attention to positive information may effectively enhance interventions aimed at promoting walking. In Study 1, we compared the effectiveness of positive, negative, and neutral messages to encourage walking (as measured with pedometers). Older adults who were informed about the benefits of walking walked more than those who were informed about the negative consequences of failing to walk, whereas younger adults were unaffected by framing valence. In Study 2, we examined within-person change in walking in older adults in response to positively- or negatively-framed messages over a 28-day period. Once again, positively-framed messages more effectively promoted walking than negatively-framed messages, and the effect was sustained across the intervention period. Together, these studies suggest that consideration of age-related changes in preferences for positive and negative information may inform the design of effective interventions to promote healthy lifestyles. Future research is needed to examine the mechanisms underlying the greater effectiveness of positively as opposed to negatively framed messages and the generalizability of findings to other intervention targets and other subpopulations of older adults. PMID:24956001

College students' intentions to seek help for suicidal ideation: accounting for the help-negation effect.

PubMed

Yakunina, Elena S; Rogers, James R; Waehler, Charles A; Werth, James L

2010-10-01

Prior research has identified a negative association between suicidal ideation and help-seeking, a phenomenon called "help-negation." Help-negation has been documented to occur for both professional and nonprofessional sources of help. In this study help-seeking attitudes, stigma concerns, and perceptions of social support were examined as possible mediators of help-negation. Data were collected from a nonclinical sample of college undergraduates at a midwestern university (N = 321). Findings provided partial support for the mediation hypotheses. Help-seeking attitudes and stigma were significant predictors of help-seeking intentions (β = .34 and β = -.17, p < .05, respectively), but did not mediate help-negation for professional sources. Perceptions of social support, on the other hand, fully mediated help-negation for nonprofessional sources (β = .27, p < .05).

'Help me! I'm old!' How negative aging stereotypes create dependency among older adults.

PubMed

Coudin, Genevieve; Alexopoulos, Theodore

2010-07-01

This study examined the effects of negative aging stereotypes on self-reported loneliness, risk-taking, subjective health, and help-seeking behavior in a French sample of older adults. The aim of this study was to show the detrimental effects of negative aging stereotypes on older adults' self-evaluations and behaviors, therefore contributing to the explanations of the iatrogenic effect of social environments that increase dependency (e.g., health care institutions). In the first experiment conducted on 57 older adults, we explored the effects of positive, neutral, or negative stereotype activation on the feeling of loneliness and risk taking decision. The second experiment (n = 60) examined the impact of stereotype activation on subjective health, self-reported extraversion as well as on a genuine help-seeking behavior, by allowing participants to ask for the experimenter's help while completing a task. As predicted, negative stereotype activation resulted in lower levels of risk taking, subjective health and extraversion, and in higher feelings of loneliness and a more frequent help-seeking behavior. These findings suggest that the mere activation of negative stereotypes can have broad and deleterious effects on older individuals' self-evaluation and functioning, which in turn may contribute to the often observed dependency among older people.

The moderating effects of aging and cognitive abilities on the association between work stress and negative affect.

PubMed

Hyun, Jinshil; Sliwinski, Martin J; Almeida, David M; Smyth, Joshua M; Scott, Stacey B

2018-05-01

Given that the association between work stress and negative affect can exacerbate negative health and workplace outcomes, it is important to identify the protective and risk factors that moderate this association. Socioemotional aging and cognitive abilities might influence how people utilize emotion regulation skills and engage in practical problem solving to manage their work stress. The aim of this study is to examine whether age and cognitive abilities independently and interactively moderate the association between work-related stress and negative affect. A diverse working adult sample (N = 139, age 25-65, 69% of females) completed a cross-sectional survey that assessed chronic work stress, negative affect, and fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities. Results from regression analyses suggested that both fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities, but not age, moderated the association between work stress and negative affect. Further, we found that crystallized cognition had a stronger attenuating effect on the work stress-negative affect association for older compared to younger workers. The moderating effect of fluid cognition was invariant across age. Our findings demonstrate that cognitive abilities are an important personal resource that might protect individuals against the negative impacts of work stress and negative affect. Although the role that fluid cognition plays in work stress-negative affect association is comparably important for both younger and older workers, crystallized cognition might play a more valuable role for older than younger workers.

The role of negative affect and message credibility in perceived effectiveness of smokeless tobacco health warning labels in Navi Mumbai, India and Dhaka, Bangladesh: A moderated-mediation analysis.

PubMed

Mutti-Packer, Seema; Reid, Jessica L; Thrasher, James F; Romer, Daniel; Fong, Geoffrey T; Gupta, Prakash C; Pednekar, Mangesh S; Nargis, Nigar; Hammond, David

2017-10-01

There is strong evidence showing that pictorial health warnings are more effective than text-only warnings. However, much of this evidence comes from high-income countries and is limited to cigarette packaging. Moreover, few studies have identified mechanisms that might explain the impact of warnings. The current study examined the potential mediating role of negative affect and the moderating influence of message credibility in perceived effectiveness of smokeless tobacco warnings in two low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Field interviews were conducted in India and Bangladesh, with adult (19+ years) smokeless tobacco users (n=1053), and youth (16-18years) users (n=304) and non-users (n=687). Respondents were randomly assigned to view warnings in one of four conditions: (1) Text-only, (2) pictorial with symbolic imagery, (3) pictorial with graphic images of health effects, or (4) pictorial with personalized graphic images plus a personal testimonial. The findings provide support for the mediating influence of negative affect in perceived effectiveness, for adult and youth smokeless tobacco users who viewed pictorial warnings (vs. text-only), and graphic health warnings (vs. personal testimonials). Among adults, message credibility moderated the indirect effect; the association was stronger when credibility was high and weaker when it was low. Among youth users and non-users, message credibility did not moderate the indirect effect. Consistent with research from high-income countries, these findings highlight the importance of selecting imagery that will elicit negative emotional reactions and be perceived as credible. Differential effects among adults and youth highlight the importance of pre-testing images. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mental Contrasting of a Negative Future with a Positive Reality Regulates State Anxiety

PubMed Central

Brodersen, Gunnar; Oettingen, Gabriele

2017-01-01

Mental contrasting of a desired future with impeding reality is a self-regulatory strategy fostering goal pursuit. However, there is little research on mental contrasting of a negative future with a positive reality. We conducted two experiments, each with four experimental conditions, investigating the effects of mental contrasting a negative future with a positive reality on state anxiety: participants who mentally contrasted a negative future regarding a bacterial epidemic (Study 1, N = 199) or an idiosyncratic negative event (Study 2, N = 206) showed less state anxiety than participants who imagined the negative future only or who reverse contrasted; participants who mentally elaborated on the positive reality also showed less state anxiety. Our findings suggest that mental contrasting of a negative future helps people reduce disproportional anxiety regarding a negative future. PMID:28979223

Negative refraction, gain and nonlinear effects in hyperbolic metamaterials.

PubMed

Argyropoulos, Christos; Estakhri, Nasim Mohammadi; Monticone, Francesco; Alù, Andrea

2013-06-17

The negative refraction and evanescent-wave canalization effects supported by a layered metamaterial structure obtained by alternating dielectric and plasmonic layers is theoretically analyzed. By using a transmission-line analysis, we formulate a way to rapidly analyze the negative refraction operation for given available materials over a broad range of frequencies and design parameters, and we apply it to broaden the bandwidth of negative refraction. Our analytical model is also applied to explore the possibility of employing active layers for loss compensation. Nonlinear dielectrics can also be considered within this approach, and they are explored in order to add tunability to the optical response, realizing positive-to-zero-to-negative refraction at the same frequency, as a function of the input intensity. Our findings may lead to a better physical understanding and improvement of the performance of negative refraction and subwavelength imaging in layered metamaterials, paving the way towards the design of gain-assisted hyperlenses and tunable nonlinear imaging devices.

Negative affect improves the quality of memories: trading capacity for precision in sensory and working memory.

PubMed

Spachtholz, Philipp; Kuhbandner, Christof; Pekrun, Reinhard

2014-08-01

Research has shown that negative affect reduces working memory capacity. Commonly, this effect has been attributed to an allocation of resources to task-irrelevant thoughts, suggesting that negative affect has detrimental consequences for working memory performance. However, rather than simply being a detrimental effect, the affect-induced capacity reduction may reflect a trading of capacity for precision of stored representations. To test this hypothesis, we induced neutral or negative affect and concurrently measured the number and precision of representations stored in sensory and working memory. Compared with neutral affect, negative affect reduced the capacity of both sensory and working memory. However, in both memory systems, this decrease in capacity was accompanied by an increase in precision. These findings demonstrate that observers unintentionally trade capacity for precision as a function of affective state and indicate that negative affect can be beneficial for the quality of memories. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Relative Effectiveness of Reappraisal and Distraction in Regulating Emotion in Late-Life Depression

PubMed Central

Smoski, Moria J.; LaBar, Kevin S.; Steffens, David C.

2013-01-01

Objectives The present study compares the effectiveness of two strategies, reappraisal and distraction, in reducing negative affect in older adults induced by focusing on personally relevant negative events and stressors. Participants included 30 adults with MDD and 40 never-depressed (ND) comparison participants ages 60 and over (mean age = 69.7 years). Design and Measurements Participants underwent three affect induction trials, each followed by a different emotion regulation strategy: distraction, reappraisal, and a no-instruction control condition. Self-reported affect was recorded pre- and post-affect induction, and at one-minute intervals during regulation. Results Across groups, participants reported greater reductions in negative affect with distraction than reappraisal or the no-instruction control condition. An interaction between group and regulation condition indicated that distraction was more effective in reducing negative affect in the MDD group than the ND group. Conclusions These results suggest that distraction is an especially effective strategy for reducing negative affect in older adults with MDD. Finding ways to incorporate distraction skills into psychotherapeutic interventions for late-life MDD may improve their effectiveness, especially for short-term improvement of affect following rumination. PMID:24021222

The Relation of Drug Trafficking Fears and Cultural Identity to Attitudes Toward Mexican Immigrants in Five South Texas Communities.

PubMed

Ramirez, Manuel; Argueta, Nanci L; Castro, Yessenia; Perez, Ricardo; Dawson, Darius B

This paper reports the findings of research investigating the relationship of spill-over fears related to drug trafficking and of cultural identity to Mexican Americans' attitudes toward recent immigrants from Mexico in five non-metropolitan communities in the US-Mexico borderlands of South Texas. A mixed methods design was used to collect data from 91 participants (30 intact families with two parents and at least one young adult). Quantitative findings showed that the majority of participants expressed the view that most people in their communities believed that newcomers were involved in drug trafficking and in defrauding welfare programs. A significant interaction indicated that Mexican cultural identity buffered the negative effects of drug trafficking fears as related to the view that the newcomers were creating problems in the communities and region. Qualitative data yielded positive and negative themes, with those that were negative being significantly more numerous. The findings have implications for intra-ethnic relations in borderlands communities as well as for immigration policy.

A test of the functional avoidance hypothesis in the development of overgeneral autobiographical memory.

PubMed

Hallford, D J; Austin, D W; Raes, F; Takano, K

2018-04-18

Overgeneral memory (OGM) refers to the failure to recall memories of specific personally experienced events, which occurs in various psychiatric disorders. One pathway through which OGM is theorized to develop is the avoidance of thinking of negative experiences, whereby cumulative avoidance may maladaptively generalize to autobiographical memory (AM) more broadly. We tested this, predicting that negative experiences would interact with avoidance to predict AM specificity. In Study 1 (N = 281), negative life events (over six months) and daily hassles (over one month) were not related to AM specificity, nor was avoidance, and no interaction was found. In Study 2 (N = 318), we revised our measurements and used an increased timeframe of 12 months for both negative life events and daily hassles. The results showed no interaction effect for negative life events, but they did show an interaction for daily hassles, whereby increased hassles and higher avoidance of thinking about them were associated with reduced AM specificity, independent of general cognitive avoidance and depressive symptoms. No evidence was found that cognitive avoidance or AM specificity moderated the effect of negative experiences on depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that life events over 6-12 months are not associated with AM specificity, but chronic daily hassles over 12 months predict reduced AM specificity when individuals avoid thinking about them. The findings provide evidence for the functional-avoidance hypothesis of OGM development and future directions for longitudinal studies.

Two personalities, one relationship: both partners' personality traits shape the quality of their relationship.

PubMed

Robins, R W; Caspi, A; Moffitt, T E

2000-08-01

This research tested 6 models of the independent and interactive effects of stable personality traits on each partner's reports of relationship satisfaction and quality. Both members of 360 couples (N = 720) completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire and were interviewed about their relationship. Findings show that a woman's relationship happiness is predicted by her partner's low Negative Emotionality, high Positive Emotionality, and high Constraint, whereas a man's relationship happiness is predicted only by his partner's low Negative Emotionality. Findings also show evidence of additive but not interactive effects: Each partner's personality contributed independently to relationship outcomes but not in a synergistic way. These results are discussed in relation to models that seek to integrate research on individual differences in personality traits with research on interpersonal processes in intimate relationships.

Convicted Driving-While-Impaired Offenders’ Views on Effectiveness of Sanctions and Treatment

PubMed Central

Lapham, Sandra; England-Kennedy, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

In this article we analyze qualitative data from a multiple methods, longitudinal study drawn from 15-year follow-up interviews with a subsample of 82 individuals arrested for driving while intoxicated in a southwestern state (1989–1995). We explore reactions to the arrest and court-mandated sanctions, including legal punishments, mandated interventions, and/or participation in programs aimed at reducing recidivism. Key findings include experiencing certain negative emotional reactions to the arrest, reactions to being jailed, experiencing other court-related sanctions as deterring driving while intoxicated behavior, and generally negative opinions regarding court-mandated interventions. We discuss interviewees’ complex perspectives on treatment and program participation and their effects on lessening recidivism, and we offer suggestions for reducing recidivism based on our findings. PMID:21490294

"Herbal seizures"--atypical symptoms after ibogaine intoxication: a case report.

PubMed

Breuer, Lorenz; Kasper, Burkhard S; Schwarze, Bernd; Gschossmann, Juergen M; Kornhuber, Johannes; Müller, Helge H

2015-10-31

Misuse of various new psychotropic substances such as ibogaine is increasing rapidly. Knowledge of their negative side effects is sparse. We present a case of intoxication with the herbal substance ibogaine in a 22-year-old white man. After taking a cumulative dose of 38 g (taken in two doses), he developed visual memories, nausea and vomiting. He developed a generalized tonic-clonic seizure with additional grand mal seizures. He was treated with midazolam and levetiracetam. Extended drug screenings and computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings were all negative. Knowledge of the side effects of ibogaine has mainly come from reports of cardiovascular complications; seizures are rarely mentioned and experimental findings are inconsistent. It seems that ibogaine acts like a proconvulsive drug at high doses.

Humor and Comparatives in Ads for High- and Low-Involvement Products.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Bob T. W.; And Others

1989-01-01

Investigates the effectiveness of humor in advertising, comparative advertising, and consumer involvement with the product. Finds that humorous ads are more eye catching but less impressive and less sufficient in information than nonhumorous ads. Finds the performance of comparative ads is generally negative and especially so in the high…

Context-sensitive medical information retrieval.

PubMed

Auerbuch, Mordechai; Karson, Tom H; Ben-Ami, Benjamin; Maimon, Oded; Rokach, Lior

2004-01-01

Substantial medical data such as pathology reports, operative reports, discharge summaries, and radiology reports are stored in textual form. Databases containing free-text medical narratives often need to be searched to find relevant information for clinical and research purposes. Terms that appear in these documents tend to appear in different contexts. The con-text of negation, a negative finding, is of special importance, since many of the most frequently described findings are those denied by the patient or subsequently "ruled out." Hence, when searching free-text narratives for patients with a certain medical condition, if negation is not taken into account, many of the retrieved documents will be irrelevant. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology for automated learning of negative context patterns in medical narratives and test the effect of context identification on the performance of medical information retrieval. The algorithm presented significantly improves the performance of information retrieval done on medical narratives. The precision im-proves from about 60%, when using context-insensitive retrieval, to nearly 100%. The impact on recall is only minor. In addition, context-sensitive queries enable the user to search for terms in ways not otherwise available

Family income, parental education and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology among 2-3-year-old Chinese children: the mediator effect of parent-child conflict.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiao

2014-02-01

Using a sample of 156 Chinese children aged 2-3 years and their parents, this study examined the effects of socio-economic status, specifically family income and parental education, on the children's internalizing and externalizing psychopathology and whether these effects were mediated by mother-child and father-child conflict. Results indicated that family income, maternal education and paternal education all negatively predicted externalizing symptoms. Income also negatively predicted internalizing symptoms among boys but not girls. Maternal education negatively predicted internalizing symptoms among girls but not boys. The effects of income on psychopathology were fully mediated by mother-child and father-child conflict. In contrast, the effects of education were not mediated or only partially mediated by conflict. Findings are discussed in the framework of the family stress model. © 2013 International Union of Psychological Science.

Differences in Expressivity Based on Attractiveness: Target or Perceiver Effects?

PubMed

Rennels, Jennifer L; Kayl, Andrea J

2015-09-01

A significant association exists between adults' expressivity and facial attractiveness, but it is unclear whether the association is linear or significant only at the extremes of attractiveness. It is also unclear whether attractive persons actually display more positive expressivity than unattractive persons (target effects) or whether high and low attractiveness influences expressivity valence judgments (perceiver effects). Experiment 1 demonstrated adult ratings of attractiveness were predictive of expressivity valence only for high and low attractive females and medium attractive males. Experiment 2 showed that low attractive females actually display more negative expressivity than medium and high attractive females, but there were no target effects for males. Also, attractiveness influenced expressivity valence judgments (perceiver effects) for both females and males. Our findings demonstrate that low attractive females are at a particular disadvantage during social interactions due to their low attractiveness, actual displays of negative expressivity, and perceptions of their negative expressivity.

The facilitating effect of positive emotions during an emotional Stroop task.

PubMed

Liu, Xingyu; Yang, Yisheng; Jiang, Songxiu; Li, Jie

2018-05-08

Prior research has shown that negative emotions, even though task irrelevant, are capable of delaying a participant's response to the color in which a negative emotional word is presented, a phenomenon known as the 'emotional Stroop effect'. However, relatively little is known about whether positive emotions have a similar or an opposite effect. The current study sets out to confirm the facilitating effect of positive emotions on color naming, which is predicted by Barbara Fredrickson's 'broaden and build' theory. Our results indicate that positive emotions did facilitate such processing in both of the study's experiments. We also found a significant difference in early posterior negativity amplitudes between positive and neutral stimuli, which was related to the 'fast effect'. Overall, the study's findings suggest that positive emotions can be detected quickly and automatically, and that this kind of prioritizing facilitates the ongoing cognitive processing.

Differences in Expressivity Based on Attractiveness: Target or Perceiver Effects?

PubMed Central

Rennels, Jennifer L.; Kayl, Andrea J.

2015-01-01

A significant association exists between adults’ expressivity and facial attractiveness, but it is unclear whether the association is linear or significant only at the extremes of attractiveness. It is also unclear whether attractive persons actually display more positive expressivity than unattractive persons (target effects) or whether high and low attractiveness influences expressivity valence judgments (perceiver effects). Experiment 1 demonstrated adult ratings of attractiveness were predictive of expressivity valence only for high and low attractive females and medium attractive males. Experiment 2 showed that low attractive females actually display more negative expressivity than medium and high attractive females, but there were no target effects for males. Also, attractiveness influenced expressivity valence judgments (perceiver effects) for both females and males. Our findings demonstrate that low attractive females are at a particular disadvantage during social interactions due to their low attractiveness, actual displays of negative expressivity, and perceptions of their negative expressivity. PMID:26366010

Attachment priming and avoidant personality features as predictors of social-evaluation biases.

PubMed

Bowles, David P; Meyer, Björn

2008-02-01

Personality research has shown that negativity in social situations (e.g., negative evaluations of others) can be reduced by the activation of participants' sense of attachment security. Individuals with avoidant personality disorder (APD), however, are theoretically less responsive to context or situational cues because of the inflexible nature of their personality disposition. This idea of individual differences in context-responsiveness was tested in a sample of 169 undergraduates who were assessed for APD features and assigned to positive, negative, or neutral attachment priming conditions. More pronounced APD features were associated with more negative responses to vignettes describing potentially distressing social situations. A significant interaction showed that participants with more avoidant features consistently appraised the vignettes relatively more negatively, regardless of priming condition. Those without APD features, by contrast, did not exhibit negative appraisals/evaluations unless negatively primed (curvilinear effect). This effect could not be explained by depression, current mood, or attachment insecurity, all of which related to negative evaluative biases, but none of which related to situation inflexibility. These findings provide empirical support for the notion that negative information-processing is unusually inflexible and context-unresponsive among individuals with more pronounced features of APD.

Longitudinal Relations of Intrusive Parenting and Effortful Control to Ego-Resiliency During Early Childhood

PubMed Central

Taylor, Zoe E.; Eisenberg, Nancy; Spinrad, Tracy L.; Widaman, Keith F.

2012-01-01

Longitudinal relations among ego-resiliency, effortful control, and observed intrusive parenting were examined at 18, 30, and 42 months of age (Ns = 256, 230, and 210) using structural equation modeling. Intrusive parenting at 18 and 30 months negatively predicted effortful control a year later, over and above earlier levels. Effortful control at 30 months mediated the negative relation between 18-month intrusive parenting and ego-resiliency at 42 months when controlling for stability of the variables. Ego-resiliency did not predict effortful control. The findings suggest that intrusive parenting may have a negative effect on children’s personality resiliency through its effects on the abilities to regulate attention and behavior. PMID:23379965

An applied test of the social learning theory of deviance to college alcohol use.

PubMed

DeMartino, Cynthia H; Rice, Ronald E; Saltz, Robert

2015-04-01

Several hypotheses about influences on college drinking derived from the social learning theory of deviance were tested and confirmed. The effect of ethnicity on alcohol use was completely mediated by differential association and differential reinforcement, whereas the effect of biological sex on alcohol use was partially mediated. Higher net positive reinforcements to costs for alcohol use predicted increased general use, more underage use, and more frequent binge drinking. Two unexpected finding were the negative relationship between negative expectations and negative experiences, and the substantive difference between nondrinkers and general drinkers compared with illegal or binge drinkers. The discussion considers implications for future campaigns based on Akers's deterrence theory.

Memory shaped by age stereotypes over time.

PubMed

Levy, Becca R; Zonderman, Alan B; Slade, Martin D; Ferrucci, Luigi

2012-07-01

Previous studies showed that negative self-stereotypes detrimentally affect the cognitive performance of marginalized group members; however, these findings were confined to short-term experiments. In the present study, we considered whether stereotypes predicted memory over time, which had not been previously examined. We also considered whether self-relevance increased the influence of stereotypes on memory over time. Multiple waves of memory performance were analyzed using individual growth models. The sample consisted of 395 participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Those with more negative age stereotypes demonstrated significantly worse memory performance over 38 years than those with less negative age stereotypes, after adjusting for relevant covariates. The decline in memory performance for those aged 60 and above was 30.2% greater for the more negative age stereotype group than for the less negative age stereotype group. Also, the impact of age stereotypes on memory was significantly greater among those for whom the age stereotypes were self-relevant. This study shows that the adverse influence of negative self-stereotypes on cognitive performance is not limited to a short-term laboratory effect. Rather, the findings demonstrate, for the first time, that stereotypes also predict memory performance over an extended period in the community.

Poroelastic metamaterials with negative effective static compressibility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Jingyuan; Kadic, Muamer; Wegener, Martin

2017-04-01

We suggest a three-dimensional metamaterial structure exhibiting an isotropic expansion in response to an increased hydrostatic pressure imposed by a surrounding gas or liquid. We show that this behavior corresponds to a negative absolute (rather than only differential) effective compressibility under truly static and stable conditions. The poroelastic metamaterial is composed of only a single ordinary constituent solid. By detailed numerical parameter studies, we find that a pressure increase of merely one bar can lead to a relative increase in the effective volume exceeding one percent for geometrical structure parameters that should be accessible to fabrication by 3D printing.

Age differences in emotion regulation effort: Pupil response distinguishes reappraisal and distraction for older but not younger adults.

PubMed

Martins, Bruna; Florjanczyk, Jan; Jackson, Nicholas J; Gatz, Margaret; Mather, Mara

2018-03-01

In previous research, older adults show greater emotional benefits from distracting themselves than from reappraising an event when strategically regulating emotion. Older adults also demonstrate an attentional preference to avoid, while younger adults show a bias toward approaching negative stimuli. This suggests a possible age-related differentiation of cognitive effort across approach and avoidance of negative stimuli during emotion regulation. In this study, we tracked cognitive effort via pupil dilation during the use of distraction (avoidance) and reappraisal (approach) strategies across age. Forty-eight younger adults (M = 20.94, SD = 1.78; 19 men) and 48 older adults (M = 68.82, SD = 5.40; 15 men) viewed a slideshow of negative images and were instructed to distract, reappraise, or passively view each image. Older adults showed greater pupil dilation during reappraisal than distraction, but younger adults displayed no difference between conditions-an effect that survived when controlling for gaze patterns. Gaze findings revealed that older adults looked less within images during active emotion regulation compared with passive viewing (no difference between distraction and reappraisal), and younger adults showed no difference across strategies. Younger adults gazed less within the most emotional image areas during distraction, but this did not significantly contribute to pupil response. Our findings support that distraction is less cognitively effortful than reinterpreting negative information in later life. These findings could be explained by older adults' motivational bias to disengage from negative information because of the age-related positivity effect, or compensation for decreased working memory resources across the life span. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of stochastic time-delayed feedback on a dynamical system modeling a chemical oscillator.

PubMed

González Ochoa, Héctor O; Perales, Gualberto Solís; Epstein, Irving R; Femat, Ricardo

2018-05-01

We examine how stochastic time-delayed negative feedback affects the dynamical behavior of a model oscillatory reaction. We apply constant and stochastic time-delayed negative feedbacks to a point Field-Körös-Noyes photosensitive oscillator and compare their effects. Negative feedback is applied in the form of simulated inhibitory electromagnetic radiation with an intensity proportional to the concentration of oxidized light-sensitive catalyst in the oscillator. We first characterize the system under nondelayed inhibitory feedback; then we explore and compare the effects of constant (deterministic) versus stochastic time-delayed feedback. We find that the oscillatory amplitude, frequency, and waveform are essentially preserved when low-dispersion stochastic delayed feedback is used, whereas small but measurable changes appear when a large dispersion is applied.

Effects of stochastic time-delayed feedback on a dynamical system modeling a chemical oscillator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González Ochoa, Héctor O.; Perales, Gualberto Solís; Epstein, Irving R.; Femat, Ricardo

2018-05-01

We examine how stochastic time-delayed negative feedback affects the dynamical behavior of a model oscillatory reaction. We apply constant and stochastic time-delayed negative feedbacks to a point Field-Körös-Noyes photosensitive oscillator and compare their effects. Negative feedback is applied in the form of simulated inhibitory electromagnetic radiation with an intensity proportional to the concentration of oxidized light-sensitive catalyst in the oscillator. We first characterize the system under nondelayed inhibitory feedback; then we explore and compare the effects of constant (deterministic) versus stochastic time-delayed feedback. We find that the oscillatory amplitude, frequency, and waveform are essentially preserved when low-dispersion stochastic delayed feedback is used, whereas small but measurable changes appear when a large dispersion is applied.

Is Neural Processing of Negative Stimuli Altered in Addiction Independent of Drug Effects? Findings From Drug-Naïve Youth with Internet Gaming Disorder.

PubMed

Yip, Sarah W; Gross, James J; Chawla, Megha; Ma, Shan-Shan; Shi, Xing-Hui; Liu, Lu; Yao, Yuan-Wei; Zhu, Lei; Worhunsky, Patrick D; Zhang, Jintao

2018-05-01

Difficulties in emotion regulation are commonly reported among individuals with alcohol and drug addictions and contribute to the acquisition and maintenance of addictive behaviors. Alterations in neural processing of negative affective stimuli have further been demonstrated among individuals with addictions. However, it is unclear whether these alterations are a general feature of addictions or are a result of prolonged exposure to drugs of abuse. To test the hypothesis of altered negative affect processing independent of drug effects, this study assessed neural function among drug-naïve youth with a behavioral addiction-Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Fifty-six young adults (28 with IGD, 28 matched controls) participated in fMRI scanning during performance of a well-validated emotion regulation task. Between-group differences in neural activity during task performance were assessed using a whole-brain, mixed-effects ANOVA with correction for multiple comparisons at currently recommended thresholds (voxel-level p<0.001, pFWE<0.05). Compared to controls, youth with IGD exhibited significantly blunted neural responses within distributed subcortical and cortical regions including the striatum, insula, lateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate in response to negative affective cues, as well as during emotion regulation. Independent component analysis (ICA) further identified between-group differences in engagement of a fronto-cingulo-parietal network, involving decreased engagement in IGD youth relative to controls. Study findings are largely consistent with those from prior neuroimaging studies in substance-use disorders, thus raising the possibility that neural processing of negative affect may be blunted across drug and behavioral addictions independent of acute or chronic drug effects.

Negative Refraction Angular Characterization in One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals

PubMed Central

Lugo, Jesus Eduardo; Doti, Rafael; Faubert, Jocelyn

2011-01-01

Background Photonic crystals are artificial structures that have periodic dielectric components with different refractive indices. Under certain conditions, they abnormally refract the light, a phenomenon called negative refraction. Here we experimentally characterize negative refraction in a one dimensional photonic crystal structure; near the low frequency edge of the fourth photonic bandgap. We compare the experimental results with current theory and a theory based on the group velocity developed here. We also analytically derived the negative refraction correctness condition that gives the angular region where negative refraction occurs. Methodology/Principal Findings By using standard photonic techniques we experimentally determined the relationship between incidence and negative refraction angles and found the negative refraction range by applying the correctness condition. In order to compare both theories with experimental results an output refraction correction was utilized. The correction uses Snell's law and an effective refractive index based on two effective dielectric constants. We found good agreement between experiment and both theories in the negative refraction zone. Conclusions/Significance Since both theories and the experimental observations agreed well in the negative refraction region, we can use both negative refraction theories plus the output correction to predict negative refraction angles. This can be very useful from a practical point of view for space filtering applications such as a photonic demultiplexer or for sensing applications. PMID:21494332

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Indirect Effect of Violence Exposure on Future Orientation Through Perceived Stress and the Buffering Effect of Family Participation.

PubMed

Schmidt, Carissa J; Zimmerman, Marc A; Stoddard, Sarah A

2018-06-07

Exposure to violence (ETV) during adolescence has been associated with negative effects in later life, and may negatively affect an individual's future orientation. Future orientation has important health implications and warrants being studied. Yet, few researchers have examined how ETV affects an individual's future orientation as a young adult. The purpose of this study was to examine the indirect effect of ETV during adolescence on future orientation as a young adult through perceived stress. We also tested the moderating effect of family participation on the relationship between perceived stress and future orientation. Longitudinal data from a sample of 316 African American participants (42.10% male and 57.90% female, Mage = 14.76 at Wave 1) from low socioeconomic backgrounds recruited from a Midwestern school district were used in the analysis. Multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test our hypotheses. Our findings indicated that greater ETV during adolescence is associated with higher levels of perceived stress and, in turn, a more negative outlook on one's future as a young adult. This indirect effect occurred for individuals with lower family participation, but was not evident for individuals with greater family participation. These findings provide important implications for youth development interventions. © Society for Community Research and Action 2018.

Single-Parent Family Forms and Children's Educational Performance in a Comparative Perspective: Effects of School's Share of Single-Parent Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Lange, Marloes; Dronkers, Jaap; Wolbers, Maarten H. J.

2014-01-01

Living in a single-parent family is negatively related with children's educational performance compared to living with 2 biological parents. In this article, we aim to find out to what extent the context of the school's share of single-parent families affects this negative relationship. We use pooled data from the Organisation for Economic…

Negative emotional stimuli reduce contextual cueing but not response times in inefficient search.

PubMed

Kunar, Melina A; Watson, Derrick G; Cole, Louise; Cox, Angeline

2014-02-01

In visual search, previous work has shown that negative stimuli narrow the focus of attention and speed reaction times (RTs). This paper investigates these two effects by first asking whether negative emotional stimuli narrow the focus of attention to reduce the learning of a display context in a contextual cueing task and, second, whether exposure to negative stimuli also reduces RTs in inefficient search tasks. In Experiment 1, participants viewed either negative or neutral images (faces or scenes) prior to a contextual cueing task. In a typical contextual cueing experiment, RTs are reduced if displays are repeated across the experiment compared with novel displays that are not repeated. The results showed that a smaller contextual cueing effect was obtained after participants viewed negative stimuli than when they viewed neutral stimuli. However, in contrast to previous work, overall search RTs were not faster after viewing negative stimuli (Experiments 2 to 4). The findings are discussed in terms of the impact of emotional content on visual processing and the ability to use scene context to help facilitate search.

Over-the-Counter Relief From Pains and Pleasures Alike: Acetaminophen Blunts Evaluation Sensitivity to Both Negative and Positive Stimuli

PubMed Central

Durso, Geoffrey R. O.; Luttrell, Andrew; Way, Baldwin M.

2015-01-01

Acetaminophen, an effective and popular over-the-counter pain reliever (e.g., the active ingredient in Tylenol), has recently been shown to blunt individuals’ reactivity to a range of negative stimuli in addition to physical pain. Because accumulating research has shown that individuals’ reactivity to both negative and positive stimuli can be influenced by a single factor (an idea known as differential susceptibility), we conducted two experiments testing whether acetaminophen blunted individuals’ evaluations of and emotional reactions to both negative and positive images from the International Affective Picture System. Participants who took acetaminophen evaluated unpleasant stimuli less negatively and pleasant stimuli less positively, compared with participants who took a placebo. Participants in the acetaminophen condition also rated both negative and positive stimuli as less emotionally arousing than did participants in the placebo condition (Studies 1 and 2), whereas nonevaluative ratings (extent of color saturation in each image; Study 2) were not affected by drug condition. These findings suggest that acetaminophen has a general blunting effect on individuals’ evaluative and emotional processing, irrespective of negative or positive valence. PMID:25862546

Effect of post-encoding emotion on recollection and familiarity for pictures.

PubMed

Wang, Bo; Ren, Yanju

2017-07-01

Although prior studies have examined the effect of post-encoding emotional arousal on recognition memory for words, it is unknown whether the enhancement effect observed on words generalizes to pictures. Furthermore, prior studies using words have showed that the effect of emotional arousal can be modulated by stimuli valence and delay in emotion induction, but it is unclear whether such modulation can extend to pictures and whether other factors such as encoding method (incidental vs. intentional encoding) can be modulatory. Five experiments were conducted to answer these questions. In Experiment 1, participants encoded a list of neutral and negative pictures and then watched a 3-min neutral or negative video. The delayed test showed that negative arousal impaired recollection regardless of picture valence but had no effect on familiarity. Experiment 2 replicated the above findings. Experiment 3 was similar to Experiment 1 except that participants watched a 3-min neutral, negative, or positive video and conducted free recall before the recognition test. Unlike the prior two experiments, the impairment effect of negative arousal disappeared. Experiment 4, where the free recall task was eliminated, replicated the results from Experiment 3. Experiment 5 replicated Experiments 1 and 2 and further showed that the impairment effects of negative arousal could be modulated by delay in emotion induction but not by encoding method or stimuli valence. Taken together, the current study suggests that the enhancement effect observed on words may not generalize to pictures.

Neural circuits associated with positive and negative self-appraisal.

PubMed

Brühl, A B; Rufer, M; Kaffenberger, T; Baur, V; Herwig, U

2014-04-18

Self-worth is particularly influenced by self-appraisal, which is negatively biased in many psychiatric disorders. Positive and negative self-appraisals also shape current emotional states or even evoke defensive reactions, when they are incongruent with a subject's current state. Prior studies have mainly used externally given evaluative appraisals. In this study, 30 subjects used individual negative and positive self-appraisals during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We additionally investigated the effects of such self-appraisals onto the subsequent perception of photos of the individual subjects. Both self-appraisal conditions activated dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to the neutral condition. Positive self-appraisal evoked stronger activity than negative self-appraisal in the amygdala, ventral striatum and anterior cingulate cortex, whereas negative self-appraisal was associated with increased activity in the occipital regions. Positive self-appraisal had no effect on the perception of a photo of oneself, whereas negative appraisal increased activity in the anterior insula and parietal regions. Overall, positive self-appraisal activated more emotion-related brain regions, whereas negative self-appraisal had a relatively stronger influence on perception-related brain activity. These findings could on the one hand explain the effect of negative self-appraisal on the behavior in the real world and on the other hand support a stronger focus of psychotherapy on enhancing positive self-appraisals. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of house prices on health: New evidence from Australia.

PubMed

Atalay, Kadir; Edwards, Rebecca; Liu, Betty Y J

2017-11-01

Recent house price variation has strongly affected households' housing wealth and debt, yet the non-economic consequences of these changes in housing wealth are still poorly understood. Using a sample of 19,000 individuals from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA) for 2001-2015, we examine the relationship between house price fluctuations and individual health by exploiting large exogenous changes in house prices in Australia. We find that an increase in local house prices is associated with a positive effect on the physical health of outright owners and a negative effect on the physical and mental health of renters. Improvements in physical health for outright owners can be partially attributed to health-related investments and behaviours such as a reduction in weight, an increase in physical exercise and an increase in time allocated to home production. These findings support the presence of a health-wealth gradient through the wealth mechanism distinct from the effects of local area amenities and macroeconomic conditions. Our findings highlight some of the often-overlooked social impacts - both positive and negative - of fluctuations in the housing market. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Market structure and hospital-insurer bargaining in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Halbersma, R S; Mikkers, M C; Motchenkova, E; Seinen, I

2011-12-01

In 2005, competition was introduced in part of the hospital market in the Netherlands. Using a unique dataset of transactions and list prices between hospitals and insurers in the years 2005 and 2006, we estimate the influence of buyer and seller concentration on the negotiated prices. First, we use a traditional structure-conduct-performance model (SCP-model) along the lines of Melnick et al. (J Health Econ 11(3): 217-233, 1992) to estimate the effects of buyer and seller concentration on price-cost margins. Second, we model the interaction between hospitals and insurers in the context of a generalized bargaining model similar to Brooks et al. (J Health Econ 16: 417-434, 1997). In the SCP-model, we find that the market shares of hospitals (insurers) have a significantly positive (negative) impact on the hospital price-cost margin. In the bargaining model, we find a significant negative effect of insurer concentration, but no significant effect of hospital concentration. In both models, we find a significant impact of idiosyncratic effects on the market outcomes. This is consistent with the fact that the Dutch hospital sector is not yet in a long-run equilibrium.

The effect of the social regulation of emotion on emotional long-term memory.

PubMed

Flores, Luis E; Berenbaum, Howard

2017-04-01

Memories for emotional events tend to be stronger than for neutral events, and weakening negative memories can be helpful to promote well-being. The present study examined whether the social regulation of emotion (in the form of handholding) altered the strength of emotional long-term memory. A sample of 219 undergraduate students viewed sets of negative, neutral, and positive images. Each participant held a stress ball while viewing half of the images and held someone's hand while viewing the other half. Participants returned 1 week later to complete a recognition task. Performance on the recognition task demonstrated that participants had lower memory accuracy for negative but not for positive pictures that were shown while they were holding someone's hand compared with when they were holding a stress ball. Although handholding altered the strength of negative emotional long-term memory, it did not down-regulate negative affective response as measured by self-report or facial expressivity. The present findings provide evidence that the social regulation of emotion can help weaken memory for negative information. Given the role of strong negative memories in different forms of psychopathology (e.g., depression, posttraumatic stress disorder), these findings may help better understand how close relationships protect against psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The global expansion of precarious employment, work disorganization, and consequences for occupational health: a review of recent research.

PubMed

Quinlan, M; Mayhew, C; Bohle, P

2001-01-01

In this review of a range of studies on the health and safety effects of precarious employment in industrialized societies published since 1984, the authors examine the overall findings and methodological issues and identify areas in need of further research. Of the 93 published journal articles and monographs/book chapters reviewed, 76 studies found precarious employment was associated with a deterioration in occupational health and safety (OHS) in terms of injury rates, disease risk, hazard exposures, or worker (and manager) knowledge of OHS and regulatory responsibilities. Of the more than 25 studies each on outsourcing and organizational restructuring/downsizing, well over 90 percent find a negative association with OHS. The evidence is fairly persuasive for temporary workers, with 14 of 24 studies finding a negative association with OHS. The evidence is less strong for small business, and a handful of studies on part-time workers found no clear association with negative OHS outcomes (in some cases the reverse). Further research is needed to more clearly link health effects to particular business practices and neoliberal policies and to explore the regulatory implications of the growth of precarious employment. The authors suggest some ways to conceptualize the association between precarious employment and occupational health.

Stressful life events as predictors of functioning: findings from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study

PubMed Central

Pagano, M. E.; Skodol, A. E.; Stout, R. L.; Shea, M. T.; Yen, S.; Grilo, C. M.; Sanislow, C. A.; Bender, D. S.; McGlashan, T. H.; Zanarini, M. C.; Gunderson, J. G.

