Do negative emotional experiences facilitate or hinder prosocial behaviour?

Feeling Down: Idiom or Nature?

Emotional episodes in the everyday lives of people with schizophrenia: The role of intrinsic motivation and negative symptoms

This study examined how the frequency of positive and negative emotions is related to life satisfaction across nations. Participants were 8,557 people from 46 countries who reported on their life satisfaction and frequency of positive and negative emotions. Multilevel analyses showed that across nations, the experience of positive emotions was more strongly related to life satisfaction than the absence of negative emotions. Yet, the cultural dimensions of individualism and survival/self-expression moderated these relationships. Negative emotional experiences were more negatively related to life satisfaction in individualistic than in collectivistic nations, and positive emotional experiences had a larger positive relationship with life satisfaction in nations that stress self-expression than in nations that value survival. These findings show how emotional aspects of the good life vary with national culture and how this depends on the values that characterize one's society. Although to some degree, positive and negative emotions might be universally viewed as desirable and undesirable, respectively, there appear to be clear cultural differences in how relevant such emotional experiences are to quality of life.

To understand the role of family emotional socialization across cultural contexts, this research examined the associations between family emotional expressiveness and early adolescents' emotions in the United States and China. Two times over the course of 1 year, 566 American (n = 331) and Chinese (n = 235) adolescents (age range: 11–14 years) reported on their family members' emotional expressiveness, which was further categorized into three facets (i.e., positive, negative dominant, and negative submissive family expressiveness), and their own experience of positive and negative emotions. In both countries, positive family expressiveness (e.g., expressing excitement) was associated with adolescents' experience of positive emotions 6 months later, above and beyond their prior positive emotional experience. A between‐country difference was evident in the association between positive family expressiveness and adolescents' experience of negative emotions, such that positive family expressiveness was associated with dampened negative emotions 6 months later among American but not Chinese adolescents. Negative dominant family expressiveness (e.g., expressing anger) was not associated with adolescents' emotional experience 6 months later in both countries. However, negative submissive family expressiveness (e.g., expressing sadness) foreshadowed reduced positive emotional experience only among American adolescents. Findings highlight the importance of culture in understanding the implications of family expressiveness for adolescents' emotional experiences.

The positive affect means the different level of moods of an individual on subjective basis such as joy, interest and being alert. It refers to the condition where the individual have positive emotions and feelings involving physiological arousal, thinking process and behaviour. Positive affect also involving the interaction of an individual with the environment and its surroundings. The people shows the characteristics of being full of energy, active, are generally high on positive affect and characteristics like sad, lethargic, stress are examples of the negative affect. Empathy refers to the different kind of experiences. The researchers have defined empathy as ability of a person to feel other’s emotions including the feeling and thinking. Therefore it includes an experience that involves understanding others conditions or emotions from their perspective. Empathy increases the prosocial behaviour. The prosocial behaviour means actions which are positive in nature but does benefit others and it includes the moral values, sense of responsibility and does not have any personal gains from such behaviour. It is a kind of voluntary actions that benefits not only the individual itself but also the society as a whole. The aim of the current investigation was to study the impact of positive and negative affect on empathy and prosocial behaviour. For this study, Positive and negative affect scale (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988), Empathy scale (Levine et al., 2009), and Prosocial Tendencies Measure scale (Randall et al., 2003) were administered to the sample of 100 students in the age range of 18-21 years. The sample was taken from different colleges of Chandigarh. An inter-correlation matrix was calculated to see the relationship. The results have shown significant and positive relationship between positive affect, empathy and prosocial behavior. The correlation between positive and empathy is (r = 0.33) and positive affect and prosocial behavior is (r = 0.30). The significant and negative relationship is found between negative affect, empathy and prosocial behavior. The correlation between negative affect and empathy is(r = -0.29) and negative affect and prosocial behavior is (r = -0.27). The result is found to be significant at 0.01 levels.

