Emotion最新文献

Forgiveness is crucial for restoring social bonds, yet how it shapes impressions of poor treatment remains unclear. Building on memory updating research, we propose forgiveness can change the memory of a negative experience by incorporating information considered during the forgiveness process. On Day 1 of neuroimaging, participants (N = 23, data collected 2022-2023) observed which stimuli two other participants (or "targets") chose for them to view, believing the targets selected from neutral and negative images (encoding phase). Most chosen images were highly negative, indicating the target had treated the participant poorly. Participants then learned each target's reasoning, with one being apologetic and the other nonchalant. While still undergoing neuroimaging, participants rated the negative images again while instructed to either "forgive the target" or simply "view the selections again" for the apologetic and nonchalant targets, respectively (experimental manipulation phase). On Day 2 of neuroimaging, participants rerated the images (reconsideration phase). Forgiveness reduced the negativity ratings of the images, an effect that persisted into Day 2. Two brain regions demonstrated that information considered while forgiving was incorporated into the memory of a forgiven act: the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, associated with mentalizing, and the posterior hippocampus, linked to episodic memory. These findings suggest at least one way forgiveness works is by understanding the transgressor, updating related details, and consolidating them into memory. Instead of "forgive and forget," forgiveness may involve a "forgive and update" process, revising memories to aid reconciliation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Habituation to pleasant or unpleasant odors may reflect a dynamic affective process influenced by individuals' physiological and psychological states. This study investigated the effects of acute stress on habituation patterns to odors with varying valence. Forty male participants from an ethnically homogeneous Chinese sample completed the socially evaluated cold pressor task and a control task in randomized order. Participants then performed two olfactory habituation tasks, which involved 20 consecutive presentations of positive-valence odors (phenethyl alcohol or orange oil) and negative-valence odors (4-methylpentanoic acid or 1-butanol; NVO). Generalized linear mixed-effects model analyses revealed that acute stress reduced affective habituation to NVO, F(1, 51) = 4.6, p = .037, but accelerated habituation to positive-valence odors, F(1, 41) = 29.1, p < .001. Higher cortisol responses were marginally associated with faster habituation to NVO (r = .33, p = .055). Exploratory analyses indicated that stress-related reductions in affective habituation to NVO were observed among cortisol nonresponders, but not responders. These findings suggest that acute psychosocial stress alters affective habituation to odors in a valence-dependent manner, with cortisol responses potentially contributing to this modulation. Future research with larger, mixed-gender samples is needed to examine the generalizability of these results. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Previous studies have predominantly viewed affective variability as detrimental to well-being, suggesting an unstable emotional state. However, research on early warning signs of affective disorders suggests that affective variability may also be adaptive, particularly when individuals' affective well-being is low. Here, we sought to test that greater affective variability would predict increased affective well-being over time (Hypothesis 1), or that better affective well-being would lead to lower affective variability over time (Hypothesis 2), and that the first relationship would be stronger for individuals with low prior levels of affective well-being (Hypothesis 3) and weaker for individuals high in neuroticism (Hypothesis 4). We tested this set of hypotheses by reanalyzing 14 ambulatory assessment data sets (N = 2,374 participants with 25,478 observations at the day level). Our integrative data analysis revealed that greater affective variability at time t₁ was significantly associated with better subsequent affective well-being at time t₂ at the day and year level. In addition, this association was significantly moderated by initial levels of affective well-being and by neuroticism, although the evidence for the latter was limited. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between within-person processes and between-person differences: Experiencing greater affective variability relative to others may indicate a lower level of overall affective well-being. At the same time, experiencing greater affective variability when feeling lower than usual may signal the potential for improvement in one's affective experience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Enthusiasm for personalized psychological interventions far outstrips our understanding of how to best tailor these interventions to individuals. The first step in bridging this gap is to identify individual characteristics that predict intervention outcomes. Across three studies (N = 444; between 2023 and 2024), we address this issue by examining the role of prior beliefs in reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy common to many types of psychological interventions. In Studies 1 and 2, we instructed participants to reappraise negative stimuli in a way that was consistent with different beliefs. We found that more belief-congruent (vs. less belief-congruent) reappraisals were more believable and more effective for regulating emotions. In Study 3, we asked participants to rank sets of standardized reappraisals. We found substantial heterogeneity in which reappraisals were preferred and this heterogeneity was partially explained by people's prior beliefs. This work suggests that, in the context of U.S.