2008-01-01

Objective Although much attention has been given to the effects of adverse childhood experiences on the development of personality disorders (PDs), we know far less about how recent life events influence the ongoing course of functioning. We examined the extent to which PD subjects differ in rates of life events and the extent to which life events impact psychosocial functioning. Method A total of 633 subjects were drawn from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS), a multi-site study of four personality disorders – schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD), obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) – and a comparison group of major depressive disorders (MDD) without PD. Results Borderline personality disorder subjects reported significantly more total negative life events than other PDs or subjects with MDD. Negative events, especially interpersonal events, predicted decreased psychosocial functioning over time. Conclusion Our findings indicate higher rates of negative events in subjects with more severe PDs and suggest that negative life events adversely impact multiple areas of psychosocial functioning. PMID:15521826

Stress and selective attention: the interplay of mood, cortisol levels, and emotional information processing.

PubMed

Ellenbogen, Mark A; Schwartzman, Alex E; Stewart, Jane; Walker, Claire-Dominique

2002-11-01

The effects of a stressful challenge on the processing of emotional words were examined in college students. Stress induction was achieved using a competitive computer task, where the individual either repeatedly lost or won against a confederate. Mood, attention, and cortisol were recorded during the study. There were four findings: (1) Participants in the negative stressor condition were faster to shift attention away from negative words than positive or neutral words; (2) attentional shifts away from negative words were associated with stress-induced mood lowering; (3) participants in the negative stress condition with elevated scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were slow to disengage attention from all stimuli; and (4) elevated depression scores were associated with lower cortisol change from baseline during the experimental phase, and with higher cortisol levels during the recovery phase. These findings point to information-processing strategies as a means to regulate emotion, and to atypical features of cognitive and adrenocortical function that may serve as putative risk markers of depression.

Effects of mood induction on consumers with vs. without compulsive buying propensity: an experimental study.

PubMed

Vogt, Sinje; Hunger, Antje; Türpe, Tina; Pietrowsky, Reinhard; Gerlach, Alexander L

2014-12-15

Compulsive buying (CB) is excessive and leads to impairment and distress. Several studies aimed to explore the phenomenology and antecedents of CB, especially affective states. However, these studies mostly used retrospective self-report and mostly focused on compulsive buyers only. Therefore, this study aims to directly compare consumers with CB propensity and controls on experimental proxies of buying behavior and to investigate 1) effects of neutral vs. negative mood inductions and 2) whether mood effects on buying behavior are specific to CB. Forty female consumers with CB propensity and 40 female controls were randomly assigned to a neutral or negative mood induction. Buying related behavior (likelihood to expose oneself to a shopping situation, urge and probability to buy, willingness to pay) was assessed. Consumers with CB propensity differed from controls in all buying behavior aspects except for willingness to pay. Neither main effects of mood nor group×mood interaction effects on buying behavior were found. However, consumers with CB propensity were emotionally more strongly affected by a negative mood induction. Although negative affect has previously been reported to precede buying episodes in CB, our findings do not indicate specific negative mood effects on buying, neither in CB nor in controls. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Personality Characteristics, Job Stressors, and Job Satisfaction: Main and Interaction Effects on Psychological and Physical Health Conditions of Italian Schoolteachers.

PubMed

Zurlo, Maria Clelia; Pes, Daniela; Capasso, Roberto

2016-08-01

The study proposed an application of the transactional model of stress in teaching elaborated by Travers and Cooper in 1996, and aimed to investigate the influence of personality characteristics (coping strategies, type A behaviors), situational characteristics (sources of pressure), and perceived job satisfaction in the prediction of teachers' psychophysical health conditions. The Italian version of the Teacher Stress Questionnaire was administered to 621 teachers. Logistic regression was used to evaluate significant main and interaction effects of personality characteristics, situational characteristics, and perceived job satisfaction on teachers' self-reported psychophysical health conditions. The findings highlighted specific coping strategies (focused on the problem, on innovation, and on hobbies and pastimes) and dimensions of job satisfaction (related to intrinsic aspects of job and to employee relations) buffering the negative effects of several job stressors. Type A behaviors and coping strategies focused on mobilized social support, suppression of stress, and not confronting the situation had main and interactions with negative effects on psychophysical health. Findings confirmed the necessity to run multi-factor research to analyze the different combinations of individual and situational variables implicated in negative health outcomes and to highlight the most significant buffering or increasing associations. © The Author(s) 2016.

Hospital restructuring and nursing leadership: a journey from research question to research program.

PubMed

Cummings, Greta G

2006-01-01

The 1990s brought new fiscal realities to healthcare, leading to nursing job loss estimates in tens of thousands following widespread hospital restructuring to manage costs and improve efficiency. This research aimed at examining (a) how multiple episodes of hospital restructuring leading to layoff of nurses affected nurses who remained employed and (b) whether and how nursing leadership mitigated or intensified the negative effects of hospital restructuring on nurses. This dissertation comprised 3 empirical studies leading to 5 publications. The first study was a systematic literature review; the second and third used structural equation modeling to develop and test theoretical models addressing nursing practice environments and effects of hospital restructuring on nurses. The combined findings in this dissertation illustrate that hospital restructuring had significant negative physical/emotional health effects on nurses who remained employed. Nurses who worked for resonant (emotionally intelligent) leadership reported positive health and well-being, and opportunities to provide quality patient care. Nurses who worked for dissonant leadership reported greater negative effects of hospital restructuring. These findings led to a beginning theory of relational energy--a mechanism of mitigation whereby resonant nursing leaders invest energy into collaborative relationships with nurses, thereby positively influencing health and well-being, and, ultimately, outcomes for patients.

Did I Do That? Expectancy Effects of Brain Stimulation on Error-related Negativity and Sense of Agency.

PubMed

Hoogeveen, Suzanne; Schjoedt, Uffe; van Elk, Michiel

2018-06-19

This study examines the effects of expected transcranial stimulation on the error(-related) negativity (Ne or ERN) and the sense of agency in participants who perform a cognitive control task. Placebo transcranial direct current stimulation was used to elicit expectations of transcranially induced cognitive improvement or impairment. The improvement/impairment manipulation affected both the Ne/ERN and the sense of agency (i.e., whether participants attributed errors to oneself or the brain stimulation device): Expected improvement increased the ERN in response to errors compared with both impairment and control conditions. Expected impairment made participants falsely attribute errors to the transcranial stimulation. This decrease in sense of agency was correlated with a reduced ERN amplitude. These results show that expectations about transcranial stimulation impact users' neural response to self-generated errors and the attribution of responsibility-especially when actions lead to negative outcomes. We discuss our findings in relation to predictive processing theory according to which the effect of prior expectations on the ERN reflects the brain's attempt to generate predictive models of incoming information. By demonstrating that induced expectations about transcranial stimulation can have effects at a neural level, that is, beyond mere demand characteristics, our findings highlight the potential for placebo brain stimulation as a promising tool for research.

The lateral prefrontal cortex mediates the hyperalgesic effects of negative cognitions in chronic pain patients.

PubMed

Loggia, Marco L; Berna, Chantal; Kim, Jieun; Cahalan, Christine M; Martel, Marc-Olivier; Gollub, Randy L; Wasan, Ajay D; Napadow, Vitaly; Edwards, Robert R

2015-08-01

Although high levels of negative affect and cognitions have been associated with greater pain sensitivity in chronic pain conditions, the neural mechanisms mediating the hyperalgesic effect of psychological factors in patients with pain disorders are largely unknown. In this cross-sectional study, we hypothesized that 1) catastrophizing modulates brain responses to pain anticipation and 2) anticipatory brain activity mediates the hyperalgesic effect of different levels of catastrophizing in fibromyalgia (FM) patients. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we scanned the brains of 31 FM patients exposed to visual cues anticipating the onset of moderately intense deep-tissue pain stimuli. Our results indicated the existence of a negative association between catastrophizing and pain-anticipatory brain activity, including in the right lateral prefrontal cortex. A bootstrapped mediation analysis revealed that pain-anticipatory activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex mediates the association between catastrophizing and pain sensitivity. These findings highlight the role of the lateral prefrontal cortex in the pathophysiology of FM-related hyperalgesia and suggest that deficits in the recruitment of pain-inhibitory brain circuitry during pain-anticipatory periods may play an important contributory role in the association between various degrees of widespread hyperalgesia in FM and levels of catastrophizing, a well-validated measure of negative cognitions and psychological distress. This article highlights the presence of alterations in pain-anticipatory brain activity in FM. These findings provide the rationale for the development of psychological or neurofeedback-based techniques aimed at modifying patients' negative affect and cognitions toward pain. Copyright © 2015 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of Rejoinders in Production Questionnaires.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston, Bill; Kasper, Gabriele; Ross, Steven

1998-01-01

A study in interlanguage pragmatics investigated the effect of three types of rejoinder (positive, negative, absent) on non-native informants' choices of strategies to perform complaints, requests, and apologies. Results show strategy choice differentially affected by rejoinder type, suggesting that findings from studies using different production…

Communication Apprehension and Health Communication and Behaviors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Booth-Butterfield, Steve; Beynon, William; Chory, Rebecca

1997-01-01

Finds that specific communication apprehension showed moderate to large negative effects on health communication (talking with physician, seeking health information) and almost no effects on health behaviors (tobacco use, exercise, health fairs) except diet; and that general-trait communication apprehension showed similar, though smaller, effects…

Some Workplace Effects of CAD and CAM.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebel, Karl-H.; Ulrich, Erhard

1987-01-01

Examines the impact of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) on employment, work organization, working conditions, job content, training, and industrial relations in several countries. Finds little evidence of negative employment effects since productivity gains are offset by various compensatory factors. (Author/CH)

A Meta-Analysis of Effects of Bt Crops on Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

PubMed Central

Duan, Jian J.; Marvier, Michelle; Huesing, Joseph; Dively, Galen; Huang, Zachary Y.

2008-01-01

Background Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are the most important pollinators of many agricultural crops worldwide and are a key test species used in the tiered safety assessment of genetically engineered insect-resistant crops. There is concern that widespread planting of these transgenic crops could harm honey bee populations. Methodology/Principal Findings We conducted a meta-analysis of 25 studies that independently assessed potential effects of Bt Cry proteins on honey bee survival (or mortality). Our results show that Bt Cry proteins used in genetically modified crops commercialized for control of lepidopteran and coleopteran pests do not negatively affect the survival of either honey bee larvae or adults in laboratory settings. Conclusions/Significance Although the additional stresses that honey bees face in the field could, in principle, modify their susceptibility to Cry proteins or lead to indirect effects, our findings support safety assessments that have not detected any direct negative effects of Bt crops for this vital insect pollinator. PMID:18183296

Rural neighborhoods and child aggression.

PubMed

Bowen, Natasha K; Wretman, Christopher J

2014-12-01

Structural equation modeling with latent variables was used to evaluate the direct and mediated effects of a neighborhood risk factor (negative teen behaviors) on the parent-report aggressive behavior of 213 students in grades 3 through 5 attending a school in a low-income, rural community. Contagion and social control hypotheses were examined as well as hypotheses about whether the neighborhood served as a microsystem or exosystem for rural pre-adolescents. Analyses took into account the clustering of students and ordinal nature of the data. Findings suggest that rural neighborhoods may operate as both a microsystem and exosystem for children, with direct contagion effects on their aggressive behaviors as well as indirect social control effects through parenting practices. Direct effects on aggression were also found for parenting practices and child reports of friends' negative behaviors. Pre-adolescence may be a transitional stage, when influences of the neighborhood on child behavior begin to compete with influences of caregivers. Findings can inform the timing and targets of violence prevention in rural communities.

Effects of a chemical imbalance causal explanation on individuals' perceptions of their depressive symptoms.

PubMed

Kemp, Joshua J; Lickel, James J; Deacon, Brett J

2014-05-01

Although the chemical imbalance theory is the dominant causal explanation of depression in the United States, little is known about the effects of this explanation on depressed individuals. This experiment examined the impact of chemical imbalance test feedback on perceptions of stigma, prognosis, negative mood regulation expectancies, and treatment credibility and expectancy. Participants endorsing a past or current depressive episode received results of a bogus but credible biological test demonstrating their depressive symptoms to be caused, or not caused, by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Results showed that chemical imbalance test feedback failed to reduce self-blame, elicited worse prognostic pessimism and negative mood regulation expectancies, and led participants to view pharmacotherapy as more credible and effective than psychotherapy. The present findings add to a growing literature highlighting the unhelpful and potentially iatrogenic effects of attributing depressive symptoms to a chemical imbalance. Clinical and societal implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

That’s not funny! – But it should be: effects of humorous emotion regulation on emotional experience and memory

PubMed Central

Kugler, Lisa; Kuhbandner, Christof

2015-01-01

Previous research has shown that humorous reappraisal can reduce elicited negative emotions, suggesting that humor may be a functional strategy to cope with emotionally negative situations. However, the effect of humorous reappraisal on later memory about the emotion-eliciting situation is currently unknown, although this is crucial for more adaptive responding in future situations. To address this issue, we examined the effects of humorous reappraisal on both emotional experience and memory, compared to non-humorous rational reappraisal and a non-reappraisal control condition. Replicating previous findings, humorous reappraisal reduced evoked negative valence and arousal levels very effectively, and the down-regulation of experienced negative emotions was even more pronounced after humorous compared to rational reappraisal. Regarding later memory for emotion-eliciting stimuli, both humorous and rational reappraisal reduced free recall, but recognition memory was unaffected, with memory strength being stronger after humorous than after rational reappraisal. These results indicate that humor seems to be indeed an optimal strategy to cope with negative situations because humor can help us to feel better when confronted with negative stimuli, but still allows us to retrieve stimulus information later when afforded to do so by the presence of appropriate contextual features. PMID:26379608

Big five personality factors and suicide rates in the United States: a state-level analysis.

PubMed

Voracek, Martin

2009-08-01

Partly replicating findings from several cross-national studies (of Lester and of Voracek) on possible aggregate-level associations between personality and suicide prevalence, state-level analysis within the United States yielded significantly negative associations between the Big Five factor of Neuroticism and suicide rates. This effect was observed for historical as well as contemporary suicide rates of the total or the elderly population and was preserved with controls for the four other Big Five factors and measures of state wealth. Also conforming to cross-national findings, the Big Five factors of Agreeableness and Extraversion were negatively, albeit not reliably, associated with suicide rates.

The effects of negative and positive mood induction on eating behaviour: A meta-analysis of laboratory studies in the healthy population and eating and weight disorders.

PubMed

Cardi, Valentina; Leppanen, Jenni; Treasure, Janet

2015-10-01

The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to quantify the effect of induced negative and positive mood on meal consumption in healthy participants and patients with eating and weight disorders. The search term "MOOD" was combined with the following keywords: "TEST MEAL" or "LABORATORY FEEDING" or "LABORATORY MEAL" or "TASTE TEST" or "TASTE TASK" to identify the relevant studies. Thirty-three studies were selected, including 2491 participants. Two meta-analyses compared negative mood or positive mood with neutral mood. Induced negative mood was significantly associated with greater food intake, especially in restrained eaters and binge eaters. Positive mood was also associated with greater caloric intake across groups. These findings support the causal relationship between negative mood and greater food intake, especially in restrained eaters and binge eaters. Preliminary evidence indicates that strategies to improve positive mood might be of benefit for people with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, although the size of the effect across a single meal is small. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Past racial discrimination exacerbates the acute effects of racial discrimination on negative affect, perceived control, and alcohol-risk cognitions among Black young adults

PubMed Central

Stock, Michelle L.; Peterson, Laurel M.; Molloy, Brianne; Lambert, Sharon F.

2017-01-01

Racial discrimination is associated with alcohol use and risky sex cognitions and behaviors, which are risk factors for negative health outcomes, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The current study investigated the causal impact of racial discrimination on alcohol and sexual-risk cognitions while exploring potential mediators that might help explain this relation: negative affect, perceived control, and meaningful existence. We also examined if past discrimination impacts the strength of (moderates) these effects. Participants were 287 Black/African American young adults aged 18 to 25. They were randomly assigned to be excluded or included by White peers via the game Cyberball. Racial exclusion (vs. inclusion) predicted greater: perceived racial discrimination, negative affect, alcohol use willingness, and reduced perceived control and meaningful existence. Furthermore, excluded participants who experienced more past racial discrimination reported the lowest perceived control, and greatest negative affect and alcohol-risk cognitions. The findings suggest that past racial discrimination exacerbates the harmful health effects of immediate experiences of discrimination. PMID:27646550

The blues of adolescent romance: observed affective interactions in adolescent romantic relationships associated with depressive symptoms.

PubMed

Ha, Thao; Dishion, Thomas J; Overbeek, Geertjan; Burk, William J; Engels, Rutger C M E

2014-05-01

We examined the associations between observed expressions of positive and negative emotions during conflict discussions and depressive symptoms during a 2-year period in a sample of 160 adolescents in 80 romantic relationships (M age = 15.48, SD = 1.16). Conflict discussions were coded using the 10-code Specific Affect Coding System. Depressive symptoms were assessed at the time of the observed conflict discussions (Time 1) and 2 years later (Time 2). Data were analyzed using actor-partner interdependence models. Girls' expression of both positive and negative emotions at T1 was related to their own depressive symptoms at T2 (actor effect). Boys' positive emotions and negative emotions (actor effect) and girls' negative emotions (partner effect) were related to boys' depressive symptoms at T2. Contrary to expectation, relationship break-up and relationship satisfaction were unrelated to changes in depressive symptoms or expression of negative or positive emotion during conflict discussion. These findings underscore the unique quality of adolescent romantic relationships and suggest new directions in the study of the link between mental health and romantic involvement in adolescence.

Improving the Effectiveness of Fundraising Messages: The Impact of Charity Goal Attainment, Message Framing, and Evidence on Persuasion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Das, Enny; Kerkhof, Peter; Kuiper, Joyce

2008-01-01

This experimental study assessed the effectiveness of fundraising messages. Based on recent findings regarding the effects of message framing and evidence, effective fundraising messages should combine abstract, statistical information with a negative message frame and anecdotal evidence with a positive message frame. In addition, building on…

The "Negative" Credit Card Effect: Credit Cards as Spending-Limiting Stimuli in New Zealand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lie, Celia; Hunt, Maree; Peters, Heather L.; Veliu, Bahrie; Harper, David

2010-01-01

The "credit card effect" describes a finding where greater value is given to consumer items if credit card logos are present. One explanation for the effect is that credit cards elicit spending behavior through associative learning. If this is true, social, economic and historical contexts should alter this effect. In Experiment 1, Year…

Reassessing the Basis of the Production Effect in Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bodner, Glen E.; Taikh, Alexander

2012-01-01

The production effect refers to a memory advantage for items studied aloud over items studied silently. Ozubko and MacLeod (2010) used a list-discrimination task to support a distinctiveness account of the production effect over a strength account. We report new findings in this task--including negative production effects--that better fit with an…

Long-Term Effects of a Recession at Labor Market Entry in Japan and the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Genda, Yuji; Kondo, Ayako; Ohta, Souichi

2010-01-01

We examine effects of entering the labor market during a recession on subsequent employment and earnings for Japanese and American men, using comparable household labor force surveys. We find persistent negative effects of the unemployment rate at graduation for less-educated Japanese men, in contrast to temporary effects for less-educated…

Positive messaging promotes walking in older adults.

PubMed

Notthoff, Nanna; Carstensen, Laura L

2014-06-01

Walking is among the most cost-effective and accessible means of exercise. Mounting evidence suggests that walking may help to maintain physical and cognitive independence in old age by preventing a variety of health problems. However, older Americans fall far short of meeting the daily recommendations for walking. In 2 studies, we examined whether considering older adults' preferential attention to positive information may effectively enhance interventions aimed at promoting walking. In Study 1, we compared the effectiveness of positive, negative, and neutral messages to encourage walking (as measured with pedometers). Older adults who were informed about the benefits of walking walked more than those who were informed about the negative consequences of failing to walk, whereas younger adults were unaffected by framing valence. In Study 2, we examined within-person change in walking in older adults in response to positively- or negatively-framed messages over a 28-day period. Once again, positively-framed messages more effectively promoted walking than negatively-framed messages, and the effect was sustained across the intervention period. Together, these studies suggest that consideration of age-related changes in preferences for positive and negative information may inform the design of effective interventions to promote healthy lifestyles. Future research is needed to examine the mechanisms underlying the greater effectiveness of positively- as opposed to negatively-framed messages and the generalizability of findings to other intervention targets and other subpopulations of older adults. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Engaging in Rather than Disengaging from Stress: Effective Coping and Perceived Control

PubMed Central

Dijkstra, Maria T. M.; Homan, Astrid C.

2016-01-01

Being able to cope effectively with stress can help people to avoid negative consequences for their psychological well-being. The purpose of this study was to find out why some coping strategies are effective in reducing the negative effect of stressors on well-being and some are not. We argue that the degree to which such coping strategies engage or disengage people from stressful incidents is related to their perceived control of the situation that, in turn, is positively associated with their psychological well-being. We thus propose that the relationship between coping and psychological well-being is mediated by the extent of perceived sense of control. We collected cross-sectional data from a large heterogeneous sample (N = 543) in the Netherlands. We assessed seven different coping strategies, perceived control, and psychological well-being. Our results indeed revealed that strategies reflecting more engaged coping such as active confronting and reassuring thoughts, were associated with more sense of control and therefore to psychological well-being. In contrast, strategies reflecting disengagement coping, such as passive reaction pattern, palliative reaction, and avoidance, were associated with less perceived control, which in turn was negatively associated with psychological well-being. Results regarding the coping strategies expressing emotions and seeking social support were less straightforward, with the former being negatively associated with perceived control and psychological well-being, even though this strategy has stress engaging elements, and the latter only showing a positive indirect effect on psychological well-being via perceived control, but no positive main effect on well-being. These findings are discussed from the perspective of stress being an environment-perception-response process. PMID:27708603

Gender difference in interactions between MAOA promoter uVNTR polymorphism and negative familial stressors on body mass index among Chinese adolescents.

PubMed

Xie, B; Li, D; London, S J; Palmer, P H; Johnshon, C A; Li, Y; Shih, J; Bergen, A W; Nishita, D; Swan, G E; Ahn, R; Conti, D V

2014-10-01

Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) modulates metabolism of serotonin and dopamine metabolism, neurotransmitters involved in regulation of appetite and food intake. The gene coding for MAOA contains a 30-bp tandem repeat (uVNTR) polymorphism in its promoter region that has been previously identified to be associated with obesity with mixed findings in the literature. Our goals were to replicate the population effects of this functional polymorphism on obesity risk, and to further explore gender differences and interaction effects with negative stressors. Analyses were conducted with data on genotypes, measured weight and height, and self-reported behavioural characteristics among 1101 Chinese adolescents 11-15 years old living in Wuhan, China. Girls with the high-activity allele had significantly lower body mass index (BMI; β = -0.25 ± 0.98, P = 0.011) compared to those with the low activity allele. Experience of negative familial stressors (e.g., death or illness of family members, hit or scolded by parents and increased quarrelling with parents, parents argued frequently) significantly weakened this protective genetic effect on BMI (P for interaction = 0.043). Stratified analyses showed a significant protective genetic effect on BMI only within the stratum of low stress level (β = -0.44 ± 0.14, P = 0.002). No similar effect was observed among boys. Our findings confirm the genetic effects of MAOA uVNTR polymorphism on BMI in a Chinese adolescent population and suggest potential genetic interactions with negative familial stressors. © 2013 The Authors. Pediatric Obesity © 2013 International Association for the Study of Obesity.

Effects of Medicare Payment Changes on Nursing Home Staffing and Deficiencies

PubMed Central

Konetzka, R Tamara; Yi, Deokhee; Norton, Edward C; Kilpatrick, Kerry E

2004-01-01

Objective To investigate the effects of Medicare's Prospective Payment System (PPS) for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and associated rate changes on quality of care as represented by staffing ratios and regulatory deficiencies. Data Sources Online Survey, Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) data from 1996–2000 were linked with Area Resource File (ARF) and Medicare Cost Report data to form a panel dataset. Study Design A difference-in-differences model was used to assess effects of the PPS and the BBRA (Balanced Budget Refinement Act) on staffing and deficiencies, a design that allows the separation of the effects of the policies from general trends. Ordinary least squares and negative binomial models were used. Data Collection Methods The OSCAR and Medicare Cost Report data are self-reported by nursing facilities; ARF data are publicly available. Data were linked by provider ID and county. Principal Findings We find that professional staffing decreased and regulatory deficiencies increased with PPS, and that both effects were mitigated with the BBRA rate increases. The effects appear to increase with the percent of Medicare residents in the facility except, in some cases, at the highest percentage of Medicare. The findings on staffing are statistically significant. The effects on deficiencies, though exhibiting consistent signs and magnitudes with the staffing results, are largely insignificant. Conclusions Medicare's PPS system and associated rate cuts for SNFs have had a negative effect on staffing and regulatory compliance. Further research is necessary to determine whether these changes are associated with worse outcomes. Findings from this investigation could help guide policy modifications that support the provision of quality nursing home care. PMID:15149474

Relationships Between Stress, Negative Emotions, Resilience, and Smoking: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model.

PubMed

Wang, Yan; Chen, Xinguang; Gong, Jie; Yan, Yaqiong

2016-01-01

More effective tobacco prevention and cessation programs require in-depth understanding of the mechanism by which multiple factors interact with each other to affect smoking behaviors. Stress has long been recognized as a risk factor for smoking. However, the underlying mediation and moderation mechanisms are far from clear. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of negative emotions in mediating the link between stress and smoking and whether this indirect link was modified by resilience. Survey data were collected using audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI) from a large random sample of urban residents (n = 1249, mean age = 35.1, 45.3% male) in Wuhan, China. Perceived stress, negative emotions (anxiety, depression), resilience were measured with reliable instruments also validated in China. Self-reported smoking was validated with exhaled carbon monoxide. Mediation analysis indicated that two negative emotions fully mediated the link between stress and intensity of smoking (assessed by number of cigarettes smoked per day, effect =.082 for anxiety and.083 for depression) and nicotine dependence (assessed by DSM-IV standard, effect =.134 for anxiety and.207 for depression). Moderated mediation analysis demonstrated that the mediation effects of negative emotions were negatively associated with resilience. Results suggest resilience interacts with stress and negative emotions to affect the risk of tobacco use and nicotine dependence among Chinese adults. Further research with longitudinal data is needed to verify the findings of this study and to estimate the effect size of resilience in tobacco intervention and cessation programs.

Nonbleeding adenomas: Evidence of systematic false-negative fecal immunochemical test results and their implications for screening effectiveness-A modeling study.

PubMed

van der Meulen, Miriam P; Lansdorp-Vogelaar, Iris; van Heijningen, Else-Mariëtte B; Kuipers, Ernst J; van Ballegooijen, Marjolein

2016-06-01

If some adenomas do not bleed over several years, they will cause systematic false-negative fecal immunochemical test (FIT) results. The long-term effectiveness of FIT screening has been estimated without accounting for such systematic false-negativity. There are now data with which to evaluate this issue. The authors developed one microsimulation model (MISCAN [MIcrosimulation SCreening ANalysis]-Colon) without systematic false-negative FIT results and one model that allowed a percentage of adenomas to be systematically missed in successive FIT screening rounds. Both variants were adjusted to reproduce the first-round findings of the Dutch CORERO FIT screening trial. The authors then compared simulated detection rates in the second screening round with those observed, and adjusted the simulated percentage of systematically missed adenomas to those data. Finally, the authors calculated the impact of systematic false-negative FIT results on the effectiveness of repeated FIT screening. The model without systematic false-negativity simulated higher detection rates in the second screening round than observed. These observed rates could be reproduced when assuming that FIT systematically missed 26% of advanced and 73% of nonadvanced adenomas. To reduce the false-positive rate in the second round to the observed level, the authors also had to assume that 30% of false-positive findings were systematically false-positive. Systematic false-negative FIT testing limits the long-term reduction of biennial FIT screening in the incidence of colorectal cancer (35.6% vs 40.9%) and its mortality (55.2% vs 59.0%) in participants. The results of the current study provide convincing evidence based on the combination of real-life and modeling data that a percentage of adenomas are systematically missed by repeat FIT screening. This impairs the efficacy of FIT screening. Cancer 2016;122:1680-8. © 2016 American Cancer Society. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Risky family processes prospectively forecast shorter telomere length mediated through negative emotions.

PubMed

Brody, Gene H; Yu, Tianyi; Shalev, Idan

2017-05-01

This study was designed to examine prospective associations of risky family environments with subsequent levels of negative emotions and peripheral blood mononuclear cell telomere length (TL), a marker of cellular aging. A second purpose was to determine whether negative emotions mediate the hypothesized link between risky family processes and diminished telomere length. Participants were 293 adolescents (age 17 years at the first assessment) and their primary caregivers. Caregivers provided data on risky family processes when the youths were age 17 years, youths reported their negative emotions at age 18 years, and youths' TL was assayed from a blood sample at age 22 years. The results revealed that (a) risky family processes forecast heightened negative emotions (β = .316, p < .001) and diminished TL (β = -.199, p = .003) among youths, (b) higher levels of negative emotions forecast shorter TL (β = -.187, p = .012), and (c) negative emotions served as a mediator connecting risky family processes with diminished TL (indirect effect = -0.012, 95% CI [-0.036, -0.002]). These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that risky family processes presage premature cellular aging through effects on negative emotions, with potential implications for lifelong health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Risky Family Processes Prospectively Forecast Shorter Telomere Length Mediated through Negative Emotions

PubMed Central

Brody, Gene H.; Yu, Tianyi; Shalev, Idan

2016-01-01

Objective This study was designed to examine prospective associations of risky family environments with subsequent levels of negative emotions and peripheral blood mononuclear cell telomere length (TL), a marker of cellular aging. A second purpose was to determine whether negative emotions mediate the hypothesized link between risky family processes and diminished telomere length. Methods Participants were 293 adolescents (age 17 years at the first assessment) and their primary caregivers. Caregivers provided data on risky family processes when the youths were age 17 years, youths reported their negative emotions at age 18 years, and youths’ TL was assayed from a blood sample at age 22 years. Results The results revealed that (a) risky family processes forecast heightened negative emotions (β = .316, p < .001) and diminished TL (β = −.199, p = .003) among youths, (b) higher levels of negative emotions forecast shorter TL (β = −.187, p = .012), and (c) negative emotions served as a mediator connecting risky family processes with diminished TL (indirect effect = −0.012, 95% CI [−0.036, −0.002]). Conclusions These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that risky family processes presage premature cellular aging through effects on negative emotions, with potential implications for lifelong health. PMID:27831704

Effects of Cultural Tightness-Looseness and Social Network Density on Expression of Positive and Negative Emotions: A Large-Scale Study of Impression Management by Facebook Users.

PubMed

Liu, Pan; Chan, David; Qiu, Lin; Tov, William; Tong, Victor Joo Chuan

2018-05-01

Using data from 13,789 Facebook users across U.S. states, this study examined the main effects of societal-level cultural tightness-looseness and its interaction effects with individuals' social network density on impression management (IM) in terms of online emotional expression. Results showed that individuals from culturally tight (vs. loose) states were more likely to express positive emotions and less likely to express negative emotions. Meanwhile, for positive emotional expression, there was a tightness-looseness by social network density interaction effect. In culturally tight states, individuals with dense (vs. sparse) networks were more likely to express positive emotions, while in culturally loose states this pattern was reversed. For negative emotional expression, however, no such interaction was observed. Our findings highlight the influence of cultural norms and social network structure on emotional expressions as IM strategies.

Effect of electronic media on children.

PubMed

Ray, Munni; Jat, Kana Ram

2010-07-01

Radio, television (TV), movies, video games, cell phones, and computer networks have assumed central roles in our children's daily lives. The media has demonstrated potentially profound effects, both positive and negative, on children's cognitive, social, and behavioral development. Considering the increasing exposure of children to newer forms of media, we decided to review the current literature on the effects of media on child health both in the Western countries and India. It is widely accepted that media has profound influence on child health, including violence, obesity, tobacco and alcohol use, and risky sexual behaviors. Simultaneously, media may have some positive effects on child health. We need to find ways to optimize the role of media in our society, taking advantage of their positive attributes and minimizing their negative ones. We need to understand better how to reverse the negative impact of media and make it more positive.

[The effects of charity advertising on donations and donors' explicit and implicit evaluations of recipients].

PubMed

Kawamura, Yuta; Kusumi, Takashi

2015-04-01

Advertisements for charity generally employ one of two advertising strategies. The first appeals to the efficacy of support, while the second appeals to the necessity of support. Two experiments investigated the effect of each type of charity advertising on donations and on donors' explicit and implicit evaluations of the recipients. The results indicated that although participants' explicit evaluations of charity recipients were not changed by efficacy-based advertising, they were negatively influenced by necessity-based advertising. Furthermore, Experiment 1 detected moderating effects of empathic concern. The explicit evaluations of participants in the necessity-based advertising group were negatively correlated with their empathic concern. Implicit evaluations were consistently negative in both groups. Both advertising strategies were more effective at securing donations than the control group, which did not use any strategies. These findings suggest practical implications for charity advertising.

Dynamics of periodic mechanical structures containing bistable elastic elements: From elastic to solitary wave propagation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadkarni, Neel; Daraio, Chiara; Kochmann, Dennis M.

2014-08-01

We investigate the nonlinear dynamics of a periodic chain of bistable elements consisting of masses connected by elastic springs whose constraint arrangement gives rise to a large-deformation snap-through instability. We show that the resulting negative-stiffness effect produces three different regimes of (linear and nonlinear) wave propagation in the periodic medium, depending on the wave amplitude. At small amplitudes, linear elastic waves experience dispersion that is controllable by the geometry and by the level of precompression. At moderate to large amplitudes, solitary waves arise in the weakly and strongly nonlinear regime. For each case, we present closed-form analytical solutions and we confirm our theoretical findings by specific numerical examples. The precompression reveals a class of wave propagation for a partially positive and negative potential. The presented results highlight opportunities in the design of mechanical metamaterials based on negative-stiffness elements, which go beyond current concepts primarily based on linear elastic wave propagation. Our findings shed light on the rich effective dynamics achievable by nonlinear small-scale instabilities in solids and structures.

What You May Not See Might Slow You Down Anyway: Masked Images and Driving

PubMed Central

Lewis-Evans, Ben; de Waard, Dick; Jolij, Jacob; Brookhuis, Karel A.

2012-01-01

Many theories of driver behaviour suggest that unconscious or implicit emotions play a functional role in the shaping and control of behaviour. This has not been experimentally tested however. Therefore, in this study the effects of emotive masked images on driver behaviour were examined. While driving a simulator, participants were repeatedly exposed to negative or neutral emotionally laden target images that were sandwich masked by emotionally neutral images. These images were encountered across two different trials each of which consisted of 3–4 minutes of driving on a rural road. The results indicate an effect of the negative target images primarily in reducing the extent of familiarisation occurring between the first and second experimental drives. This is evident in a reduced decrease in heart rate and a reduced increase in high band heart rate variability and actual travelling speed from the first to second drives if the negative target image was presented in the second drive. In addition to these findings there was no clear effect of the target image on subjective ratings of effort or feelings of risk. There was however an effect of gender, with the majority of the effects found in the study being limited to the larger female dataset. These findings suggest that unconscious or implicit emotional stimuli may well influence driver behaviour without explicit awareness. PMID:22279549

Effectiveness of a knowledge-contact program in improving nursing students' attitudes and emotional competence in serving people living with HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Yiu, Jessie W; Mak, Winnie W S; Ho, Winnie S; Chui, Ying Yu

2010-07-01

This study compared the effectiveness of an AIDS knowledge-only program (knowledge) with a combined program of AIDS knowledge and contact with people having HIV/AIDS (PHA) (knowledge-contact) in reducing nursing students' stigma and discrimination towards PHA and in enhancing their emotional competence to serve PHA. Eighty-nine nursing students from two universities in Hong Kong were randomly assigned to either the knowledge or the knowledge-contact condition. All participants completed measures of AIDS knowledge, stigmatizing attitudes, fear of contagion, willingness to treat, positive affect, and negative affect at pre-test, post-test, and six-week follow-up. Findings showed that in both groups, significant improvement in AIDS knowledge, stigmatizing attitudes, fear of contagion, willingness to treat, and negative affect were found at post-test. The effects on AIDS knowledge, fear of contagion, willingness to treat, and negative affect were sustained at follow-up for both groups. Intergroup comparisons at post-test showed that the effectiveness of knowledge-contact program was significantly greater than knowledge program in improving stigmatizing attitudes. No significant difference between the two groups was found at follow-up. Findings showed the short-term effect of contact in improving nursing students' attitudes and emotional competence in serving PHA. Implications for research and training of nursing staff were discussed. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Childhood Adversity, Religion, and Change in Adult Mental Health.

PubMed

Jung, Jong Hyun

2018-02-01

Research indicates that childhood adversity is associated with poor mental health in adulthood. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the deleterious long-term effects of childhood adversity on adult mental health are reduced for individuals who are involved in religious practices. Using longitudinal data from a representative sample of American adults ( N = 1,635), I find that religious salience and spirituality buffer the noxious effects of childhood abuse on change in positive affect over time. By contrast, these stress-buffering properties of religion fail to emerge when negative affect serves as the outcome measure. These results underscore the importance of religion as a countervailing mechanism that blunts the negative impact of childhood abuse on adult mental health over time. I discuss the theoretical implications of these findings for views about religion, childhood adversity, and mental health.

Maternal Attributions of Infant Behavior and Parenting in Toddlerhood Predict Teacher-Rated Internalizing Problems in Childhood.

PubMed

Wagner, Nicholas J; Gueron-Sela, Noa; Bedford, Rachael; Propper, Cathi

2018-06-12

Social-information-processing theories of parenting posit that parents' beliefs and attributions about their children's behaviors contribute to how parents interact with their children. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between negative parenting attributions in infancy, harsh-intrusive parenting in toddlerhood, and children's internalizing problems (IPs) in early childhood. Using data from a diverse longitudinal study (n = 206), the current study used a structural equation modeling approach to test if mothers' negative attributions measured at 6 months predicted teacher ratings of children's IPs in 1st grade, as well as the extent to which observed harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors measured at ages 1, 2, and 3 years mediated this link. Maternal negative attributions in infancy predict more IPs in 1st grade, but this link becomes nonsignificant when observed harsh-intrusive parenting is included as a mediator. A significant indirect effect suggests that harsh-intrusive parenting mediates the association between early negative attributions and eventual IPs. Findings from this study identify harsh-intrusive parenting behaviors as one potential mechanism through which the effects of early attributions are carried forward to influence children's IPs. The developmental and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Cultural shaping of neural responses: Feedback-related potentials vary with self-construal and face priming.

PubMed

Hitokoto, Hidefumi; Glazer, James; Kitayama, Shinobu

2016-01-01

Previous work shows that when an image of a face is presented immediately prior to each trial of a speeded cognitive task (face-priming), the error-related negativity (ERN) is upregulated for Asians, but it is downregulated for Caucasians. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that images of "generalized other" vary cross-culturally such that they evoke anxiety for Asians, whereas they serve as safety cues for Caucasians. Here, we tested whether the cross-cultural variation in the face-priming effect would be observed in a gambling paradigm. Caucasian Americans, Asian Americans, and Asian sojourners were exposed to a brief flash of a schematic face during a gamble. For Asian Americans, face-priming resulted in significant increases of both negative-going deflection of ERP upon negative feedback (feedback-related negativity [FRN]) and positive-going deflection of ERP upon positive feedback (feedback-related positivity [FRP]). For Caucasian Americans, face-priming showed a significant reversal, decreasing both FRN and FRP. The cultural difference in the face-priming effect in FRN and FRP was partially mediated by interdependent self-construal. Curiously, Asian sojourners showed a pattern similar to the one for Caucasian Americans. Our findings suggest that culture shapes neural pathways in both systematic and highly dynamic fashion. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Prevailing Negative Soil Biota Effect and No Evidence for Local Adaptation in a Widespread Eurasian Grass

PubMed Central

Wagner, Viktoria; Antunes, Pedro M.; Ristow, Michael; Lechner, Ute; Hensen, Isabell

2011-01-01

Background Soil biota effects are increasingly accepted as an important driver of the abundance and distribution of plants. While biogeographical studies on alien invasive plant species have indicated coevolution with soil biota in their native distribution range, it is unknown whether adaptation to soil biota varies among populations within the native distribution range. The question of local adaptation between plants and their soil biota has important implications for conservation of biodiversity and may justify the use of seed material from local provenances in restoration campaigns. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied soil biota effects in ten populations of the steppe grass Stipa capillata from two distinct regions, Europe and Asia. We tested for local adaptation at two different scales, both within (ca. 10–80 km) and between (ca. 3300 km) regions, using a reciprocal inoculation experiment in the greenhouse for nine months. Generally, negative soil biota effects were consistent. However, we did not find evidence for local adaptation: both within and between regions, growth of plants in their ‘home soil’ was not significantly larger relative to that in soil from other, more distant, populations. Conclusions/Significance Our study suggests that negative soil biota effects can prevail in different parts of a plant species' range. Absence of local adaptation points to the possibility of similar rhizosphere biota composition across populations and regions, sufficient gene flow to prevent coevolution, selection in favor of plasticity, or functional redundancy among different soil biota. From the point of view of plant - soil biota interactions, our findings indicate that the current practice of using seeds exclusively from local provenances in ecosystem restoration campaigns may not be justified. PMID:21479262

The effect of evaluation on co-occurrence memory judgement.