COVID-19 related negative emotions and emotional suppression are associated with greater risk perceptions among emergency nurses: A cross-sectional study

<p><b>The ways in which people regulate their emotions is central to achieving wellbeing in our everyday lives. Typically it is assumed that everyone tries to experience the positive and avoid the negative, however research conducted over the last decade has demonstrated that not everyone is motivated to experience valenced emotions in this normative ‘hedonic’ fashion all of the time. Sometimes people hold and seek to satisfy ‘contra-hedonic’ motives, i.e., trying to experience negative emotions. To investigate the implications of holding one or the other type of motive, this thesis is composed of three studies that investigate the implications of holding these types of motives for emotions: 1) the first paper determined whether the motive to avoid happiness predicts depressive symptoms through the mechanism of lessened hope, 2) the second paper featured the development of a new measure designed to assess a broad range of motives for emotions, and 3) the third paper described the associations between this new measure with a commonly used emotion regulation measure.</b></p> <p>The first research paper addresses the phenomenon that some individuals do not approach and seek to experience happiness in a normative fashion. Research on this so-called ‘fear of happiness’ or ‘happiness aversion’ tendency has identified about 10-15% of community samples as composed of individuals who report not wanting to experience happy mood states. Importantly these individuals repeatedly also report elevated levels of depressive symptoms. In this study, I sought to investigate the associations among happiness aversion, hope (a protective factor against negative mood states), and depressive symptoms. Evidence was found that hope functioned both as a mediator as well as a buffer between happiness aversion and resultant depressive symptoms in a concurrent sample of 588 undergraduate psychology students. Follow-up exploratory analysis with a small longitudinal sample suggested that the concurrent findings were replicated across time. Overall findings within Study 1 suggested that interventions which promote hope can be effective in disrupting the relationship between happiness aversion and depressive symptoms.</p> <p>Happiness aversion research, similar to Study 1 described above, has documented that some individuals are motivated to avoid experiencing happiness (this non-conventional approach is termed ‘contra-hedonic’). I then asked: what about other emotions? Would it be feasible and interesting to assess how individuals try to experience and try to avoid experiencing a range of positive AND negative emotions? The second paper of this thesis describes the development of a new self-report measure, termed the General Emotion Regulation Measure (GERM), that assesses how people are motivated to experience or avoid experiencing clusters of positive and negative emotions in their everyday lives. This paper describes the literature concerning positive and negative emotion regulation motivations (both hedonic and contra-hedonic types) and shows how the new measure provides new information about people’s emotion motives. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was implemented to explore individual differences in general emotion motives, and three different profiles of individuals were identified. In a sample of 833 undergraduate students, a LPA identified these distinct profiles: 1) a normative group in which people tried to experience positive emotions and tried to avoid experiencing negative emotions; 2) a non-normative group which exhibited an aversion to positive emotions and an attraction to negative emotions; and 3) another non-normative group which displayed an unwillingness or inability to regulate either positive or negative emotions. Comparisons of psychological wellbeing were computed among the three profiles using a MANOVA: it identified that the normative group reported higher levels of wellbeing (e.g., optimism) and lower levels of illbeing (e.g., depressive symptoms) compared to the other two groups. The new GERM measure highlights the general utility of these general emotion regulation motives, which, arguably, can be used to inform research on wellbeing across a wide range of psychological fields.</p> <p>The final and concluding paper within this thesis examined whether the GERM is effective in predicting facets of the commonly used emotion dysregulation scale, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Further, emotion dysregulation was predicted to mediate the relationship between emotion motives identified by the GERM measure and depressive symptoms. Based on previous research, it was expected that the two contra-hedonic motives’ relationships (trying to experience negative emotions and trying to avoid experiencing positive emotions) with depressive symptoms would be mediated by facets of emotion dysregulation. Findings demonstrated that two facets of emotion dysregulation, namely, lack of impulse control and lack of access to strategies, fully mediated the relationship between both contra-hedonic ER motives and depressive symptoms. The third paper demonstrated that contra-hedonic motives predict depressive outcomes through the use and instantiation of several different facets of emotion regulation difficulties. These results show that emotion motives are important in regards to setting the stage for maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms.</p> <p>The three studies’ findings show that the ways in which we manage our emotions in our daily lives are guided and constrained by how individuals are motivated to experience positive and negative emotions. These studies highlight the importance that motivation has in directing individuals to choose particular ways to regulate their emotions, and these, in turn, have important effects for emotional wellbeing.</p>

