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2014. vol. 11. No. 1
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Special Theme of the Issue.
Experimental Psychology of Emotions
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5–6
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The emotions have always been a principle focus of study in psychological science.” A similar statement (a general and non-binding one) could be used to start an opening address to the special theme. However, if one gives it a little thought, it turns out that this assertion is rather controversial. In the old introspective psychology, emotions did receive much attention. However, in the early twentieth century. with the advent of behaviorism, the study of emotions became quite rare. (We mean the study of emotions by scientific psychology.) It is impossible to explore phenomena pertaining to the inner experience of man, with objective scientific methods. The only possibility was to study external manifestations of emotions, especially their physiological correlates, which could be used to determine the status of the body. Basically to this was the research of emotions limited in the absence of significant pro-motions in the theoretical understanding of affective phenomena. There was a revival of interest in the emotions with the advent of the psychology of neomentalism in the 1960s, which rediscovered an opportunity to study the inner world of man with scientific methods. At this time, theoretical reflections on the emotions came to life again and new research paradigms began to form. From then on an active development of the psychology of emotions has advanced. Formally, this is manifested by a substantial increase in publications, by new fields of research emerging, by new high-ranking scientific journals being published (e.g. Cognition & Emotion was started in 1987, Emotion — in 2001, Emotion Review — in 2009). The National Society for Research of Emotion was created between in 1984. April 2014 is the date for the inaugural conference of the Society for Affective Science, which aims to unite leading experts involved in the study of emotions within different disciplines. The development of the Russian psychology of emotions unfortunately still lags behind that of the rest of the world. On the whole there is not enough Russian psychological research into the emotions. However, some Russian authors follow modern standards of research, as evidenced by the proposed special issue. Here you can find works differing significantly in the subject, problems studied and methods used, but they represent a number of important areas of modern psychology of emotions. Briefly the areas of study are as follows: neurophysiological aspects of affective phenomena (articles by E.Mnatsakanyan et al. and R.Rozovskaya et al.); connection of affective and cognitive processes, including the specifics of processing emotional information and the impact of affective and cognitive processes at each other (articles by R.Rozovskaya et al., T.Sysoeva, A.Chetverikova et al., V.Ovsyannikova); the role of emotions in social interactions (articles by V.Ovsyannikova and A.Pankratova); affective processes in normal and pathological conditions (articles by E.Mnatsakanyan et al. and Yu.Chentsova-Dutton et al.); cultural specificity of human emotions (articles by Yu.Chentsova-Dutton et al.). Most authors represent different scientific institutions in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Yu.Chentsova-Dutton, an American psychologist by education and the workplace, is a native of Russia and maintains active scientific contacts with her Russian counterparts, thereby contributing to the development of the Russian psychology of emotions. This special issue is an attempt to present the current state of experimental psychology of emotions in Russia. A variety of themes and theoretical approaches of the research involved indicates a good potential that could lead to the development of Russia's scientific psychology of emotions in the coming years. |
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7–26
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We explored the unconscious expectations of threatening and neutral visual information in patients with endogenous depression and in healthy volunteers of the same age. Multichannel EEG was recorded at 500 Hz when participants categorized monochrome images of people and animals. We used four categories of stimuli, two of which were neutral and the other two were threatening. The warning stimuli (four simple figures, one for each category) were presented for 2 seconds before the actual images, and this association was not explained to participants. After the categorization, the participants evaluated images as neutral or emotional. We analysed behavioral indicators (motor reaction time and error rates) and brain activity associated with anticipation of images from different categories during the period of 1000 to 2000 ms after the warning stimulus, which corresponds to the slow wave of anticipation. The participants did not become aware of the connection between warning stimuli and image categories, but significant differences in slow-wave brain activity (p <.05) between neutral and emotional paired conditions were observed (the effect of emotional modulation). Patients exhibited significantly higher emotional modulation in anterior regions of the brain (primarily, in the right hemisphere) associated with anticipation of images with people. The effect of emotional modulation associated with animal image anticipation was localized in the central-parietal or occipital regions, and hemispheric differences between the patient and control groups were observed. The results suggest that anticipation of social threat and other kinds of threat activates different mechanisms that can be selectively impaired in psychopathology. |
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27–48
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The article presents an fMRI study of brain organization of working memory during the retention of visual stimuli with different emotional valence. We studied how emotional valence of information influences the working memory processes: whether emotions modulate the activity of a single functional system of the working memory or different functional systems of the brain are activated fully or partially, depending on the emotional valence of information. Twenty-one subjects participated. We used images from IAPS and GAPED databases with different emotional valence (negative, positive, and neutral). Participants memorized the original images and performed a change detection task after the working memory retention period (about 10 seconds). We recorded errors, reaction time, and the BOLD-signal (fMRI). We found significant differences, both in the cognitive task performance and in the brain organization of the information retention period in the working memory, for negative stimuli, compared to neutral. Negative valence of visual information reduces the effectiveness of its retention in the working memory. The fMRI data suggest different topography of activation of cortical and deep brain structures during working memory retention of images with different emotional valence which suggests formation of different functional systems in the brain. Comparison of the fMRI study results with the task performance data shows that negative emotional valence of information combined with level of emotional arousal interferes with formation of optimal functional brain systems for this type of cognitive activity. |