PubMed

Bar-Anan, Yoav; Amzaleg-David, Efrat

2014-01-01

Three experiments tested the effect of an attitude towards an object on the memory judgement of whether this object co-occurred with positive versus negative stimuli. We induced positive or negative attitudes towards novel male stimuli, and paired each man with an equal number of positive and negative animals. In a memory test, participants reported more co-occurrences of same-valence man/animal pairs than opposite-valence pairs. This valence-compatibility effect occurred even when attitudes were induced after the pairing (Experiment 1), when participants knew that each man occurred with an equal number of positive and negative animals (Experiment 2), and in reports of clear memory of pairs that did not co-occur (Experiment 3). The present findings suggest that evaluation causes illusory correlation even when the co-occurring stimuli are not traits or behaviours attributed to the attitude object. The results question the validity of co-occurrence memory judgements as measures of co-occurrence awareness in evaluative conditioning (EC) research.

More Than Just Keeping Busy: The Protective Effects of Organized Activity Participation on Violence and Substance Use Among Urban Youth.

PubMed

Eisman, Andria B; Lee, Daniel B; Hsieh, Hsing-Fang; Stoddard, Sarah A; Zimmerman, Marc A

2018-06-08

Violence and substance use disproportionately affect African American youth in urban, disadvantaged communities. Expanding positive peer and adult connections is a mechanism by which organized activity participation may reduce risk of negative outcomes. We assessed if organized activity participation decreases the likelihood of later negative outcomes through expanding positive social connections using a parallel mediation model (Wave 1: N = 681; 50% female; M age  = 14.86 years; SD = 0.65). We found indirect effects from participation to cigarette use (b = -0.04, 95% CI: -0.07, -0.01) and violent behavior (b = -0.04; 95% CI: -0.07, -0.01) through positive peer connections. We did not find indirect effects through positive adult connections. This may be because of the notable influence of peers on negative outcomes during adolescence. Organized activities can help youth expand positive peer connections, which, in turn, reduces risk of later negative outcomes. Implications for prevention are discussed.

The effects of variable-time delivery of food items and praise on problem behavior reinforced by escape.

PubMed

Lomas, Joanna E; Fisher, Wayne W; Kelley, Michael E

2010-01-01

Prior research indicates that reinforcement of an appropriate response (e.g., compliance) can produce concomitant reductions in problem behavior reinforced by escape when problem behavior continues to produce negative reinforcement (e.g., Lalli et al., 1999). These effects may be due to a preference for positive over negative reinforcement or to positive reinforcement acting as an abolishing operation, rendering demands less aversive and escape from demands less effective as negative reinforcement. In the current investigation, we delivered a preferred food item and praise on a variable-time 15-s schedule while providing escape for problem behavior on a fixed-ratio 1 schedule in a demand condition for 3 participants with problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement. Results for all 3 participants showed that variable-time delivery of preferred edible items reduced problem behavior even though escape continued to be available for these responses. These findings are discussed in the context of motivating operations.

Timescale Halo: Average-Speed Targets Elicit More Positive and Less Negative Attributions than Slow or Fast Targets

PubMed Central

Hernandez, Ivan; Preston, Jesse Lee; Hepler, Justin

2014-01-01

Research on the timescale bias has found that observers perceive more capacity for mind in targets moving at an average speed, relative to slow or fast moving targets. The present research revisited the timescale bias as a type of halo effect, where normal-speed people elicit positive evaluations and abnormal-speed (slow and fast) people elicit negative evaluations. In two studies, participants viewed videos of people walking at a slow, average, or fast speed. We find evidence for a timescale halo effect: people walking at an average-speed were attributed more positive mental traits, but fewer negative mental traits, relative to slow or fast moving people. These effects held across both cognitive and emotional dimensions of mind and were mediated by overall positive/negative ratings of the person. These results suggest that, rather than eliciting greater perceptions of general mind, the timescale bias may reflect a generalized positivity toward average speed people relative to slow or fast moving people. PMID:24421882

The amphetamine response moderates the relationship between negative emotionality and alcohol use.

PubMed

Allen, Kenneth J D; Gabbay, Frances H

2013-02-01

Considerable evidence suggests that sensitivity to the stimulant effects of alcohol and other drugs is a risk marker for heavy or problematic use of those substances. A separate body of research implicates negative emotionality. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the independent and interactive effects of the stimulant response, assessed with an amphetamine challenge, and negative emotionality on alcohol and drug use. Healthy young women and men completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) and an inventory assessing alcohol and other drug use. Subsequently, the effects of 10-mg d-amphetamine were determined in the laboratory using the Stimulant scale of the Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale. Hierarchical regression analyses evaluated the effects of amphetamine response and the MPQ factor Negative Emotionality on measures of substance use. The amphetamine response moderated relationships between negative emotionality and alcohol use: in combination with a robust amphetamine response (i.e., enhanced stimulant effects as compared with baseline), negative emotionality predicted greater alcohol consumption, more episodes of binge drinking, and more frequent intoxication in regression models. A strong stimulant response independently predicted having used an illicit drug, and there was a trend for it to predict having used alcohol. Negative emotionality alone was not associated with any measure of alcohol or drug use. Consistent with the idea that emotion-based behavioral dysregulation promotes reward seeking, a high level of negative emotionality was associated with maladaptive alcohol use when it co-occurred with sensitivity to drug-based reward. The findings contribute to our understanding of how differences in personality may interact with those in drug response to affect alcohol use. Copyright © 2012 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

The amphetamine response moderates the relationship between negative emotionality and alcohol use

PubMed Central

Allen, Kenneth J. D.; Gabbay, Frances H.

2012-01-01

Background Considerable evidence suggests that sensitivity to the stimulant effects of alcohol and other drugs is a risk marker for heavy or problematic use of those substances. A separate body of research implicates negative emotionality. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the independent and interactive effects of the stimulant response, assessed with an amphetamine challenge, and negative emotionality on alcohol and drug use. Methods Healthy young women and men completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) and an inventory assessing alcohol and other drug use. Subsequently, the effects of 10 mg d-amphetamine were determined in the laboratory using the Stimulant scale of the Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale. Hierarchical regression analyses evaluated the effects of amphetamine response and the MPQ factor Negative Emotionality on measures of substance use. Results The amphetamine response moderated relationships between negative emotionality and alcohol use: In combination with a robust amphetamine response (i.e., enhanced stimulant effects as compared to baseline), negative emotionality predicted greater alcohol consumption, more episodes of binge drinking, and more frequent intoxication in regression models. A strong stimulant response independently predicted having used an illicit drug, and there was a trend for it to predict having used alcohol. Negative emotionality alone was not associated with any measure of alcohol or drug use. Conclusions Consistent with the idea that emotion-based behavioral dysregulation promotes reward-seeking, a high level of negative emotionality was associated with maladaptive alcohol use when it co-occurred with sensitivity to drug-based reward. The findings contribute to our understanding of how differences in personality may interact with those in drug response to affect alcohol use. PMID:23240777

Prospective Investigation of the Contrast Avoidance Model of Generalized Anxiety and Worry.

PubMed

Crouch, Tara A; Lewis, Jamie A; Erickson, Thane M; Newman, Michelle G

2017-07-01

The factors that maintain generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms and worry over time are not entirely clear. The Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM) postulates that individuals at risk for pathological worry and GAD symptoms uniquely fear emotional shifts from neutral or positive emotions into negative emotional states, and consequently use worry to maintain negative emotion in order to avoid shifts or blunt the effect of negative contrasts. This model has received support in laboratory experiments, but has not been investigated prospectively in the naturalistic context of daily life. The present study tested the CAM in a longitudinal experience sampling study with a subclinical sample. Participants selected to represent a broad range of symptoms (N = 92) completed baseline measures of GAD and depression symptoms, and eight weekly assessments of worry, experiences of negative emotional contrasts during their worst event of the week, and situation-specific negative emotion. Consistent with the CAM, GAD symptoms prospectively predicted higher endorsement of negative contrast experiences as worst events, independent of depression symptoms. Unsurprisingly, higher negative contrasts predicted higher negative emotion. However, both higher baseline GAD symptoms and weekly worry uniquely moderated (reduced) this relationship, providing consistent support for the idea that worry may blunt the emotional effects of contrasts. Depression symptoms did not have the same moderating effect. These findings support the CAM in an ecologically valid context. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Is video gaming, or video game addiction, associated with depression, academic achievement, heavy episodic drinking, or conduct problems?

PubMed

Brunborg, Geir Scott; Mentzoni, Rune Aune; Frøyland, Lars Roar

2014-03-01

While the relationships between video game use and negative consequences are debated, the relationships between video game addiction and negative consequences are fairly well established. However, previous studies suffer from methodological weaknesses that may have caused biased results. There is need for further investigation that benefits from the use of methods that avoid omitted variable bias. Two wave panel data was used from two surveys of 1,928 Norwegian adolescents aged 13 to 17 years. The surveys included measures of video game use, video game addiction, depression, heavy episodic drinking, academic achievement, and conduct problems. The data was analyzed using first-differencing, a regression method that is unbiased by time invariant individual factors. Video game addiction was related to depression, lower academic achievement, and conduct problems, but time spent on video games was not related to any of the studied negative outcomes. The findings were in line with a growing number of studies that have failed to find relationships between time spent on video games and negative outcomes. The current study is also consistent with previous studies in that video game addiction was related to other negative outcomes, but it made the added contribution that the relationships are unbiased by time invariant individual effects. However, future research should aim at establishing the temporal order of the supposed causal effects. Spending time playing video games does not involve negative consequences, but adolescents who experience problems related to video games are likely to also experience problems in other facets of life.

Is video gaming, or video game addiction, associated with depression, academic achievement, heavy episodic drinking, or conduct problems?

PubMed Central

Brunborg, Geir Scott; Mentzoni, Rune Aune; Frøyland, Lars Roar

2014-01-01

Background and aims: While the relationships between video game use and negative consequences are debated, the relationships between video game addiction and negative consequences are fairly well established. However, previous studies suffer from methodological weaknesses that may have caused biased results. There is need for further investigation that benefits from the use of methods that avoid omitted variable bias. Methods: Two wave panel data was used from two surveys of 1,928 Norwegian adolescents aged 13 to 17 years. The surveys included measures of video game use, video game addiction, depression, heavy episodic drinking, academic achievement, and conduct problems. The data was analyzed using first-differencing, a regression method that is unbiased by time invariant individual factors. Results: Video game addiction was related to depression, lower academic achievement, and conduct problems, but time spent on video games was not related to any of the studied negative outcomes. Discussion: The findings were in line with a growing number of studies that have failed to find relationships between time spent on video games and negative outcomes. The current study is also consistent with previous studies in that video game addiction was related to other negative outcomes, but it made the added contribution that the relationships are unbiased by time invariant individual effects. However, future research should aim at establishing the temporal order of the supposed causal effects. Conclusions: Spending time playing video games does not involve negative consequences, but adolescents who experience problems related to video games are likely to also experience problems in other facets of life. PMID:25215212

Self-Esteem, Achievement Goals, and Self-Handicapping in College Physical Education.

PubMed

Chen, Zuosong; Sun, Kaihong; Wang, Kun

2017-01-01

This study aims to investigate the relationships among self-esteem, achievement goals, and self-handicapping and the potential mediating role of achievement goals in the relationship between self-esteem and self-handicapping in college physical education. The participants were 320 Chinese college students. Three validated scales were employed to assess participants' self-esteem, achievement goals, and self-handicapping in college physical education. Results showed that self-esteem had a negative effect on self-handicapping. Self-esteem had a positive effect on mastery goals, but had a negative effect on performance-avoidance goals. Mastery goals had a negative effect and performance-avoidance goals had a positive effect on self-handicapping. Moreover, mastery goals and performance-avoidance goals partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem and self-handicapping, and self-esteem had both direct and indirect effects on self-handicapping in college physical education. The findings indicate that improving individual's self-esteem and promoting mastery goals while reducing performance-avoidance goals may be relevant strategies to reduce self-handicapping in college physical education.

The Effect of Marijuana Scenes in Anti-marijuana Public Service Announcements on Adolescents’ Evaluation of Ad Effectiveness

PubMed Central

Kang, Yahui; Cappella, Joseph N.; Fishbein, Martin

2014-01-01

This study explored the possible negative impact of a specific ad feature—marijuana scenes—on adolescents’ perception of ad effectiveness. A secondary data analysis was conducted on adolescents’ evaluations of 60 anti-marijuana public service announcements (PSAs) that were a part of national and state anti-drug campaigns directed at adolescents. The major finding of the study was that marijuana scenes in anti-marijuana PSAs negatively affected ad liking and thought valence toward the ads among adolescents who are at higher levels of risk for marijuana use. This negative impact was not reversed in the presence of strong anti-marijuana arguments. The results may be used to partially explain the lack of effectiveness of the anti-drug media campaign. It may also help us design more effective anti-marijuana PSAs by isolating adverse elements in the ads that may elicit boomerang effects in the target population. Limitations of the study and future directions were discussed. PMID:19735026

Gender-Specific Effects of Mood on Alcohol-Seeking Behaviors: Preliminary Findings Using Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration.

PubMed

Cyders, Melissa A; VanderVeen, J Davis; Plawecki, Martin; Millward, James B; Hays, James; Kareken, David A; O'Connor, Sean

2016-02-01

Although negative mood has long been implicated in differences in alcohol seeking by men and women, little research has used precise, well-controlled laboratory experiments to examine how negative mood affects alcohol-seeking behaviors. A total of 34 (19 women) community-dwelling, alcohol-using adults aged 21 to 32 (mean age = 24.86, SD = 3.40, 74.3% Caucasian; Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT] = 10.1, SD = 3.4) completed 2 counterbalanced intravenous alcohol self-administration sessions: one under negative mood and one under neutral mood. Fourteen individuals (9 women; mean age = 25.00, SD = 2.77) participated in an alcohol "liking" experiment (i.e., free access [FA] drinking) and 20 individuals (10 women; mean age = 24.77, SD = 3.73) participated in an alcohol "wanting" experiment, in which gaining access to alcohol required progressively effortful work. There was no significant difference between men and women on the AUDIT, t(32) = -0.38, p = 0.71. Priming with negative mood induction caused a significant decrease in self-reported mood (mean change = -1.85, t(32) = -6.81, p < 0.001), as intended. In FA, negative mood was associated with a significantly increased peak breath alcohol concentration (BrAC; F = 9.41, p = 0.01), with a trend toward a greater effect in men than in women (F = 2.67, p = 0.13). Negative mood also had a significant effect on peak BrAC achieved in the progressive work paradigm (F = 5.28, p = 0.04), with a significantly stronger effect in men (F = 5.35, p = 0.03) than women; men also trended toward more consistent work for alcohol across both neutral and negative sessions. These preliminary findings demonstrate a gender-specific response on how mood affects alcohol seeking and suggest gender-specific interventions to prevent mood-based alcohol consumption. Copyright © 2016 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Finding the keys to successful adult-targeted advertisements on obesity prevention: an experimental audience testing study.

PubMed

Dixon, Helen; Scully, Maree; Durkin, Sarah; Brennan, Emily; Cotter, Trish; Maloney, Sarah; O'Hara, Blythe J; Wakefield, Melanie

2015-08-20

Mass media communications are an important component of comprehensive interventions to address population levels of overweight and obesity, yet we have little understanding of the effective characteristics of specific advertisements (ads) on this topic. This study aimed to quantitatively test audience reactions to existing adult-focused public health television ads addressing overweight and obesity to determine which ads have the highest levels of message acceptance, argument strength, personalised perceived effectiveness and negative emotional impact. 1116 Australian adults aged 21-55 years recruited from a national online panel participated in this web-based study. Quotas were applied to achieve even numbers of males and females, those aged 21-29 years and 30-55 years, and those with a healthy weight (BMI = 18.5-24.9) and overweight/obesity (BMI = 25+). Participants were randomly assigned to view and rate four of eight ads that varied in terms of message content (health consequences, supportive/encouraging or social norms/acceptability) and execution style (graphic, simulation/animation, positive or negative testimonial, or depicted scene). Toxic fat (a graphic, health consequences ad) was the top performing ad on all four outcome measures and was significantly more likely than the other ads tested to promote strong responses in terms of message acceptance, argument strength and negative emotional impact. Measure up (a negative testimonial, health consequences ad) performed comparably on personalised perceived effectiveness. Most ads produced stronger perceptions of personalised perceived effectiveness among participants with overweight/obesity compared to participants with healthy weight. Some ads were more likely to promote strong negative emotions among participants with overweight/obesity. Findings provide preliminary evidence of the most promising content and executional styles of ads that could be pursued as part of obesity prevention campaigns. Ads emphasising the negative health consequences of excess weight appear to elicit stronger cognitive and emotional responses from adults with overweight/obesity. However, careful pre-testing of these types of ads is needed prior to their inclusion in actual campaigns to ensure they do not have unintended negative impacts such as increased stigmatisation of vulnerable individuals and increased levels of body dissatisfaction and/or eating-disordered behaviour among at-risk population sub-groups.

The mediational significance of negative/depressive affect in the relationship of childhood maltreatment and eating disorder features in adolescent psychiatric inpatients.

PubMed

Hopwood, C J; Ansell, E B; Fehon, D C; Grilo, C M

2011-03-01

Childhood maltreatment is a risk factor for eating disorder and negative/depressive affect appears to mediate this relation. However, the specific elements of eating- and body-related psychopathology that are influenced by various forms of childhood maltreatment remain unclear, and investigations among adolescents and men/boys have been limited. This study investigated the mediating role of negative affect/depression across multiple types of childhood maltreatment and eating disorder features in hospitalized adolescent boys and girls. Participants were 148 adolescent psychiatric inpatients who completed an assessment battery including measures of specific forms of childhood maltreatment (sexual, emotional, and physical abuse), negative/depressive affect, and eating disorder features (dietary restriction, binge eating, and body dissatisfaction). Findings suggest that for girls, negative/depressive affect significantly mediates the relationships between childhood maltreatment and eating disorder psychopathology, although effects varied somewhat across types of maltreatment and eating disorder features. Generalization of mediation effects to boys was limited.

Fathers, daughters, and self-objectification: does bonding style matter?

PubMed

Miles-McLean, Haley; Liss, Miriam; Erchull, Mindy J

2014-09-01

As women are exposed to objectification and the "male gaze," they self-objectify, which predicts negative psychological outcomes. Given the centrality of the "male gaze," positive father/child relationships may have a buffering effect. In this study, women (N=447) completed a survey measuring paternal bonding (care and overprotection), self-objectification, negative eating attitudes, and depression. Women were categorized into four groups based on bonding style. Analyses indicated an interaction such that women who reported high care and low overprotection reported the fewest negative eating attitudes. A path model was tested for each group. The fit of the high care/high overprotection group's model significantly differed from that of the high care/low overprotection group. The relationships between body surveillance and shame as well as between shame and negative eating attitudes were stronger in the former group. These findings suggest that caring but overprotective fathers may exacerbate the negative effects of body surveillance and shame. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Consumer Health Information and the Demand for Physician Visits.

PubMed

Schmid, Christian

2015-12-01

The present study empirically investigates the effect of consumer health information on the demand for physician visits. Using a direct information measure based on questions from the Swiss Health Survey, we estimate a Poisson hurdle model for office visits. We find that information has a negative effect on health care utilization, contradicting previous findings in the literature. We consider differences in the used information measures to be the most likely explanation for the different findings. However, our results suggest that increasing consumer health information has the potential to reduce health care expenditures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Daily hassles and uplifts: a diary study on understanding relationship quality.

PubMed

Totenhagen, Casey J; Serido, Joyce; Curran, Melissa A; Butler, Emily A

2012-10-01

In this investigation, we use the Conservation of Resources (CoR) theory as a guide to examine how both uplifts and hassles are associated with positive (e.g., satisfaction, commitment) and negative (ambivalence, conflict) relational quality on a daily basis. In previous studies of hassles and uplifts, the focus has been primarily on negative outcomes at the individual level (e.g., affect). Here, we build on this previous research in examining both positive and negative events (i.e., uplifts and hassles) in associations with positive and negative relational qualities. Further, we focus on examining social and nonsocial events that are external to the relationship (i.e., do not involve the romantic partner) and how they are linked with relational qualities. Finally, we examine which patterns are confined to the same day and which carry over to subsequent days (i.e., lagged effects). Contrary to previous literature, we find that both social and nonsocial hassles are largely unrelated to relationship quality after accounting for the effects of social and nonsocial uplifts. In contrast, nonsocial uplifts bolster positive feelings about the relationship on that day. Results also show that hassles and uplifts may work together to explain relational commitment. Finally, we find that nonsocial uplifts experienced on one day are associated with trend-level declines in next day positive feelings about the relationship. Our findings suggest that preserving relationship quality through daily experiences is best achieved by equipping couples to recognize the benefits of uplifts to the relationship, especially uplifts that are nonsocial, in tandem with managing hassles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Neural correlates of processing negative and sexually arousing pictures.

PubMed

Bailey, Kira; West, Robert; Mullaney, Kellie M

2012-01-01

Recent work has questioned whether the negativity bias is a distinct component of affective picture processing. The current study was designed to determine whether there are different neural correlates of processing positive and negative pictures using event-related brain potentials. The early posterior negativity and late positive potential were greatest in amplitude for erotic pictures. Partial Least Squares analysis revealed one latent variable that distinguished erotic pictures from neutral and positive pictures and another that differentiated negative pictures from neutral and positive pictures. The effects of orienting task on the neural correlates of processing negative and erotic pictures indicate that affective picture processing is sensitive to both stimulus-driven, and attentional or decision processes. The current data, together with other recent findings from our laboratory, lead to the suggestion that there are distinct neural correlates of processing negative and positive stimuli during affective picture processing.

Neural Correlates of Processing Negative and Sexually Arousing Pictures

PubMed Central

Bailey, Kira; West, Robert; Mullaney, Kellie M.

2012-01-01

Recent work has questioned whether the negativity bias is a distinct component of affective picture processing. The current study was designed to determine whether there are different neural correlates of processing positive and negative pictures using event-related brain potentials. The early posterior negativity and late positive potential were greatest in amplitude for erotic pictures. Partial Least Squares analysis revealed one latent variable that distinguished erotic pictures from neutral and positive pictures and another that differentiated negative pictures from neutral and positive pictures. The effects of orienting task on the neural correlates of processing negative and erotic pictures indicate that affective picture processing is sensitive to both stimulus-driven, and attentional or decision processes. The current data, together with other recent findings from our laboratory, lead to the suggestion that there are distinct neural correlates of processing negative and positive stimuli during affective picture processing. PMID:23029071

Opposing effects of negative emotion on amygdalar and hippocampal memory for items and associations

PubMed Central

Horner, Aidan J.; Hørlyck, Lone D.; Burgess, Neil

2016-01-01

Although negative emotion can strengthen memory of an event it can also result in memory disturbances, as in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We examined the effects of negative item content on amygdalar and hippocampal function in memory for the items themselves and for the associations between them. During fMRI, we examined encoding and retrieval of paired associates made up of all four combinations of neutral and negative images. At test, participants were cued with an image and, if recognised, had to retrieve the associated (target) image. The presence of negative images increased item memory but reduced associative memory. At encoding, subsequent item recognition correlated with amygdala activity, while subsequent associative memory correlated with hippocampal activity. Hippocampal activity was reduced by the presence of negative images, during encoding and correct associative retrieval. In contrast, amygdala activity increased for correctly retrieved negative images, even when cued by a neutral image. Our findings support a dual representation account, whereby negative emotion up-regulates the amygdala to strengthen item memory but down-regulates the hippocampus to weaken associative representations. These results have implications for the development and treatment of clinical disorders in which diminished associations between emotional stimuli and their context contribute to negative symptoms, as in PTSD. PMID:26969864

Negative Affect Mediates Effects of Psychological Stress on Disordered Eating in Young Chinese Women

PubMed Central

Chen, Jue; Wang, Zhen; Guo, Boliang; Arcelus, Jon; Zhang, Haiyin; Jia, Xiuzhen; Xu, Yong; Qiu, Jianyin; Xiao, Zeping; Yang, Min

2012-01-01

Background The bi-relationships between psychological stress, negative affect and disordered eating has been well studied in western culture, while tri-relationship among them, i.e. how some of those factors influence these bi-relationships, has rarely been studied. However, there has been little related study in the different Chinese culture. This study was conducted to investigate the bi-relationships and tri-relationship between psychological stress, negative affect, and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in young Chinese women. Methodology A total of 245 young Chinese policewomen employed to carry out health and safety checks at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo were recruited in this study. The Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Beck Depression Inventory Revised (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26) were administered to all participants. Principal Findings The total scores of PSS-10, BDI-II and BAI were all highly correlated with that of EAT-26. The PSS-10 score significantly correlated with both BDI-II and BAI scores. There was no statistically significant direct effect from perceived stress to disordered eating (–0.012, 95%CI: –.038∼0.006, p = 0.357), however, the indirect effects from PSS-10 via affect factors were statistically significant, e.g. the estimated mediation effects from PSS to EAT-26 via depression and anxiety were 0.036 (95%CI: 0.022∼0.044, p<0.001) and 0.015 (95%CI: 0.005∼0.023, p<0.01), respectively. Conclusions Perceived stress and negative affects of depression and anxiety were demonstrated to be strongly associated with disordered eating. Negative affect mediated the relationship between perceived stress and disordered eating. The findings suggest that effective interventions and preventative programmes for disordered eating should pay more attention to depression and anxiety among the young Chinese female population. PMID:23071655

Preadolescents' Emotional and Prosocial Responses to Negative TV News: Investigating the Beneficial Effects of Constructive Reporting and Peer Discussion.

PubMed

Kleemans, Mariska; Schlindwein, Luise F; Dohmen, Roos

2017-09-01

Watching news is important for preadolescents, but it may also harm their well-being. This study examined whether applying insights from positive psychology to news production can reduce this potential harm, by reducing negative emotional responses and enhancing positive emotional responses to negative news, and by encouraging prosocial intentions. Moreover, we explored whether peer discussion strengthened these effects. Preadolescents (n = 336; 9-13 years old; 48.5% female) were exposed to either constructive (solution-based news including positive emotions) or nonconstructive news. Subsequently, half of the children assigned to the constructive and the nonconstructive condition participated in a peer discussion. The findings showed that exposure to constructive news resulted in more positive emotional responses and less negative emotional responses as compared to nonconstructive news. Moreover, discussing the news with peers led to more positive and less negative emotional responses among preadolescents who watched the nonconstructive newscast, and to more prosocial intentions among preadolescents who watched constructive news. In all, constructive news reporting and peer discussion could function as tools to make negative news less harmful for preadolescents.

Military sexual trauma, combat exposure, and negative urgency as independent predictors of PTSD and subsequent alcohol problems among OEF/OIF veterans.

PubMed

Hahn, Austin M; Tirabassi, Christine K; Simons, Raluca M; Simons, Jeffrey S

2015-11-01

This study tested a path model of relationships between military sexual trauma (MST), combat exposure, negative urgency, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and alcohol use and related problems. The sample consisted of 86 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans who reported drinking at least one alcoholic beverage per week. PTSD mediated the relationships between MST and alcohol-related problems, negative urgency and alcohol-related problems, and combat exposure and alcohol-related problems. In addition, negative urgency had a direct effect on alcohol problems. These results indicate that MST, combat exposure, and negative urgency independently predict PTSD symptoms and PTSD symptoms mediate their relationship with alcohol-related problems. Findings support previous literature on the effect of combat exposure and negative urgency on PTSD and subsequent alcohol-related problems. The current study also contributes to the limited research regarding the relationship between MST, PSTD, and alcohol use and related problems. Clinical interventions aimed at reducing emotional dysregulation and posttraumatic stress symptomology may subsequently improve alcohol-related outcomes. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of body image threat on smoking motivation among college women: mediation by negative affect.

PubMed

Lopez Khoury, Elena N; Litvin, Erika B; Brandon, Thomas H

2009-06-01

A recent experimental study found that activation of negative body image cognitions produced urges to smoke in young women (E. N. Lopez, D. J. Drobes, J. K. Thompson, & T. H. Brandon, 2008). This study intended to replicate and extend these experimental findings by examining the role of negative affect as a mediator of the relationship between body dissatisfaction and smoking urges. Female college smokers (N=133) were randomly assigned to a body image challenge (trying on a bathing suit) or a control condition (evaluating a purse). State levels of urge to smoke, mood, and body dissatisfaction were assessed both pre- and postmanipulation. Trying on a bathing suit increased body dissatisfaction and reported urges to smoke, particularly those urges related to reducing negative affect. Additionally, state negative affect mediated the relationship between the body image manipulation and smoking urge. This study provides additional support, through an experimental design, that situational challenges to body image influence smoking motivation and that this effect occurs, at least in part, through increases in negative affect. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed. Copyright (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Military Sexual Trauma, Combat Exposure, and Negative Urgency as Independent Predictors of PTSD and Subsequent Alcohol Problems among OEF/OIF Veterans

PubMed Central

Tirabassi, Christine K.; Simons, Raluca M.; Simons, Jeffrey S.

2015-01-01

This study tested a path model of relationships between military sexual trauma (MST), combat exposure, negative urgency, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and alcohol use and related problems. The sample consisted of 86 OEF/OIF veterans who reported drinking at least one alcoholic beverage per week. PTSD mediated the relationships between MST and alcohol-related problems, negative urgency and alcohol-related problems, as well as combat exposure and alcohol-related problems. In addition, negative urgency had a direct effect on alcohol problems. These results indicate that MST, combat exposure, and negative urgency independently predict PTSD symptoms and PTSD symptoms mediate their relationship with alcohol-related problems. Findings support previous literature on the effect of combat exposure and negative urgency on PTSD and subsequent alcohol-related problems. The current study also contributes to the limited research regarding the relationship between MST, PSTD, and alcohol use and related problems. Clinical interventions aimed at reducing emotional dysregulation and posttraumatic stress symptomology may subsequently improve alcohol related outcomes. PMID:26524279

Fear among the extremes: how political ideology predicts negative emotions and outgroup derogation.

PubMed

van Prooijen, Jan-Willem; Krouwel, André P M; Boiten, Max; Eendebak, Lennart

2015-04-01

The "rigidity of the right" hypothesis predicts that particularly the political right experiences fear and derogates outgroups. We propose that above and beyond that, the political extremes (at both sides of the spectrum) are more likely to display these responses than political moderates. Results of a large-scale sample reveal the predicted quadratic term on socio-economic fear. Moreover, although the political right is more likely to derogate the specific category of immigrants, we find a quadratic effect on derogation of a broad range of societal categories. Both extremes also experience stronger negative emotions about politics than politically moderate respondents. Finally, the quadratic effects on derogation of societal groups and negative political emotions were mediated by socio-economic fear, particularly among left- and right-wing extremists. It is concluded that negative emotions and outgroup derogation flourish among the extremes. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Social constraints and quality of life among Chinese-speaking breast cancer survivors: a mediation model.

PubMed

You, Jin; Lu, Qian

2014-11-01

Literature has revealed detrimental effects of unsupportive interpersonal interactions on adjustment to cancer. However, no studies have examined this effect and the underlying psychological pathways among Chinese-speaking breast cancer survivors. The study investigated the relationship between social constraints and adjustment to cancer and the underlying psychological pathways among Chinese-speaking breast cancer survivors. Chinese-speaking breast cancer survivors (N = 120) completed a questionnaire package assessing social constraints, intrusive thoughts, affect, and quality of life. Results revealed a negative relationship between social constraints and quality of life. Such a relationship between social constraints and quality of life was mediated by negative affect and intrusive thoughts, while the association of intrusive thoughts and quality of life were completely mediated by positive and negative affect. Findings highlight the negative association between unsupportive interpersonal interactions and adjustment through cognitive and affective pathways among Chinese-speaking breast cancer survivors.

Family conflict, mood, and adolescents' daily school problems: moderating roles of internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

PubMed

Timmons, Adela C; Margolin, Gayla

2015-01-01

Using daily diary data, this study examined cross-day associations between family conflict and school problems and tested mediating effects of daily negative mood and moderating effects of psychological symptoms. For 2 weeks, parents and adolescents (N = 106; Mage = 15.4) reported daily conflict; adolescents reported daily negative mood and school problems. Results indicated bidirectional, multiday spillover between parent-adolescent conflict and school problems with daily negative mood statistically accounting for spillover both within and across days. Externalizing symptoms strengthened links between father-adolescent conflict and school problems, whereas depressive and anxious symptoms strengthened links between parent-adolescent conflict and daily negative mood. By demonstrating cross-domain transmission of daily problems, these findings highlight the salience of everyday events as possible intervention targets. © 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Effects of semantic relatedness on recall of stimuli preceding emotional oddballs.

PubMed

Smith, Ryan M; Beversdorf, David Q

2008-07-01

Semantic and episodic memory networks function as highly interconnected systems, both relying on the hippocampal/medial temporal lobe complex (HC/MTL). Episodic memory encoding triggers the retrieval of semantic information, serving to incorporate contextual relationships between the newly acquired memory and existing semantic representations. While emotional material augments episodic memory encoding at the time of stimulus presentation, interactions between emotion and semantic memory that contribute to subsequent episodic recall are not well understood. Using a modified oddball task, we examined the modulatory effects of negative emotion on semantic interactions with episodic memory by measuring the free-recall of serially presented neutral or negative words varying in semantic relatedness. We found increased free-recall for words related to and preceding emotionally negative oddballs, suggesting that negative emotion can indirectly facilitate episodic free-recall by enhancing semantic contributions during encoding. Our findings demonstrate the ability of emotion and semantic memory to interact to mutually enhance free-recall.

Asymmetric effects of positive and negative affect on decision making.

PubMed

Cahir, Caitriona; Thomas, Kevin

2010-02-01

Although affect is a fundamental element of decision making, there are different theoretical accounts and conflicting empirical evidence of its influence. This experiment was done to begin a more coherent account of the influence of affect by using standardised images to induce affect and a betting task to measure decision making. Eighty-five participants were assigned to a positive, a negative, or a neutral affect condition before making decisions on two hypothetical horse races. Analysis indicated that those in the positive and negative conditions made lower-risk decisions than those in the neutral condition; however, this did not differ between the races, suggesting that task familiarity did not moderate the influence of affect. Contrary to previous research, these results indicate that positive and negative affect do not necessarily exert symmetrical effects on decision making. Implications for the major accounts of the influence of affect on decision making are discussed in relation to the findings.

Social Support, Social Loss and Positive and Negative Psychological Functioning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGowan, John R.

While the relationship between stressful life events, social support, and health outcomes has received much attention, efforts to quantify social support and directly examine specific ameliorative effects have resulted in mixed findings. Direct and mediational effects of two psychometrically validated measures of perceived and received social…

Effective School Improvement in the Netherlands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Hechuan; de Jong, Rob

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out what kind of contextual factors that positively or negatively influence effective school improvement (ESI) in The Netherlands. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, Sun's contextual level model with ten contextual factors and 48 indicators has been used to carefully…

Differential Effects of Positive and Negative Reinforcement on Two Psychoanalytic Character Types

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooperman, Marc; Child, Irvin L.

1971-01-01

The present study attempted to duplicate earlier findings and to investigate the effects of mechanical as well as personal reinforcement. However, the acquisition and extinction differences between oral and anal scoring types reported in the earlier studies were not obtained with either personal or mechanical reinforcement. (Author)

Why we simulate negated information: a dynamic pragmatic account.

PubMed

Tian, Ye; Breheny, Richard; Ferguson, Heather J

2010-12-01

A well-established finding in the simulation literature is that participants simulate the positive argument of negation soon after reading a negative sentence, prior to simulating a scene consistent with the negated sentence (Kaup, Ludtke, & Zwaan, 2006; Kaup, Yaxley, Madden, Zwaan, & Ludtke, 2007). One interpretation of this finding is that negation requires two steps to process: first represent what is being negated then "reject" that in favour of a representation of a negation-consistent state of affairs (Kaup et al., 2007). In this paper we argue that this finding with negative sentences could be a by-product of the dynamic way that language is interpreted relative to a common ground and not the way that negation is represented. We present a study based on Kaup et al. (2007) that tests the competing accounts. Our results suggest that some negative sentences are not processed in two steps, but provide support for the alternative, dynamic account.

Interventions in Higher Education and Their Effect on Student Success: A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sneyers, Eline; De Witte, Kristof

2018-01-01

This article provides a meta-analysis on the effect of academic probation, student-faculty mentoring and need-based grants on various student outcomes. Using 25 (quasi-) experimental studies, we find that academic probation has a significant negative effect on retention (d = -0.17), while it does not have an effect on graduation. Student-faculty…

Effects of cognitive remediation on negative symptoms dimensions: exploring the role of working memory.

PubMed

Cella, M; Stahl, D; Morris, S; Keefe, R S E; Bell, M D; Wykes, T

2017-09-04

Recent theories suggest that poor working memory (WM) may be the cognitive underpinning of negative symptoms in people with schizophrenia. In this study, we first explore the effect of cognitive remediation (CR) on two clusters of negative symptoms (i.e. expressive and social amotivation), and then assess the relevance of WM gains as a possible mediator of symptom improvement. Data were accessed for 309 people with schizophrenia from the NIMH Database of Cognitive Training and Remediation Studies and a separate study. Approximately half the participants received CR and the rest were allocated to a control condition. All participants were assessed before and after therapy and at follow-up. Expressive negative symptoms and social amotivation symptoms scores were calculated from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. WM was assessed with digit span and letter-number span tests. Participants who received CR had a significant improvement in WM scores (d = 0.27) compared with those in the control condition. Improvements in social amotivation levels approached statistical significance (d = -0.19), but change in expressive negative symptoms did not differ between groups. WM change did not mediate the effect of CR on social amotivation. The results suggest that a course of CR may benefit behavioural negative symptoms. Despite hypotheses linking memory problems with negative symptoms, the current findings do not support the role of this cognitive domain as a significant mediator. The results indicate that WM improves independently from negative symptoms reduction.

Work–Family Conflict and Mental Health Among Female Employees: A Sequential Mediation Model via Negative Affect and Perceived Stress

PubMed Central

Zhou, Shiyi; Da, Shu; Guo, Heng; Zhang, Xichao

2018-01-01

After the implementation of the universal two-child policy in 2016, more and more working women have found themselves caught in the dilemma of whether to raise a baby or be promoted, which exacerbates work–family conflicts among Chinese women. Few studies have examined the mediating effect of negative affect. The present study combined the conservation of resources model and affective events theory to examine the sequential mediating effect of negative affect and perceived stress in the relationship between work–family conflict and mental health. A valid sample of 351 full-time Chinese female employees was recruited in this study, and participants voluntarily answered online questionnaires. Pearson correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and multiple mediation analysis were used to examine the relationships between work–family conflict, negative affect, perceived stress, and mental health in full-time female employees. We found that women’s perceptions of both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict were significant negatively related to mental health. Additionally, the results showed that negative affect and perceived stress were negatively correlated with mental health. The 95% confidence intervals indicated the sequential mediating effect of negative affect and stress in the relationship between work–family conflict and mental health was significant, which supported the hypothesized sequential mediation model. The findings suggest that work–family conflicts affected the level of self-reported mental health, and this relationship functioned through the two sequential mediators of negative affect and perceived stress. PMID:29719522

Work-Family Conflict and Mental Health Among Female Employees: A Sequential Mediation Model via Negative Affect and Perceived Stress.

PubMed

Zhou, Shiyi; Da, Shu; Guo, Heng; Zhang, Xichao

2018-01-01

After the implementation of the universal two-child policy in 2016, more and more working women have found themselves caught in the dilemma of whether to raise a baby or be promoted, which exacerbates work-family conflicts among Chinese women. Few studies have examined the mediating effect of negative affect. The present study combined the conservation of resources model and affective events theory to examine the sequential mediating effect of negative affect and perceived stress in the relationship between work-family conflict and mental health. A valid sample of 351 full-time Chinese female employees was recruited in this study, and participants voluntarily answered online questionnaires. Pearson correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and multiple mediation analysis were used to examine the relationships between work-family conflict, negative affect, perceived stress, and mental health in full-time female employees. We found that women's perceptions of both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict were significant negatively related to mental health. Additionally, the results showed that negative affect and perceived stress were negatively correlated with mental health. The 95% confidence intervals indicated the sequential mediating effect of negative affect and stress in the relationship between work-family conflict and mental health was significant, which supported the hypothesized sequential mediation model. The findings suggest that work-family conflicts affected the level of self-reported mental health, and this relationship functioned through the two sequential mediators of negative affect and perceived stress.

Extended family and friendship support and suicidality among African Americans.

PubMed

Nguyen, Ann W; Taylor, Robert Joseph; Chatters, Linda M; Taylor, Harry Owen; Lincoln, Karen D; Mitchell, Uchechi A

2017-03-01

This study examined the relationship between informal social support from extended family and friends and suicidality among African Americans. Logistic regression analysis was based on a nationally representative sample of African Americans from the National Survey of American Life (N = 3263). Subjective closeness and frequency of contact with extended family and friends and negative family interaction were examined in relation to lifetime suicide ideation and attempts. Subjective closeness to family and frequency of contact with friends were negatively associated with suicide ideation and attempts. Subjective closeness to friends and negative family interaction were positively associated with suicide ideation and attempts. Significant interactions between social support and negative interaction showed that social support buffers against the harmful effects of negative interaction on suicidality. Findings are discussed in relation to the functions of positive and negative social ties in suicidality.

