Affective science最新文献

Emerging adulthood is characterized by marked increases in vulnerability to psychiatric illness. As such, understanding how risk and protective factors function to promote, or impede, resilience during early adulthood is critical. This pre-registered work is the first to test four leading models of resilience among emerging adults. A sample of 1,075 participants drawn from four international university sites were followed across two stressors: the transition to university (cross-sectional) and the COVID-19 pandemic (longitudinal). We found support for the compensatory model, which holds that risk and protective factors contribute additively to predict resilience, at both timepoints. Findings also support the risk-protective model, but only during the university transition, indicating that the influence of risk factors on negative outcomes during the university transition is buffered by protective factors. Neither the challenge nor protective-protective models were supported. Results have the potential to guide theory development by highlighting the dynamic nature of resilience and have implications for prevention and intervention efforts by underscoring the powerful influence of protective factors.

Emotion regulation (ER) is a dynamic, multi-stage process encompassing the identification, selection, implementation, and monitoring of ER strategies. Empirical studies on ER have increasingly focused on understanding the role of cognitive effort throughout ER processes. Cognitive effort is an essential component of various ER stages: from identifying the need to regulate emotions, through the selection and implementation of ER strategies, to the monitoring of regulatory behavior. The review highlights substantial inter-individual variability in effort expenditure across ER stages and explores the impact of cognitive costs on regulatory outcomes. To synthesize the reviewed evidence, we propose an integrative framework that outlines the potential impact of cognitive effort across the different stages of emotion regulation. Findings suggest that high effort demands can increase the likelihood of regulatory failure, perpetuating negative emotional states and impairing well-being. Conversely, automatic ER processes, while less effortful, may limit adaptability to novel emotional challenges. Understanding the interplay between cognitive effort and ER is crucial for elucidating key components of the regulatory process and their implications for individual well-being.

During conflict, romantic partners’ feelings and behaviors are closely intertwined, forming affective behavioral sequences. In this study, we examine cultural variations in these sequences and interpret them against the background of culturally different relationship goals. N = 58 Belgian and N = 80 Japanese couples engaged in a video-recorded conflict discussion in the lab which was coded using the Specific Affect Coding System. A dynamic network analysis showed that the Belgian network consisted of more significant sequences than the Japanese network, suggesting that Belgians responded to each other’s affective behaviors more systematically than Japanese. This may reflect a greater readiness among Belgians (vs. Japanese) to negotiate individual needs, also evident in the Belgian sequences revolving around anger, criticism, and domineering. Exceptions existed: both Japanese and Belgian women’s criticism was followed by men’s defensiveness, suggesting some gender-based power imbalance in both cultures. However, additional Japanese sequences further underscored this imbalance—Japanese men’s domineering was not likely to be followed by women’s criticism, suggesting Japanese women’s inhibited opposition. In contrast, several sequences in the Belgian network suggested more power balance. For example, women’s anger was validated by men. Additionally, fear/tense behavior by either Belgian partner was unlikely to be met with assertion (i.e., anger), aligning with the Western view that assertion should remain within healthy boundaries. Finally, humor reciprocation occurred in both cultures. Taken together, this study showcases an approach to describing cultural variation in affective behavioral sequences that could provide better insight into the culturally specific ways in which couples weave their relationships.

Accurately deducing the emotional tenor of our visual surroundings has important repercussions, such as whether to approach a friendly group or flee a threatening mob. Perceptual decisions regarding individual emotional stimuli are heavily influenced by both task-driven (top-down) and stimulus-driven (bottom-up) attention. However, the impact of these attentional factors on perceptual decisions regarding the overarching or “gist” emotion conveyed by an ensemble of emotional stimuli remains unclear. We manipulated top-down and bottom-up attention in a task in which participants (N = 95) judged the average emotion of ensembles and applied drift diffusion modeling to uncover the underlying computational mechanisms. Our results showed different effects of attention, driven by task-related top-down compared to stimulus-related bottom-up factors, on overall ensemble perception. The inclusion of extremely fearful stimuli (bottom-up effect) led to (1) the ensemble being perceived as fearful more frequently and faster and (2) more efficient fearful evidence accumulation, allowing one to reach a fearful decision faster. In contrast, making fear-related decisions (top-down effect) led to (1) the ensemble being perceived as fearful less frequently and slower with a (2) wider boundary separation, indicating more evidence required for making a fearful decision. These distinct effects are unique to fear. Our findings provide important knowledge in understanding the interplay of top-down and bottom-up attentional mechanisms when swiftly integrating multiple sensory emotional inputs into a coherent perceptual experience, which carries significant implications across social and clinical contexts.