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49–65
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In this paper we present an overview of studies of the mechanisms of emotional Stroop effect. Emotional Stroop effect is one of the possible ways to demonstrate emotional information processing. It is a delay in naming the color of emotional stimuli, compared to that of neutral stimuli. Two main approaches explain the origins of this delay, viewing emotional Stroop effect as a fast and a slow effect. The fast-effect explanation suggests that the delay emerges during the current task, when a large amount of attentional resources is used to process the emotional information. The slow-effect approach proposes that the delay does not originate immediately and only becomes evident in subsequent tasks, which can be explained by difficulties in diverting attention away from emotional information or by a mechanism of general reaction inhibition in response to threat detection. There are empirical findings in support for both interpretations, which suggests that both mechanisms may exist. Some studies show that the effect is composite and it includes two components, fast and slow. Other authors suggest that different mechanisms of the effect may be specific to different respondent groups. The possibilities for generalization of the results of different studies of the nature of emotional Stroop effect are limited by the fact that different researchers use very different sets of stimuli, rely on insufficient sets of independent variable levels, do not analyze individual participant data, and focus on too narrow hypotheses. |
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66–85
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The article focuses on the changes in affective (emotional) ratings under the influence of the choice of one of the interpretations of ambiguous images and subsequent recognition task performance. Earlier studies showed that recognition decision affects subsequent ratings of the stimulus: the more information is accumulated about the stimulus, the more positive will be its ratings at recognition, and the more negative at non-recognition (Chetverikov, 2014). We hypothesized that a choice of a single interpretation of a stimulus becomes a source of information for subsequent decision concerning recognition or non-recognition of the unambiguous interpretation of that stimulus. Thus, this decision will affect subsequent ratings of stimuli the same way as in the case of initially unambiguous stimuli. The experimental results confirmed our hypothesis. Ratings of unambiguous stimuli corresponding to selected and non-selected interpretation of ambiguous stimuli varied depending on the recognition decision in the same way as did ratings of previously presented and new unambiguous stimuli. When a stimulus is «old» and is recognized, it is liked more, than a recognized «new» stimulus; when it is not recognized, the effect is opposite. Thus, the more information about the stimulus has been accumulated, the higher is the influence of a decision concerning stimulus recognition on subsequent ratings. Similar results were found for confidence ratings. These were higher in the case of recognition than in the case of non-recognition, but the difference between the two situations was more pronounced for «old» stimuli than for «new» ones. |
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86–101
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This paper focuses on the way one’s own emotional state influences the recognition of others’ emotions. Previous research indicates the effect of congruence between emotions experienced at the moment and evaluations of emotional stimuli. Our experimental study tested the hypotheses of the influence of emotional states on two aspects of emotion recognition, accuracy and sensitivity. We hypothesized that emotional state of the observer reduces accuracy and increases sensitivity. The study involved 69 participants divided into three groups. The baseline emotional state was assessed using a self-report measure. We used video clips with neutral, positive, and negative emotional content to induce different emotional states in each group. The accuracy and sensitivity of emotion recognition were measured using a test based on video samples of people's behavior in different situations. The results showed that the emotional state of the control group participants was rather “tense” and, therefore, different from neutral. However, our hypotheses were not supported: the groups with different induced emotional states did not exhibit any significant differences in the accuracy of emotion recognition. The control group demonstrated higher sensitivity. These preliminary results are discussed in the context of the issues of emotion recognition research (emotion induction, assessment of emotions, differentiation of emotional states and traits). |
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102–117
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We explore which of the two strategies for TV commercials, “Benefits” or “Risks” (positive and negative emotional impact, respectively), is more effective and whether characteristics of the audience (gender, levels of extraversion and neuroticism) affect the emotional impact of these strategies. The study is based on the prospect theory by Kahneman & Tversky (1979), who showed that the same information presented in terms of gains or losses affects behavioral decision making in different ways. In product advertising (exemplified by water filter commercials) the “Benefits” and “Risks” strategies emerge as equally effective. In social advertising (exemplified by “Fasten Seatbelts” message) the “Risks” strategy is rated as more effective. Both strategies invoke stronger emotional reactions in females (positive and negative emotions associated with “Benefits” and “Risks” strategy, respectively) and are associated with stronger reported impact for females than for males. Respondents with higher levels of neuroticism experience stronger negative emotional reactions, regardless of the type of advertisement strategy used, which lowers the effectiveness of the “Benefits” strategy, but increases that of the “Risks”. The results are in line with the findings of other studies and can be applied in the advertisement of goods and public messages related to health and safety. The study shows that the two strategies have different efficacy for different types of advertisement, and that both strategies are rated as more efficient when they are associated with stronger emotional response. |