Daily life negative mood and exhaled nitric oxide in asthma.

PubMed

Ritz, Thomas; Kullowatz, Antje; Bill, Michelle N; Rosenfield, David

2016-07-01

Psychosocial stress and negative affect have been linked to asthma exacerbations, but longitudinal studies demonstrating a daily life association between negative affect and airway nitric oxide are missing. The longitudinal association between negative mood fluctuations, exhaled nitric oxide, and lung function in asthma was examined. Self-assessments of the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), spirometry (forced expiratory volume in the first second, FEV1), negative mood, and daily activities were obtained from 20 patients with asthma for 2 months, resulting in 1108 assessments for the analyses (approximately 55 per patient). Concurrent and prospective associations between FeNO, FEV1, and negative mood were analyzed using mixed effects regression models for longitudinal data. Negative mood was positively associated with changes in FeNO during the same day, and to a stronger extent when prior day negative mood was included in the prediction. FeNO and negative mood were positively associated with same-day FEV1, with the latter relation being partially mediated by changes in FeNO. Associations between FeNO and FEV1 were stronger in younger patients, with earlier onset of asthma, or with lower asthma control. Findings were not changed when controlling for physical activity, medication, cold symptoms, air pollution, and hours spent outside. Daily life changes of negative mood in asthma are positively associated with FeNO changes and FeNO increases are associated with a mild bronchodilation. These findings indicate that psychological influences need to be considered when using FeNO as indicator of airway inflammation and guide for treatment decisions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Negative reactions to monitoring: Do they undermine the ability of monitoring to protect adolescents?

PubMed

Laird, Robert D; Zeringue, Megan M; Lambert, Emily S

2018-02-01

This study focused on adolescents' negative reactions to parental monitoring to determine whether parents should avoid excessive monitoring because adolescents find monitoring behaviors to be over-controlling and privacy invasive. Adolescents (n = 242, M age = 15.4 years; 51% female) reported monitoring, negative reactions, warmth, antisocial behavior, depressive symptoms, and disclosure. Adolescents additionally reported antisocial behavior, depressive symptoms, and disclosure one to two years later. In cross-sectional analyses, less monitoring but more negative reactions were linked with less disclosure, suggesting that negative reactions can undermine parents' ability to obtain information. Although monitoring behaviors were not related to depressive symptoms, more negative reactions were linked with more depressive symptoms, suggesting that negative reactions also may increase depressive symptoms as a side effect of monitoring behavior. Negative reactions were not linked to antisocial behavior. There were no longitudinal links between negative reactions and changes in disclosure, antisocial behavior, or depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

To Whistleblow or Not to Whistleblow: Affective and Cognitive Differences in Reporting Peers and Advisors.

PubMed

McIntosh, Tristan; Higgs, Cory; Turner, Megan; Partlow, Paul; Steele, Logan; MacDougall, Alexandra E; Connelly, Shane; Mumford, Michael D

2017-09-20

Traditional whistleblowing theories have purported that whistleblowers engage in a rational process in determining whether or not to blow the whistle on misconduct. However, stressors inherent to whistleblowing often impede rational thinking and act as a barrier to effective whistleblowing. The negative impact of these stressors on whistleblowing may be made worse depending on who engages in the misconduct: a peer or advisor. In the present study, participants are presented with an ethical scenario where either a peer or advisor engages in misconduct, and positive and the negative consequences of whistleblowing are either directed to the wrongdoer, department, or university. Participant responses to case questions were evaluated for whistleblowing intentions, moral intensity, metacognitive reasoning strategies, and positive and negative, active and passive emotions. Findings indicate that participants were less likely to report the observed misconduct of an advisor compared to a peer. Furthermore, the findings also suggest that when an advisor is the source of misconduct, greater negative affect results. Post-hoc analyses were also conducted examining the differences between those who did and did not intend to blow the whistle under the circumstances of either having to report an advisor or peer. The implications of these findings for understanding the complexities involved in whistleblowing are discussed.

Endothelial dysfunction and negative emotions in adolescent girls.

PubMed

Pajer, Kathleen; Hoffman, Robert; Gardner, William; Chang, Chien-Ni; Boley, David; Wang, Wei

2016-05-01

Endothelial dysfunction predicts adult cardiovascular disorder and may be associated with negative emotions in adolescents. This study was conducted to determine if hopelessness, hostility, and depressive, anxiety, or conduct disorders were associated with compromised endothelial function and whether those associations were mediated by health risk behaviors. Endothelial function, assessed through brachial artery reactive hyperemia, was measured in a psychopathology enriched sample of 60 15-18-year-old girls. The correlations between hopelessness, hostility, and depressive, anxiety, or conduct disorders and the percent change in forearm vascular resistance (PCFVR) were measured. Possible mediation effects of health risk behaviors were tested. Hopelessness was negatively associated with PCFVR, controlling for race and body mass index. Conduct disorder without any anxiety disorder was associated with better endothelial function. The other negative emotions were not associated with PCFVR. Risky health behaviors were associated with conduct disorder and hopelessness, but not with PCFVR, so there was no evidence of mediation. The main finding was that hopelessness in adolescent girls was associated with endothelial dysfunction. This may indicate that when present, hopelessness places a girl at risk for later cardiovascular disease, whether she has a psychiatric disorder or not. Possible mechanisms for this finding are examined and the surprising finding that conduct disorder is associated with better endothelial function is also discussed. Suggestions for future research are presented.

Using lexical analysis to identify emotional distress in psychometric schizotypy.

PubMed

Abplanalp, Samuel J; Buck, Benjamin; Gonzenbach, Virgilio; Janela, Carlos; Lysaker, Paul H; Minor, Kyle S

2017-09-01

Through the use of lexical analysis software, researchers have demonstrated a greater frequency of negative affect word use in those with schizophrenia and schizotypy compared to the general population. In addition, those with schizotypy endorse greater emotional distress than healthy controls. In this study, our aim was to expand on previous findings in schizotypy to determine whether negative affect word use could be linked to emotional distress. Schizotypy (n=33) and non-schizotypy groups (n=33) completed an open-ended, semi-structured interview and negative affect word use was analyzed using a validated lexical analysis instrument. Emotional distress was assessed using subjective questionnaires of depression and psychological quality of life (QOL). When groups were compared, those with schizotypy used significantly more negative affect words; endorsed greater depression; and reported lower QOL. Within schizotypy, a trend level association between depression and negative affect word use was observed; QOL and negative affect word use showed a significant inverse association. Our findings offer preliminary evidence of the potential effectiveness of lexical analysis as an objective, behavior-based method for identifying emotional distress throughout the schizophrenia-spectrum. Utilizing lexical analysis in schizotypy offers promise for providing researchers with an assessment capable of objectively detecting emotional distress. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Testing the cognitive catalyst model of rumination with explicit and implicit cognitive content.

PubMed

Sova, Christopher C; Roberts, John E

2018-06-01

The cognitive catalyst model posits that rumination and negative cognitive content, such as negative schema, interact to predict depressive affect. Past research has found support for this model using explicit measures of negative cognitive content such as self-report measures of trait self-esteem and dysfunctional attitudes. The present study tested whether these findings would extend to implicit measures of negative cognitive content such as implicit self-esteem, and whether effects would depend on initial mood state and history of depression. Sixty-one undergraduate students selected on the basis of depression history (27 previously depressed; 34 never depressed) completed explicit and implicit measures of negative cognitive content prior to random assignment to a rumination induction followed by a distraction induction or vice versa. Dysphoric affect was measured both before and after these inductions. Analyses revealed that explicit measures, but not implicit measures, interacted with rumination to predict change in dysphoric affect, and these interactions were further moderated by baseline levels of dysphoria. Limitations include the small nonclinical sample and use of a self-report measure of depression history. These findings suggest that rumination amplifies the association between explicit negative cognitive content and depressive affect primarily among people who are already experiencing sad mood. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Memory Shaped by Age Stereotypes over Time

PubMed Central

Zonderman, Alan B.; Slade, Martin D.; Ferrucci, Luigi

2012-01-01

Objectives. Previous studies showed that negative self-stereotypes detrimentally affect the cognitive performance of marginalized group members; however, these findings were confined to short-term experiments. In the present study, we considered whether stereotypes predicted memory over time, which had not been previously examined. We also considered whether self-relevance increased the influence of stereotypes on memory over time. Method. Multiple waves of memory performance were analyzed using individual growth models. The sample consisted of 395 participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Results. Those with more negative age stereotypes demonstrated significantly worse memory performance over 38 years than those with less negative age stereotypes, after adjusting for relevant covariates. The decline in memory performance for those aged 60 and above was 30.2% greater for the more negative age stereotype group than for the less negative age stereotype group. Also, the impact of age stereotypes on memory was significantly greater among those for whom the age stereotypes were self-relevant. Discussion. This study shows that the adverse influence of negative self-stereotypes on cognitive performance is not limited to a short-term laboratory effect. Rather, the findings demonstrate, for the first time, that stereotypes also predict memory performance over an extended period in the community. PMID:22056832

The big two personality traits and adolescents' complete mental health: The mediation role of perceived school stress.

PubMed

Tian, Lili; Jiang, Siyi; Huebner, E Scott

2018-05-24

Based on Greenspoon and Saklofske's (2001) dual-factor model of mental health, we defined adolescents' mental health as comprised of two distinguishable factors: positive and negative mental health. We tested the direct relations between the Eysenck's (1967) Big Two personality traits (Extraversion and Neuroticism) and positive and negative mental health, and explored the mediation effects of perceived school stress in accounting for the relations. Direct and indirect relations were estimated by using structural equation modeling with data from 1,009 Chinese adolescents in a 3-wave study. Results indicated that (a) adolescents' levels of neuroticism showed a positive relation to negative mental health and a negative relation to positive mental health, whereas levels of extraversion showed a negative relation to negative mental health and a positive relation to positive mental health; and (b) adolescents' perceived school stress (PSS) mediated the relation between neuroticism and mental health but not the relation between extraversion and mental health. The findings suggest that school professionals should consider adolescents' personality traits and school-based stress when planning and delivering mental health services. The findings of the relations between extraversion and PSS are also discussed in light of the face culture in China. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The positive and negative framing of affirmative action: a group dominance perspective.

PubMed

Haley, Hillary; Sidanius, Jim

2006-05-01

Using a sample of 328 White, Latino, and Black Los Angeles County adults, the authors examined the tendency to employ various affirmative action "frames" (e.g., affirmative action as a "tie-breaking" device or as a quota-based policy). All three groups agreed about which frames cast affirmative action in a positive light and which cast it in a negative light. Although minorities had a tendency to frame affirmative action in terms that most people find morally acceptable, Whites had a tendency to frame affirmative action in terms most people find unacceptable. In addition, compared to minorities, Whites were less supportive of affirmative action regardless of how it was framed. LISREL modeling also was employed to test two competing models regarding predictors of the tendency to use frames that one personally finds to be relatively negative versus positive. Consistent with the expectations of social dominance theory and a motivated cognition perspective, the authors found that social dominance orientation (SDO) had significant net direct and indirect effects on one's framing of affirmative action.

Are Tobacco Dependence and Withdrawal Related Amongst Heavy Smokers? Relevance to Conceptualizations of Dependence

PubMed Central

Baker, Timothy B.; Piper, Megan E.; Schlam, Tanya R.; Cook, Jessica W.; Smith, Stevens S.; Loh, Wei-Yin; Bolt, Daniel

2013-01-01

Measured tobacco dependence is typically only modestly related to tobacco withdrawal severity amongst regular smokers making a quit attempt. The weak association between dependence and withdrawal is notable because it conflicts with core theories of dependence and because both measures predict cessation outcomes, suggesting they both index a common dependence construct. This study used data from a smoking cessation comparative effectiveness trial (N = 1504) to characterize relations of tobacco dependence with craving and negative affect withdrawal symptoms using multiple dependence measures and analytic methods to detect both additive and interactive effects and to determine whether withdrawal meaningfully mediates the influence of dependence on smoking cessation. We conclude: (1) while univariate analyses suggest dependence and withdrawal measures are only modestly interrelated, more powerful analytic techniques show they are, in fact, meaningfully related and their shared variance is associated with cessation likelihood; (2) there are clear differences between craving and negative affective withdrawal symptoms, with the former more related to smoking heaviness and the latter related to trait measures of negative affect; moreover, craving more strongly mediates dependence effects on cessation; (3) both craving and negative affect withdrawal symptoms are strongly related to a pattern of regular smoking that is sensitive to the passage of time and powerfully affected by smoking cues. These findings support models that accord an important role for associative processes and withdrawal symptoms, especially craving, in drug dependence. The findings also support the use of withdrawal variables as criteria for the evaluation of dependence measures. PMID:22642839

The Effect of Population Growth upon the Quantity of Education Children Receive.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, Julian L.; Pilarski, Adam M.

1979-01-01

There is indeed some negative effect of population growth on the amount of education in developing nations, but the effect is less severe than has been thought. This finding is in sharp contrast to previous conclusions drawn from similar cross-national data. Available from Review of Economics and Statistics, M-8 Littauer Center, Cambridge, MA…

Psychometric schizotypy predicts psychotic-like, paranoid, and negative symptoms in daily life.

PubMed

Barrantes-Vidal, Neus; Chun, Charlotte A; Myin-Germeys, Inez; Kwapil, Thomas R

2013-11-01

Positive and negative schizotypy exhibit differential patterns of impairment in social relations, affect, and functioning in daily life. However, studies have not examined the association of schizotypy with real-world expression of psychotic-like, paranoid, and negative symptoms. The present study employed experience-sampling methodology (ESM) to assess positive and negative schizotypy in daily life in a nonclinical sample of 206 Spanish young adults. Participants were prompted randomly 8 times daily for 1 week to complete assessments of their current symptoms and experiences. Positive schizotypy was associated with psychotic-like and paranoid symptoms in daily life. Negative schizotypy was associated with a subset of these symptoms and with negative symptoms in daily life. Momentary stress was associated with psychotic-like and paranoid symptoms, but only for those high in positive schizotypy. Social stress predicted momentary psychotic-like symptoms in both positive and negative schizotypy. Time-lagged analyses indicated that stress at the preceding signal predicted psychotic-like symptoms at the current assessment, but only for individuals high in positive schizotypy. The results are consistent with models linking stress sensitivity with the experience of psychotic symptoms. The findings provide cross-cultural support for the multidimensional model of schizotypy and schizophrenia. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that ESM is an effective method for predicting the experience of psychotic-like symptoms, as well as their precursors, in daily life. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Interactions with parents and friends among chronically ill children: examining social networks.

PubMed

Herzer, Michele; Umfress, Kris; Aljadeff, Gabriel; Ghai, Kanika; Zakowski, Sandra G

2009-12-01

Children with medical conditions often experience a combination of positive and negative social interactions with parents and friends. Adult research examining cross-domain buffering effects has documented that supportive social ties can make up for shortcomings in other social relationships. This study examined whether negative effects of strained relationships with loved ones can be buffered when children feel supported by individuals in different support networks (i.e., cross-domain buffering effects). Children with Type I diabetes (n = 56), chronic asthma (n = 54), and cystic fibrosis (n = 17) completed questionnaires during an outpatient hospital visit that assessed perceptions of support and strain from parents and friends, quality of life, self-concept, and emotional/behavioral difficulties. Parental strain was conceptualized as parental overprotection and parental rejection. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that friend support buffered the adverse effects of parental strain on child quality of life, self-concept, and emotional/behavioral difficulties. Interestingly, parental support did not buffer the negative effects of experiencing strained relationships with friends; only main effects on outcome were found. These findings partially support our hypotheses of cross-domain buffering. In this study, friendships were a protective factor for children who experienced strained relationships with parents. In contrast, although parent support had a direct impact on child outcome, it did not make up for feeling rejected by friends. Because close relationships are often strained during medical stressors, findings underscore the importance of promoting social connectedness in chronically ill children to maximize opportunities for experiencing positive social relationships.

Discrete-element modeling of nacre-like materials: Effects of random microstructures on strain localization and mechanical performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abid, Najmul; Mirkhalaf, Mohammad; Barthelat, Francois

2018-03-01

Natural materials such as nacre, collagen, and spider silk are composed of staggered stiff and strong inclusions in a softer matrix. This type of hybrid microstructure results in remarkable combinations of stiffness, strength, and toughness and it now inspires novel classes of high-performance composites. However, the analytical and numerical approaches used to predict and optimize the mechanics of staggered composites often neglect statistical variations and inhomogeneities, which may have significant impacts on modulus, strength, and toughness. Here we present an analysis of localization using small representative volume elements (RVEs) and large scale statistical volume elements (SVEs) based on the discrete element method (DEM). DEM is an efficient numerical method which enabled the evaluation of more than 10,000 microstructures in this study, each including about 5,000 inclusions. The models explore the combined effects of statistics, inclusion arrangement, and interface properties. We find that statistical variations have a negative effect on all properties, in particular on the ductility and energy absorption because randomness precipitates the localization of deformations. However, the results also show that the negative effects of random microstructures can be offset by interfaces with large strain at failure accompanied by strain hardening. More specifically, this quantitative study reveals an optimal range of interface properties where the interfaces are the most effective at delaying localization. These findings show how carefully designed interfaces in bioinspired staggered composites can offset the negative effects of microstructural randomness, which is inherent to most current fabrication methods.

Why Do You Work with Struggling Students? Teacher Perceptions of Meaningful Work in Trauma-Impacted Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brunzell, Tom; Stokes, Helen; Waters, Lea

2018-01-01

This study contributed new findings to the construct of meaningful work (MW) and negative impacts on MW. In other professional samples, finding meaning in work has been shown to be an effective buffer when facing workplace adversity. However, prior investigation has neither identified nor explored the specific sources and mechanisms of meaningful…

The impact of health expenditure on the number of chronic diseases.

PubMed

Becchetti, Leonardo; Conzo, Pierluigi; Salustri, Francesco

2017-09-01

We investigate the impact of health expenditure on health outcomes on a large sample of Europeans aged above 50 using individual and regional level data. We find a negative and significant effect of lagged health expenditure on subsequent changes in the number of chronic diseases. This effect varies according to age, health behavior, gender, income, and education. Our empirical findings are confirmed also when health expenditure is instrumented with parliament political composition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of aging on functional connectivity of the amygdala for subsequent memory of negative pictures: a network analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data.

PubMed

St Jacques, Peggy L; Dolcos, Florin; Cabeza, Roberto

2009-01-01

Aging is associated with preserved enhancement of emotional memory, as well as with age-related reductions in memory for negative stimuli, but the neural networks underlying such alterations are not clear. We used a subsequent-memory paradigm to identify brain activity predicting enhanced emotional memory in young and older adults. Activity in the amygdala predicted enhanced emotional memory, with subsequent-memory activity greater for negative stimuli than for neutral stimuli, across age groups, a finding consistent with an overall enhancement of emotional memory. However, older adults recruited greater activity in anterior regions and less activity in posterior regions in general for negative stimuli that were subsequently remembered. Functional connectivity of the amygdala with the rest of the brain was consistent with age-related reductions in memory for negative stimuli: Older adults showed decreased functional connectivity between the amygdala and the hippocampus, but increased functional connectivity between the amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. These findings suggest that age-related differences in the enhancement of emotional memory might reflect decreased connectivity between the amygdala and typical subsequent-memory regions, as well as the engagement of regulatory processes that inhibit emotional responses.

Reward Devaluation: Dot-Probe Meta-Analytic Evidence of Avoidance of Positive Information in Depressed Persons

PubMed Central

Winer, E. Samuel; Salem, Taban

2015-01-01

Cognitive theories of depression and anxiety have traditionally emphasized the role of attentional biases in the processing of negative information. The dot-probe task has been widely used to study this phenomenon. Recent findings suggest that biased processing of positive information might also be an important aspect of developing psychopathological symptoms. However, despite some evidence suggesting persons with symptoms of depression and anxiety may avoid positive information, many dot-probe studies have produced null findings. The present review used conventional and novel meta-analytic methods to evaluate dot-probe attentional biases away from positive information and, for comparison, toward negative information, in depressed and anxious individuals. Results indicated that avoidance of positive information is a real effect exhibiting substantial evidential value among persons experiencing psychopathology, with individuals evidencing primary symptoms of depression clearly demonstrating this effect. Different theoretical explanations for these findings are evaluated, including those positing threat-processing structures, even-handedness, self-regulation, and reward devaluation, with the novel theory of reward devaluation emphasized and expanded. These novel findings and theory suggest that avoidance of prospective reward helps to explain the cause and sustainability of depressed states. Suggestions for future research and methodological advances are discussed. PMID:26619211

The Temporal Effects of Divorces and Separations on Children’s Academic Achievement and Problem Behavior

PubMed Central

Arkes, Jeremy

2014-01-01

This paper provides an examination of the effects of the divorce and separation process on children’s academic achievement over time. By using child fixed effects and establishing a baseline period that is 4-or-more years prior to a family disruption, I can examine how children are affected in different periods relative to the disruption and whether any negative effects subside, persist, or escalate as time passes from the disruption. With a sample of 7-14 year olds, I find: children are affected at least 2-4 years before the disruption; reading test scores are most affected; and for Reading Comprehension, the negative effects persist and even escalate as time passes from the disruption. PMID:25580066

Motivated reconstruction: The effect of brand commitment on false memories.

PubMed

Montgomery, Nicole Votolato; Rajagopal, Priyali

2018-06-01

Across 5 studies, we examine the effect of prior brand commitment on the creation of false memories about product experience after reading online product reviews. We find that brand commitment and the valence of reviews to which consumers are exposed, interact to affect the incidence of false memories. Thus, highly committed consumers are more susceptible to the creation of false experience memories on exposure to positive versus negative reviews, whereas low commitment consumers exhibit similar levels of false memories in response to both positive and negative reviews. Further, these differences across brand commitment are attenuated when respondents are primed with an accuracy motivation, suggesting that the biasing effects of commitment are likely because of the motivation to defend the committed brand. Finally, we find that differences in false memories subsequently lead to differences in intentions to spread word-of-mouth (e.g., recommend the product to friends), suggesting that the consequences of false product experience memories can be significant for marketers and consumers. Our findings contribute to the literatures in false memory and marketing by documenting a motivated bias in false memories because of brand commitment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effect of Body Image Threat on Smoking Motivation Among College Women: Mediation by Negative Affect

PubMed Central

Lopez Khoury, Elena N.; Litvin, Erika B.; Brandon, Thomas H.

2014-01-01

Previous descriptive, correlational, and quasi-experimental research has established that weight concerns and negative body image are associated with tobacco smoking, cessation, and relapse among young women. A recent experimental study found that activation of negative body image cognitions produced urges to smoke (Lopez, Drobes, Thompson, & Brandon, 2008). The current study intended to replicate and extend these experimental findings by examining the role of negative affect as a mediator of the relationship between body dissatisfaction and smoking urges. Female college smokers (N = 133) were randomly assigned to a body image challenge (trying on a bathing suit) or a control condition (evaluating a purse). State levels of urge to smoke, mood, and body dissatisfaction were assessed both pre- and post-manipulation. Trying on a bathing suit increased body dissatisfaction and reported urges to smoke, particularly those urges related to reducing negative affect. Additionally, state negative affect mediated the relationship between the body image manipulation and smoking urge. This study provides additional support, through an experimental design, that situational challenges to body image influence smoking motivation, and that this effect occurs, at least in part, via increases in negative affect. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed. PMID:19586144

Negative Body Attitudes and Sexual Dissatisfaction in Men: The Mediating Role of Body Self-Consciousness During Physical Intimacy.

PubMed

van den Brink, Femke; Vollmann, Manja; Sternheim, Lot C; Berkhout, Lotte J; Zomerdijk, Renée A; Woertman, Liesbeth

2018-04-01

Previous research indicated that negative attitudes about the body and appearance are common among men and demonstrated that negative body attitudes are associated with negative sexual experiences. The present study investigated the association between body attitudes and sexual dissatisfaction and the mediating role of body self-consciousness during physical intimacy. In a cross-sectional design, 201 Dutch men completed an online survey regarding body attitudes toward muscularity, body fat, height, and genitals, body self-consciousness during physical intimacy, and sexual dissatisfaction. Hypotheses were tested using correlation analyses and a mediation analysis with body attitudes as predictors, body self-consciousness as mediator, and sexual dissatisfaction as outcome. Correlation analyses showed that negative body attitudes and body self-consciousness during physical intimacy were significantly related to sexual dissatisfaction. The mediation analysis revealed that negative attitudes toward muscularity, body fat, and genitals had indirect effects on sexual dissatisfaction through body self-consciousness during physical intimacy. Negative attitudes toward genitals additionally had a direct effect on sexual dissatisfaction. These findings indicate that body image interventions focused on male body attitudes may be beneficial in improving men's body image, which may ultimately increase sexual satisfaction.

Over-the-Counter Relief From Pains and Pleasures Alike: Acetaminophen Blunts Evaluation Sensitivity to Both Negative and Positive Stimuli.

PubMed

Durso, Geoffrey R O; Luttrell, Andrew; Way, Baldwin M

2015-06-01

Acetaminophen, an effective and popular over-the-counter pain reliever (e.g., the active ingredient in Tylenol), has recently been shown to blunt individuals' reactivity to a range of negative stimuli in addition to physical pain. Because accumulating research has shown that individuals' reactivity to both negative and positive stimuli can be influenced by a single factor (an idea known as differential susceptibility), we conducted two experiments testing whether acetaminophen blunted individuals' evaluations of and emotional reactions to both negative and positive images from the International Affective Picture System. Participants who took acetaminophen evaluated unpleasant stimuli less negatively and pleasant stimuli less positively, compared with participants who took a placebo. Participants in the acetaminophen condition also rated both negative and positive stimuli as less emotionally arousing than did participants in the placebo condition (Studies 1 and 2), whereas nonevaluative ratings (extent of color saturation in each image; Study 2) were not affected by drug condition. These findings suggest that acetaminophen has a general blunting effect on individuals' evaluative and emotional processing, irrespective of negative or positive valence. © The Author(s) 2015.

Effects of pharmacological agents on subcortical resistance shifts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klivington, K. A.

1975-01-01

Microliter quantities of tetrodotoxin, tetraethylammonium chloride, and picrotoxin injected into the inferior colliculus and superior olive of unanesthetized cats differentially affect the amplitude and waveform of click-evoked potentials and evoked resistance shifts. Tetrodotoxin simultaneously reduces the negative phase of the evoked potential and eliminates the evoked resistance shift. Tetraethylammonium enhances the negative evoked potential component, presumably of postsynaptic origin, without significantly altering evoked resistance shift amplitude. Picrotoxin also enhances the negative evoked potential wave but increases evoked resistance shift amplitude. These findings implicate events associated with postsynaptic membrane depolarization in the production of the evoked resistance shift.

Personality, negative affect coping, and drinking alone: a structural equation modeling approach to examine correlates of adolescent solitary drinking

PubMed Central

Creswell, Kasey G.; Chung, Tammy; Wright, Aidan G. C.; Clark, Duncan B.; Black, Jessica J.; Martin, Christopher S.

2015-01-01

Aims This study examined the personality traits of negative emotionality and constraint and the ability to resist drinking during negative affective states as correlates of solitary drinking in adolescence. We hypothesized that higher levels of negative emotionality and lower levels of constraint would predict solitary drinking and that these relationships would be mediated by the ability to resist drinking in response to negative emotions. Design Structural equation modeling was used to fit a path model from the personality traits of negative emotionality and constraint to solitary drinking status through intermediate effects on the ability to resist drinking during negative emotions using cross-sectional data. Setting Clinical and community settings in Pennsylvania, USA. Participants The sample included 761 adolescent drinkers (mean age = 17.1). Measurements Adolescents completed the Lifetime Drinking History, the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, the Constructive Thinking Inventory and the Situational Confidence Questionnaire. Findings The path model provided a good fit to the data. The association between trait negative emotionality and solitary drinking was fully mediated by adolescents' ability to resist drinking during negative affective states (b = 0.05, P = 0.01). In contrast, constraint had a direct effect on solitary drinking (odds ratio (OR) = 0.79, b = –0.23, P<0.01), as well as an indirect effect through the ability to resist drinking during negative affective states (b = –0.03, P = 0.02). Conclusions The ability to resist drinking while experiencing negative feelings or emotions may be an important underlying mechanism linking trait negative emotionality (a tendency toward depression, anxiety and poor reaction to stress) and constraint (lack of impulsiveness) to adolescent solitary drinking. PMID:25664806

Linking big five personality traits to sexuality and sexual health: A meta-analytic review.

PubMed

Allen, Mark S; Walter, Emma E

2018-06-07

This meta-analytic review addresses whether the major dimensions of trait personality relate to components of human sexuality. A comprehensive literature search identified 137 studies that met inclusion criteria (761 effect sizes; total n = 420,595). Pooled mean effects were computed using inverse-variance weighted random effects meta-analysis. Mean effect sizes from 100 separate meta-analyses provided evidence that personality relates to theoretically predicted components of sexuality and sexual health. Neuroticism was positively related to sexual dissatisfaction (r+ = .18), negative emotions (r+ = .42), and symptoms of sexual dysfunction (r+ = .16). Extraversion was positively related to sexual activity (r+ = .17) and risky sexual behavior (r+ = .18), and negatively related to symptoms of sexual dysfunction (r+ = -.17). Openness was positively related to homosexual orientation (r+ = .16) and liberal attitudes toward sex (r+ = .19). Agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively related to sexually aggressive behavior (r+ = -.20; r+ = -.14) and sexual infidelity (r+ = -.18; r+ = -.17). Less robust evidence indicated that extraversion related negatively, and neuroticism positively, to child sexual abuse, and that openness related negatively to homophobic attitudes. Random effects metaregression identified age, gender, and study quality as important moderators of pooled mean effects. These findings might be of interest to health care professionals developing health care services that aim to promote sexually healthy societies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of mood on false memory for emotional DRM word lists.

PubMed

Zhang, Weiwei; Gross, Julien; Hayne, Harlene

2017-04-01

In the present study, we investigated the effect of participants' mood on true and false memories of emotional word lists in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. In Experiment 1, we constructed DRM word lists in which all the studied words and corresponding critical lures reflected a specified emotional valence. In Experiment 2, we used these lists to assess mood-congruent true and false memory. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three induced-mood conditions (positive, negative, or neutral) and were presented with word lists comprised of positive, negative, or neutral words. For both true and false memory, there was a mood-congruent effect in the negative mood condition; this effect was due to a decrease in true and false recognition of the positive and neutral words. These findings are consistent with both spreading-activation and fuzzy-trace theories of DRM performance and have practical implications for our understanding of the effect of mood on memory.

Environmental Regulation, Foreign Direct Investment and Green Technological Progress-Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Industries.

PubMed

Hu, Jiangfeng; Wang, Zhao; Lian, Yuehan; Huang, Qinghua

2018-01-29

This study examines the spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on green technology progress rate (as measured by the green total factor productivity). The analysis utilizes two measures of FDI, labor-based FDI and capital-based FDI, and separately investigates four sets of industry classifications-high/low discharge regulation and high/low emission standard regulation. The results indicate that in the low discharge regulation and low emission standard regulation industry, labor-based FDI has a significant negative spillover effect, and capital-based FDI has a significant positive spillover effect. However, in the high-intensity environmental regulation industry, the negative influence of labor-based FDI is completely restrained, and capital-based FDI continues to play a significant positive green technological spillover effects. These findings have clear policy implications: the government should be gradually reducing the labor-based FDI inflow or increasing stringency of environmental regulation in order to reduce or eliminate the negative spillover effect of the labor-based FDI.

Mediating Effects of Global Negative Effect Expectancies on the Association between Problematic Cannabis Use and Social Anxiety.

PubMed

Di Blasi, Maria; Cavani, Paola; Pavia, Laura; Tosto, Crispino; La Grutta, Sabina; Lo Baido, Rosa; Giordano, Cecilia; Schimmenti, Adriano

2017-01-01

The relationship between social anxiety (SA) and cannabis use among adolescents and young adults is a highly debated topic. In this cross-sectional study, we tested whether cannabis use expectancies mediated the association between SA and cannabis use severity in a sample of 343 young adults (74.3% male) who used cannabis. They completed self-report measures for the screening of problematic cannabis use (Cannabis Use Problems Identification Test) and SA symptoms (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale). A multiple mediation analysis was used to test whether marijuana effect expectancies mediate SA effect on problematic cannabis use. SA was negatively associated with cannabis use severity in this sample, and we found evidence that cannabis use expectancies fully mediated this relationship. Specifically, global negative effect expectancies influence the relationship between SA and problematic cannabis use. These findings may inform current prevention strategies and clinical intervention for young adults who use cannabis.

Environmental Regulation, Foreign Direct Investment and Green Technological Progress—Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Industries

PubMed Central

Hu, Jiangfeng; Wang, Zhao; Lian, Yuehan; Huang, Qinghua

2018-01-01

This study examines the spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on green technology progress rate (as measured by the green total factor productivity). The analysis utilizes two measures of FDI, labor-based FDI and capital-based FDI, and separately investigates four sets of industry classifications—high/low discharge regulation and high/low emission standard regulation. The results indicate that in the low discharge regulation and low emission standard regulation industry, labor-based FDI has a significant negative spillover effect, and capital-based FDI has a significant positive spillover effect. However, in the high-intensity environmental regulation industry, the negative influence of labor-based FDI is completely restrained, and capital-based FDI continues to play a significant positive green technological spillover effects. These findings have clear policy implications: the government should be gradually reducing the labor-based FDI inflow or increasing stringency of environmental regulation in order to reduce or eliminate the negative spillover effect of the labor-based FDI. PMID:29382112

Is anybody doing it? An experimental study of the effect of normative messages on intention to do physical activity.

PubMed

van Bavel, René; Esposito, Gabriele; Baranowski, Tom

2014-07-31

The study explores whether messages about the physical activity levels of the majority (i.e. normative messages) affect young adults' intention to engage in regular physical activity. An experimental survey among 16 to 24 year-olds in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania (n = 1200) was conducted in March 2013. A control group received no message; one treatment group was told that the majority was physically active (positive message); and another treatment group was told that the majority was not physically active (negative message). Both the positive and (unexpectedly) the negative normative messages showed a significant and positive effect on intention to be physically active. There was no difference between the effects of the messages. Normative messages affect intention, which is encouraging for public health campaigns. The effect of the positive message confirms previous findings on conformity to the norm; the effect of the negative message is unexpected and requires further research to be understood.

Mediating Effects of Global Negative Effect Expectancies on the Association between Problematic Cannabis Use and Social Anxiety

PubMed Central

Di Blasi, Maria; Cavani, Paola; Pavia, Laura; Tosto, Crispino; La Grutta, Sabina; Lo Baido, Rosa; Giordano, Cecilia; Schimmenti, Adriano

2017-01-01

The relationship between social anxiety (SA) and cannabis use among adolescents and young adults is a highly debated topic. In this cross-sectional study, we tested whether cannabis use expectancies mediated the association between SA and cannabis use severity in a sample of 343 young adults (74.3% male) who used cannabis. They completed self-report measures for the screening of problematic cannabis use (Cannabis Use Problems Identification Test) and SA symptoms (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale). A multiple mediation analysis was used to test whether marijuana effect expectancies mediate SA effect on problematic cannabis use. SA was negatively associated with cannabis use severity in this sample, and we found evidence that cannabis use expectancies fully mediated this relationship. Specifically, global negative effect expectancies influence the relationship between SA and problematic cannabis use. These findings may inform current prevention strategies and clinical intervention for young adults who use cannabis. PMID:29213247

Rejection elicits emotional reactions but neither causes immediate distress nor lowers self-esteem: a meta-analytic review of 192 studies on social exclusion.

PubMed

Blackhart, Ginette C; Nelson, Brian C; Knowles, Megan L; Baumeister, Roy F

2009-11-01

Competing predictions about the effect of social exclusion were tested by meta-analyzing findings from studies of interpersonal rejection, ostracism, and similar procedures. Rejection appears to cause a significant shift toward a more negative emotional state. Typically, however, the result was an emotionally neutral state marked by low levels of both positive and negative affect. Acceptance caused a slight increase in positive mood and a moderate increase in self-esteem. Self-esteem among rejected persons was no different from neutral controls. These findings are discussed in terms of belongingness motivation, sociometer theory, affective numbing, and self-esteem defenses.

Pregnancy presenting as hyperthyroidism with negative urine pregnancy test.

PubMed

Jindal, Rita; Deepak, Desh; Ghosh, Gopal Chandra; Gupta, Mamta

2014-05-20

A 22-year-old lactating mother presented with symptoms of uneasiness, palpitation, tachycardia and exophthalmos. She had an abdominal lump suggestive of 26 weeks uterine size but her urine pregnancy test was negative. Her thyroid profile was suggestive of hyperthyroidism. Gynaecological and ultrasonographic findings revealed a hydatidiform mole. She had a low β-human chorionic gonadotropin level that surprisingly increased after suction and evacuation. The paradoxical findings that appeared as erroneous laboratory results could be explained by the 'high-dose hook effect' after a review of literature. One week after the evacuation, the patient's thyroid profile and symptoms resolved completely without any treatment for hyperthyroidism. 2014 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Positive phase evolution of waves propagating along a photonic crystal with negative index of refraction.

PubMed

Martínez, Alejandro; Martí, Javier

2006-10-16

We analyze propagation of electromagnetic waves in a photonic crystal at frequencies at which it behaves as an effective medium with a negative index in terms of refraction at its interface with free space. We show that the phase evolution along the propagation direction is positive, despite the fact that the photonic crystal displays negative refraction following Snell's law, and explain it in terms of the Fourier components of the Bloch wave. Two distinct behaviors are found at frequencies far and close to the band edge of the negative-index photonic band. These findings contrast with the negative phase evolution that occurs in left-handed materials, so care has to be taken when applying the term left-handed to photonic crystals.

The Theory Behind the Age-Related Positivity Effect

PubMed Central

Reed, Andrew E.; Carstensen, Laura L.

2012-01-01

The “positivity effect” refers to an age-related trend that favors positive over negative stimuli in cognitive processing. Relative to their younger counterparts, older people attend to and remember more positive than negative information. Since the effect was initially identified and the conceptual basis articulated (Mather and Carstensen, 2005) scores of independent replications and related findings have appeared in the literature. Over the same period, a number of investigations have failed to observe age differences in the cognitive processing of emotional material. When findings are considered in theoretical context, a reliable pattern of evidence emerges that helps to refine conceptual tenets. In this article we articulate the operational definition and theoretical foundations of the positivity effect and review the empirical evidence based on studies of visual attention, memory, decision making, and neural activation. We conclude with a discussion of future research directions with emphasis on the conditions where a focus on positive information may benefit and/or impair cognitive performance in older people. PMID:23060825

What can parents do? Examining the role of parental support on the negative relationship between racial discrimination, depression, and drug use among African American youth

PubMed Central

Zapolski, Tamika C. B.; Fisher, Sycarah; Hsu, Wei-Wen; Barnes, Jessica

2016-01-01

African American youth who experience racial discrimination are at heightened risk to use drugs as a coping response to distress. Based on the buffer-stress hypothesis, we proposed that parental support would attenuate this effect. Participants were 1,521 African American youth between 4th and 12th grade. As hypothesized, a mediation pathway was observed between racial discrimination, depression symptoms, and drug use. This effect was observed for both genders, although the pathway was partially mediated for males. Additionally, as hypothesized, parental support buffered the negative effect of depression symptomatology on drug use as a consequence of discrimination. Our findings highlight the impact racial discrimination has on health outcomes for African American youth and the importance of managing youth's emotional responses to discrimination. Moreover, findings illuminate the protective role of supportive parenting within the risk model and should thus be considered as an important component within prevention programming for this population of youth. PMID:27747140

The Examination of the Effects of Writing Strategy-Based Procedural Facilitative Environments on Students' English Foreign Language Writing Anxiety Levels

PubMed Central

Tsiriotakis, Ioanna K.; Vassilaki, Eleni; Spantidakis, Ioannis; Stavrou, Nektarios A. M.

2017-01-01

Empirical studies have shown that anxiety and negative emotion can hinder language acquisition. The present study implemented a writing instructional model so as to investigate its effects on the writing anxiety levels of English Foreign Language learners. The study was conducted with 177 participants, who were administered the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI; Cheng, 2004) that assesses somatic, cognitive and behavioral anxiety, both at baseline and following the implementation of a writing instructional model. The hypothesis stated that the participant's writing anxiety levels would lessen following the provision of a writing strategy-based procedural facilitative environment that fosters cognitive apprenticeship. The initial hypothesis was supported by the findings. Specifically, in the final measurement statistical significant differences appeared where participants in the experimental group showed notable lower mean values of the three factors of anxiety, a factor that largely can be attributed to the content of the intervention program applied to this specific group. The findings validate that Foreign Language writing anxiety negatively effects Foreign Language learning and performance. The findings also support the effectiveness of strategy-based procedural facilitative writing environments that foster cognitive apprenticeship, so as to enhance language skill development and reduce feelings of Foreign Language writing anxiety. PMID:28119658

The Examination of the Effects of Writing Strategy-Based Procedural Facilitative Environments on Students' English Foreign Language Writing Anxiety Levels.