Studies suggest that emotional complexity—the experience of positive and negative emotion in response to the same event—is unusual in Western samples. However, recent research finds that the co-occurrence of positive and negative emotion during unstructured situations is more common among East Asians than Westerners, consistent with theories emphasising the prevalence of dialectical folk epistemology in East-Asian culture. The present study builds upon previous research by examining Asian- and European-Americans' experience of a particular positive emotion—love—and a situationally appropriate negative emotion during four structured laboratory conversations with their romantic partner. Among Asian Americans, love and the experience of negative emotion were typically less negatively correlated during these conversations than was true for European Americans.

Emotional complexity across the life story: Elevated negative emodiversity and diminished positive emodiversity in sufferers of recurrent depression

Prosocial behavior may depend on the emotions experienced, and positive emotions such as pride may promote helping, offering support, donating, and other prosocial activities. Two studies were conducted to examine the relationship between pride and prosocial behavior. A correlational study, Study 1 (N = 365), was conducted during the second week of the 2022 war in Ukraine. In Study 2, a laboratory experiment (N = 82) was conducted to test the effect of pride (recalling an event in which a person felt proud) on prosocial behavior. A pilot study demonstrated the effectiveness of the experimental manipulation. Prosocial behavior was operationalized as the amount of money donated to charity in support of people in need and the number of leaflets taken in support of recruitment for the study. Study 1 results showed a positive but weak correlation between pride and involvement in helping, as well as the number of hours spent helping Ukrainian refugees. Study 2 results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the amount of money donated to charity and in the number of leaflets taken. Our studies have provided new evidence for the role of pride in stimulating prosocial behavior. The inconsistent results of our research suggest that further studies are needed to better understand the relationship between pride and prosocial behavior.

While negative emotions are associated with risk behaviors and risk avoidance among people with HIV, emerging evidence indicates that negative self-conscious emotions, those evoked by self-reflection or self-evaluation (e.g., shame, guilt, and embarrassment), may differentially influence health-risk behaviors by producing avoidance or, conversely, pro-social behaviors. Positive emotions are associated with beneficial health behaviors, and may account for inconsistent findings related to negative self-conscious emotions. Using multinomial logistic regression, we tested whether positive emotion moderated the relationships between negative emotion and negative self-conscious emotions and level of condomless sex risk: (1) seroconcordant; (2) serodiscordant with undetectable viral load; and (3) serodiscordant with detectable viral load [potentially amplified transmission (PAT)] among people recently diagnosed with HIV (n=276). While positive emotion did not moderate the relationship between negative emotion and condomless sex, it did moderate the relationship between negative self-conscious emotion and PAT (AOR=0.60; 95% CI 0.41, 0.87); high negative self-conscious and high positive emotion were associated with lower PAT risk. Acknowledgment of both positive and negative self-conscious emotion may reduce transmission risk behavior among people with HIV.