-based participants, beliefs may be leveraged to systematically personalize reappraisal interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This research investigated the role of schadenfreude-feelings of joy at a target's misfortunes-in people's legitimization of illegal attacks against corrupt institutions with formal authority. Five experiments (Experiment 1 conducted in 2018, the others in 2024-2025; Experiments 2-5 preregistered) in the United Kingdom and Italy (N total = 1,676) employed realistic scenarios involving cyberattacks and violent intimidation from criminal groups. Across studies, exposure to institutional corruption increased support for illegal retaliation, and schadenfreude consistently mediated this effect. In Experiments 2 and 5, heightened anger and disgust at the institution's corrupt behavior and, in Experiment 3, reduced anger and disgust toward the illegal attacks themselves did not disrupt the link between schadenfreude and legitimization. Experiments 4 and 5 employed experimental approaches to mediation. Experiment 4 employed a manipulation-of-mediation-as-a-moderator design by altering the attackers' group affiliation. Results provided experimental support for the hypothesized mediational role of schadenfreude, indicating that attacks perpetrated by a disliked outgroup are less likely to evoke schadenfreude and, in turn, legitimacy. Experiment 5 adopted a causal chain approach and manipulated the satisfaction elicited by the attacks. More satisfying attacks (vs. baseline) elicited stronger legitimization, even when controlling for general appraisals of deservingness. Collectively, the findings highlight the importance of positive moral affect elicited by the misfortunes befalling a target as a psychological mechanism underpinning support for illegal system-disrupting actions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

People with major depressive disorder (MDD) experience difficulties in emotion regulation (ER). Most ER research has examined overall strategy use using global self-reports in MDD, but this approach does not capture people's ER strategy use in daily life in the context of continuously changing ER demands, such as momentary affect. Taking a naturalistic approach, we investigated whether the associations between the use of six ER strategies (social sharing, acceptance, savoring, reappraisal, expressive suppression, and distraction) and momentary affect differed by MDD status. Data collection took place between 2017 and 2019. Adults with MDD and a healthy control group (N = 135) completed 2 weeks of experience sampling (five surveys a day), in which they reported on their momentary negative affect, positive affect (PA), and the extent to which they used the six ER strategies. Analyses were conducted using multilevel modeling. Both momentary negative affect and PA were associated with use of most ER strategies. MDD status did not moderate the association between negative affect and any strategy but significantly moderated the association between PA and two strategies. Specifically, PA was positively associated with the use of reappraisal and distraction for those with MDD only (associations were nonsignificant for healthy controls). Findings suggest that ER difficulties in MDD may be partially attributed to overusing certain strategies or ineffectiveness in using certain strategies during ER episodes. It is important for future research to clarify the directionality of these findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Past research has shown that facial expressions of happiness are recognized faster than negative expressions such as anger. This happy face advantage is influenced by facial social category cues; it is larger for faces that are female, young, or represent an ethnic ingroup. The phenomenon of the happy face advantage as well as the influence of social cues on recognition of happy expressions is best explained by the evaluative congruence account. This account holds that more positively evaluated expressions are recognized faster in positive contexts (including on positively evaluated faces). The evaluative congruence account also predicts that similar recognition advantages should emerge for other positive expressions, not just for happiness. This prediction was tested across three experiments. Undergraduate student participants were asked to recognize positively and negatively evaluated surprise versus anger expressions (Experiments 1 and 2) or happiness, pride, and awe versus anger expressions (Experiment 3) on female and male faces as quickly and accurately as possible. Consistent with the predictions of the evaluative congruence account, expressions of surprise, happiness, pride, and awe were recognized faster than expressions of anger on female faces, whereas a similar recognition