PubMed

Tsiriotakis, Ioanna K; Vassilaki, Eleni; Spantidakis, Ioannis; Stavrou, Nektarios A M

2016-01-01

Empirical studies have shown that anxiety and negative emotion can hinder language acquisition. The present study implemented a writing instructional model so as to investigate its effects on the writing anxiety levels of English Foreign Language learners. The study was conducted with 177 participants, who were administered the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI; Cheng, 2004) that assesses somatic, cognitive and behavioral anxiety, both at baseline and following the implementation of a writing instructional model. The hypothesis stated that the participant's writing anxiety levels would lessen following the provision of a writing strategy-based procedural facilitative environment that fosters cognitive apprenticeship. The initial hypothesis was supported by the findings. Specifically, in the final measurement statistical significant differences appeared where participants in the experimental group showed notable lower mean values of the three factors of anxiety, a factor that largely can be attributed to the content of the intervention program applied to this specific group. The findings validate that Foreign Language writing anxiety negatively effects Foreign Language learning and performance. The findings also support the effectiveness of strategy-based procedural facilitative writing environments that foster cognitive apprenticeship, so as to enhance language skill development and reduce feelings of Foreign Language writing anxiety.

Anxiety symptoms mediate the relationship between exposure to stressful negative life events and depressive symptoms: A conditional process modelling of the protective effects of resilience.

PubMed

Anyan, Frederick; Worsley, Lyn; Hjemdal, Odin

2017-10-01

Resilience has provided a useful framework that elucidates the effects of protective factors to overcome psychological adversities but studies that address the potential contingencies of resilience to protect against direct and indirect negative effects are lacking. These obvious gaps have also resulted in oversimplification of complex processes that can be clarified by moderated mediation associations. This study examines a conditional process modelling of the protective effects of resilience against indirect effects. Two separate samples were recruited in a cross-sectional survey from Australia and Norway to complete the Patient Health Questionnaire -9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Stressful Negative Life Events Questionnaire and the Resilience Scale for Adults. The final sample sizes were 206 (females=114; males=91; other=1) and 210 (females=155; males=55) for Australia and Norway respectively. Moderated mediation analyses were conducted across the samples. Anxiety symptoms mediated the relationship between exposure to stressful negative life events and depressive symptoms in both samples. Conditional indirect effects of exposure to stressful negative life events on depressive symptoms mediated by anxiety symptoms showed that high subgroup of resilience was associated with less effect of exposure to stressful negative life events through anxiety symptoms on depressive symptoms than the low subgroup of resilience. As a cross-sectional survey, the present study does not answer questions about causal processes despite the use of a conditional process modelling. These findings support that, resilience protective resources can protect against both direct and indirect - through other channels - psychological adversities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms and tobacco abstinence effects in a non-clinical sample: evaluating the mediating role of negative affect reduction smoking expectancies.

PubMed

Langdon, Kirsten J; Leventhal, Adam M

2014-11-01

The relation between posttraumatic stress symptoms and smoking is well documented but poorly understood. The present investigation sought to evaluate the impact of posttraumatic stress symptoms on subjective and behavioral tobacco abstinence effects both directly and indirectly through negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies. Participants included 275 (68.7% male; Mage =43.9, 10+ cig/day) adult non-treatment seeking smokers, who attended two counterbalanced laboratory sessions (16 h of smoking deprivation vs ad libitum smoking), during which they completed self-report measures of withdrawal symptoms and mood followed by a smoking lapse task in which they could earn money for delaying smoking and purchase cigarettes to smoke. Results supported a mediational pathway whereby higher baseline symptoms of posttraumatic stress predicted greater endorsement of expectancies that smoking will effectively reduce negative affect, which in turn predicted greater abstinence-provoked exacerbations in nicotine withdrawal symptoms and negative affect. Posttraumatic stress symptoms also predicted number of cigarettes purchased independent of negative affect reduction expectancies, but did not predict delaying smoking for money. Findings highlight tobacco abstinence effects as a putative mechanism underlying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-smoking comorbidity, indicate an important mediating role of beliefs for smoking-induced negative affect reduction, and shed light on integrated treatment approaches for these two conditions. © The Author(s) 2014.

Why and when hierarchy impacts team effectiveness: A meta-analytic integration.

PubMed

Greer, Lindred L; de Jong, Bart A; Schouten, Maartje E; Dannals, Jennifer E

2018-06-01

Hierarchy has the potential to both benefit and harm team effectiveness. In this article, we meta-analytically investigate different explanations for why and when hierarchy helps or hurts team effectiveness, drawing on results from 54 prior studies (N = 13,914 teams). Our findings show that, on net, hierarchy negatively impacts team effectiveness (performance: ρ = -.08; viability: ρ = -.11), and that this effect is mediated by increased conflict-enabling states. Additionally, we show that the negative relationship between hierarchy and team performance is exacerbated by aspects of the team structure (i.e., membership instability, skill differentiation) and the hierarchy itself (i.e., mutability), which make hierarchical teams prone to conflict. The predictions regarding the positive effect of hierarchy on team performance as mediated by coordination-enabling processes, and the moderating roles of several aspects of team tasks (i.e., interdependence, complexity) and the hierarchy (i.e., form) were not supported, with the exception that task ambiguity enhanced the positive effects of hierarchy. Given that our findings largely support dysfunctional views on hierarchy, future research is needed to understand when and why hierarchy may be more likely to live up to its purported functional benefits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Relationships between stress, negative emotions, resilience, and smoking: Testing a moderated mediation model

PubMed Central

Wang, Yan; Chen, Xinguang; Gong, Jie; Yan, Yaqiong

2016-01-01

Objective More effective tobacco prevention and cessation programs require in-depth understanding of the mechanism by which multiple factors interact with each other to affect smoking behaviors. Stress has long been recognized as a risk factor for smoking. However, the underlying mediation and moderation mechanisms are far from clear. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of negative emotions in mediating the link between stress and smoking and whether this indirect link was modified by resilience. Methods Survey data were collected using audio computer assisted self-interview (ACASI) from a large random sample of urban residents (n=1249, mean age = 35.1, 45.3% male) in Wuhan, China. Perceived stress, negative emotions (anxiety, depression), resilience were measured with reliable instruments also validated in China. Self-reported smoking was validated with exhaled carbon monoxide. Results Mediation analysis indicated that two negative emotions fully mediated the link between stress and intensity of smoking (assessed by number of cigarettes smoked per day, effect = .082 for anxiety and .083 for depression) and nicotine dependence (assessed by DSM-IV standard, effect = .134 for anxiety and .207 for depression). Moderated mediation analysis demonstrated that the mediation effects of negative emotions were negatively associated with resilience. Conclusions Results suggest resilience interacts with stress and negative emotions to affect the risk of tobacco use and nicotine dependence among Chinese adults. Further research with longitudinal data is needed to verify the findings of this study and to estimate the effect size of resilience in tobacco intervention and cessation programs. PMID:26894428

The effect of music-induced mood on attentional networks.

PubMed

Jiang, Jun; Scolaro, Ashley J; Bailey, Kira; Chen, Antao

2011-06-01

Attention network theory suggests that there are three separate neural networks that execute the discrete functions of alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Previous research on the influence of mood on attention has shown subtle and inconsistent results. The attention network theory may aid in clarifying the influence of mood on attention. The present study investigated the influence of mood on attentional networks in a normal population. Participants performed the Attention Network Test (ANT), which provides functional measures of alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Positive or negative mood was induced by listening to music with a positive or negative valence, respectively; neutral mood was induced by reading a collection of basic facts about China. The results revealed that negative mood led to a significantly higher alerting efficiency relative to other moods, while there were no significant mood effects on orienting or executive attention efficiency. According to the algorithm underlying the ANT, the higher alerting efficiency in the negative mood condition can be attributed to relatively greater benefits of cueing effects. The findings are discussed in the context of the noradrenergic system and of evolutionary significance. Specifically, the increase in the alerting function during negative mood states may be due to the modulation effect of negative mood on the noradrenergic system, and/or to the survival benefit resulting from an increase in automatic vigilance towards negative information. The current results suggest that as the influence of negative mood on attention appears to specifically consist in an enhanced alerting function, it may not be found in studies where the three attentional networks are not dissociated.

Serotonin transporter genotype modulates subgenual response to fearful faces using an incidental task.

PubMed

O'Nions, Elizabeth J P; Dolan, Raymond J; Roiser, Jonathan P

2011-11-01

This study assessed the impact of serotonin transporter genotype (5-HTTLPR) on regional responses to emotional faces in the amygdala and subgenual cingulate cortex (sgACC), while subjects performed a gender discrimination task. Although we found no evidence for greater amygdala reactivity or reduced amygdala-sgACC coupling in short variant 5-HTTLPR homozygotes (s/s), we observed an interaction between genotype and emotion in sgACC. Only long variant homozygotes (la/la) exhibited subgenual deactivation to fearful versus neutral faces, whereas the effect in s/s subjects was in the other direction. This absence of subgenual deactivation in s/s subjects parallels a recent finding in depressed subjects [Grimm, S., Boesiger, P., Beck, J., Schuepbach, D., Bermpohl, F., Walter, M., et al. Altered negative BOLD responses in the default-mode network during emotion processing in depressed subjects. Neuropsychopharmacology, 34, 932-943, 2009]. Taken together, the findings suggest that subgenual cingulate activity may play an important role in regulating the impact of aversive stimuli, potentially conferring greater resilience to the effects of aversive stimuli in la/la subjects. Using dynamic causal modeling of functional magnetic resonance imaging data, we explored the effects of genotype on effective connectivity and emotion-specific changes in coupling across a network of regions implicated in social processing. Viewing fearful faces enhanced bidirectional excitatory coupling between the amygdala and the fusiform gyrus, and increased the inhibitory influence of the amygdala over the sgACC, although this modulation of coupling did not differ between the genotype groups. The findings are discussed in relation to the role of sgACC and serotonin in moderating responses to aversive stimuli [Dayan, P., & Huys, Q. J., Serotonin, inhibition, and negative mood. PLoS Comput Biol, 4, e4, 2008; Mayberg, H. S., Liotti, M., Brannan, S. K., McGinnis, S., Mahurin, R. K., Jerabek, P. A., et al. Reciprocal limbic-cortical function and negative mood: Converging PET findings in depression and normal sadness. Am J Psychiatry, 156, 675-682, 1999].

Trait and State Positive Emotional Experience in Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Yan, Chao; Cao, Yuan; Zhang, Yang; Song, Li-Ling; Cheung, Eric F. C.; Chan, Raymond C. K.

2012-01-01

Background Prior meta-analyses indicated that people with schizophrenia show impairment in trait hedonic capacity but retain their state hedonic experience (valence) in laboratory-based assessments. Little is known about what is the extent of differences for state positive emotional experience (especially arousal) between people with schizophrenia and healthy controls. It is also not clear whether negative symptoms and gender effect contribute to the variance of positive affect. Methods and Findings The current meta-analysis examined 21 studies assessing state arousal experience, 40 studies measuring state valence experience, and 47studies assessing trait hedonic capacity in schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia demonstrated significant impairment in trait hedonic capacity (Cohen’s d = 0.81). However, patients and controls did not statistically differ in state hedonic (valence) as well as exciting (arousal) experience to positive stimuli (Cohen’s d = −0.24 to 0.06). They also reported experiencing relatively robust state aversion and calmness to positive stimuli compared with controls (Cohen’s d = 0.75, 0.56, respectively). Negative symptoms and gender contributed to the variance of findings in positive affect, especially trait hedonic capacity in schizophrenia. Conclusions Our findings suggest that schizophrenia patients have no deficit in state positive emotional experience but impairment in “noncurrent” hedonic capacity, which may be mediated by negative symptoms and gender effect. PMID:22815785

An evaluation of Well Ways, a family education programme for carers of people with a mental illness.

PubMed

Stephens, Jessica R; Farhall, John; Farnan, Sue; Ratcliff, Kirk M

2011-01-01

Family education programmes aim to improve the well-being of carers of people with a mental illness. We evaluated the effectiveness of one such programme, Well Ways, in reducing negative care-giving consequences. We employed a pre-post design to evaluate the effectiveness of Well Ways in a naturalistic setting using a sample of carers of people with a mental illness. The Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire, a measure of care-giving consequences including worrying, tension, urging and supervision, and incorporating the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), was completed by 459 carers before and after participation in Well Ways. Participants' worrying, tension, urging and distress (GHQ-12) were significantly lower following completion of the programme. These improvements were maintained at 3 and 6 month follow up. Carers of people with a psychotic disorder experienced significantly greater reductions in worrying than did other carers. Females reported significantly greater reductions in tension than did males. Findings indicated support for the effectiveness of the Well Ways programme in reducing negative care-giving consequences for families of people with a mental illness. Given the evidence of poor psychological health and negatively appraised family relationships observed at baseline, these findings highlight the need for programmes such as Well Ways.

Negative effects of item repetition on source memory.

PubMed

Kim, Kyungmi; Yi, Do-Joon; Raye, Carol L; Johnson, Marcia K

2012-08-01

In the present study, we explored how item repetition affects source memory for new item-feature associations (picture-location or picture-color). We presented line drawings varying numbers of times in Phase 1. In Phase 2, each drawing was presented once with a critical new feature. In Phase 3, we tested memory for the new source feature of each item from Phase 2. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated and replicated the negative effects of item repetition on incidental source memory. Prior item repetition also had a negative effect on source memory when different source dimensions were used in Phases 1 and 2 (Experiment 3) and when participants were explicitly instructed to learn source information in Phase 2 (Experiments 4 and 5). Importantly, when the order between Phases 1 and 2 was reversed, such that item repetition occurred after the encoding of critical item-source combinations, item repetition no longer affected source memory (Experiment 6). Overall, our findings did not support predictions based on item predifferentiation, within-dimension source interference, or general interference from multiple traces of an item. Rather, the findings were consistent with the idea that prior item repetition reduces attention to subsequent presentations of the item, decreasing the likelihood that critical item-source associations will be encoded.

Differential Effects of Arousal in Positive and Negative Autobiographical Memories

PubMed Central

Ford, Jaclyn Hennessey; Addis, Donna Rose; Giovanello, Kelly S.

2014-01-01

Autobiographical memories are characterized by a range of emotions and emotional reactions. Recent research has demonstrated that differences in emotional valence (positive v. negative emotion) and arousal (the degree of emotional intensity) differentially influence the retrieved memory narrative. Although the mnemonic effects of valence and arousal have both been heavily studied, it is currently unclear whether the effects of emotional arousal are equivalent for positive and negative autobiographical events. In the current study, multilevel models were used to examine differential effects emotional valence and arousal on the richness of autobiographical memory retrieval both between and within subjects. Thirty-four young adults were asked to retrieve personal autobiographical memories associated with popular musical cues and to rate the valence, arousal, and richness of these events. The multilevel analyses identified independent influences of valence and intensity upon retrieval characteristics at the within and between subject levels. In addition, the within subject interactions between valence and arousal highlighted differential effects of arousal for positive and negative memories. These findings have important implications for future studies of emotion and memory, highlighting the importance of considering both valence and arousal when examining the role emotion plays in the richness of memory representation. PMID:22873402

Differential effects of arousal in positive and negative autobiographical memories.

PubMed

Ford, Jaclyn Hennessey; Addis, Donna Rose; Giovanello, Kelly S

2012-01-01

Autobiographical memories are characterised by a range of emotions and emotional reactions. Recent research has demonstrated that differences in emotional valence (positive vs. negative emotion) and arousal (the degree of emotional intensity) differentially influence the retrieved memory narrative. Although the mnemonic effects of valence and arousal have both been heavily studied, it is currently unclear whether the effects of emotional arousal are equivalent for positive and negative autobiographical events. In the current study, multilevel models were used to examine differential effects of emotional valence and arousal on the richness of autobiographical memory retrieval both between and within subjects. Thirty-four young adults were asked to retrieve personal autobiographical memories associated with popular musical cues and to rate the valence, arousal and richness of these events. The multilevel analyses identified independent influences of valence and intensity upon retrieval characteristics at the within- and between-subject levels. In addition, the within-subject interactions between valence and arousal highlighted differential effects of arousal for positive and negative memories. These findings have important implications for future studies of emotion and memory, highlighting the importance of considering both valence and arousal when examining the role emotion plays in the richness of memory representation.

A neural basis for the effect of candidate appearance on election outcomes.

PubMed

Spezio, Michael L; Rangel, Antonio; Alvarez, Ramon Michael; O'Doherty, John P; Mattes, Kyle; Todorov, Alexander; Kim, Hackjin; Adolphs, Ralph

2008-12-01

Election outcomes correlate with judgments based on a candidate's visual appearance, suggesting that the attributions viewers make based on appearance, so-called thin-slice judgments, influence voting. Yet, it is not known whether the effect of appearance on voting is more strongly influenced by positive or negative attributions, nor which neural mechanisms subserve this effect. We conducted two independent brain imaging studies to address this question. In Study 1, images of losing candidates elicited greater activation in the insula and ventral anterior cingulate than images of winning candidates. Winning candidates elicited no differential activation at all. This suggests that negative attributions from appearance exert greater influence on voting than do positive. We further tested this hypothesis in Study 2 by asking a separate group of participants to judge which unfamiliar candidate in a pair looked more attractive, competent, deceitful and threatening. When negative attribution processing was enhanced (specifically, under judgment of threat), images of losing candidates again elicited greater activation in the insula and ventral anterior cingulate. Together, these findings support the view that negative attributions play a critical role in mediating the effects of appearance on voter decisions, an effect that may be of special importance when other information is absent.

Negative affect in at-risk youth: Outcome expectancies mediate relations with both regular and electronic cigarette use.

PubMed

Miller, Stephen; Pike, James; Stacy, Alan W; Xie, Bin; Ames, Susan L

2017-06-01

Despite the general trend of declining use of traditional cigarettes among young adults in the United States, alternative high school students continue to smoke cigarettes and electronic cigarettes at rates much higher than do students attending regular high schools. Challenging life circumstances leading to elevated levels of negative affect may account for increased smoking behavior in this population. Further, a belief in the negative affect-reducing qualities of nicotine may mediate this effect. The current study tested the hypothesis that negative reinforcing outcome expectancies mediate the relationship between negative affect on smoking susceptibility in nonusers, smoking frequency in users, and smoking experimentation in the overall sample. Results support the hypothesis that negative affect in alternative high school students is correlated with smoking experimentation, smoking willingness, and smoking frequency and that the relationship between negative affect and smoking behavior outcomes is mediated by negative reinforcing outcome expectancies (i.e., beliefs in the negative affect-reducing effects of smoking). This finding was supported for both cigarettes and electronic cigarettes and coincides with a rapid increase in the number of high school students nationally who have experimented with electronic cigarettes. Future antismoking initiatives directed at at-risk youth should consider integrating healthier negative affect reduction techniques to counter the use of nicotine products. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Outcomes of crew resource management training

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Helmreich, Robert L.; Wilhelm, John A.

1991-01-01

Participants' self-reports and measures of attitudes regarding flightdeck management indicate that crew resource management training is favorably received and causes highly significant, positive changes in attitudes regarding crew coordination and personal capabilities. However, a subset of participants reacted negatively to the training and showed boomerangs (negative change) in attitudes. Explorations into the causes of this effect pinpoint personality factors and group dynamics as critical determinants of reactions to training and of the magnitude and direction of attitude changes. Implications of these findings for organizations desiring to enhance crew effectiveness are discussed, and areas of needed additional research are described.

INCOME INCONGRUITY, RACE AND PRETERM BIRTH

EPA Science Inventory

Previous research with vital records finds income incongruity associated with adverse birth outcomes. We examined the effects of negative income incongruity (reporting lower household income than the census tract median household income) on preterm birth (PTB <37 weeks completed ...

Buffering the negative effects of employee surface acting: the moderating role of employee-customer relationship strength and personalized services.

PubMed

Wang, Karyn L; Groth, Markus

2014-03-01

The impact of emotional labor on customer outcomes is gaining considerable attention in the literature, with research suggesting that the authenticity of emotional displays may positively impact customer outcomes. However, research investigating the impact of more inauthentic emotions on service delivery outcomes is mixed (see Chi, Grandey, Diamond, & Krimmel, 2011). This study explores 2 potential reasons for why the service outcomes of inauthentic emotions are largely inconsistent: the impact of distinct surface acting strategies and the role of service delivery context. Drawing on social-functional theories of emotions, we surveyed 243 dyads of employees and customers from a wide variety of services to examine the links between employee surface acting and customer service satisfaction, and whether this relationship is moderated by relationship strength and service personalization. Our findings suggest that faking positive emotions has no bearing on service satisfaction, but suppressing negative emotions interacts with contextual factors to predict customers' service satisfaction, in line with social-functional theories of emotions. Specifically, customers who know the employee well are less sensitive to the negative effects of suppressed negative emotions, and customers in highly personalized service encounters are more sensitive to the negative effects of suppressed negative emotions. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications.

Positive messages enhance older adults' motivation and recognition memory for physical activity programmes.

PubMed

Notthoff, Nanna; Klomp, Peter; Doerwald, Friederike; Scheibe, Susanne

2016-09-01

Although physical activity is an effective way to cope with ageing-related impairments, few older people are motivated to turn their sedentary lifestyle into an active one. Recent evidence suggests that walking can be more effectively promoted in older adults with positive messages about the benefits of walking than with negative messages about the risks of inactivity. This study examined motivation and memory as the supposed mechanisms underlying the greater effectiveness of positively framed compared to negatively framed messages for promoting activity. Older adults ( N  = 53, age 60-87 years) were introduced to six physical activity programmes that were randomly paired with either positively framed or negatively framed messages. Participants indicated how motivated they were to participate in each programme by providing ratings on attractiveness, suitability, capability and intention. They also completed surprise free recall and recognition tests. Respondents felt more motivated to participate in physical activity programmes paired with positively framed messages than in those with negatively framed ones. They also had better recognition memory for positively framed than negatively framed messages, and misremembered negatively framed messages to be positively framed. Findings support the notion that socioemotional selectivity theory-a theory of age-related changes in motivation-is a useful basis for health intervention design.

Stress and Negative Relationship Quality among Older Couples: Implications for Blood Pressure

PubMed Central

Newton, Nicky J.; Cranford, James A.; Ryan, Lindsay H.

2016-01-01

Objectives: The cardiovascular system may represent a significant pathway by which marriage and stress influence health, but research has focused on married individuals cross-sectionally. This study examined associations among chronic stress, negative spousal relationship quality, and systolic blood pressure over time among middle-aged and older husbands and wives. Method: Participants were from the nationally representative longitudinal Health and Retirement Study. A total of 1,356 (N = 2,712) married and cohabitating couples completed psychosocial and biomeasure assessments in waves 2006 and 2010. Analyses examined whether Wave 1 (2006) relationship quality and stress were associated with changes in blood pressure over time. Results: The effects of stress and negative relationship quality were dyadic and varied by gender. Husbands had increased blood pressure when wives reported greater stress, and this link was exacerbated by negative spousal relationship quality. Negative relationship quality predicted increased blood pressure when both members of the couple reported negative quality relations. Discussion: Findings support the dyadic biopsychosocial model of marriage and health indicating: (a) stress and relationship quality directly effect the cardiovascular system, (b) relationship quality moderates the effect of stress, and (c) the dyad rather than only the individual should be considered when examining marriage and health. PMID:25852106

Reciprocal influences between negative life events and callous-unemotional traits.

PubMed

Kimonis, Eva R; Centifanti, Luna C M; Allen, Jennifer L; Frick, Paul J

2014-11-01

Children with conduct problems and co-occurring callous-unemotional (CU) traits show more severe, stable, and aggressive antisocial behaviors than those without CU traits. Exposure to negative life events has been identified as an important contributing factor to the expression of CU traits across time, although the directionality of this effect has remained unknown due to a lack of longitudinal study. The present longitudinal study examined potential bidirectional effects of CU traits leading to experiencing more negative life events and negative life events leading to increases in CU traits across 3 years among a sample of community-based school-aged (M = 10.9, SD = 1.71 years) boys and girls (N = 98). Repeated rating measures of CU traits, negative life events and conduct problems completed by children and parents during annual assessments were moderately to highly stable across time. Cross-lagged models supported a reciprocal relationship of moderate magnitude between child-reported CU traits and "controllable" negative life events. Parent-reported CU traits predicted "uncontrollable" life events at the earlier time point and controllable life events at the later time point, but no reciprocal effect was evident. These findings have important implications for understanding developmental processes that contribute to the stability of CU traits in youth.

The influence of anticipated pride and guilt on pro-environmental decision making.

PubMed

Schneider, Claudia R; Zaval, Lisa; Weber, Elke U; Markowitz, Ezra M

2017-01-01

The present research explores the relationship between anticipated emotions and pro-environmental decision making comparing two differently valenced emotions: anticipated pride and guilt. In an experimental design, we examined the causal effects of anticipated pride versus guilt on pro-environmental decision making and behavioral intentions by making anticipated emotions (i.e. pride and guilt) salient just prior to asking participants to make a series of environmental decisions. We find evidence that anticipating one's positive future emotional state from green action just prior to making an environmental decision leads to higher pro-environmental behavioral intentions compared to anticipating one's negative emotional state from inaction. This finding suggests a rethinking in the domain of environmental and climate change messaging, which has traditionally favored inducing negative emotions such as guilt to promote pro-environmental action. Furthermore, exploratory results comparing anticipated pride and guilt inductions to baseline behavior point toward a reactance eliciting effect of anticipated guilt.

When you see it coming: Stressor anticipation modulates stress effects on negative affect.

PubMed

Neubauer, Andreas B; Smyth, Joshua M; Sliwinski, Martin J

2018-04-01

Research on the effect of exposure to minor stressors in people's daily lives consistently reports negative effects on indicators of well-being, often coined stress reactivity. Recent advances in the intensity of data collection have brought about an increasing interest in within-day associations of stress exposure and indicators of well-being, including dynamic aspects of the stress response such as stress recovery. In the present work, we investigated the other end of the stress response: the anticipation of a stressor. We hypothesized that anticipation of an upcoming stressor would be accompanied by higher negative affect. Based on the anticipatory coping account, lower negative affect after occurrence of anticipated (vs. not anticipated) stressors was predicted. We approached this question with a measurement burst study that allowed us to disentangle variation in stress processes across different time scales. One-hundred and seventy-five participants (mean age = 50, range 20-79) completed up to 3 measurement bursts. Each burst consisted of an ecological momentary assessment with 5 assessments per day over 7 days. In line with our expectations, negative affect was significantly higher after stressor anticipation, especially on days with high levels of intrusive thoughts. However, negative affect was not lower after anticipated (vs. not anticipated) stressors. Findings point to the role of perseverative cognition in the effect of stressor anticipation. Directions for future research including the role of controllability and effects on stress recovery are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

COMT Val(108/158)Met polymorphism effects on emotional brain function and negativity bias.

PubMed

Williams, Leanne M; Gatt, Justine M; Grieve, Stuart M; Dobson-Stone, Carol; Paul, Robert H; Gordon, Evian; Schofield, Peter R

2010-11-15

Biases toward processing negative versus positive information vary as a function of level of awareness, and are modulated by monoamines. Excessive biases are associated with individual differences in mood and emotional stability, and emotional disorder. Here, we examined the impact of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(108/158)Met polymorphism, involved in dopamine and norepinephrine catabolism, on both emotional brain function and self-reported negativity bias. COMT genotyping and self-reported level of negativity bias were completed for 46 healthy participants taking part in the Brain Resource International Database. Functional MRI was undertaken during perception of facial expressions of fear and happiness presented under unmasked (consciously identified) and masked (to prevent conscious detection) conditions. Structural MR images were also acquired. A greater number of COMT Met alleles predicted increased activation in brainstem, amygdala, basal ganglia and medial prefrontal regions for conscious fear, but decreased activation for conscious happiness. This pattern was also apparent for brainstem activation for the masked condition. Effects were most apparent for females. These differences could not be explained by gray matter variations. The Met-related profile of activation, particularly prefrontally, predicted greater negativity bias associated with risk for emotional disorder. The findings suggest that the COMT Met allele modulates neural substrates of negative versus positive emotion processing. This effect may contribute to negativity biases, which confer susceptibility for emotional disorders. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mood and audience effects on video lottery terminal gambling.

PubMed

Mishra, Sandeep; Morgan, Michael; Lalumière, Martin L; Williams, Robert J

2010-09-01

Little is known about the situational factors associated with gambling behavior. We induced 180 male participants (mean age: 21.6) into a positive, negative, or neutral mood prior to gambling on a video lottery terminal (VLT). While gambling, participants were observed by either a male peer, female peer, or no one. Induced mood had no effect on gambling behavior. Participants induced into a negative mood prior to gambling, however, reported more positive moods after gambling, whereas those with positive and neutral moods reported more negative moods after gambling. Participants observed by either a male or female peer spent less time gambling on the VLT compared to those not observed. Participants observed by a female peer lost less money relative to the other observer conditions. Degree of problem gambling in the last year had little influence on these effects. Some practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The effects of exposure to muscular male models among men: exploring the moderating role of gym use and exercise motivation.

PubMed

Halliwell, Emma; Dittmar, Helga; Orsborn, Amber

2007-09-01

This study examines the effects of exposure to the muscular male body ideal on body-focused negative affect among male gym users and non-exercisers. As hypothesized, the impact of media exposure depended on men's exercise status. Non-exercisers (n = 58) reported greater body-focused negative affect after exposure to images of muscular male models than after neutral images (no model controls), whereas gym users (n = 58) showed a tendency for less body-focused negative affect after the model images than after the control images. Furthermore, the extent to which gym users were motivated to increase strength and muscularity moderated these exposure effects; men who reported stronger strength and muscularity exercise motivation reported a greater degree of self-enhancement after exposure to the muscular ideal. The findings are interpreted with respect to likely differences in motives for social comparisons.

Interrogative pressure in simulated forensic interviews: the effects of negative feedback.

PubMed

McGroarty, Allan; Baxter, James S

2007-08-01

Much experimental research on interrogative pressure has concentrated on the effects of leading questions, and the role of feedback in influencing responses in the absence of leading questions has been neglected by comparison. This study assessed the effect of negative feedback and the presence of a second interviewer on interviewee responding in simulated forensic interviews. Participants viewed a videotape of a crime, answered questions about the clip and were requestioned after receiving feedback. Compared with neutral feedback, negative feedback resulted in more response changes, higher reported state anxiety and higher ratings of interview difficulty. These results are consistent with Gudjonsson and Clark's (1986) model of interrogative suggestibility. The presence and involvement of a second interviewer did not significantly affect interviewee responding, although trait anxiety scores were elevated when a second interviewer was present. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are considered.

Gender Differences in the Transmission of Smoking From Filipino Parents to Their Offspring: The Role of Parenting, School Climate, and Negative Emotions.

PubMed

Barrera, Dan Jerome

2017-09-19

This article examines gender differences in the transmission of smoking, and the role of parenting, school climate, and negative emotions in the parental smoking-adolescent smoking relationship. The study used a nationally representative cross-sectional data on 5,290 Filipino secondary students. Results suggest that Filipino adolescents having parents who smoke, tend to smoke cigarettes. Maternal smoking affects both girls' and boys' smoking, but paternal smoking has no effect on both sexes. Further, parenting dimensions (support and knowledge), school climate (bullying victimization and peer support), and negative emotions (loneliness and anxiety) tend to moderate the effects of parental smoking on adolescent smoking. Some of these factors appear to protect adolescents from parental smoking, while others aggravate the effects of parental smoking. Conclusions/Importance: Current findings suggest important theoretical and practical implications on the relationship between parental and adolescent smoking.

Negative input for grammatical errors: effects after a lag of 12 weeks.

PubMed

Saxton, Matthew; Backley, Phillip; Gallaway, Clare

2005-08-01

Effects of negative input for 13 categories of grammatical error were assessed in a longitudinal study of naturalistic adult-child discourse. Two-hour samples of conversational interaction were obtained at two points in time, separated by a lag of 12 weeks, for 12 children (mean age 2;0 at the start). The data were interpreted within the framework offered by Saxton's (1997, 2000) contrast theory of negative input. Corrective input was associated with subsequent improvements in the grammaticality of child speech for three of the target structures. No effects were found for two forms of positive input: non-contingent models, where the adult produces target structures in non-error-contingent contexts; and contingent models, where grammatical forms follow grammatical child usages. The findings lend support to the view that, in some cases at least, the structure of adult-child discourse yields information on the bounds of grammaticality for the language-learning child.

Climate Response to Negative Greenhouse Gas Radiative Forcing in Polar Winter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flanner, M. G.; Huang, X.; Chen, X.; Krinner, G.

2018-02-01

Greenhouse gas (GHG) additions to Earth's atmosphere initially reduce global outgoing longwave radiation, thereby warming the planet. In select environments with temperature inversions, however, increased GHG concentrations can actually increase local outgoing longwave radiation. Negative top of atmosphere and effective radiative forcing (ERF) from this situation give the impression that local surface temperatures could cool in response to GHG increases. Here we consider an extreme scenario in which GHG concentrations are increased only within the warmest layers of winter near-surface inversions of the Arctic and Antarctic. We find, using a fully coupled Earth system model, that the underlying surface warms despite the GHG addition exerting negative ERF and cooling the troposphere in the vicinity of the GHG increase. This unique radiative forcing and thermal response is facilitated by the high stability of the polar winter atmosphere, which inhibit thermal mixing and amplify the impact of surface radiative forcing on surface temperature. These findings also suggest that strategies to exploit negative ERF via injections of short-lived GHGs into inversion layers would likely be unsuccessful in cooling the planetary surface.

Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and attitudes about social support: Does shame matter?

PubMed

Dodson, Thomas S; Beck, J Gayle

2017-04-01

Considerable research has examined the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and social support. One facet of this relationship that deserves greater attention concerns trauma survivors' negative expectations towards social support, termed negative network orientation. To expand our understanding of negative network orientation, the current study examined shame as a possible mediator in the relationship between PTSD symptoms and negative network orientation, in a sample of 202 female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Additionally, a history of child abuse (CA) was evaluated as a moderator of the association between shame and negative network orientation in this model. Path analyses indicated a significant indirect effect between PTSD symptoms and negative network orientation through shame, indicative of mediation. A history of CA moderated this effect, such that women with a history of CA in addition to IPV showed a significantly stronger relationship between PTSD symptoms and negative network orientation through shame, relative to women who only had a history of IPV. These findings support the relevance of shame in understanding the association between PTSD symptoms and negative beliefs about social support and highlight the role of childhood abuse as a moderator in this process among IPV survivors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neighborhood racial discrimination and the development of major depression.

PubMed

Russell, Daniel W; Clavél, Frederick D; Cutrona, Carolyn E; Abraham, W Todd; Burzette, Rebecca G

2018-02-01

This study examined the impact of neighborhood racial discrimination on the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) in a sample of African American women. Participants were 499 women from Georgia and Iowa with no history of MDD who were followed for 9 to 11 years. Several neighborhood characteristics (community social disorder, community cohesion, and community racism) and individual characteristics (negative life events, financial strain, personal outlook, religious involvement, relationship quality, negative affectivity, and individual experiences of racism) were employed as predictors of whether or not the women met criteria for MDD during this period of time. In a multilevel logistic regression analysis, neighborhood-level discrimination as well as individual-level variables including the number of negative life events, financial strain, and negative affectivity were found to be significant predictors of developing MDD. Analyses of cross-level interactions indicated that the effects of neighborhood-level discrimination were moderated by the quality of individuals' relationships, such that better relationships with others served to lessen the effect of neighborhood discrimination on depression. Implications of these findings for understanding the negative effects of racial discrimination are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

False feedback and beliefs influence name recall in younger and older adults.

PubMed

Strickland-Hughes, Carla M; West, Robin Lea; Smith, Kimberly A; Ebner, Natalie C

2017-09-01

Feedback is an important self-regulatory process that affects task effort and subsequent performance. Benefits of positive feedback for list recall have been explored in research on goals and feedback, but the effect of negative feedback on memory has rarely been studied. The current research extends knowledge of memory and feedback effects by investigating face-name association memory and by examining the potential mediation of feedback effects, in younger and older adults, through self-evaluative beliefs. Beliefs were assessed before and after name recognition and name recall testing. Repeated presentation of false positive feedback was compared to false negative feedback and a no feedback condition. Results showed that memory self-efficacy declined over time for participants in the negative and no feedback conditions but was sustained for those receiving positive feedback. Furthermore, participants who received negative feedback felt older after testing than before testing. For name recall, the positive feedback group outperformed the negative feedback and no feedback groups combined, with no age interactions. The observed feedback-related effects on memory were fully mediated by changes in memory self-efficacy. These findings advance our understanding of how beliefs are related to feedback in memory and inform future studies examining the importance of self-regulation in memory.

Work-family conflict and job satisfaction: emotional intelligence as a moderator.

PubMed

Gao, Yongdong; Shi, Junqi; Niu, Qikun; Wang, Lei

2013-08-01

The negative impact of work-family conflict (WFC) on employees' well-being and job-related outcomes has attracted much research attention recently. A major gap in the literature is which factors could potentially buffer its negative effect on employees. The present study examined the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between WFC and job satisfaction in a sample of 212 Chinese high school teachers. On the basis of conservation of resource theory, we hypothesized that emotional intelligence would weaken the negative effect of family-to-work and work-to-family interference on job satisfaction. Results suggested that WFC (work-to-family interference and family-to-work interference) was negatively related to job satisfaction and that emotional intelligence weakened the effect of WFC on job satisfaction. These findings provide implications for theories on WFC and emotional intelligence, such as conservation of resource theory. The current study also provides a test of these theories in Chinese culture to support the generalizability of theories developed in previous research. Practical implications for reducing the negative influence of WFC on employees' job satisfaction are also provided, such as the potential value of emotional intelligence for the training and development of employees in teaching professions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Birth and adoptive parent antisocial behavior and parenting: A study of evocative gene-environment correlation

PubMed Central

Klahr, Ashlea M.; Burt, S. Alexandra; Leve, Leslie D.; Shaw, Daniel S.; Ganiban, Jody M.; Reiss, David; Neiderhiser, Jenae M.

2017-01-01

Negative parenting is shaped by the genetically-influenced characteristics of children (via evocative rGE) and by parental antisocial behavior, however, it is unclear how these factors jointly impact parenting. The current study examined the effects of birth parent and adoptive parent antisocial behavior on negative parenting. Participants included 546 families within a prospective adoption study. Adoptive parent antisocial behavior emerged as a small but significant predictor of negative parenting at 18 months and of change in parenting from 18 to 27 months. Birth parent antisocial behavior predicted change in adoptive father’s (but not mother’s) parenting over time. These findings highlight the role of parent characteristics and suggest that evocative rGE effects on parenting may be small in magnitude in early childhood. PMID:27716897

Influences of parental drug use, personality, and child rearing on the toddler's anger and negativity.

PubMed

Brook, J S; Tseng, L J

1996-02-01

How parental personality and drug use and the parent-child relationship are related to a toddler's anger and negativity was investigated. The sample consisted of 62 female and 53 male 2-year-old children and their parents. The results supported a mediational model. The father's drug use and parental personality attributes were linked to the child's anger and negativity indirectly, through the parent-child relationship. The findings indicated that maternal personality and child-rearing practices had a greater effect on the child than the paternal characteristics or the father-child relationship did. The results also suggested that the effect of one parent on the child was altered by the relationship the child had with the other parent. Implications for prevention and treatment are discussed.

Systematic review: the effect on surrogates of making treatment decisions for others.

PubMed

Wendler, David; Rid, Annette

2011-03-01

Clinical practice relies on surrogates to make or help to make treatment decisions for incapacitated adults; however, the effect of this practice on surrogates has not been evaluated. To assess the effect on surrogates of making treatment decisions for adults who cannot make their own decisions. Empirical studies published in English and listed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, BIOETHICSLINE, PsycINFO, or Scopus before 1 July 2010. Eligible studies provided quantitative or qualitative empirical data, by evaluating surrogates, regarding the effect on surrogates of making treatment decisions for an incapacitated adult. Information on study location, number and type of surrogates, timing of data collection, type of decisions, patient setting, methods, main findings, and limitations. 40 studies, 29 using qualitative and 11 using quantitative methods, provided data on 2854 surrogates, more than one half of whom were family members of the patient. Most surrogates were surveyed several months to years after making treatment decisions, the majority of which were end-of-life decisions. The quantitative studies found that at least one third of surrogates experienced a negative emotional burden as the result of making treatment decisions. The qualitative studies reported that many or most surrogates experienced negative emotional burden. The negative effects on surrogates were often substantial and typically lasted months or, in some cases, years. The most common negative effects cited by surrogates were stress, guilt over the decisions they made, and doubt regarding whether they had made the right decisions. Nine of the 40 studies also reported beneficial effects on a few surrogates, the most common of which were supporting the patient and feeling a sense of satisfaction. Knowing which treatment is consistent with the patient's preferences was frequently cited as reducing the negative effect on surrogates. Thirty-two of the 40 articles reported data collected in the United States. Because the study populations were relatively homogenous, it is unclear whether the findings apply to other groups. In some cases, the effect of making treatment decisions could not be isolated from that of other stressors, such as grief or prognostic uncertainty. Nine of the studies had a response rate less than 50%, and 9 did not report a response rate. Many of the studies had a substantial interval between the treatment decisions and data collection. Making treatment decisions has a negative emotional effect on at least one third of surrogates, which is often substantial and typically lasts months (or sometimes years). Future research should evaluate ways to reduce this burden, including methods to identify which treatment options are consistent with the patient's preferences. National Institutes of Health.