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118–132
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The association between perceived stress with heightened negative emotions and dampened positive emotions is well established. Much less clear, however, is the extent to which ideal and experienced levels of hedonic balance (i.e., the difference in intensities between positive and negative emotions) predict stress across cultural contexts. There is wide cultural variation in dominant models of emotions; for example, the Russian cultural context is thought to emphasize low hedonic balance relative to European American or Hispanic American cultural contexts. Thirty-two European Americans, 25 Hispanic Americans, 33 Asian Americans, and 20 Russian Americans provided reports of ideal and momentary hedonic balance. Momentary reports were sampled over 10 days. Perceived levels of stress were assessed at the beginning and at the end of the study. There were cultural group differences in ideal and momentary hedonic balance, with Russian Americans reporting lower ideal and momentary hedonic balance than Hispanic Americans. Across cultural groups, lower levels of momentary hedonic balance were predictive of perceived stress. In the Russian American group, but not the other groups, lower ideal hedonic balance was associated with lower levels of perceived stress. These results suggest that the Russian cultural model of emotions shape both ideal and momentary hedonic balance, with lower levels of ideal hedonic protecting against the potentially stressful impact of low experienced hedonic balance. |
Articles
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133–163
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The results of development of a Russian version of Subjective Vitality Scales by R. Ryan and S. Frederick are presented. The author provides a summary of the main philosophical and psychological approaches to the study of vitality. Russian translations of dispositional and state subjective vitality scales are presented, together with their psychometric properties and normative data. The results of several studies undertaken by the author in 2009-2012 are summarized. The analysis of associations between subjective vitality and other constructs in Russian samples replicates the existing data and provides new results (for instance, associations with life meaning). The author discusses the associations between subjective vitality and personality resources (life meaning, hardiness, tolerance for ambiguity), social psychological adaptation, preference for constructive vs defensive coping, satisfaction with life, and social support, showing that subjective vitality can be seen as an important personality resource. The results suggest that the Russian-language measure of dispositional subjective vitality is a reliable and valid self-report instrument, which can be influenced by low self-awareness or increased self-criticism in respondents. |
Work in Progress
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164–173
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An experimental study looked into the way existing knowledge influences the way subjects construct the rules of categorization and modify them as they are applied. We modified the experiment of E. Wisniewski and D. Medina (1994) by asking the respondents not only to create a categorization rule, but also to use it to categorize new images, and we looked at the frequency and type of subsequent rule modification. The respondents, 114 university students, were given a set of images drawn by children and asked to identify their common features under one of the four conditions: relevant prior knowledge (participants were told that the drawings were made by children with high and low creativity), standard condition (participants were told the drawings were made by children from groups A and B), standard condition with examples (one sample of drawings from each group was shown), and irrelevant knowledge. We found that in the relevant prior knowledge setting, compared to the other three, the respondents tended to construct more complex and abstract rules and to change them more frequently when they categorized new objects. We also found that rule modifications during usage led to more complex and abstract rules under all four conditions. We interpret the findings as evidence for two stages of categorization, the first consisting in search for existing generalizations in semantic memory, and the second in adaptation of prior knowledge to current conditions. |
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174–188
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Distance counselling for clients who have undergone a traumatic experience is one of the hardest tasks for a counselling psychologist. Apart from the chosen counselling strategy, the effectiveness of such work may be influenced by a number of factors, such as the extent of the traumatic experience and the meaning of the traumatic event. A study was undertaken to find out the association of these factors with counselling effectiveness. The aim of the study was to find out the indicators of effectiveness, clarify the limitations and possibilities of phone counselling for people who have suffered psychological trauma, and to develop appropriate recommendations for counsellors. The approaches to diagnosing trauma using test, questionnaires, observation, qualitative and quantitative analyses are discussed. Indicators of change in the psychological state of the client are described, including changes in breathing patterns, speech tempo, awareness, issues and tasks, structure of close future time perspective. Clients’ self-reported data concerning the effectiveness of counselling were also analyzed. The results support the hypotheses concerning the association between self-reported counselling effectiveness and the trauma intensity, the differences in the dynamics of psychological states in clients with different type of traumatic events, and the association between self-reported counselling effectiveness and the type of traumatic event. Recommendations for phone counselling practitioners are proposed. |
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