The theoretical basis of the work is represented by the theory of control and value of emotions and Pekurn's understanding of academic emotions as well. The main goal of the research was to examine the expression of positive emotions such as enjoyment, pride, relaxation or relief and negative emotions as well, such as anger, boredom, anxiety at students during online classes, as well as their relationship to overall success and quality assessment of online teaching platforms in use.The following material was used in this work: Achievement Emotion Questionnaire (AEQ), Questionnaire on Quality Assessment of ongoing Online Teaching Platforms (UPKPON1) and Questionnaire of Sociodemographic Variables. A hundred high school final year students from Kosovo and Metohija were involved in this sample. The results showed that during online classes positive emotions such as enjoyment, pride and relief are experienced more intensely than negative ones such as anger, anxiety and boredom; the most expressed positive emotion is enjoyment, and the most expressed negative emotion is boredom. Experience of positive and negative emotions during online teaching doesn't correlate significantly with students' school success. The most of students were using laptops to monitor online classes and they had adequate internet speeds as well as their own device for monitoring classes. Students expressed a neutral general attitude towards online teaching; Google Meet platform was the most used platform to follow online classes. A significant correlation between the experience of positive and negative emotions and the general attitude towards online teaching was proved. The students who felt more anxious, angry and got bored during online classes expressed more satisfaction with online classes. There is a difference in the expression of certain positive and negative emotions during online classes with regard to the gender and type of high school that students attend.

<p>敬畏情緒為自我超越之情緒，是正向心理學新興議題，能促進個體心理健康，並協助人類度過如Covid-19疫情等艱困時刻。本研究認為敬畏情緒能引發正向情緒與行為，區分兩項子研究探討其影響效果。研究一採前實驗研究設計單組後測設計以及調查法進行，邀請720名大專院校學生參與網路調查，並使用結構方程式模型建構敬畏情緒影響模型。研究一整體模型適配，研究結果認為敬畏情緒引發個體感恩情緒，促進利社會行為，最終產生幸福感受，且敬畏情緒需透過感恩與利社會行為才能促進幸福感，經敬畏情緒所引發的感恩，也須透過利社會行為方可激發幸福感，上述結果顯示利社會行為是敬畏情緒促進幸福感的關鍵中介角色。研究二接續上述成果，採實驗法分析不同情緒（敬畏情緒、正向情緒和負向情緒）對利社會具體表現因果影響，將90位參與者區分三個組別，分別觀賞誘發不同情緒影片後，填答心理評量問題並接受利社會行為具體表現測量（捐款與否）。研究二結果認為，自然環境影片可誘發正向敬畏情緒，自然環境威脅影片則誘發負向情緒與敬畏情緒，而幽默影片則引發正向情緒。雖然敬畏情緒皆可引發感恩與利社會行為傾向，但只有正向敬畏情緒才會將利社會行為付諸具體行動，表達捐贈更多金額之意願。本研究根據上述研究結果，提出教育與輔導應用的具體建議，以供未來研究與實務工作參考運用。</p> <p> </p><p>In positive psychology, we are self-transcendent emotions that promote individual mental health. Theory and research have supported the idea that awe can help humanity through difficult times during the Covid-19 pandemic. Awe arises when individuals encounter perceptually vast stimuli that overwhelm their existing knowledge and mental structures. In our country, awe has been composed of five latent factors, including ""curiosity and exploration,"" ""a feeling of wonderment regarding nature,"" ""appreciation of artwork,"" ""a feeling of smallness,"" and ""social connection."" However, little attention has been paid to its effects. Recent studies have suggested that awe emotions can strengthen positive emotions and behaviors. We continued to study the impact and causal processes underlying the emotion of awe to expand its application and understanding of positive human behaviors and to promote the development of a harmonious and peaceful society. The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between awe, gratitude, prosocial behavior, and well-being across two studies. In Study 1, we examined the mediating roles of gratitude and prosocial behavior in the relationship between awe and subjective well-being. A total of 720 college students completed online questionnaires to determine the constructs of the awe model. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The model was found to be the best fit based on the overall model verification. The results of Study 1 demonstrated that awe was significantly associated with gratitude, prosocial behavior, and subjective well-being. Individuals with higher awe exhibited more positive emotions and positive tendencies. Furthermore, prosocial behavior completely mediated the relationship between awe, gratitude, and subjective well-being. Thus, prosocial behavior plays a key role in promoting well-being. In Study 1, we tested the causal role of different emotions (awe, positive emotions, and negative emotions) on prosocial behavior using an experimental method. We used video clips (nature, threats to nature, and silent comedy) to evoke the three emotions. After inducing emotions, we examined participants’ emotional states using an opening question and emotional self-report scales, including the General Awe Scale, Gratitude Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Scales, and Prosocial Scale, and asked them about their willingness to donate money to present their prosocial behavior. First, we performed a sentiment analysis of participants’ comments on videos using word cloud analytics. Second, data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, ANOVA, and PROCESS model analysis. The results of Study 2 showed that natural videos could evoke awe, threats to nature videos could evoke both negative and awe emotions, and silent comedy videos could evoke general positive emotions. Participants in both the positive and negative awe conditions had higher feelings of gratitude and prosocial tendencies. The results showed that positive awe, which was induced experimentally rather than through negative awe, and generally positive emotions caused people to donate more money. In summary, these findings suggest that awe generally makes people more prosocial, but only positive awe produces behaviors that are more prosocial. Positive awe may help to situate individuals in broader social contexts and enhance their collective concerns. Finally, the conclusion offers some suggestions. Future studies should focus on other criterion variables, such as learning satisfaction, curiosity, and learning outcomes, as these areas are also associated with a greater sense of awe. Future researchers could also compare differences in social behavior, such as volunteering to help other people, increasing the willingness to volunteer time, engaging in green consumption, and volunteering to solve environmental problems. Awe can also be combined with virtual reality technology, as it has been proposed that the use of VR could be an effective way to induce awe in controlled experimental settings.</p> <p> </p>