Spiritual activities as a resistance resource for women with human immunodeficiency virus.

PubMed

Sowell, R; Moneyham, L; Hennessy, M; Guillory, J; Demi, A; Seals, B

2000-01-01

Few studies have investigated the role that spiritual activities play in the adaptational outcomes of women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. To examine the role of spiritual activities as a resource that may reduce the negative effects of disease-related stressors on the adaptational outcomes in HIV-infected women. A theoretically based causal model was tested to examine the role of spiritual activities as a moderator of the impact of HIV-related stressors (functional impairment, work impairment, and HIV-related symptoms) on two stress-related adaptational outcomes (emotional distress and quality of life), using a clinic-based sample of 184 HIV-positive women. Findings indicated that as spiritual activities increased, emotional distress decreased even when adjustments were made for HIV-related stressors. A positive relationship between spiritual activities and quality of life was found, which approached significance. Findings showed that HIV-related stressors have a significant negative effect on both emotional distress and quality of life. The findings support the hypothesis that spiritual activities are an important psychological resource accounting for individual variability in adjustment to the stressors associated with HIV disease.

Tailored nutrition education: is it really effective?

PubMed

Eyles, Helen; Ni Mhurchu, Cliona

2012-03-01

There has been a growing interest in tailored nutrition education over the previous decade, with a number of literature reviews suggesting this intervention strategy holds considerable potential. Nevertheless, the majority of intervention trials undertaken to date have employed subjective self-report outcome measures (such as dietary recalls). The aim of the present review is to further consider the likely true effect of tailored nutrition education by assessing the findings of tailored nutrition education intervention trials where objective outcome measures (such as sales data) have been employed. Four trials of tailored nutrition education employing objective outcome measures were identified: one was undertaken in eight low-cost supermarkets in New Zealand (2010; n 1104); one was an online intervention trial in Australia (2006; n 497); and two were undertaken in US supermarkets (1997 and 2001; n 105 and 296, respectively). Findings from the high-quality New Zealand trial were negative. Findings from the US trials were also generally negative, although reporting was poor making it difficult to assess quality. Findings from the high-quality online trial were positive, although have limited generalisability for public health. Trials employing objective outcome measures strongly suggest tailored nutrition education is not effective as a stand-alone strategy. However, further large, high-quality trials employing objective outcome measures are needed to determine the true effectiveness of this popular nutrition intervention strategy. Regardless, education plays an important role in generating social understanding and acceptance of broader interventions to improve nutrition.

Brief report: When does identity lead to negative affective experiences? A comparison of Turkish-Bulgarian and Turkish-German adolescents.

PubMed

Aydinli-Karakulak, Arzu; Dimitrova, Radosveta

2016-02-01

We examine relationships between social identity domains (ethnic, national, and religious) and negative affect among Turkish-Bulgarian and Turkish-German youth. Path analysis confirmed a multiple social identities (MSI) factor that has negative relations to experiencing negative affect for Turkish youth in both countries. Beyond this negative relationship, the component of national identity showed a positive relationship to negative affect for Turkish-Bulgarians, but not for Turkish-Germans. Our findings indicate that beyond the generally adaptive effect of MSI on youth development, unique components of social identity may not always be an asset: In an assimilative acculturation context (i.e., Bulgaria), the endorsement of national identity was not adaptive. Our research therefore highlights the need for a contextually differentiated view on "healthy" identity formation among immigrants for research and practice. Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extended family and friendship support and suicidality among African Americans

PubMed Central

Taylor, Robert Joseph; Chatters, Linda M.; Taylor, Harry Owen; Lincoln, Karen D.; Mitchell, Uchechi A.

2016-01-01

Purpose This study examined the relationship between informal social support from extended family and friends and suicidality among African Americans. Methods Logistic regression analysis was based on a nationally representative sample of African Americans from the National Survey of American Life (N = 3263). Subjective closeness and frequency of contact with extended family and friends and negative family interaction were examined in relation to lifetime suicide ideation and attempts. Results Subjective closeness to family and frequency of contact with friends were negatively associated with suicide ideation and attempts. Subjective closeness to friends and negative family interaction were positively associated with suicide ideation and attempts. Significant interactions between social support and negative interaction showed that social support buffers against the harmful effects of negative interaction on suicidality. Conclusions Findings are discussed in relation to the functions of positive and negative social ties in suicidality. PMID:27838732

Negative emotionality and externalizing problems in toddlerhood: overreactive parenting as a moderator of genetic influences.

PubMed

Lipscomb, Shannon T; Leve, Leslie D; Shaw, Daniel S; Neiderhiser, Jenae M; Scaramella, Laura V; Ge, Xiaojia; Conger, Rand D; Reid, John B; Reiss, David

2012-02-01

The current study examines the interplay between parental overreactivity and children's genetic backgrounds as inferred from birth parent characteristics on the development of negative emotionality during infancy, and in turn, to individual differences in externalizing problems in toddlerhood. The sample included 361 families linked through adoption (birth parents and adoptive families). Data were collected when the children were 9, 18, and 27 months old. Results indicated links between individual levels and changes in negative emotionality during infancy and toddlerhood to externalizing problems early in the third year of life. Findings also revealed an interaction between birth mother negative affect and adoptive mother overreactive parenting on children's negative emotionality. This Genotype × Environment interaction predicted externalizing problems indirectly through its association with negative emotionality and revealed stronger effects of genetic risk for children with less overreactive parenting from their mothers. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.

When Seeing Doesn't Matter: Assessing the After-Effects of Tactile Distractor Processing in the Blind and the Sighted

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frings, Christian; Amendt, Anna; Spence, Charles

2011-01-01

Negative priming (NP) refers to the finding that people's responses to probe targets previously presented as prime distractors are usually slower than to unrepeated stimuli. Intriguingly, the effect sizes of tactile NP were much larger than the effect sizes for visual NP. We analyzed whether the large tactile NP effect is just a side effect of the…

The role of effective connectivity between the task-positive and task-negative network for evidence gathering [Evidence gathering and connectivity].

PubMed

Andreou, Christina; Steinmann, Saskia; Kolbeck, Katharina; Rauh, Jonas; Leicht, Gregor; Moritz, Steffen; Mulert, Christoph

2018-06-01

Reports linking a 'jumping-to-conclusions' bias to delusions have led to growing interest in the neurobiological correlates of probabilistic reasoning. Several brain areas have been implicated in probabilistic reasoning; however, findings are difficult to integrate into a coherent account. The present study aimed to provide additional evidence by investigating, for the first time, effective connectivity among brain areas involved in different stages of evidence gathering. We investigated evidence gathering in 25 healthy individuals using fMRI and a new paradigm (Box Task) designed such as to minimize the effects of cognitive effort and reward processing. Decisions to collect more evidence ('draws') were contrasted to decisions to reach a final choice ('conclusions') with respect to BOLD activity. Psychophysiological interaction analysis was used to investigate effective connectivity. Conclusion events were associated with extensive brain activations in widely distributed brain areas associated with the task-positive network. In contrast, draw events were characterized by higher activation in areas assumed to be part of the task-negative network. Effective connectivity between the two networks decreased during draws and increased during conclusion events. Our findings indicate that probabilistic reasoning may depend on the balance between the task-positive and task-negative network, and that shifts in connectivity between the two may be crucial for evidence gathering. Thus, abnormal connectivity between the two systems may significantly contribute to the jumping-to-conclusions bias. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Complex roles of myoglianin in regulating adult performance and lifespan

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Myoglianin, the Drosophila homolog of the secreted vertebrate proteins Myostatin and GDF-11, is an important regulator of neuronal modeling, and synapse function and morphology. While Myoglianin suppression during development elicits positive effects on the neuromuscular system, genetic manipulations of myoglianin expression levels have a varied effect on the outcome of performance tests in aging flies. Specifically, Myoglianin preserves jumping ability, has no effect on negative geotaxis, and negatively regulates flight performance in aging flies. In addition, Myoglianin exhibits a tissue-specific effect on longevity, with myoglianin upregulation in glial cells increasing the median lifespan. These findings indicate complex role for this TGF-β-like protein in governing neuromuscular signaling and consequent behavioral outputs and lifespan in adult flies. PMID:28837401

False Positive and False Negative Effects on Network Attacks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Yilun

2018-01-01

Robustness against attacks serves as evidence for complex network structures and failure mechanisms that lie behind them. Most often, due to detection capability limitation or good disguises, attacks on networks are subject to false positives and false negatives, meaning that functional nodes may be falsely regarded as compromised by the attacker and vice versa. In this work, we initiate a study of false positive/negative effects on network robustness against three fundamental types of attack strategies, namely, random attacks (RA), localized attacks (LA), and targeted attack (TA). By developing a general mathematical framework based upon the percolation model, we investigate analytically and by numerical simulations of attack robustness with false positive/negative rate (FPR/FNR) on three benchmark models including Erdős-Rényi (ER) networks, random regular (RR) networks, and scale-free (SF) networks. We show that ER networks are equivalently robust against RA and LA only when FPR equals zero or the initial network is intact. We find several interesting crossovers in RR and SF networks when FPR is taken into consideration. By defining the cost of attack, we observe diminishing marginal attack efficiency for RA, LA, and TA. Our finding highlights the potential risk of underestimating or ignoring FPR in understanding attack robustness. The results may provide insights into ways of enhancing robustness of network architecture and improve the level of protection of critical infrastructures.

Emotional arousal and memory after deep encoding.

PubMed

Leventon, Jacqueline S; Camacho, Gabriela L; Ramos Rojas, Maria D; Ruedas, Angelica

2018-05-22

Emotion often enhances long-term memory. One mechanism for this enhancement is heightened arousal during encoding. However, reducing arousal, via emotion regulation (ER) instructions, has not been associated with reduced memory. In fact, the opposite pattern has been observed: stronger memory for emotional stimuli encoded with an ER instruction to reduce arousal. This pattern may be due to deeper encoding required by ER instructions. In the current research, we examine the effects of emotional arousal and deep-encoding on memory across three studies. In Study 1, adult participants completed a writing task (deep-encoding) for encoding negative, neutral, and positive picture stimuli, whereby half the emotion stimuli had the ER instruction to reduce the emotion. Memory was strong across conditions, and no memory enhancement was observed for any condition. In Study 2, adult participants completed the same writing task as Study 1, as well as a shallow-encoding task for one-third of negative, neutral, and positive trials. Memory was strongest for deep vs. shallow encoding trials, with no effects of emotion or ER instruction. In Study 3, adult participants completed a shallow-encoding task for negative, neutral, and positive stimuli, with findings indicating enhanced memory for negative emotional stimuli. Findings suggest that deep encoding must be acknowledged as a source of memory enhancement when examining manipulations of emotion-related arousal. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Coping and health in older adults.

PubMed

Yancura, Loriena A; Aldwin, Carolyn M

2008-02-01

Although coping has been shown to influence physical health in younger populations, whether coping affects health in older adults appears to depend upon how coping and health are conceptualized. This article reviews recent literature on coping and health in older adults in three areas. First, we discuss coping's distinct relevance to health in older adults. Second, we describe ways in which coping may differ between older and younger populations. Third, we detail recent and notable findings of coping's specific effects on biomedical health and health in general. The recent literature suggests that coping may be a developmental and multifaceted process. Positive coping strategies may have positive and even protective effects on health, whereas negative strategies may have negative effects.

The Virtual Threat Effect: A Test of Competing Explanations for the Effects of Racial Stereotyping in Video Games on Players' Cognitions.

PubMed

Behm-Morawitz, Elizabeth; Hoffswell, Joseph; Chen, Szu-Wei

2016-05-01

Past research provides evidence that embodying a racially stereotyped African American video game character triggers stereotyped thinking among White players. However, the mechanisms through which virtual racial embodiment of a negatively stereotyped character in a video game impacts stereotyped thinking are still unknown. This study expands on past research and utilizes a between-subjects experimental design to test two possible theoretical explanations: the virtual threat effect and presence. On the one hand, embodying a negatively stereotyped African American character may elicit stereotyped thinking among White players due to the mere exposure to the threatening stereotype. According to this explanation, negative affective response to the threatening stimulus predicts stereotyping. On the other hand, the process of embodying, not just observing, the stereotyped African American character suggests that presence in the game may determine how impactful the game imagery is on White players' stereotyping of African Americans. In this case, level of presence would predict stereotyping. The findings of this study advance research by providing evidence of a psychological explanation for the negative effects of embodying a racially stereotyped video game character on players' race-related perceptions. We conceptualize the "virtual threat effect," which may be applied in additional contexts to understand how embodying stereotyped representations of outgroups in virtual environments may negatively affect individuals' perceptions and support of these groups.

The effects of negative racial stereotypes and afrocentricity on black couple relationships.

PubMed

Kelly, S; Floyd, F J

2001-03-01

This questionnaire study investigated the relationship between internalized negative stereotypes, Afrocentricity, and dyadic trust and adjustment for 73 Black couples. Internalized negative stereotypes alone generally did not predict relationship problems, however, the combination of internalized negative stereotypes and high Afrocentricity for the men was associated with decreased perceptions of partner dependability, an aspect of relationship trust, and decreased dyadic adjustment for both partners. Contrary to predictions, Afrocentricity was associated with less perceived partner dependability and satisfaction for the couples. Controlling for socioeconomic status failed to alter these associations. Findings imply that racial perspectives are important predictors of Black couple outcomes and that complex and conflicting racial attitudes held by Afrocentric Black men may cause deterioration in Black couple relationships.

Responses of belowground communities to large aboveground herbivores: Meta-analysis reveals biome-dependent patterns and critical research gaps.

PubMed

Andriuzzi, Walter S; Wall, Diana H

2017-09-01

The importance of herbivore-plant and soil biota-plant interactions in terrestrial ecosystems is amply recognized, but the effects of aboveground herbivores on soil biota remain challenging to predict. To find global patterns in belowground responses to vertebrate herbivores, we performed a meta-analysis of studies that had measured abundance or activity of soil organisms inside and outside field exclosures (areas that excluded herbivores). Responses were often controlled by climate, ecosystem type, and dominant herbivore identity. Soil microfauna and especially root-feeding nematodes were negatively affected by herbivores in subarctic sites. In arid ecosystems, herbivore presence tended to reduce microbial biomass and nitrogen mineralization. Herbivores decreased soil respiration in subarctic ecosystems and increased it in temperate ecosystems, but had no net effect on microbial biomass or nitrogen mineralization in those ecosystems. Responses of soil fauna, microbial biomass, and nitrogen mineralization shifted from neutral to negative with increasing herbivore body size. Responses of animal decomposers tended to switch from negative to positive with increasing precipitation, but also differed among taxa, for instance Oribatida responded negatively to herbivores, whereas Collembola did not. Our findings imply that losses and gains of aboveground herbivores will interact with climate and land use changes, inducing functional shifts in soil communities. To conceptualize the mechanisms behind our findings and link them with previous theoretical frameworks, we propose two complementary approaches to predict soil biological responses to vertebrate herbivores, one focused on an herbivore body size gradient, and the other on a climate severity gradient. Major research gaps were revealed, with tropical biomes, protists, and soil macrofauna being especially overlooked. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of eye dominance (left vs. right) and cannabis use on intermanual coordination and negative symptoms in schizophrenia patients.

PubMed

Gorynia, Inge; Schwaiger, Markus; Heinz, Andreas

2014-12-01

Based on the previous findings, it has been assumed that in schizophrenia patients, eye dominance and cannabis use will affect negative symptoms and intermanual coordination (IMC), an index of interhemispheric communication. But eye dominance, specifically the clinical findings for it, has been neglected in schizophrenia research. We therefore investigated its effects in 52 right-handed (36 right-eyed and 16 left-eyed) and 51 left-handed (35 left-eyed and 16 right-eyed) schizophrenia in-patients without and with drug use. Eye dominance affected IMC in all schizophrenia patients. When comparing right- and left-handers, we found that this result was only significant in the right-handed patients and in the smaller subgroup without drug use. In the right-handers, left eye dominance-like left-handedness-was associated with higher values in IMC and less pronounced manifestation of negative symptoms, right eye dominance was not. Thus, left-eyed right-handers may be more closely related to left-handers than to right-handers. In accordance with the results from the literature, we suggest that these findings are due to better interhemispheric connections and less impairment of white matter structures, especially in right-hemispheric regions. Moreover, cannabis use was related to higher scores in IMC and less pronounced negative symptoms, but only in the right-eyed and not in the left-eyed right-handers or in the left-handers. Hence, differences in eye dominance and handedness may be partially responsible for different results in interhemispheric connections among cannabis users. In conclusion, both eye dominance and use of cannabis should be taken into account when assessing clinical symptoms in schizophrenia patients.

Stigma and hostility towards pregnant smokers: does individuating information reduce the effect?

PubMed

Wigginton, Britta; Lee, Christina

2013-01-01

Australia is at the forefront of tobacco control, yet 17% of Australian women smoke during pregnancy. Negative attitudes to smoking are intensified when the smoker is pregnant, consistent with a discourse that encourages surveillance of pregnant women. Such overt anti-smoking attitudes create a context which may make it difficult for pregnant smokers to seek assistance to stop. However, there is little evidence on the extent to which pregnant smokers are stigmatised by community members. We used vignettes to examine the degree of smoking-related stigma expressed by 595 Australian university students who rated a woman, described as a mother who was smoking or not, and pregnant or not. Further, we examined whether provision of individuating information reduced the degree of stigma. Mothers described as smokers were rated more negatively than those not, particularly if they were pregnant: smokers were perceived as unhealthy, and also as bad mothers. Provision of individuating information slightly reduced these effects. These findings support the view that smokers--particularly if pregnant--are subject to negative moral judgement. Our findings contribute to the ethical debate about stigma-inducing tobacco control efforts, and suggest that anti-smoking campaigns that contextualise smoking in pregnancy might reduce stigma and assist cessation.

Negative Association of Hospital Efficiency Under Increasing Geographic Elevation on Acute Myocardial Infarction In-Patient Mortality.

PubMed

Devaraj, Srikant; Patel, Pankaj C

Although variation in-patient outcomes based on hospitals' geographic location has been studied, altitude of hospitals above sea level may also affect patient outcomes. Possibly, because of negative physical and psychological effects of altitude on hospital employees, hospital efficiency may decline at higher altitudes. Greater focus on hospital efficiency, despite decreasing efficiency at higher altitudes, could increase demands on hospital employees and further deteriorate patient outcomes. Using data envelopment analysis on a sample of 840 hospital-year observations representing 95,504 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the United States, and controlling for patient, hospital, and county characteristics and controlling for hospital, state, and year fixed effects, we find support for the negative association between hospital altitude and efficiency; for 1 percentage point increase in efficiency and every 1,000 feet increase in altitude above the sea level, the mortality of patients with AMI increases by 0.66 percentage points. The findings have implications for hospital performance at increasing geographic elevation and introduces to the literature the notion of "health economics of elevation," to suggest that elevation of a hospital may be an important criterion for consideration for policy makers and insurance firms.

Effects of syntactic structure in the memory of concrete and abstract Chinese sentences.

PubMed

Ho, C S; Chen, H C

1993-09-01

Smith (1981) found that concrete English sentences were better recognized than abstract sentences and that this concreteness effect was potent only when the concrete sentence was also affirmative but the effect switched to an opposite end when the concrete sentence was negative. These results were partially replicated in Experiment 1 by using materials from a very different language (i.e., Chinese): concrete-affirmative sentences were better remembered than concrete-negative and abstract sentences, but no reliable difference was found between the latter two types. In Experiment 2, the task was modified by using a visual presentation instead of an oral one as in Experiment 1. Both concrete-affirmative and concrete-negative sentences were better memorized then abstract ones in Experiment 2. The findings in the two experiments are explained by a combination of the dual-coding model and Marschark's (1985) item-specific and relational processing. The differential effects of experience with different language systems on processing verbal materials in memory are also discussed.

Country-specific effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on honey bees and wild bees.

PubMed

Woodcock, B A; Bullock, J M; Shore, R F; Heard, M S; Pereira, M G; Redhead, J; Ridding, L; Dean, H; Sleep, D; Henrys, P; Peyton, J; Hulmes, S; Hulmes, L; Sárospataki, M; Saure, C; Edwards, M; Genersch, E; Knäbe, S; Pywell, R F

2017-06-30

Neonicotinoid seed dressings have caused concern world-wide. We use large field experiments to assess the effects of neonicotinoid-treated crops on three bee species across three countries (Hungary, Germany, and the United Kingdom). Winter-sown oilseed rape was grown commercially with either seed coatings containing neonicotinoids (clothianidin or thiamethoxam) or no seed treatment (control). For honey bees, we found both negative (Hungary and United Kingdom) and positive (Germany) effects during crop flowering. In Hungary, negative effects on honey bees (associated with clothianidin) persisted over winter and resulted in smaller colonies in the following spring (24% declines). In wild bees ( Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis ), reproduction was negatively correlated with neonicotinoid residues. These findings point to neonicotinoids causing a reduced capacity of bee species to establish new populations in the year following exposure. Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

The negative effects of prejudice on interpersonal relationships within adolescent peer groups.

PubMed

Poteat, V Paul; Mereish, Ethan H; Birkett, Michelle

2015-04-01

Social development theories highlight the centrality of peer groups during adolescence and their role in socializing attitudes and behaviors. In this longitudinal study, we tested the effects of group-level prejudice on ensuing positive and negative interpersonal interactions among peers over a 7-month period. We used social network analysis to identify peer groups based on sociometric nominations, followed by multilevel modeling of the effects of sexual prejudice at the group level on interpersonal interactions among individuals in these groups. As hypothesized, the interpersonal interactions in peer groups with stronger group-level sexual prejudice were distinct from and poorer than those in groups with weaker group-level sexual prejudice. Moreover, longitudinal models indicated that adolescents in groups with stronger initial sexual prejudice reported worse interpersonal interactions with their peers seven months later. These findings provide a contextual understanding of prejudice and its negative effects on how adolescents come to relate with one another over time. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Close relationships and attributions for peer victimization among late adolescents.

PubMed

Chen, Xiaochen; Graham, Sandra

2012-12-01

This study examined the effect of close relationships (best friendship and romantic relationship) on late adolescents' casual attributions for peer victimization. A total of 1106 twelfth grade students completed self-report measures of perceived peer victimization, self-blame attribution, psychological maladjustment (loneliness and social anxiety), and quality of close peer relationships. Results indicated that self-blame partly mediated the link between peer victimization and psychological maladjustment. Relationship quality moderated the victimization-self-blame relation. Participants were more likely to endorse self-blame attributions for peer victimization when they had a negative relationship with a best friend or romantic partner. The moderated effect of negative best friendship quality was only significant for girls, whereas the moderated effect of negative romantic relationship quality was only significant for boys. Implications of these findings for future research on close relations during adolescence and for interventions to reduce the effects of peer victimization were discussed. Copyright © 2012 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Smoking and Body Weight: Evidence using Genetic Instruments

PubMed Central

Wehby, George; Murray, Jeffrey C.; Wilcox, Allen; Lie, Rolv T.

2011-01-01

Several studies have evaluated whether the high and rising obesity rates over the past three decades may be due to the declining smoking rates. There is mixed evidence across studies – some find negative smoking effects and positive cigarette cost effects on body weight, while others find opposite effects. This study applies a unique approach to identify the smoking effects on body weight and to evaluate the heterogeneity in these effects across the body mass index (BMI) distribution by utilizing genetic instruments for smoking. Using a data sample of 1,057 mothers from Norway, the study finds heterogeneous effects of cigarette smoking on BMI – smoking increases BMI at low/moderate BMI levels and decreases BMI at high BMI levels. The study highlights the potential advantages and challenges of employing genetic instrumental variables to identify behavior effects including the importance of qualifying the instruments and the need for large samples. PMID:22024417

Enhanced conflict-driven cognitive control by emotional arousal, not by valence.

PubMed

Zeng, Qinghong; Qi, Senqing; Li, Miaoyun; Yao, Shuxia; Ding, Cody; Yang, Dong

2017-09-01

Emotion is widely agreed to have two dimensions, valence and arousal. Few studies have explored the effect of emotion on conflict adaptation by considering both of these, which could have dissociate influence. The present study aimed to fill the gap as to whether emotional valence and arousal would exert dissociable influence on conflict adaptation. In the experiments, we included positive, neutral, and negative conditions, with comparable arousal between positive and negative conditions. Both positive and negative conditions have higher arousal than neutral ones. In Experiment 1, by using a two-colour-word Flanker task, we found that conflict adaptation was enhanced in both positive and negative contexts compared to a neutral context. Furthermore, this effect still existed when controlling stimulus-response repetitions in Experiment 2, which used a four-colour-word Flanker task. The findings suggest emotional arousal enhances conflict adaptation, regardless of emotional valence. Thus, future studies should consider emotional arousal when studying the effect of emotion on conflict adaptation. Moreover, the unique role of the emotional context in conflict-driven cognitive control is emphasised.

Self-verification and bulimic symptoms: do bulimic women play a role in perpetuating their own dissatisfaction and symptoms?

PubMed

Joiner, T E

1999-09-01

It is suggested that self-verification theory may provide insight as to why bulimic symptoms often persist for years, sometimes even despite intervention. In an effort to meet basic needs for self-confirmation, bulimic women may invite the very responses they fear (e.g., negative feedback about appearance), and thus propagate their symptoms. It was thus predicted that interest in negative feedback would be correlated with body dissatisfaction and bulimic symptoms, and that interest in negative feedback would serve as a risk factor for development of later symptoms, via the mediating effects of increased body dissatisfaction. Seventy-nine undergraduate women completed self-report assessments of interest in negative feedback, bulimic symptoms, and body dissatisfaction. Results supported the prediction that, despite serious concerns about body appearance, bulimic women were interested in the very feedback that would aggravate these concerns. Moreover, interest in negative feedback appeared to serve as a risk factor for development of later symptoms, via the mediating effects of increased body dissatisfaction. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Protective Effect of Self-Compassion to Emotional Response among Students with Chronic Academic Stress

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yonghong; Luo, Xi; Che, Xianwei; Duan, Wenjie

2016-01-01

The literature has shown that self-compassion is a protective factor of an individual’s emotional response to chronic stress. However, this stress-buffering effect has not been completely analyzed in individuals who report significantly high academic stress. The present study explored the role of self-compassion in a group of undergraduate students who experience chronic academic stress. A total of 208 undergraduate students who were preparing for the Postgraduate Entrance Examination (PEE) were recruited and completed the Self-Compassion Scale, Adolescent Self-Rating Life Event Check List, and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Differences analysis confirmed that the participants reported significantly higher academic stress than their peers who were not preparing for PEE. Self-compassion positively related to positive affect but negatively related to negative affect and learning stress. Further analysis showed that self-compassion negatively mediated the relationship between chronic academic stress and negative affect. Findings imply that self-compassion-centered interventions can be developed in the educational context to assist students cope with chronic academic stress. PMID:27920736

Dispositional mindfulness and semantic integration of emotional words: Evidence from event-related brain potentials.

PubMed

Dorjee, Dusana; Lally, Níall; Darrall-Rew, Jonathan; Thierry, Guillaume

2015-08-01

Initial research shows that mindfulness training can enhance attention and modulate the affective response. However, links between mindfulness and language processing remain virtually unexplored despite the prominent role of overt and silent negative ruminative speech in depressive and anxiety-related symptomatology. Here, we measured dispositional mindfulness and recorded participants' event-related brain potential responses to positive and negative target words preceded by words congruent or incongruent with the targets in terms of semantic relatedness and emotional valence. While the low mindfulness group showed similar N400 effect pattern for positive and negative targets, high dispositional mindfulness was associated with larger N400 effect to negative targets. This result suggests that negative meanings are less readily accessible in people with high dispositional mindfulness. Furthermore, high dispositional mindfulness was associated with reduced P600 amplitudes to emotional words, suggesting less post-analysis and attentional effort which possibly relates to a lower inclination to ruminate. Overall, these findings provide initial evidence on associations between modifications in language systems and mindfulness. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

Can't get it out of my mind: employee rumination after customer mistreatment and negative mood in the next morning.

PubMed

Wang, Mo; Liu, Songqi; Liao, Hui; Gong, Yaping; Kammeyer-Mueller, John; Shi, Junqi

2013-11-01

Drawing on cognitive rumination theories and conceptualizing customer service interaction as a goal attainment situation for service employees, the current study examined employee rumination about negative service encounters as an intermediate cognitive process that explains the within-person fluctuations in negative emotional reactions resulting from customer mistreatment. Multilevel analyses of 149 call-center employees' 1,189 daily surveys revealed that on days that a service employee received more (vs. less) customer mistreatment, he or she ruminated more (vs. less) at night about negative encounters with customers, which in turn led to higher (vs. lower) levels of negative mood experienced in the next morning. In addition, service rule commitment and perceived organizational support moderated the within-person effect of customer mistreatment on rumination, such that this effect was stronger among those who had higher (vs. lower) levels of service rule commitment but weaker among those who had higher (vs. lower) levels of perceived organizational support. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Personality Traits, Motivations, and Emotional Consequences of Social Media Usage.

PubMed

Lin, Jhih-Syuan; Lee, Yen-I; Jin, Yan; Gilbreath, Bob

2017-10-01

This study explores social media users' personality traits and motivations for the usage of two different social media platforms, Facebook and Pinterest, as well as how the varied uses impact users' negative emotional experiences. The findings suggest that the intensity of social media usage is positively related to negative emotions. For Facebook users, socialization, entertainment, and information seeking motivations significantly influence their platform use intensity and, subsequently, lead to negative emotions. Self-status seeking also has a direct effect on Facebook users' negative emotions. For Pinterest users, socialization is not a significant motivation for usage of that platform. However, entertainment, information seeking, and self-status seeking significantly predict their platform use intensity, which subsequently lead to negative emotions. Similarly, all four motivations for Facebook and Pinterest uses are influenced by users' personality traits: extraversion and openness. Yet, openness has a greater impact on using Pinterest than Facebook in terms of fulfilling socialization needs. Neuroticism has a positive impact on socialization and information seeking motives for use of both platforms, while conscientiousness and agreeableness have a negative influence on fulfilling self-status seeking needs. In addition, agreeable social networking site users are less likely to use Facebook than Pinterest for fulfilling self-status related gratifications, while they are likely to use Pinterest instead of Facebook for entertainment and information needs. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Social skills as a mediator between anxiety symptoms and peer interactions among children and adolescents.

PubMed

Motoca, Luci M; Williams, Sandra; Silverman, Wendy K

2012-01-01

The present study used a cross-sectional design to examine the relations among youth anxiety symptoms, positive and negative peer interactions, and social skills. Also examined was the mediating role of social skills in the relations between youth anxiety symptoms and positive and negative peer interactions. Youth sex and age were examined as moderators. The sample consisted of 397 children and adolescents (M = 10.11 years; 53.4% boys; 74.8% Hispanic Latino) referred to an anxiety disorders clinic. Anxiety symptoms, positive and negative peer interactions, and social skills were assessed using youth and parent ratings. Structural equation modeling results indicated that for youth ratings only, youth anxiety symptoms were negatively related to positive peer interactions controlling for primary social phobia and comorbid depressive disorders. For both youth and parent ratings, youth anxiety symptoms were positively related to negative peer interactions and negatively related to social skills. Also for both youth and parent ratings, social skills mediated the relations between youth anxiety symptoms and positive and negative peer interactions. For parent ratings only, the effects of youth anxiety symptoms and social skills on peer interactions were significantly moderated by youth age. Youth sex was not a significant moderator using youth and parent ratings. Findings suggest that difficulties with social skills and peer interactions are problematic features of youth referred for anxiety problems. Findings highlight the need to improve understanding of anxiety symptoms, social skills, and peer interactions in this population.

Social Skills as a Mediator between Anxiety Symptoms and Peer Interactions among Children and Adolescents

PubMed Central

Motoca, Luci M.; Williams, Sandra; Silverman, Wendy K.

2012-01-01

Objective The present study used a cross-sectional design to examine the relations among youth anxiety symptoms, positive and negative peer interactions, and social skills. Also examined was the mediating role of social skills in the relations between youth anxiety symptoms and positive and negative peer interactions. Youth sex and age were examined as moderators. Method The sample consisted of 397 children and adolescents (M = 10.11 years; 53.4% boys; 74.8% Hispanic Latino) referred to an anxiety disorders clinic. Anxiety symptoms, positive and negative peer interactions, and social skills were assessed using youth and parent ratings. Results Structural equation modeling results indicated that for youth ratings only, youth anxiety symptoms were negatively related to positive peer interactions controlling for primary social phobia and comorbid depressive disorders. For both youth and parent ratings, youth anxiety symptoms were positively related to negative peer interactions and negatively related to social skills. Also for both youth and parent ratings, social skills mediated the relations between youth anxiety symptoms and positive and negative peer interactions. For parent ratings only, the effects of youth anxiety symptoms and social skills on peer interactions were significantly moderated by youth age. Youth sex was not a significant moderator using youth and parent ratings. Conclusions Findings suggest difficulties with social skills and peer interactions are problematic features of youth referred for anxiety problems. Findings highlight the need to improve understanding of anxiety symptoms, social skills, and peer interactions in this population. PMID:22471319

Managing Stigma: Disclosure-Response Communication Patterns in Pro-Anorexic Websites.

PubMed

Chang, Pamara F; Bazarova, Natalya N

2016-01-01

Pro-anorexic websites are a popular online venue for individuals with anorexia, but recent research suggests that they play a role of "online negative enabling support groups" because they can undermine recovery and encourage negative behaviors by validating pro-anorexic views. By analyzing 22,811 messages from 5,590 conversations from the Pro-Ana Nation online discussion board forum, this study examines communicative mechanisms of online negative enabling support through language analysis of disclosure-response sequences, changes in the language of the initial discloser within an interaction exchange, and the role of responses in eliciting those changes. The findings show that initiating disclosures containing stigma-related emotion words, anorexia-specific content, and sociorelational content are typically met with negatively valenced responses from other members of the pro-anorexic community. Moreover, although the act of revealing stigmatized information has some cathartic effects, disclosers use more, not fewer, stigma-related emotion words when they receive negatively valenced responses. These results provide insight into communicative dynamics and effects of online negative enabling support through validation of the pro-anorexic identity and the dangerous cycle of stigma escalation in disclosure-response exchanges on pro-anorexic online communities.

Hospital nurses' attitudes, negative perceptions, and negative acts regarding workplace bullying.

PubMed

Ma, Shu-Ching; Wang, Hsiu-Hung; Chien, Tsair-Wei

2017-01-01

Workplace bullying is a prevalent problem in today's work places that has adverse effects on both bullying victims and organizations. To investigate the predictors of workplace bullying is an important task to prevent bullying victims of nurses in hospitals. This study aims to explore the relationships among nurses' attitudes, negative perceptions, and negative acts regarding workplace bullying under the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). A total of 811 nurses from three hospitals in Taiwan were surveyed. Nurses' responses to the 201 items of 10 scales were calibrated using Rasch analysis and then subjected to path analysis with partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The instrumental attitude was significant predictors of nurses' negative perceptions to be bullied in the workplace. Instead, the other TPB components of subjective norm and perceived behavioral control were not effective predictors of nurses' negative acts regarding workplace bullying. The findings provided hospital nurse management with important implications for prevention of bullying, particularly to them who are tasked with providing safer and more productive workplaces to hospital nurses. Awareness of workplace bullying was recommended to other kinds of workplaces for further studies in future.

Negative urgency and emotion regulation predict positive smoking expectancies in non-smoking youth.

PubMed

Dir, Allyson L; Banks, Devin E; Zapolski, Tamika C B; McIntyre, Elizabeth; Hulvershorn, Leslie A

2016-07-01

The purpose of the study was to better understand early risk for positive smoking expectancies, which have been shown to be consistent predictors of smoking initiation among youth. Two affect-based risk factors-negative urgency and emotion dysregulation-associated with smoking behaviors among youth, were examined for unique and interactive effects on positive smoking expectancies among substance-naïve youth. Participants were 61 10-14-year-old children with virtually no drug use (less than 5 substance use incidents across the lifetime), who were drawn from the community. Both negative urgency and emotion dysregulation were significantly associated with positive social facilitation smoking expectancies. Further, negative urgency was significantly related to positive social facilitation smoking expectancies at higher levels of emotion dysregulation (b=.09, p=.001). The findings provide evidence that both emotion dysregulation and negative urgency are positively associated with positive social-related smoking expectancies among a sample of 10-14-year-olds. Children who are emotionally dysregulated and who act rashly in response to negative emotions appear more likely to endorse beliefs regarding the socially enhancing effects of smoking, suggesting that these youth may be at high risk for smoking initiation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Regulation of positive and negative emotion: effects of sociocultural context

PubMed Central

Snyder, Sara A.; Heller, S. Megan; Lumian, Daniel S.; McRae, Kateri

2013-01-01

Previous research has demonstrated that the use of emotion regulation strategies can vary by sociocultural context. In a previous study, we reported changes in the use of two different emotion regulation strategies at an annual alternative cultural event, Burning Man (McRae et al., 2011). In this sociocultural context, as compared to typically at home, participants reported less use of expressive suppression (a strategy generally associated with maladaptive outcomes), and greater use of cognitive reappraisal (a strategy generally associated with adaptive outcomes). What remained unclear was whether these changes in self-reported emotion regulation strategy use were characterized by changes in the regulation of positive emotion, negative emotion, or both. We addressed this issue in the current study by asking Burning Man participants separate questions about positive and negative emotion. Using multiple datasets, we replicated our previous findings, and found that the decreased use of suppression is primarily driven by reports of decreased suppression of positive emotion at Burning Man. By contrast, the increased use of reappraisal is not characterized by differential reappraisal of positive and negative emotion at Burning Man. Moreover, we observed novel individual differences in the magnitude of these effects. The contextual changes in self-reported suppression that we observe are strongest for men and younger participants. For those who had previously attended Burning Man, we observed lower levels of self-reported suppression in both sociocultural contexts: Burning Man and typically at home. These findings have implications for understanding the ways in which certain sociocultural contexts may decrease suppression, and possibly minimize its associated maladaptive effects. PMID:23840191

Processing emotions: Effects of menstrual cycle phase and premenstrual symptoms on the startle reflex, facial EMG and heart rate.

PubMed

Armbruster, Diana; Grage, Tobias; Kirschbaum, Clemens; Strobel, Alexander

2018-10-01

Emotional reactivity varies across the menstrual cycle although physiological findings are not entirely consistent. We assessed facial EMG and heart rate (HR) changes in healthy free cycling women (N = 45) with an emotional startle paradigm both during the early follicular and the late luteal phase, verified by repeated salivary 17β-estradiol, progesterone and testosterone assessments. Cycle phase impacted startle responses with larger magnitudes during the luteal phase. Notably, this effect was only present when premenstrual symptoms and sequence of lab sessions were included as co-variates. At rest, participants showed a tendency towards higher HR and reduced high frequency (HF) power during the luteal phase indicating reduced parasympathetic tone. HF power was also negatively associated with startle magnitudes. HR changes in response to emotional images differed between the two cycle phases. Initial HR deceleration was more marked during the follicular phase particularly when viewing negative pictures. However, cycle phase did not significantly impact corrugator and zygomaticus activity in response to emotional pictures. Among the three gonadal steroids, correlation patterns were most consistent for testosterone. During the follicular phase, testosterone was associated with zygomaticus activity while viewing neutral or positive pictures and with less pronounced HR deceleration in response to negative images. During the luteal phase, testosterone was negatively associated with fear potentiated startle. The findings underscore the importance of considering menstrual cycle phase when investigating physiological indicators of emotion. However, the modulating effect of premenstrual symptoms also emphasizes potential inter-individual differences. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Youth Risk on Mentoring Relationship Quality: Do Mentor Characteristics Matter?