advantage was smaller or absent on male faces. In line with the evaluative congruence account, these findings indicate that the happy face advantage may be a special case of a broader positive facial expression advantage in speeded expression recognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Researchers typically examine one or two emotion beliefs, without considering how the beliefs may map onto a latent set of emotion beliefs. Examining the factor structure of emotion beliefs may offer a parsimonious and helpful way to conceptualize emotion beliefs and advance empirical work on the topic. We used multilevel exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to test the factor structure of emotion beliefs in two samples (Sample 1: N = 179 community adults; Sample 2: N = 234 undergraduate students) who each completed 1 or 2 weeks of ecological momentary assessment, repeatedly reporting on eight emotion beliefs: justified, fit the situation, helpful, enduring (duration), complex, warranted expression, controllable, and having a clear source. In each sample, we found consistent evidence for a two-factor structure at the within- and between-person level, except the controllability item. The first factor reflected situational relevance beliefs, or the degree to which emotions were evaluated as appropriate for the situation (i.e., justified, fit, helpful, and had clear causes). The second factor reflected emotion structure beliefs, or what people believed about the properties of their emotion experiences (i.e., long-lasting and complex). In the multigroup confirmatory factor analyses including both samples, emotion controllability cross-loading onto both factors (in opposite directions). We present support for convergent and discriminant validity of the two factors. Elucidating the factor structure of emotion beliefs is a critical step forward in the study of emotion beliefs. Future research is needed to examine how these situational relevance and emotion structure beliefs relate to emotion processes and psychological well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of parent-adolescent conflict on emotional well-being has been well-documented. However, daily processes related to conflict and positive and negative affect have been overlooked. We tested the mutual effects between parent-adolescent conflict and affect in daily life. Parent-adolescent dyads (N = 171) completed daily diaries between 14 and 21 days to rate their positive and negative affect and conflict interactions between October 2021 and August 2023. The participants were mostly from families with high socioeconomic status, most of the parents were biological mothers, and over half of the parents were Caucasian. Adolescents were between 13 and 17 years (M = 14.37, SD = 1.28). We tested the daily associations between negative/positive affect and conflict interactions in one dynamic structural equation model. Contrary to our expectations, greater adolescent negative affect on a day was associated with lower parent-reported conflict next day. Further, both within- and between-family level correlations between adolescent and parent negative and positive affect were significant. Greater parent and adolescent conflict was related to lower positive and greater negative affect for parents and adolescents. Thus, while both same-day and mean-level associations over time indicate that conflicts are linked to poorer affective well-being, and parents may have made efforts to improve their affect the following day in an attempt to compensate for the conflicts experienced the day before. Further, this effort was appeared to be driven by the adolescents' rather than the parents' emotional experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Varying levels of traits associated with autism can be observed in the general population. One key feature associated with autism is reduced eye contact with others. Eye contact is often described as uncomfortable by autistic individuals, yet little is still known about how reduced eye contact impacts social cognition, and to what extent eye contact difficulties are specific to autism. For example, difficulties in recognizing emotions in facial expressions have been reported in autism, but it has not been established whether they are associated with reduced eye contact. Here, using a large sample of participants tested online, drawn from the general public and varying along different symptom scales, we examined self-reported eye contact discomfort as a mediating factor in reduced emotion recognition ability associated with autistic traits, while controlling for alexithymia, prosopagnosia, general sensory perception, and gender. Results showed that self-reported eye gaze discomfort was predicted by levels of autistic traits as well as by levels of alexithymic traits. Along with eye gaze discomfort, coping strategies were reported and differed in those with high autistic traits and high alexithymic traits. Furthermore, levels of autistic traits and levels of prosopagnosic traits both predicted slower emotion recognition. However, eye gaze discomfort was not a significant predictor of emotion recognition, resulting in an inconclusive mediating effect. This study was part of the novel trend of research studies conducted online, providing effective and potentially more inclusive data collection. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).