The present investigation explored the association of mother–child and father–child emotional expressiveness during toddlerhood to children's prosocial and aggressive behaviour with peers. Data were collected from 62 Mexican-American families with toddlers (29 females, 33 males) during a home visit. Children's peer interactions were also observed approximately eight months later at their child-care setting. Observed mother–child and father–child interaction was coded for positive and negative emotional expressiveness, including shared positive and negative emotion. Observed child–peer interactions were coded for prosocial and aggressive behaviour. Data revealed that mother and father's expression of positive and negative emotion were uniquely related to children's prosocial and aggressive behaviour with peers. Children's expression of negative emotion with mothers and fathers was related to higher levels of peer aggression. Mother–child shared positive emotion predicted less peer aggression, whereas mother–child shared negative emotion predicted less prosocial behaviour and more peer aggression. Father–child shared positive emotion predicted more prosocial behaviour and less aggression. The associations between dyadic measures of parent–child shared emotion and peer interaction variables were significant even after the variance accounted for by the individual parent and child emotional expressiveness variables were included in regression equations. This suggests that the shared emotion measure captures a quality of the parent–child relationship that has links to children's social adjustment with peers extending beyond the individual behaviour of either parent or child. The role that mother–child and father–child emotional expressiveness may play in children's development of peer interaction skills is discussed.

This study examines intra- and interindividual differences in everyday goal pursuit in older adults focusing on the role of emotions and goal representations. Assuming a prioritization of self-preservation in old age, we expected that reduced negative (and elevated positive) emotions would be associated with increased everyday goal pursuit. These links were expected to be moderated by goal representations such that positive emotions would be more strongly linked to greater goal pursuit when goals were represented as hopes, whereas negative emotions would be less strongly linked to reduced goal pursuit when goals were represented as fears. We used up to 21 surveys from 236 individuals collected over 7 days (Age: Mean = 70.5, 60–87 years). Multilevel models revealed that more intense positive emotional experiences and less intense negative emotional experiences were each associated with elevated everyday goal pursuit. As expected, hoped-for goals were associated with stronger positive emotion–goal pursuit associations. Feared goals were associated with weaker negative emotion (particularly worry)–goal pursuit links. Moderations were limited to the most salient goal. These findings provide insights into how everyday emotion dynamics and goal pursuit may be shaped by the way older adults represent their goals.