PubMed

Raposa, Elizabeth B; Rhodes, Jean E; Herrera, Carla

2016-06-01

Although mentoring is a widely used intervention strategy, effect sizes for at-risk youth remain modest. Research is therefore needed to maximize the impact of mentoring for at-risk youth who might struggle to benefit from mentoring relationships. This study tested the hypothesis that different types of youth risk would have a negative impact on mentoring relationship quality and duration and explored whether mentor characteristics exacerbated or mitigated these negative effects. Results showed that elevated environmental stress at a youth's home and/or school predicted shorter match duration, and elevated rates of youth behavioral problems, such as poor academic performance or misconduct, predicted greater youth dissatisfaction and less positive mentor perceptions of relationship quality. Mentors with greater self-efficacy and more previous involvement with youth in their communities were able to buffer the negative effects of environmental stress on match duration. Similarly, mentors' previous involvement with youth buffered the negative effects of youth behavioral problems on mentor perceptions of relationship quality. Findings have important implications for the matching of mentors and at-risk youth in a way that improves mentoring outcomes. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

Positive and negative contribution to birefringence in a family of carbonates: A Born effective charges analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jing, Qun; Yang, Guang; Hou, Juan

It is an important topic to investigate the birefringence and reveal the contribution from ions to birefringence because it plays an important role in nonlinear optical materials. In this paper, the birefringence of carbonates with coplanar CO{sub 3} groups were investigated using the first-principles method. The results show that the lead carbonates exhibit relative large birefringence. After detailed investigate the electronic structures, and Born effective charges, the authors find out that anisotropic electron distribution in the CO{sub 3} groups and Pb atoms give positive contribution, while the negative contribution was found from fluorine atoms, meanwhile the Ca, Mg, and Cdmore » atoms give very small contribution to birefringence. - Graphical abstract: Using the DFT and Born effective charges, the birefringence and the contribution of ions were investigated, the positive and negative contribution was found from Pb and F ions, respectively. - Highlights: • Optical properties and Born effective charges of carbonates are investigated. • Lead carbonates exhibit relative large birefringence. • Coplanar CO{sub 3} groups and Pb atoms give positive contribution. • F atoms give negative contribution. • Ca, Mg, and Cd atoms give very small contribution.« less

Direct and Indirect Associations Between Social Anxiety and Nicotine Dependence and Cessation Problems: Multiple Mediator Analyses

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Introduction: Little empirical work has evaluated why socially anxious smokers are especially vulnerable to more severe nicotine dependence and cessation failure. Presumably, these smokers rely on cigarettes to help them manage their chronically elevated negative affect elicited by a wide array of social contexts. Methods: The current study examined the direct and indirect effects of social anxiety cross-sectionally in regard to a range of smoking processes among 466 treatment-seeking smokers. Negative affect and negative affect reduction motives were examined as mediators of the relations of social anxiety with nicotine dependence and cessation problems. Results: Social anxiety was directly and robustly associated with perceived barriers to smoking cessation and problems experienced during past quit attempts. Social anxiety was also associated with greater nicotine dependence and smoking inflexibility indirectly through negative affect and negative affect smoking motives. Negative affect and smoking to reduce negative affect mediated these relations. Conclusions: These findings document the important role of negative affect and negative affect reduction motives in the relationships of social anxiety with nicotine dependence and cessation problems. PMID:24492021

Direct and indirect associations between social anxiety and nicotine dependence and cessation problems: multiple mediator analyses.

PubMed

Buckner, Julia D; Farris, Samantha G; Schmidt, Norman B; Zvolensky, Michael J

2014-06-01

Little empirical work has evaluated why socially anxious smokers are especially vulnerable to more severe nicotine dependence and cessation failure. Presumably, these smokers rely on cigarettes to help them manage their chronically elevated negative affect elicited by a wide array of social contexts. The current study examined the direct and indirect effects of social anxiety cross-sectionally in regard to a range of smoking processes among 466 treatment-seeking smokers. Negative affect and negative affect reduction motives were examined as mediators of the relations of social anxiety with nicotine dependence and cessation problems. Social anxiety was directly and robustly associated with perceived barriers to smoking cessation and problems experienced during past quit attempts. Social anxiety was also associated with greater nicotine dependence and smoking inflexibility indirectly through negative affect and negative affect smoking motives. Negative affect and smoking to reduce negative affect mediated these relations. These findings document the important role of negative affect and negative affect reduction motives in the relationships of social anxiety with nicotine dependence and cessation problems.

Relationships between trait urgency, smoking reinforcement expectancies, and nicotine dependence

PubMed Central

Pang, Raina D.; Hom, Marianne S.; Geary, Bree A.; Doran, Neal; Spillane, Nichea S.; Guillot, Casey R.; Leventhal, Adam M.

2014-01-01

Urgency (i.e. the tendency to act rashly during negative/positive affect) may increase vulnerability to a variety of risky behaviors. This cross-sectional study of non-treatment-seeking smokers examined the relationship between urgency, level of nicotine dependence, and smoking reinforcement expectancies. Both positive and negative urgency were associated with nicotine dependence. Mediational analyses illustrated that smoking reinforcement expectancies significantly accounted for urgency-dependence relations, with negative reinforcement expectancies displaying incremental mediational effects. If replicated and extended, these findings may support the use of treatments that modify beliefs regarding smoking reinforcement outcomes as a means of buffering the risk of nicotine dependence carried by urgency. PMID:24784229

Negatively valenced expectancy violation predicts emotionality: A longitudinal analysis.

PubMed

Bettencourt, B Ann; Manning, Mark

2016-09-01

We hypothesized that negatively valenced expectancy violations about the quality of 1's life would predict negative emotionality. We tested this hypothesis in a 4-wave longitudinal study of breast cancer survivors. The findings showed that higher levels of negatively valenced expectancy violation, at earlier time points, were associated with greater negative emotionality, at later time points. Implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

How the Brain Converts Negative Evaluation into Performance Facilitation.

PubMed

Prévost, Charlotte; Lau, Hakwan; Mobbs, Dean

2018-02-01

Surpassing negative evaluation is a recurrent theme of success stories. Yet, there is little evidence supporting the counterintuitive idea that negative evaluation might not only motivate people, but also enhance performance. To address this question, we designed a task that required participants to decide whether taking up a risky challenge after receiving positive or negative evaluations from independent judges. Participants believed that these evaluations were based on their prior performance on a related task. Results showed that negative evaluation caused a facilitation in performance. Concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that the motivating effect of negative evaluation was represented in the insula and striatum, while the performance boost was associated with functional positive connectivity between the insula and a set of brain regions involved in goal-directed behavior and the orienting of attention. These findings provide new insight into the neural representation of negative evaluation-induced facilitation. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The influence of negative emotion on the Simon effect as reflected by p300.

PubMed

Ma, Qingguo; Shang, Qian

2013-01-01

The Simon effect refers to the phenomenon that reaction time (RT) is faster when stimulus and response location are congruent than when they are not. This study used the priming-target paradigm to explore the influence of induced negative emotion on the Simon effect with event-related potential techniques (ERPs). The priming stimuli were composed of two kinds of pictures, the negative and neutral pictures, selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The target stimuli included chessboards of two color types. One was red and black the other one was green and black. Each chessboard was presented on the left or the right of the screen. The participants were asked to press the response keys according to the colors of the chessboards. It was called the congruent condition if the chessboard and the response key were on the same side, otherwise incongruent condition. In this study, the emotion-priming Simon effect was found in terms of RT and P300. Negative emotion compared with neutral emotion significantly enhanced the Simon effect in the cognitive process, reflected by a larger difference of P300 latency between the incongruent and congruent trials. The results suggest that the induced negative emotion influenced the Simon effect at the late stage of the cognitive process, and the P300 latency could be considered as the reference measure. These findings may be beneficial to researches in psychology and industrial engineering in the future.

The Older Adult Positivity Effect in Evaluations of Trustworthiness: Emotion Regulation or Cognitive Capacity?

PubMed

Zebrowitz, Leslie A; Boshyan, Jasmine; Ward, Noreen; Gutchess, Angela; Hadjikhani, Nouchine

2017-01-01

An older adult positivity effect, i.e., the tendency for older adults to favor positive over negative stimulus information more than do younger adults, has been previously shown in attention, memory, and evaluations. This effect has been attributed to greater emotion regulation in older adults. In the case of attention and memory, this explanation has been supported by some evidence that the older adult positivity effect is most pronounced for negative stimuli, which would motivate emotion regulation, and that it is reduced by cognitive load, which would impede emotion regulation. We investigated whether greater older adult positivity in the case of evaluative responses to faces is also enhanced for negative stimuli and attenuated by cognitive load, as an emotion regulation explanation would predict. In two studies, younger and older adults rated trustworthiness of faces that varied in valence both under low and high cognitive load, with the latter manipulated by a distracting backwards counting task. In Study 1, face valence was manipulated by attractiveness (low /disfigured faces, medium, high/fashion models' faces). In Study 2, face valence was manipulated by trustworthiness (low, medium, high). Both studies revealed a significant older adult positivity effect. However, contrary to an emotion regulation account, this effect was not stronger for more negative faces, and cognitive load increased rather than decreased the rated trustworthiness of negatively valenced faces. Although inconsistent with emotion regulation, the latter effect is consistent with theory and research arguing that more cognitive resources are required to process negative stimuli, because they are more cognitively elaborated than positive ones. The finding that increased age and increased cognitive load both enhanced the positivity of trustworthy ratings suggests that the older adult positivity effect in evaluative ratings of faces may reflect age-related declines in cognitive capacity rather than increases in the regulation of negative emotions.

A two-dimensional approach to relationship conflict: meta-analytic findings.

PubMed

Woodin, Erica M

2011-06-01

This meta-analysis of 64 studies (5,071 couples) used a metacoding system to categorize observed couple conflict behaviors into categories differing in terms of valence (positive to negative) and intensity (high to low) and resulting in five behavioral categories: hostility, distress, withdrawal, problem solving, and intimacy. Aggregate effect sizes indicated that women were somewhat more likely to display hostility, distress, and intimacy during conflict, whereas men were somewhat more likely to display withdrawal and problem solving. Gender differences were of a small magnitude. For both men and women, hostility was robustly associated with lower relationship satisfaction (medium effect), distress and withdrawal were somewhat associated (small effect), and intimacy and problem solving were both closely associated with relationship satisfaction (medium effect). Effect sizes were moderated in several cases by study characteristics including year of publication, developmental period of the sample, recruitment design, duration of observed conflict, method used to induce conflict, and type of coding system used. Findings from this meta-analysis suggest that high-intensity conflict behaviors of both a positive and negative nature are important correlates of relationship satisfaction and underscore the relatively small gender differences in many conflict behaviors. 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Inter-individual differences in trait negative affect moderate cortisol's effects on memory formation: preliminary findings from two studies.

PubMed

Abercrombie, Heather C; Wirth, Michelle M; Hoks, Roxanne M

2012-05-01

Acute emotional arousal moderates the effects of cortisol on memory. However, it is currently unknown how stable inter-individual differences (i.e., traits) moderate cortisol's effects on memory. In two studies using within-subjects designs - 31 healthy males in Study 1 and 42 healthy subjects (22 female) in Study 2 - we measured trait negative affect (NA) and presented emotional and neutral pictures. In Study 1, we manipulated endogenous cortisol levels using a speech stressor following encoding. In Study 2, using a randomized placebo-controlled design, we pharmacologically manipulated cortisol levels prior to encoding (0.1mg/kg hydrocortisone vs. saline infused over 30min). Free recall for pictures was subsequently assessed. Trait NA repeatedly moderated the relationship between cortisol and memory formation. Findings suggested the speculative conclusion that the direction of effects may vary by sex. In males, cortisol was related to memory facilitation in subjects with lower Trait NA. Conversely, females with higher Trait NA showed greater cortisol-related increases in memory. Trait NA may be a stable inter-individual difference predicting neurocognitive effects of cortisol during stressors. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of safety behaviour on the maintenance of anxiety and negative belief social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Okajima, Isa; Kanai, Yoshihiro; Chen, Junwen; Sakano, Yuji

2009-01-01

Safety behaviour plays an important role in the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD). SAD patients engage in various safety behaviours in social situations in order to decrease the risk of negative evaluations from others. The present study examined the effect of safety behaviour on the maintenance of anxiety and negative belief in SAD by using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Participants were a healthy group (442) and a SAD group (46) who met the SAD criteria for DSM-IV and who had high scores of SAD symptoms. In the assumed maintenance model, independence variables were safety and avoidance behaviour and dependence variables were anxiety and negative belief. This result showed that the SAD group significantly has more high scores than the healthy group in all scales of anxiety, negative belief and avoidance behaviour, expect for safety behaviour. The result of the multiple-group procedure indicated that safety behaviour contributes more strongly to anxiety and negative belief in the SAD group than in the healthy group. It is speculated that the SAD group have a stronger link between safety behaviour and negative belief than the healthy group, whereas frequency of the use of safety behaviour is equivalent between two groups. These results support the findings of previous studies.

Effects of prenatal substance exposure on infant temperament vary by context.

PubMed

Locke, Robin L; Lagasse, Linda L; Seifer, Ronald; Lester, Barry M; Shankaran, Seetha; Bada, Henrietta S; Bauer, Charles R

2016-05-01

This was a prospective longitudinal multisite study of the effects of prenatal cocaine and/or opiate exposure on temperament in 4-month-olds of the Maternal Lifestyle Study (N = 958: 366 cocaine exposed, 37 opiate exposed, 33 exposed to both drugs, 522 matched comparison). The study evaluated positivity and negativity during The Behavior Assessment of Infant Temperament (Garcia Coll et al., 1988). Parents rated temperament (Infant Behavior Questionnaire; Rothbart, 1981). Cocaine-exposed infants showed less positivity overall, mainly during activity and threshold items, more negativity during sociability items, and less negativity during irritability and threshold items. Latent profile analysis indicated individual temperament patterns were best described by three groups: low/moderate overall reactivity, high social negative reactivity, and high nonsocial negative reactivity. Infants with heavy cocaine exposure were more likely in high social negative reactivity profile, were less negative during threshold items, and required longer soothing intervention. Cocaine- and opiate-exposed infants scored lower on Infant Behavior Questionnaire smiling and laughter and duration of orienting scales. Opiate-exposed infants were rated as less respondent to soothing. By including a multitask measure of temperament we were able to show context-specific behavioral dysregulation in prenatally cocaine-exposed infants. The findings indicate flatter temperament may be specific to nonsocial contexts, whereas social interactions may be more distressing for cocaine-exposed infants.

A perfect storm: examining the synergistic effects of negative and positive emotional instability on promoting weight loss activities in anorexia nervosa

PubMed Central

Selby, Edward A.; Cornelius, Talea; Fehling, Kara B.; Kranzler, Amy; Panza, Emily A.; Lavender, Jason M.; Wonderlich, Stephen A.; Crosby, Ross D.; Engel, Scott G.; Mitchell, James E.; Crow, Scott J.; Peterson, Carol B.; Grange, Daniel Le

2015-01-01

Growing evidence indicates that both positive and negative emotion potentially influence the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa, through both positive and negative reinforcement of weight loss activities. Such reactive emotional experience may be characterized by frequent and intense fluctuations in emotion, a construct known as “emotional instability.” The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between positive emotional instability and weight loss activities in anorexia nervosa, and to investigate the synergistic effects of positive and negative emotional instability on promoting weight loss activities. Using ecological momentary assessment methods, 118 participants with anorexia nervosa reported their emotional experiences and behaviors at least six times daily over 2 weeks using a portable digital device. Using generalized linear modeling, results indicated that high levels of both positive and negative emotional instability, and the interaction between the two, were associated with more frequent weight-loss activities, beyond anorexia subtype and mean levels of emotional intensity. These findings indicate that when women with anorexia exhibit both high levels of both positive and negative emotional instability they are more prone to a variety of weight loss activities. The importance of addressing the role of both positive and negative emotion in anorexia treatment is discussed. PMID:26379588

Shedding light on the association between repetitive negative thinking and deficits in cognitive control - A meta-analysis.

PubMed

Zetsche, Ulrike; Bürkner, Paul-Christian; Schulze, Lars

2018-06-11

Individuals who experience recurrent negative thoughts are at elevated risk for mood and anxiety disorders. It is thus essential to understand why some individuals get stuck in recurrent negative thinking (RNT), whereas others are able to disengage eventually. Theoretical models propose that individuals high in recurrent negative thinking suffer from deficits in controlling the contents of working memory. Empirical findings, however, are inconclusive. In this meta-analysis, we synthesize findings from 94 studies to examine the proposed association between RNT and deficits in cognitive control. We included numerous effect sizes not reported in the primary publications. Moderator analyses tested the influence of variables, such as stimuli valence, cognitive control function (e.g., shifting, discarding), or type of RNT (i.e., rumination or worry). Results demonstrated an association between repetitive negative thinking and deficits in only one specific cognitive control function, namely difficulty discarding no longer relevant material from working memory (r = -0.20). This association remained significant after controlling for level of psychopathology. There was no substantial association between RNT and deficits in any other cognitive control function. All other moderators were not significant. We discuss limitations (e.g., primary sample sizes, reliability of paradigms) and highlight implications for future research and clinical interventions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variations in Social Network Type Membership Among Older African Americans, Caribbean Blacks, and Non-Hispanic Whites

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Abstract Objectives: This study examined race differences in the probability of belonging to a specific social network typology of family, friends, and church members. Method: Samples of African Americans, Caribbean blacks, and non-Hispanic whites aged 55+ were drawn from the National Survey of American Life. Typology indicators related to social integration and negative interactions with family, friendship, and church networks were used. Latent class analysis was used to identify typologies, and latent class multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the influence of race, and interactions between race and age, and race and education on typology membership. Results: Four network typologies were identified: optimal (high social integration, low negative interaction), family-centered (high social integration within primarily the extended family network, low negative interaction), strained (low social integration, high negative interaction), and ambivalent (high social integration and high negative interaction). Findings for race and age and race and education interactions indicated that the effects of education and age on typology membership varied by race. Discussion: Overall, the findings demonstrate how race interacts with age and education to influence the probability of belonging to particular network types. A better understanding of the influence of race, education, and age on social network typologies will inform future research and theoretical developments in this area. PMID:28329871

Linking masculinity to negative drinking consequences: the mediating roles of heavy episodic drinking and alcohol expectancies.

PubMed

Wells, Samantha; Flynn, Andrea; Tremblay, Paul F; Dumas, Tara; Miller, Peter; Graham, Kathryn

2014-05-01

This study extends previous research on masculinity and negative drinking consequences among young men by considering mediating effects of heavy episodic drinking (HED) and alcohol expectancies. We hypothesized that masculinity would have a direct relationship with negative consequences from drinking as well as indirect relationships mediated by HED and alcohol expectancies of courage, risk, and aggression. A random sample of 1,436 college and university men ages 19-25 years completed an online survey, including conformity to masculine norms, alcohol-related expectancies, HED, and negative drinking consequences. Regression analyses and structural equation modeling were used. Six of seven dimensions of masculinity and the alcohol expectancy scales were significantly associated with both HED and negative consequences. In multivariate regression models predicting HED and negative consequences, the playboy and violence dimensions of masculinity and the risk/aggression alcohol expectancy remained significant. HED and the risk-taking dimension of masculinity were also significant in the model predicting negative consequences. The structural equation model indicated that masculinity was directly associated with HED and negative consequences but also influenced negative consequences indirectly through HED and alcohol expectancies. The findings suggest that, among young adult male college and university students, masculinity is an important factor related to both HED and drinking consequences, with the latter effect partly mediated by HED and alcohol expectancies. Addressing male norms about masculinity may help to reduce HED and negative consequences from drinking.

Treatment of negative symptoms: Where do we stand, and where do we go?

PubMed

Aleman, André; Lincoln, Tania M; Bruggeman, Richard; Melle, Ingrid; Arends, Johan; Arango, Celso; Knegtering, Henderikus

2017-08-01

Negative symptoms, e.g. social withdrawal, reduced initiative, anhedonia and affective flattening, are notoriously difficult to treat. In this review, we take stock of recent research into treatment of negative symptoms by summarizing psychosocial as well as pharmacological and other biological treatment strategies. Major psychosocial approaches concern social skills training, cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis, cognitive remediation and family intervention. Some positive findings have been reported, with the most robust improvements observed for social skills training. Although cognitive behavior therapy shows significant effects for negative symptoms as a secondary outcome measure, there is a lack of data to allow for definite conclusions of its effectiveness for patients with predominant negative symptoms. With regard to pharmacological interventions, antipsychotics have been shown to improve negative symptoms, but this seems to be limited to secondary negative symptoms in acute patients. It has also been suggested that antipsychotics may aggravate negative symptoms. Recent studies have investigated glutamatergic compounds, e.g. glycine receptor inhibitors and drugs that target the NMDA receptor or metabotropic glutamate 2/3 (mGlu2/3) receptor, but no consistent evidence of improvement of negative symptoms was found. Finally, some small studies have suggested improvement of negative symptoms after non-invasive electromagnetic neurostimulation, but this has only been partly replicated and it is still unclear whether these are robust improvements. We address methodological issues, in particular the heterogeneity of negative symptoms and treatment response, and suggest avenues for future research. There is a need for more detailed studies that focus on different dimensions of negative symptoms. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Impact of Leisure-Time Television on School Learning: A Research Synthesis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Patricia A.; And Others

1982-01-01

To integrate empirical findings concerning the impact of leisure time television viewing on student achievement in grades K-12, 274 correlations were assembled from 23 studies. The effects were slightly positive for up to 10 hours of viewing a week, but beyond 10 hours the effects are negative and increasingly more deleterious. (Author/BW)

Comparative Analysis of Students Training Needs Regarding Internet and Its Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turturean, Monica; Turturean, Ciprian

2012-01-01

In this article we will try to realize a comparative study in order to find out if the internet has a positive or a negative role for undergraduate's university students. The purpose of this study is to identify the perception of undergraduate university students regarding the effects of the internet for their scientific activities and their…

Class Size and Student Evaluations in Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westerlund, Joakim

2008-01-01

This paper examines the effect of class size on student evaluations of the quality of an introductory mathematics course at Lund University in Sweden. In contrast to much other studies, we find a large negative, and statistically significant, effect of class size on the quality of the course. This result appears to be quite robust, as almost all…

Religious Orientation and Mental Health Measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trent, James R.; And Others

While previous research has provided varied findings about the effect of religion on people and society, no final conclusion has been drawn about the effect (either positive or negative) of religion on personal mental health. For this research project on how people with different levels of religiousness would score on the Minnnesota Multiphasic…

From Natural Variation to Optimal Policy? The Lucas Critique Meets Peer Effects. NBER Working Paper No. 16865

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrell, Scott E.; Sacerdote, Bruce I.; West, James E.

2011-01-01

We take cohorts of entering freshmen at the United States Air Force Academy and assign half to peer groups with the goal of maximizing the academic performance of the lowest ability students. Our assignment algorithm uses peer effects estimates from the observational data. We find a negative and significant treatment effect for the students we…

The Geography of Economics and Happiness: Spatial Patterns in the Effects of Economic Conditions on Well-Being

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanca, Luca

2010-01-01

This paper investigates the cross-country distribution of the relationship between economic conditions and well-being. Using a large sample of individuals from 94 countries worldwide, we find that the effect of income on well-being is larger in countries with lower GDP per capita, while the negative effect of being unemployed is stronger in…

Automatic affective processing impairments in patients with deficit syndrome schizophrenia.

PubMed

Strauss, Gregory P; Allen, Daniel N; Duke, Lisa A; Ross, Sylvia A; Schwartz, Jason

2008-07-01

Affective impairments were examined in patients with and without deficit syndrome schizophrenia. Two Emotional Stroop tasks designed to measure automatic processing of emotional information were administered to deficit (n=15) and non-deficit syndrome (n=26) schizophrenia patients classified according to the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome, and matched non-patient control subjects (n=22). In comparison to non-deficit patients and controls, deficit syndrome patients demonstrated a lack of attention bias for positive information, and an elevated attentional lingering effect for negative information. These findings suggest that positive information fails to automatically capture attention of deficit syndrome patients, and that when negative information captures attention, it produces difficulty in disengagement Attentional abnormalities were significantly correlated with negative symptoms, such that more severe symptoms were associated with less attention bias for positive emotion and a greater lingering effect for negative information. Results are generally consistent with a mood-congruent processing abnormality and suggest that impaired automatic processing may be core to diminished emotional experience symptoms exhibited in deficit syndrome patients.

Impact of daily mood, work hours, and iso-strain variables on self-reported health behaviors.

PubMed

Jones, Fiona; O'Connor, Daryl B; Conner, Mark; McMillan, Brian; Ferguson, Eamonn

2007-11-01

Four hundred and twenty-two employees completed daily diaries measuring positive affect, negative affect, work hours, and health behaviors (snacking, smoking, exercise, alcohol, caffeine consumption) on work days over a 4-week period. In addition, measures of job demands, job control, and social support (iso-strain variables) were completed on 1 occasion. Multilevel random coefficient modeling was used to examine relationships between the job characteristics, daily work variables, and self-reported health behaviors. Results indicated a more important role for within-person daily fluctuations than for between-persons variations in predicting health behaviors. Whereas negative affect was negatively related to health behavior for both men and women, work hours had negative impacts for women only. Iso-strain variables showed few main effects and a modest number of interactions with daily variables (mainly for men). Findings point to the limited impact of stable features of work design compared to the effects of daily work stressors on health behaviors. (c) 2007 APA

Associations Between Negative and Positive Life Events and the Course of Depression: A Detailed Repeated-Assessments Study.

PubMed

Blonski, Simon C; Conradi, Henk Jan; Oldehinkel, Albertina J; Bos, Elisabeth Henriette; de Jonge, Peter

2016-03-01

Although the effects of life events on the onset of depression are well documented, little is known regarding their effects on the course of symptoms in depressed persons. We prospectively examined the associations between negative and positive life events and the course of depressive symptomatology in depressed primary care patients. A total of 267 depressed patients were followed for 3 years using a repeated-assessments design consisting of 36 monthly assessments of the 9 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders depression symptoms and positive and negative life events. We examined whether the severity of depressive symptomatology changed directly after the occurrence of a life event. Negative events were not associated with short-term changes in depressive symptomatology. In contrast, positive events were followed by a significant decrease in depressive symptoms one and two months after their occurrence. These findings may translate into emphasis during treatment on engagement in activities that may increase the chance of positive life experiences.

Let It Go: Lingering Negative Affect in Response to Daily Stressors Is Associated With Physical Health Years Later.

PubMed

Leger, Kate A; Charles, Susan T; Almeida, David M

2018-03-01

The way we respond to life's daily stressors has strong implications for our physical health. Researchers have documented the detrimental effects of initial emotional reactivity to daily stressors on future physical health outcomes but have yet to examine the effects of emotions that linger after a stressor occurs. The current study investigated how negative affect that lingers the day after a minor stressor occurs is associated with health-related outcomes. Participants ( N = 1,155) in a community-based, nationwide study answered questions about daily stressors and affect across 8 consecutive days and about their physical health almost 10 years later. Multilevel models indicated that people experience heightened levels of negative affect the day after a stressor occurs. Furthermore, higher levels of lingering negative affect are associated with greater numbers of chronic conditions and worse functional limitations 10 years later. Findings suggest that affective recovery from daily stressors has unique importance for long-term physical health.

A Normalization Framework for Emotional Attention

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xilin; Japee, Shruti; Safiullah, Zaid; Ungerleider, Leslie G.

2016-01-01

The normalization model of attention proposes that attention can affect performance by response- or contrast-gain changes, depending on the size of the stimulus and attention field. Here, we manipulated the attention field by emotional valence, negative faces versus positive faces, while holding stimulus size constant in a spatial cueing task. We observed changes in the cueing effect consonant with changes in response gain for negative faces and contrast gain for positive faces. Neuroimaging experiments confirmed that subjects’ attention fields were narrowed for negative faces and broadened for positive faces. Importantly, across subjects, the self-reported emotional strength of negative faces and positive faces correlated, respectively, both with response- and contrast-gain changes and with primary visual cortex (V1) narrowed and broadened attention fields. Effective connectivity analysis showed that the emotional valence-dependent attention field was closely associated with feedback from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to V1. These findings indicate a crucial involvement of DLPFC in the normalization processes of emotional attention. PMID:27870851

A Normalization Framework for Emotional Attention.

PubMed

Zhang, Xilin; Japee, Shruti; Safiullah, Zaid; Mlynaryk, Nicole; Ungerleider, Leslie G

2016-11-01

The normalization model of attention proposes that attention can affect performance by response- or contrast-gain changes, depending on the size of the stimulus and attention field. Here, we manipulated the attention field by emotional valence, negative faces versus positive faces, while holding stimulus size constant in a spatial cueing task. We observed changes in the cueing effect consonant with changes in response gain for negative faces and contrast gain for positive faces. Neuroimaging experiments confirmed that subjects' attention fields were narrowed for negative faces and broadened for positive faces. Importantly, across subjects, the self-reported emotional strength of negative faces and positive faces correlated, respectively, both with response- and contrast-gain changes and with primary visual cortex (V1) narrowed and broadened attention fields. Effective connectivity analysis showed that the emotional valence-dependent attention field was closely associated with feedback from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to V1. These findings indicate a crucial involvement of DLPFC in the normalization processes of emotional attention.

Reward devaluation: Dot-probe meta-analytic evidence of avoidance of positive information in depressed persons.

PubMed

Winer, E Samuel; Salem, Taban

2016-01-01

Cognitive theories of depression and anxiety have traditionally emphasized the role of attentional biases in the processing of negative information. The dot-probe task has been widely used to study this phenomenon. Recent findings suggest that biased processing of positive information might also be an important aspect of developing psychopathological symptoms. However, despite some evidence suggesting persons with symptoms of depression and anxiety may avoid positive information, many dot-probe studies have produced null findings. The present review used conventional and novel meta-analytic methods to evaluate dot-probe attentional biases away from positive information and, for comparison, toward negative information, in depressed and anxious individuals. Results indicated that avoidance of positive information is a real effect exhibiting substantial evidential value among persons experiencing psychopathology, with individuals evidencing primary symptoms of depression clearly demonstrating this effect. Different theoretical explanations for these findings are evaluated, including those positing threat-processing structures, even-handedness, self-regulation, and reward devaluation, with the novel theory of reward devaluation emphasized and expanded. These novel findings and theory suggest that avoidance of prospective reward helps to explain the cause and sustainability of depressed states. Suggestions for future research and methodological advances are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Work-family spillover and metabolic syndrome indicators: Findings from a national sample.

PubMed

Versey, H Shellae; Tan, Mingxuan

2018-03-01

This study examines the link between negative work-family spillover and metabolic risk factors over a 9-year period. Data from two waves of the Midlife in the United States Survey were used to explore relationships between negative work-family spillover and four indicators of metabolic syndrome-blood pressure, triglycerides, body mass index, and glucose levels. In a sample of full-time working men and women ( N = 630), increased negative spillover at baseline significantly predicted higher body mass index nearly a decade later, with a marginally significant effect for triglyceride levels. Increases in spillover also body mass index and glucose levels at follow-up. This study extends research tying work-life spillover to health and suggests that further investigation is needed to fully understand the long-term effects of work stress.

Combined effects of positive and negative affectivity and job satisfaction on job performance and turnover intentions.

PubMed

Bouckenooghe, Dave; Raja, Usman; Butt, Arif Nazir

2013-01-01

Capturing data from employee-supervisor dyads (N = 321) from eight organizations in Pakistan, including human service organizations, an electronics assembly plant, a packaging material manufacturing company, and a small food processing plant, we used moderated regression analysis to examine whether the relationships between trait affect (positive affectivity [PA] and negative affectivity [NA]) and two key work outcome variables (job performance and turnover) are contingent upon the level of job satisfaction. We applied the Trait Activation Theory to explain the moderating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between affect and performance and between affect and turnover. Overall, the data supported our hypotheses. Positive and negative affectivity influenced performance and the intention to quit, and job satisfaction moderated these relationships. We discuss in detail the results of these findings and their implications for research and practice.

Negative Effects of Psychological Treatments: An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Negative Effects Questionnaire for Monitoring and Reporting Adverse and Unwanted Events

PubMed Central

Kottorp, Anders; Boettcher, Johanna; Andersson, Gerhard; Carlbring, Per

2016-01-01

Research conducted during the last decades has provided increasing evidence for the use of psychological treatments for a number of psychiatric disorders and somatic complaints. However, by focusing only on the positive outcomes, less attention has been given to the potential of negative effects. Despite indications of deterioration and other adverse and unwanted events during treatment, little is known about their occurrence and characteristics. Hence, in order to facilitate research of negative effects, a new instrument for monitoring and reporting their incidence and impact was developed using a consensus among researchers, self-reports by patients, and a literature review: the Negative Effects Questionnaire. Participants were recruited via a smartphone-delivered self-help treatment for social anxiety disorder and through the media (N = 653). An exploratory factor analysis was performed, resulting in a six-factor solution with 32 items, accounting for 57.64% of the variance. The derived factors were: symptoms, quality, dependency, stigma, hopelessness, and failure. Items related to unpleasant memories, stress, and anxiety were experienced by more than one-third of the participants. Further, increased or novel symptoms, as well as lack of quality in the treatment and therapeutic relationship rendered the highest self-reported negative impact. In addition, the findings were discussed in relation to prior research and other similar instruments of adverse and unwanted events, giving credence to the items that are included. The instrument is presently available in eleven different languages and can be freely downloaded and used from www.neqscale.com. PMID:27331907

Negative Effects of Psychological Treatments: An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Negative Effects Questionnaire for Monitoring and Reporting Adverse and Unwanted Events.

PubMed

Rozental, Alexander; Kottorp, Anders; Boettcher, Johanna; Andersson, Gerhard; Carlbring, Per

2016-01-01

Research conducted during the last decades has provided increasing evidence for the use of psychological treatments for a number of psychiatric disorders and somatic complaints. However, by focusing only on the positive outcomes, less attention has been given to the potential of negative effects. Despite indications of deterioration and other adverse and unwanted events during treatment, little is known about their occurrence and characteristics. Hence, in order to facilitate research of negative effects, a new instrument for monitoring and reporting their incidence and impact was developed using a consensus among researchers, self-reports by patients, and a literature review: the Negative Effects Questionnaire. Participants were recruited via a smartphone-delivered self-help treatment for social anxiety disorder and through the media (N = 653). An exploratory factor analysis was performed, resulting in a six-factor solution with 32 items, accounting for 57.64% of the variance. The derived factors were: symptoms, quality, dependency, stigma, hopelessness, and failure. Items related to unpleasant memories, stress, and anxiety were experienced by more than one-third of the participants. Further, increased or novel symptoms, as well as lack of quality in the treatment and therapeutic relationship rendered the highest self-reported negative impact. In addition, the findings were discussed in relation to prior research and other similar instruments of adverse and unwanted events, giving credence to the items that are included. The instrument is presently available in eleven different languages and can be freely downloaded and used from www.neqscale.com.

Effects of Medicare payment changes on nursing home staffing and deficiencies.

PubMed

Konetzka, R Tamara; Yi, Deokhee; Norton, Edward C; Kilpatrick, Kerry E

2004-06-01

To investigate the effects of Medicare's Prospective Payment System (PPS) for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and associated rate changes on quality of care as represented by staffing ratios and regulatory deficiencies. Online Survey, Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) data from 1996-2000 were linked with Area Resource File (ARF) and Medicare Cost Report data to form a panel dataset. A difference-in-differences model was used to assess effects of the PPS and the BBRA (Balanced Budget Refinement Act) on staffing and deficiencies, a design that allows the separation of the effects of the policies from general trends. Ordinary least squares and negative binomial models were used. The OSCAR and Medicare Cost Report data are self-reported by nursing facilities; ARF data are publicly available. Data were linked by provider ID and county. We find that professional staffing decreased and regulatory deficiencies increased with PPS, and that both effects were mitigated with the BBRA rate increases. The effects appear to increase with the percent of Medicare residents in the facility except, in some cases, at the highest percentage of Medicare. The findings on staffing are statistically significant. The effects on deficiencies, though exhibiting consistent signs and magnitudes with the staffing results, are largely insignificant. Medicare's PPS system and associated rate cuts for SNFs have had a negative effect on staffing and regulatory compliance. Further research is necessary to determine whether these changes are associated with worse outcomes. Findings from this investigation could help guide policy modifications that support the provision of quality nursing home care.

Estimating earnings losses due to mental illness: a quantile regression approach.

PubMed

Marcotte, Dave E; Wilcox-Gök, Virginia

2003-09-01

The ability of workers to remain productive and sustain earnings when afflicted with mental illness depends importantly on access to appropriate treatment and on flexibility and support from employers. In the United States there is substantial variation in access to health care and sick leave and other employment flexibilities across the earnings distribution. Consequently, a worker's ability to work and how much his/her earnings are impeded likely depend upon his/her position in the earnings distribution. Because of this, focusing on average earnings losses may provide insufficient information on the impact of mental illness in the labor market. In this paper, we examine the effects of mental illness on earnings by recognizing that effects could vary across the distribution of earnings. Using data from the National Comorbidity Survey, we employ a quantile regression estimator to identify the effects at key points in the earnings distribution. We find that earnings effects vary importantly across the distribution. While average effects are often not large, mental illness more commonly imposes earnings losses at the lower tail of the distribution, especially for women. In only one case do we find an illness to have negative effects across the distribution. Mental illness can have larger negative impacts on economic outcomes than previously estimated, even if those effects are not uniform. Consequently, researchers and policy makers alike should not be placated by findings that mean earnings effects are relatively small. Such estimates miss important features of how and where mental illness is associated with real economic losses for the ill.

Emotion word processing: does mood make a difference?

PubMed

Sereno, Sara C; Scott, Graham G; Yao, Bo; Thaden, Elske J; O'Donnell, Patrick J

2015-01-01

Visual emotion word processing has been in the focus of recent psycholinguistic research. In general, emotion words provoke differential responses in comparison to neutral words. However, words are typically processed within a context rather than in isolation. For instance, how does one's inner emotional state influence the comprehension of emotion words? To address this question, the current study examined lexical decision responses to emotionally positive, negative, and neutral words as a function of induced mood as well as their word frequency. Mood was manipulated by exposing participants to different types of music. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions-no music, positive music, and negative music. Participants' moods were assessed during the experiment to confirm the mood induction manipulation. Reaction time results confirmed prior demonstrations of an interaction between a word's emotionality and its frequency. Results also showed a significant interaction between participant mood and word emotionality. However, the pattern of results was not consistent with mood-congruency effects. Although positive and negative mood facilitated responses overall in comparison to the control group, neither positive nor negative mood appeared to additionally facilitate responses to mood-congruent words. Instead, the pattern of findings seemed to be the consequence of attentional effects arising from induced mood. Positive mood broadens attention to a global level, eliminating the category distinction of positive-negative valence but leaving the high-low arousal dimension intact. In contrast, negative mood narrows attention to a local level, enhancing within-category distinctions, in particular, for negative words, resulting in less effective facilitation.

Stress and Negative Relationship Quality among Older Couples: Implications for Blood Pressure.

PubMed

Birditt, Kira S; Newton, Nicky J; Cranford, James A; Ryan, Lindsay H

2016-09-01

The cardiovascular system may represent a significant pathway by which marriage and stress influence health, but research has focused on married individuals cross-sectionally. This study examined associations among chronic stress, negative spousal relationship quality, and systolic blood pressure over time among middle-aged and older husbands and wives. Participants were from the nationally representative longitudinal Health and Retirement Study. A total of 1,356 (N = 2,712) married and cohabitating couples completed psychosocial and biomeasure assessments in waves 2006 and 2010. Analyses examined whether Wave 1 (2006) relationship quality and stress were associated with changes in blood pressure over time. The effects of stress and negative relationship quality were dyadic and varied by gender. Husbands had increased blood pressure when wives reported greater stress, and this link was exacerbated by negative spousal relationship quality. Negative relationship quality predicted increased blood pressure when both members of the couple reported negative quality relations. Findings support the dyadic biopsychosocial model of marriage and health indicating: (a) stress and relationship quality directly effect the cardiovascular system, (b) relationship quality moderates the effect of stress, and (c) the dyad rather than only the individual should be considered when examining marriage and health. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Comparing the effects of positive and negative feedback in information-integration category learning.

PubMed

Freedberg, Michael; Glass, Brian; Filoteo, J Vincent; Hazeltine, Eliot; Maddox, W Todd

2017-01-01

Categorical learning is dependent on feedback. Here, we compare how positive and negative feedback affect information-integration (II) category learning. Ashby and O'Brien (2007) demonstrated that both positive and negative feedback are required to solve II category problems when feedback was not guaranteed on each trial, and reported no differences between positive-only and negative-only feedback in terms of their effectiveness. We followed up on these findings and conducted 3 experiments in which participants completed 2,400 II categorization trials across three days under 1 of 3 conditions: positive feedback only (PFB), negative feedback only (NFB), or both types of feedback (CP; control partial). An adaptive algorithm controlled the amount of feedback given to each group so that feedback was nearly equated. Using different feedback control procedures, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that participants in the NFB and CP group were able to engage II learning strategies, whereas the PFB group was not. Additionally, the NFB group was able to achieve significantly higher accuracy than the PFB group by Day 3. Experiment 3 revealed that these differences remained even when we equated the information received on feedback trials. Thus, negative feedback appears significantly more effective for learning II category structures. This suggests that the human implicit learning system may be capable of learning in the absence of positive feedback.

Aberrant interference of auditory negative words on attention in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Iwashiro, Norichika; Yahata, Noriaki; Kawamuro, Yu; Kasai, Kiyoto; Yamasue, Hidenori

2013-01-01

Previous research suggests that deficits in attention-emotion interaction are implicated in schizophrenia symptoms. Although disruption in auditory processing is crucial in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, deficits in interaction between emotional processing of auditorily presented language stimuli and auditory attention have not yet been clarified. To address this issue, the current study used a dichotic listening task to examine 22 patients with schizophrenia and 24 age-, sex-, parental socioeconomic background-, handedness-, dexterous ear-, and intelligence quotient-matched healthy controls. The participants completed a word recognition task on the attended side in which a word with emotionally valenced content (negative/positive/neutral) was presented to one ear and a different neutral word was presented to the other ear. Participants selectively attended to either ear. In the control subjects, presentation of negative but not positive word stimuli provoked a significantly prolonged reaction time compared with presentation of neutral word stimuli. This interference effect for negative words existed whether or not subjects directed attention to the negative words. This interference effect was significantly smaller in the patients with schizophrenia than in the healthy controls. Furthermore, the smaller interference effect was significantly correlated with severe positive symptoms and delusional behavior in the patients with schizophrenia. The present findings suggest that aberrant interaction between semantic processing of negative emotional content and auditory attention plays a role in production of positive symptoms in schizophrenia. (224 words).

Visual short-term memory load modulates the early attention and perception of task-irrelevant emotional faces

PubMed Central

Yang, Ping; Wang, Min; Jin, Zhenlan; Li, Ling

2015-01-01

The ability to focus on task-relevant information, while suppressing distraction, is critical for human cognition and behavior. Using a delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) task, we investigated the effects of emotional face distractors (positive, negative, and neutral faces) on early and late phases of visual short-term memory (VSTM) maintenance intervals, using low and high VSTM loads. Behavioral results showed decreased accuracy and delayed reaction times (RTs) for high vs. low VSTM load. Event-related potentials (ERPs) showed enhanced frontal N1 and occipital P1 amplitudes for negative faces vs. neutral or positive faces, implying rapid attentional alerting effects and early perceptual processing of negative distractors. However, high VSTM load appeared to inhibit face processing in general, showing decreased N1 amplitudes and delayed P1 latencies. An inverse correlation between the N1 activation difference (high-load minus low-load) and RT costs (high-load minus low-load) was found at left frontal areas when viewing negative distractors, suggesting that the greater the inhibition the lower the RT cost for negative faces. Emotional interference effect was not found in the late VSTM-related parietal P300, frontal positive slow wave (PSW) and occipital negative slow wave (NSW) components. In general, our findings suggest that the VSTM load modulates the early attention and perception of emotional distractors. PMID:26388763

Development of CMV retinitis in an antigenemia-negative infant after cord blood transplantation.

PubMed

Matsumoto, Akane; Umeda, Katsutsugu; Kawaguchi, Koji; Kawada, Koji; Maeda, Sayaka; Kinehara, Takako; Saida, Satoshi; Kato, Itaru; Hiramatsu, Hidefumi; Watanabe, Ken-Ichiro; Yasumi, Takahiro; Heike, Toshio; Tsujikawa, Akitaka; Uji, Akito; Usami, Ikuya; Ito, Kiminari; Adachi, Souichi

2015-05-01

A five-month-old male infant with familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis underwent cord blood transplantation using reduced-intensity conditioning. Methylprednisolone (mPSL) pulse administration was performed for marked pulmonary edema during the early phase of transplantation, followed by GVHD treatment with mPSL until day 100. CMV antigenemia was detected on days 27 and 55, but serum became negative with 2- to 3-week ganciclovir (GCV) treatment on both occasions. On day 120, ophthalmological findings included multiple bilateral white spots and a positive PCR study using anterior chamber fluid confirmed the diagnosis of CMV retinitis affecting both eyes, although CMV antigenemia was negative. Re-treatment with GCV had a minimal effect on the ophthalmological findings, while foscarnet administration markedly improved the retinitis and decreased the CMV-DNA level. Considering that a substantial proportion of patients develop CMV retinitis even when CMV antigenemia is not present, routine monitoring involving ophthalmological examinations should be conducted for hematopoietic transplant patients, especially infants, who cannot complain of ocular symptoms.

Valence modulates source memory for faces.

PubMed

Bell, Raoul; Buchner, Axel

2010-01-01

Previous studies in which the effects of emotional valence on old-new discrimination and source memory have been examined have yielded highly inconsistent results. Here, we present two experiments showing that old-new face discrimination was not affected by whether a face was associated with disgusting, pleasant, or neutral behavior. In contrast, source memory for faces associated with disgusting behavior (i.e., memory for the disgusting context in which the face was encountered) was consistently better than source memory for other types of faces. This data pattern replicates the findings of studies in which descriptions of cheating, neutral, and trustworthy behavior were used, which findings were previously ascribed to a highly specific cheater detection module. The present results suggest that the enhanced source memory for faces of cheaters is due to a more general source memory advantage for faces associated with negative or threatening contexts that may be instrumental in avoiding the negative consequences of encounters with persons associated with negative or threatening behaviors.

When good deeds leave a bad taste. Negative inferences from ethical food claims.

PubMed

Schuldt, Jonathon P; Hannahan, Mary

2013-03-01

Consumer research has demonstrated halo effects arising from advertising claims on food packaging (e.g., "organic," "no cholesterol") that promote misperceiving products more positively on other dimensions (e.g., low-calorie, low-fat). However, little research has explored the conditions under which such claims might give rise to more negative rather than positive evaluations. This paper highlights two domains of judgment in which an ethical or values-based claim ("organic") can promote negative impressions. In Study 1, participants judged organic foods relative to conventional foods on healthfulness and expected taste quality. Results suggest that whereas organics are perceived as more healthful than conventional foods (consistent with previous findings), they are also perceived as less tasty, especially among participants low in environmental concern. In Study 2, participants judged the effectiveness of a formula drink intended to help alleviate malnourishment that was described as organic or not, depending on experimental condition. Results showed that participants high in environmental concern (who typically evaluate organic products positively) judged the drink more negatively (i.e., as less effective) when it was described as "organic." Discussion focuses on possible mechanisms for these effects, as well as the moderating role of judgment type and perceivers' values in halo effects more broadly. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Structural Model of Depression Based on Interpersonal Relationships: The Mediating Role of Coping Strategies and Loneliness.

PubMed

Majd Ara, Elahe; Talepasand, Siavash; Rezaei, Ali Mohammad

2017-06-01

The present study was conducted with the aim of examining the structural model of interpersonal relationships and depression using coping strategies and loneliness as mediators. Using multistage random sampling, 301 high-school students were selected from Minudasht city, Iran. The participants were aksed to complete the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI); the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Lazarus and Folkman); the Children's Loneliness Scale (CLS); and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the pattern of direct and indirect effects. Findings of the present study show that the data are well fitted to the model. The indirect effect of the positive quality of relationships was significant on depression through loneliness. Moreover, the indirect effects of the negative quality of relationships on depression through loneliness and through emotion-focused coping strategies were statistically significant. Although the effect of loneliness and emotion-focused coping strategies on depression was significant, problem-focused coping strategies did not have a significant effect on depression. Additionally, the findings suggested that the indirect effect through loneliness on depression was stronger compared with the indirect effect through emotion-focused coping strategies. The positive or negative quality of interpersonal relationships, loneliness, and emotion-focused coping strategy can significantly predict depression.

Threats from patients and their effects on medical decision making: a cross-sectional, randomised trial.

PubMed

Kristiansen, I S; Førde, O H; Aasland, O; Hotvedt, R; Johnsen, R; Førde, R

2001-04-21

Negative experiences are not uncommon among doctors in Norway. Our aim was to find out about the various types of negative reactions (eg, complaints, negative exposure to the media, financial claims, and notification to the police) received by physicians from patients or relatives in response to treatment, to identify their cause, and to study their effects on subsequent clinical decisions. We posted questionnaires about negative reactions of patients to a random sample (n=1260) of Norwegian doctors. Each doctor was additionally sent five written case simulations and asked to choose one of several proposed clinical strategies. Half (630) the physicians received cases containing threats from the patient or their relatives. 988 (78%) physicians returned the questionnaire, 463 (47%) of whom reported negative experiences. Such experiences were reported more frequently by men (357 [51%]) and family physicians (157 [58%]) than by other participants. Negative experiences did not affect choice of strategy for case simulations. For the first case, chest pain, 217 (44%) physicians presented with a threat chose a defensive strategy compared with 145 (30%) of those who were not (difference 14%; 95% CI 8-20). For the second case, a headache case, the corresponding numbers were 278 (57%) and 118 (25%) (32%; 26-38). Physician age, sex, specialty, or experience of negative reactions of patients did not alter the effect of threats received during our study. Negative experiences do not affect subsequent decision making. However, doctors do comply with wishes from patients or relatives when presented with direct threats.

Explaining efficient search for conjunctions of motion and form: evidence from negative color effects.

PubMed

Dent, Kevin

2014-05-01

Dent, Humphreys, and Braithwaite (2011) showed substantial costs to search when a moving target shared its color with a group of ignored static distractors. The present study further explored the conditions under which such costs to performance occur. Experiment 1 tested whether the negative color-sharing effect was specific to cases in which search showed a highly serial pattern. The results showed that the negative color-sharing effect persisted in the case of a target defined as a conjunction of movement and form, even when search was highly efficient. In Experiment 2, the ease with which participants could find an odd-colored target amongst a moving group was examined. Participants searched for a moving target amongst moving and stationary distractors. In Experiment 2A, participants performed a highly serial search through a group of similarly shaped moving letters. Performance was much slower when the target shared its color with a set of ignored static distractors. The exact same displays were used in Experiment 2B; however, participants now responded "present" for targets that shared the color of the static distractors. The same targets that had previously been difficult to find were now found efficiently. The results are interpreted in a flexible framework for attentional control. Targets that are linked with irrelevant distractors by color tend to be ignored. However, this cost can be overridden by top-down control settings.

Effects of incentives on psychosocial performances in simulated space-dwelling groups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hienz, Robert D.; Brady, Joseph V.; Hursh, Steven R.; Gasior, Eric D.; Spence, Kevin R.; Emurian, Henry H.

Prior research with individually isolated 3-person crews in a distributed, interactive, planetary exploration simulation examined the effects of communication constraints and crew configuration changes on crew performance and psychosocial self-report measures. The present report extends these findings to a model of performance maintenance that operationalizes conditions under which disruptive affective responses by crew participants might be anticipated to emerge. Experiments evaluated the effects of changes in incentive conditions on crew performance and self-report measures in simulated space-dwelling groups. Crews participated in a simulated planetary exploration mission that required identification, collection, and analysis of geologic samples. Results showed that crew performance effectiveness was unaffected by either positive or negative incentive conditions, while self-report measures were differentially affected—negative incentive conditions produced pronounced increases in negative self-report ratings and decreases in positive self-report ratings, while positive incentive conditions produced increased positive self-report ratings only. Thus, incentive conditions associated with simulated spaceflight missions can significantly affect psychosocial adaptation without compromising task performance effectiveness in trained and experienced crews.

[The interactive effects of comparative advertising on brand and company image change].

PubMed

Hama, Y

1991-04-01

The purpose of the present study was: 1) to investigate the effects of two types of comparative advertising--Merit-type (emphasizing positive aspects of their own brand) and Demerit-type (pointing out negative aspects of the rival brand); and 2) to find an effective strategy against comparative advertising of a rival company. Subjects were shown advertisements, and were then asked to evaluate those advertisements (17 items), the brands and company images (3 items) for these two companies. The results are as follows: Comparative advertising, especially of the Demerit-type, was the most conspicuous type of advertising, which also had a significant negative effect on the perception of rival brands. However, this type of advertising also had a negative effect on his own advertising, the brands advertised, and the company itself. Furthermore, it was found that when a rival company uses Demerit-type advertising, it is better not to respond by the same type, but to respond by Merit-type advertising. In such a situation, positive image of his own brand and company become significantly higher.

The effects of a novel hostile interpretation bias modification paradigm on hostile interpretations, mood, and aggressive behavior.

PubMed

AlMoghrabi, Nouran; Huijding, Jorg; Franken, Ingmar H A

2018-03-01

Cognitive theories of aggression propose that biased information processing is causally related to aggression. To test these ideas, the current study investigated the effects of a novel cognitive bias modification paradigm (CBM-I) designed to target interpretations associated with aggressive behavior. Participants aged 18-33 years old were randomly assigned to either a single session of positive training (n = 40) aimed at increasing prosocial interpretations or negative training (n = 40) aimed at increasing hostile interpretations. The results revealed that the positive training resulted in an increase in prosocial interpretations while the negative training seemed to have no effect on interpretations. Importantly, in the positive condition, a positive change in interpretations was related to lower anger and verbal aggression scores after the training. In this condition, participants also reported an increase in happiness. In the negative training no such effects were found. However, the better participants performed on the negative training, the more their interpretations were changed in a negative direction and the more aggression they showed on the behavioral aggression task. Participants were healthy university students. Therefore, results should be confirmed within a clinical population. These findings provide support for the idea that this novel CBM-I paradigm can be used to modify interpretations, and suggests that these interpretations are related to mood and aggressive behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhancing nurses' empowerment: the role of supervisors' empowering management practices.

PubMed

Montani, Francesco; Courcy, François; Giorgi, Gabriele; Boilard, Amélie

2015-09-01

This study tests a theoretical model where: (a) nurses' dispositional resistance to change is indirectly negatively related to behavioural empowerment through the mediating role of psychological empowerment; and (b) supervisors' empowering management practices buffer both the negative relationship between dispositional resistance to change and psychological empowerment and the indirect negative relationship between resistance to change and behavioural empowerment via psychological empowerment. Promoting a high level of empowerment among nursing personnel is important to ensure their effectiveness in the context of organizational change. It is thus essential to advance our current understanding of the factors that hamper nurses' psychological and behavioural expressions of empowerment and to clarify supervisor practices that can overcome such barriers. A cross-sectional research design. We collected survey data during 2012 from a sample of 197 nurses from a Canadian hospital undergoing a major organizational change. Results from moderated mediation analyses provided evidence for an indirect negative relationship between dispositional resistance to change and behavioural empowerment through psychological empowerment, and for a moderating (buffering) effect of supervisors' empowering management practices on this mediated relationship. These findings provided support for our hypotheses. Supervisors' empowering management practices represent an important contextual buffer against the negative effects of dispositional resistance to change on nurses' empowerment. Organizations should develop empowering management skills among nurses' supervisors to counteract the detrimental effects of dispositional resistance to change and to sustain an empowered nursing workforce. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Positive and Negative Affect and Adolescent Adjustment: Moderation Effects of Prefrontal Functioning.

PubMed

Brieant, Alexis; Holmes, Christopher J; Maciejewski, Dominique; Lee, Jacob; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; King-Casas, Brooks; Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen

2018-03-01

We examined whether cognitive control moderates the effects of emotion on adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptomatology in a longitudinal study of 138 adolescents. Self-reported positive affect (PA) and negative affect and behavioral and neural indicators of cognitive control, indexed by performance and prefrontal hemodynamic response during a cognitive interference task, were collected at Time 1. Self-reported internalizing and externalizing symptomatology were collected at Time 1 and Time 2 (1 year later). Results indicated that higher PA predicted decreases in externalizing symptomatology, but only for adolescents with poor neural cognitive control. No moderation effects were found for behavioral cognitive control. Findings imply the beneficial effects of PA on the development of externalizing problems among adolescents with poor prefrontal functioning. © 2018 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Perception of intentions and actions: gender stereotype susceptibility.

PubMed

Pavlova, Marina A; Wecker, Matthias; Krombholz, Kerstin; Sokolov, Arseny A

2010-01-22

Gender differences are evident in the comprehension of social signals, but the underlying basis for these differences is unclear. There is some indication that gender effects have neurobiological sources. Here we manipulated stereotype messages about gender differences in a social cognition task, on which no gender gap has previously been documented. The outcome indicates that manipulation of stereotype messages elicits gender effects. A positive message enhances performance, whereas a negative message diminishes it. Furthermore, this effect is more pronounced in females, with a greater force of a negative stereotype message. The study provides novel insights into the possible sources of gender related fluctuations in social cognition. The findings are discussed in terms of behavioral components and brain mechanisms underpinning gender effects in social cognition. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhancing the effectiveness of antismoking messages via self-congruent appeals.

PubMed

Chang, Chingching

2009-01-01

A self-congruent effect model was applied to understand adolescents' responses to antismoking advertising that referred to the self or others. Experiment 1 showed that self-referring ads generated more negative smoking attitudes than other-referring ads among adolescents with independent self-construals, whereas other-referring ads generated more negative smoking attitudes than self-referring ads among adolescents with interdependent self-construals. A survey further showed that smokers rated themselves higher on a measure of independent self-construal than nonsmokers. Experiment 2 then found that self-referring ads are more effective than other-referring ads for smokers, who have independent self-construals. Findings supported the idea that health communication campaign designers can maximize message effectiveness by developing different messages for different target segments of the population based on their self-construals.

The influence of sleep complaints on the association between chronotype and negative emotionality in young adults.

PubMed

Simor, Péter; Zavecz, Zsófia; Pálosi, Vivien; Török, Csenge; Köteles, Ferenc

2015-02-01

A great body of research indicates that eveningness is associated with negative psychological outcomes, including depressive and anxiety symptoms, behavioral dyscontrol and different health impairing behaviors. Impaired subjective sleep quality, increased circadian misalignment and daytime sleepiness were also reported in evening-type individuals in comparison with morning-types. Although sleep problems were consistently reported to be associated with poor psychological functioning, the effects of sleep disruption on the relationship between eveningness preference and negative emotionality have scarcely been investigated. Here, based on questionnaire data of 756 individuals (25.5% males, age range = 18-43 years, mean = 25.3 ± 5.8 years), as well as of the evening-type (N = 211) and morning-type (N = 189) subgroups, we examined the relationship among sleep problems, eveningness and negative emotionality. Subjects completed the Hungarian Version of the Horne and Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ-14), The Athen Insomnia Scale (AIS) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Moreover, a composite score of Negative Emotionality (NE) was computed based on the scores of the Short Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-9), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Morning and evening circadian misalignment was calculated based on the difference between preferred and real wake- and bedtimes. Two possible models were tested, hypothesizing that sleep problems (circadian misalignment, insomniac symptoms and daytime sleepiness) moderate or mediate the association between eveningness and negative emotionality. Eveningness preference was correlated with increased NE and increased AIS, ESS and circadian misalignment scores. Our results indicate that eveningness-preference is an independent risk factor for higher negative emotionality regardless of the effects of age, gender, circadian misalignment and sleep complaints. Nevertheless, while chronotype explained ∼6%, sleep problems (AIS and ESS) accounted for a much larger proportion (∼28%) of the variance of NE. We did not find a significant effect of interaction (moderation) between chronotype and sleep problems. In contrast, insomniac symptoms (AIS) emerged as a partial mediator between chronotype and NE. These findings argue against the assumption that indicators of mental health problems in evening-type individuals can be explained exclusively on the basis of disturbed sleep. Nevertheless, negative psychological outcomes seem to be partially attributable to increased severity of insomniac complaints in evening-types.

Benefits of belonging: experimental manipulation of social inclusion to enhance psychological and physiological health parameters.

PubMed

Begen, Fiona M; Turner-Cobb, Julie M

2015-01-01

Acute changes in social belonging are important triggers for alterations in health and well-being, yet research has emphasised the negative effects of 'exclusion' at the expense of evaluating the potentially positive effects of 'inclusion'. This study examined the impact of acute belonging on physiological and psychological outcomes. A healthy population (N = 138) were randomly allocated to 'included' or 'excluded' conditions. Condition-dependent differences in pre/during-task heart rate and pre/post-task self-reports of negative/positive mood, and social self-esteem, were assessed. Included participants showed decreased heart rate and negative mood, and increased social self-esteem. No inclusion-related change in positive mood was shown. An increase in heart rate was observed in excluded participants though no changes in negative/positive mood or social self-esteem were shown. Shifts in social self-esteem acted as a mechanism through which inclusion/exclusion impacted upon negative and positive mood alterations. Results remained significant in presence of covariates (sex, global self-esteem, rumination and social anxiety). Findings suggest that acting to enhance belonging through 'inclusion' resulted in adaptive physiological and psychological outcomes. Neutral and potentially protective responses were observed in the immediate aftermath of 'exclusion'. Self-esteem served as one route through which these effects were transmitted.

Divided attention enhances the recognition of emotional stimuli: evidence from the attentional boost effect.

PubMed

Rossi-Arnaud, Clelia; Spataro, Pietro; Costanzi, Marco; Saraulli, Daniele; Cestari, Vincenzo

2018-01-01

The present study examined predictions of the early-phase-elevated-attention hypothesis of the attentional boost effect (ABE), which suggests that transient increases in attention at encoding, as instantiated in the ABE paradigm, should enhance the recognition of neutral and positive items (whose encoding is mostly based on controlled processes), while having small or null effects on the recognition of negative items (whose encoding is primarily based on automatic processes). Participants were presented a sequence of negative, neutral and positive stimuli (pictures in Experiment 1, words in Experiment 2) associated to target (red) squares, distractor (green) squares or no squares (baseline condition). They were told to attend to the pictures/words and simultaneously press the spacebar of the computer when a red square appeared. In a later recognition task, stimuli associated to target squares were recognised better than stimuli associated to distractor squares, replicating the standard ABE. More importantly, we also found that: (a) the memory enhancement following target detection occurred with all types of stimuli (neutral, negative and positive) and (b) the advantage of negative stimuli over neutral stimuli was intact in the DA condition. These findings suggest that the encoding of negative stimuli depends on both controlled (attention-dependent) and automatic (attention-independent) processes.

Perceived discrimination and poor health: Accounting for self-blame complicates a well-established relationship.

PubMed

Blodorn, Alison; Major, Brenda; Kaiser, Cheryl

2016-03-01

Past research has reliably demonstrated that both perceiving oneself as a target of discrimination and a tendency to blame negative events on oneself undermine psychological and physical health. These two literatures, however, have evolved largely independently of one another. The present research sought to develop a deeper understanding of the health effects of perceived discrimination by taking into account the relationship between perceived discrimination and self-blame. In two correlational studies, we examined perceived ethnic-based discrimination, self-blame, and psychological and physical health among White and ethnic minority adults residing in the United States. Contrary to the hypothesis that attributing negative events to discrimination leads to the discounting of self-blame, perceived discrimination and self-blame were positively related. Replicating past research, perceived discrimination was negatively related to health when examined as an independent predictor. When perceived discrimination and self-blame were examined as simultaneous predictors of health, however, the negative health effects of perceived discrimination were weakened. Furthermore, an alternative model revealed that perceived discrimination indirectly predicted decreased health through increased self-blame. The present findings highlight the importance of taking self-blame into account when assessing and interpreting the negative health effects of perceived discrimination. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of sensitivity to orthographic errors in children: An event-related potential study.

PubMed

Heldmann, Marcus; Puppe, Svetlana; Effenberg, Alfred O; Münte, Thomas F

2017-09-01

To study the development of orthographic sensitivity during elementary school, we recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) from 2nd and 4th grade children who were exposed to line drawing of object or animals upon which the correctly or incorrectly spelled name was superimposed. Stimulus-locked ERPs showed a modulation of a frontocentral negativity between 200 and 500ms which was larger for the 4th grade children but did not show an effect of correctness of spelling. This effect was followed by a pronounced positive shift which was only seen in the 4th grade children and which showed a modulation of spelling correctness. This effect can be seen as an electrophysiological correlate of orthographic sensitivity and replicates earlier findings in adults. Moreover, response-locked ERPs triggered to the children's button presses indicating orthographic (in)-correctness showed a succession of waves including the frontocentral error-related negativity and a subsequent negativity with a more posterior distribution. This latter negativity was generally larger for the 4th grade children. Only for the 4th grade children, this negativity was smaller for the false alarm trials suggesting a conscious registration of the error in these children. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

No evidence of the effect of extreme weather events on annual occurrence of four groups of ectothermic species.

PubMed

Malinowska, Agnieszka H; van Strien, Arco J; Verboom, Jana; WallisdeVries, Michiel F; Opdam, Paul

2014-01-01

Weather extremes may have strong effects on biodiversity, as known from theoretical and modelling studies. Predicted negative effects of increased weather variation are found only for a few species, mostly plants and birds in empirical studies. Therefore, we investigated correlations between weather variability and patterns in occupancy, local colonisations and local extinctions (metapopulation metrics) across four groups of ectotherms: Odonata, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, and Reptilia. We analysed data of 134 species on a 1×1 km-grid base, collected in the last 20 years from the Netherlands, combining standardised data and opportunistic data. We applied dynamic site-occupancy models and used the results as input for analyses of (i) trends in distribution patterns, (ii) the effect of temperature on colonisation and persistence probability, and (iii) the effect of years with extreme weather on all the three metapopulation metrics. All groups, except butterflies, showed more positive than negative trends in metapopulation metrics. We did not find evidence that the probability of colonisation or persistence increases with temperature nor that extreme weather events are reflected in higher extinction risks. We could not prove that weather extremes have visible and consistent negative effects on ectothermic species in temperate northern hemisphere. These findings do not confirm the general prediction that increased weather variability imperils biodiversity. We conclude that weather extremes might not be ecologically relevant for the majority of species. Populations might be buffered against weather variation (e.g. by habitat heterogeneity), or other factors might be masking the effects (e.g. availability and quality of habitat). Consequently, we postulate that weather extremes have less, or different, impact in real world metapopulations than theory and models suggest.

No Evidence of the Effect of Extreme Weather Events on Annual Occurrence of Four Groups of Ectothermic Species

PubMed Central

Malinowska, Agnieszka H.; van Strien, Arco J.; Verboom, Jana; WallisdeVries, Michiel F.; Opdam, Paul

2014-01-01

Weather extremes may have strong effects on biodiversity, as known from theoretical and modelling studies. Predicted negative effects of increased weather variation are found only for a few species, mostly plants and birds in empirical studies. Therefore, we investigated correlations between weather variability and patterns in occupancy, local colonisations and local extinctions (metapopulation metrics) across four groups of ectotherms: Odonata, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, and Reptilia. We analysed data of 134 species on a 1×1 km-grid base, collected in the last 20 years from the Netherlands, combining standardised data and opportunistic data. We applied dynamic site-occupancy models and used the results as input for analyses of (i) trends in distribution patterns, (ii) the effect of temperature on colonisation and persistence probability, and (iii) the effect of years with extreme weather on all the three metapopulation metrics. All groups, except butterflies, showed more positive than negative trends in metapopulation metrics. We did not find evidence that the probability of colonisation or persistence increases with temperature nor that extreme weather events are reflected in higher extinction risks. We could not prove that weather extremes have visible and consistent negative effects on ectothermic species in temperate northern hemisphere. These findings do not confirm the general prediction that increased weather variability imperils biodiversity. We conclude that weather extremes might not be ecologically relevant for the majority of species. Populations might be buffered against weather variation (e.g. by habitat heterogeneity), or other factors might be masking the effects (e.g. availability and quality of habitat). Consequently, we postulate that weather extremes have less, or different, impact in real world metapopulations than theory and models suggest. PMID:25330414

Leisure-time physical activity moderates the longitudinal associations between work-family spillover and physical health

PubMed Central

Lee, Bora; Lawson, Katie M.; Chang, Po-Ju; Neuendorf, Claudia; Dmitrieva, Natalia O.; Almeida, David M.

2014-01-01

Previous research has documented cross-sectional associations between negative and positive work-family spillover and physical health. Using an effort-recovery model, the study tested the hypothesis that engagement in greater leisure-time physical activity would facilitate recovery processes that buffer the negative health effects of increasing work-family spillover. Employed adults (N = 1,354) completed two waves of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS). Results indicated that an increase in negative work-family spillover across nine years was associated with decreased physical health and increased number of chronic conditions at Time 2. Moreover, more time spent on moderate leisure-time physical activity buffered many of the associations between increasing negative spillover and declining health. Implications of the findings are discussed. PMID:25999602

Positive and negative psychological impact after secondary exposure to politically motivated violence among body handlers and rehabilitation workers.

PubMed

Shiri, Shimon; Wexler, Isaiah D; Alkalay, Yasmin; Meiner, Zeev; Kreitler, Shulamith

2008-12-01

The positive and negative psychological impact of secondary exposure to politically motivated violence was examined among body handlers and hospital rehabilitation workers, 2 groups that differed in their proximity and immediacy to violent events. Survivors of politically motivated violence served as a comparison group. Body handlers experienced high levels of positive psychological impact and traumatic stress symptoms. Levels of positive psychological impact among on-scene body handlers were higher than those experienced by rehabilitation workers. Traumatic stress symptoms predicted positive psychological impact among body handlers. These findings indicate that proximity to stressors is associated with higher levels of positive and negative psychological impact. Physical proximity is a major contributory factor to both positive and negative psychological effects of secondary exposure to trauma.

Task feedback effects on conflict monitoring and executive control: relationship to subclinical measures of depression.

PubMed

Holmes, Avram J; Pizzagalli, Diego A

2007-02-01

Emerging evidence suggests that depression is associated with executive dysfunction, particularly after committing errors or receiving negative performance feedback. To test this hypothesis, 57 participants performed two executive tasks known to elicit errors (the Simon and Stroop Tasks) during positive or negative performance feedback. Participants with elevated depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory scores >or= 13) were characterized by impaired posterror and postconflict performance adjustments, especially during emotionally negative task-related feedback. Additionally, for both tasks, depressive symptoms were inversely related to postconflict reaction time adjustments following negative, but not positive, feedback. These findings suggest that subclinical depression is associated with impairments in behavioral adjustments after internal (perceived failure) and external feedback about deficient task performance. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Monitoring item and source information: evidence for a negative generation effect in source memory.

PubMed

Jurica, P J; Shimamura, A P

1999-07-01

Item memory and source memory were assessed in a task that simulated a social conversation. Participants generated answers to questions or read statements presented by one of three sources (faces on a computer screen). Positive generation effects were observed for item memory. That is, participants remembered topics of conversation better if they were asked questions about the topics than if they simply read statements about topics. However, a negative generation effect occurred for source memory. That is, remembering the source of some information was disrupted if participants were required to answer questions pertaining to that information. These findings support the notion that item and source memory are mediated, as least in part, by different processes during encoding.

Antagonist effects of seglitide (MK 678) at somatostatin receptors in guinea-pig isolated right atria.

PubMed Central

Dimech, J.; Feniuk, W.; Humphrey, P. P.

1993-01-01

Somatostatin (SS) exerts a negative inotropic effect in isolated atria. Here we report that in guinea-pig isolated right atria, seglitide, a potent cyclic hexapeptide somatostatin agonist, behaves as a competitive somatostatin receptor antagonist with pA2 values against SS14, SS25 and SS28, of 6.50 +/- 0.40, 6.24 +/- 0.08 and 6.09 +/- 0.06, respectively. Seglitide had little or no effect on the negative inotropic action of carbachol or N6-cyclohexyladenosine. Our findings indicate that the receptor-response coupling characteristics of guinea-pig atria are such that in this preparation seglitide has low intrinsic activity and behaves specifically as a somatostatin receptor antagonist. PMID:8104651

What effect did the global financial crisis have upon youth wellbeing? Evidence from four Australian cohorts.

PubMed

Parker, Philip D; Jerrim, John; Anders, Jake

2016-04-01

Recent research has suggested significant negative effects of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on mental health and wellbeing. In this article, the authors suggest that the developmental period of late adolescence may be at particular risk of economic downturns. Harmonizing 4 longitudinal cohorts of Australian youth (N = 38,017), we estimate the impact of the GFC on 1 general and 11 domain specific measures of wellbeing at age 19 and 22. Significant differences in wellbeing in most life domains were found, suggesting that wellbeing is susceptible to economic shocks. Given that the GFC in Australia was relatively mild, the finding of clear negative effects across 2 ages is of international concern. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

What Effect Did the Global Financial Crisis Have Upon Youth Wellbeing? Evidence From Four Australian Cohorts

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Recent research has suggested significant negative effects of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on mental health and wellbeing. In this article, the authors suggest that the developmental period of late adolescence may be at particular risk of economic downturns. Harmonizing 4 longitudinal cohorts of Australian youth (N = 38,017), we estimate the impact of the GFC on 1 general and 11 domain specific measures of wellbeing at age 19 and 22. Significant differences in wellbeing in most life domains were found, suggesting that wellbeing is susceptible to economic shocks. Given that the GFC in Australia was relatively mild, the finding of clear negative effects across 2 ages is of international concern. PMID:26854968

Emotional Reactivity to Negative Adult and Peer Events and the Maintenance of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Daily Diary Design

PubMed Central

Herres, Joanna; Ewing, E. Stephanie Krauthamer; Kobak, Roger

2015-01-01

Emotional reactivity to negative interpersonal events has been consistently linked with depressive symptoms in studies with adults. However, little is known about the role that emotional reactivity plays in the maintenance of depressive symptoms during adolescence. A structured diary, administered to 132 economically disadvantaged adolescents (53% female, 76% African American) at age 14, measured adolescent daily reports of negative events involving parents, teachers, and peers and ratings of negative and positive affect. We examined the relationship between emotional reactivity (changes in negative and positive affect that correspond with negative events) and the maintenance of depressive symptoms between ages 13 and 15. We also tested unique effects of different types of emotional reactivity, depending on the type of interpersonal event. Results provided support for the emotional reactivity model for negative teacher events: heightened reactivity to negative teacher events was related to the maintenance of depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that adolescents’ emotional reactivity to teachers has important implications for the continuity of depressive symptoms during early adolescence for disadvantaged youth. PMID:26084594

Emotional Reactivity to Negative Adult and Peer Events and the Maintenance of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: a Daily Diary Design.

PubMed

Herres, Joanna; Ewing, E Stephanie Krauthamer; Kobak, Roger

2016-04-01

Emotional reactivity to negative interpersonal events has been consistently linked with depressive symptoms in studies with adults. However, little is known about the role that emotional reactivity plays in the maintenance of depressive symptoms during adolescence. A structured diary, administered to 132 economically disadvantaged adolescents (53% female, 76% African American) at age 14, measured adolescent daily reports of negative events involving parents, teachers, and peers and ratings of negative and positive affect. We examined the relationship between emotional reactivity (changes in negative and positive affect that correspond with negative events) and the maintenance of depressive symptoms between ages 13 and 15. We also tested unique effects of different types of emotional reactivity, depending on the type of interpersonal event. Results provided support for the emotional reactivity model for negative teacher events: heightened reactivity to negative teacher events was related to the maintenance of depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that adolescents' emotional reactivity to teachers has important implications for the continuity of depressive symptoms during early adolescence for disadvantaged youth.

Cancer negatively impacts on sexual function in adolescents and young adults: The AYA HOPE study.

PubMed

Wettergren, Lena; Kent, Erin E; Mitchell, Sandra A; Zebrack, Brad; Lynch, Charles F; Rubenstein, Mara B; Keegan, Theresa H M; Wu, Xiao-Cheng; Parsons, Helen M; Smith, Ashley Wilder

2017-10-01

This cohort study examined the impact of cancer on sexual function and intimate relationships in adolescents and young adults (AYAs). We also explored factors predicting an increased likelihood that cancer had negatively affected these outcomes. Participants (n = 465, ages 15-39) in the Adolescent and Young Adult Health Outcomes and Patient Experience (AYA HOPE) study completed two surveys approximately 1 and 2 years post-cancer diagnosis. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine factors negatively affected by perceptions of sexual function at 2 years post-diagnosis. Forty-nine percent of AYAs reported negative effects on sexual function at 1 year post-cancer diagnosis and 70% of those persisted in their negative perceptions 2 years after diagnosis. Those reporting a negative impact at 2 years were more likely to be 25 years or older (OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.44-4.42), currently not raising children (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.06-3.08), experiencing fatigue (OR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.975-0.998) and more likely to report that their diagnosis has had a negative effect on physical appearance (OR, 3.08; 95% CI, 1.97-4.81). Clinical factors and mental health were not significant predictors of negative effects on sexual function. Many AYAs diagnosed with cancer experience a persistent negative impact on sexual life up to 2 years following diagnosis. The findings underscore the need to develop routine protocols to assess sexual function in AYAs with cancer and to provide comprehensive management in the clinical setting. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

NegBio: a high-performance tool for negation and uncertainty detection in radiology reports.

PubMed

Peng, Yifan; Wang, Xiaosong; Lu, Le; Bagheri, Mohammadhadi; Summers, Ronald; Lu, Zhiyong

2018-01-01

Negative and uncertain medical findings are frequent in radiology reports, but discriminating them from positive findings remains challenging for information extraction. Here, we propose a new algorithm, NegBio, to detect negative and uncertain findings in radiology reports. Unlike previous rule-based methods, NegBio utilizes patterns on universal dependencies to identify the scope of triggers that are indicative of negation or uncertainty. We evaluated NegBio on four datasets, including two public benchmarking corpora of radiology reports, a new radiology corpus that we annotated for this work, and a public corpus of general clinical texts. Evaluation on these datasets demonstrates that NegBio is highly accurate for detecting negative and uncertain findings and compares favorably to a widely-used state-of-the-art system NegEx (an average of 9.5% improvement in precision and 5.1% in F1-score). https://github.com/ncbi-nlp/NegBio.

Negative affect impairs associative memory but not item memory.

PubMed

Bisby, James A; Burgess, Neil

2013-12-17

The formation of associations between items and their context has been proposed to rely on mechanisms distinct from those supporting memory for a single item. Although emotional experiences can profoundly affect memory, our understanding of how it interacts with different aspects of memory remains unclear. We performed three experiments to examine the effects of emotion on memory for items and their associations. By presenting neutral and negative items with background contexts, Experiment 1 demonstrated that item memory was facilitated by emotional affect, whereas memory for an associated context was reduced. In Experiment 2, arousal was manipulated independently of the memoranda, by a threat of shock, whereby encoding trials occurred under conditions of threat or safety. Memory for context was equally impaired by the presence of negative affect, whether induced by threat of shock or a negative item, relative to retrieval of the context of a neutral item in safety. In Experiment 3, participants were presented with neutral and negative items as paired associates, including all combinations of neutral and negative items. The results showed both above effects: compared to a neutral item, memory for the associate of a negative item (a second item here, context in Experiments 1 and 2) is impaired, whereas retrieval of the item itself is enhanced. Our findings suggest that negative affect impairs associative memory while recognition of a negative item is enhanced. They support dual-processing models in which negative affect or stress impairs hippocampal-dependent associative memory while the storage of negative sensory/perceptual representations is spared or even strengthened.

Negative Effects of Makeup Use on Perceptions of Leadership Ability Across Two Ethnicities.

PubMed

James, Esther A; Jenkins, Shauny; Watkins, Christopher D

2018-01-01

Cosmetics alter social perceptions, and prior work suggests that cosmetic use may aid female intrasexual competition, making women appear more dominant to other women but more prestigious to other men. It is unclear whether these findings reflect general improvements in perceptions of traits related to women's dominance or if they are specific to mating contexts only. Here, across two ethnicities, we examined effects of cosmetics used for a social night out on perceptions of women's leadership ability, a trait that denotes competence/high status outside of mating contexts. Participants of African and Caucasian ethnicity judged faces for leadership ability where half of the trials differed in ethnicity (own- vs. other-ethnicity face pairs) and the subtlety of the color manipulation (50% vs. 100%). Regardless of the participant's sex or ethnicity, makeup used for a social night out had a negative effect on perceptions of women's leadership ability. Our findings suggest that, in prior work, women are afforded traits related to dominance, as makeup enhances perceptions of traits that are important for successful female mating competition but not other components of social dominance such as leadership.

The effect of alcoholic beverage excise tax on alcohol-attributable injury mortalities.

PubMed

Son, Chong Hwan; Topyan, Kudret

2011-04-01

This study examines the effect of state excise taxes on different types of alcoholic beverages (spirits, wine, and beer) on alcohol-attributable injury mortalities--deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents, suicides, homicides, and falls--in the United States between 1995 and 2004, using state-level panel data. There is evidence that injury deaths attributable to alcohol respond differently to changes in state excise taxes on alcohol-specific beverages. This study examines the direct relationship between injury deaths and excise taxes without testing the degree of the association between excise taxes and alcohol consumption. The study finds that beer taxes are negatively related to motor vehicle accident mortality, while wine taxes are negatively associated with suicides and falls. The positive coefficient of the spirit taxes on falls implies a substitution effect between spirits and wine, suggesting that an increase in spirit tax will cause spirit buyers to purchase more wine. This study finds no evidence of a relationship between homicides and state excise taxes on alcohol. Thus, the study concludes that injury deaths attributable to alcohol respond differently to the excise taxes on different types of alcoholic beverages.

To Strike a Pose: No Stereotype Backlash for Power Posing Women

PubMed Central

Rennung, Miriam; Blum, Johannes; Göritz, Anja S.

2016-01-01

Power posing, the adoption of open and powerful postures, has effects that parallel those of actual social power. This study explored the social evaluation of adopting powerful vs. powerless body postures in men and women regarding perceived warmth, competence, and the likelihood of eliciting admiration, envy, pity, and contempt. Previous findings suggest that the display of power by women may have side effects due to gender stereotyping, namely reduced warmth ratings and negative emotional reactions. An experiment (N = 2,473) asked participants to rate pictures of men and women who adopted high-power or low-power body postures. High-power posers were rated higher on competence, admiration, envy, and contempt compared to low-power posers, whereas the opposite was true for pity. There was no impact of power posing on perceived warmth. Contrary to expectations, the poser’s gender did not moderate any of the effects. These findings suggest that non-verbal displays of power do influence fundamental dimensions of social perception and their accompanying emotional reactions but result in comparably positive and negative evaluations for both genders. PMID:27729887