Affective Discomfort Research Articles

Better Living Through Creepy Technology? Exploring Tensions Between a Novel Class of Well-Being Apps and Affective Discomfort in App Culture

Well-being apps promise to improve people's lives. Yet evidence shows that the data-hungry app culture that contextualizes well-being apps normalizes the user experience of affective discomfort. This apparent contradiction raises a difficult question: Is it responsible to ask people to improve their well-being by engaging further with an app culture that normalizes affective discomfort? We approached this question by deploying an online, scenario-based survey (n=688) about a fictional, but realistic well-being app called "Thalia." Thalia represents a novel class of well-being apps that are envisioned to: (i) utilize AI-driven facial recognition and analysis; and (ii) collect data for use in medical contexts. We found that people perceived Thalia to be affectively discomfiting even as they judged Thalia to be beneficial. Such findings imply a trade-off between 'better living through technology' and the negative affective implications of surveillance capitalistic app culture. Such a trade-off necessitates high-level analysis of just what "well-being" means in the context of contemporary app culture. Through analysis and discussion, we explore a troubling interplay between novel well-being apps and affective discomfort that requires careful attention from HCI researchers if human-centered well-being -- flourishing -- is truly what our products are intended to foster.

Confronting the Political Economy of Englishes in the Classroom

Despite celebratory discourses of Global English(es), scholars adopting political economic approaches have demonstrated the continued unequal distribution and valuation of English(es), and have shifted the focus to questions of unequal speakers in unequal conditions (Tupas, 2020). Drawing on ethnographic data from an English-teaching NGO for ‘disadvantaged’ young adults in Delhi, this paper seeks to contribute to political economic scholarship of English Language Teaching and Learning in two ways. In a first instance, I trace the shaping effects of class, caste and coloniality on how marginalised students orient themselves to notions of correctness and discursively reject fluid language practices. In a second instance, I introduce data from workshops with staff at the NGO in which we attempt to co-analyse the findings outlined in the first section and discuss potential implications for their practice. Noting the discursive, political and affective discomfort that marked these interactions, I ask what is at stake when engaging in discussions with English language teaching institutions that explicitly locate English learning and teaching within its political economic and ideological conditions, and what this means for scholarly projects aligned with critical, emancipatory and social justice causes. Keywords: English, India, Political Economy, Caste, Critique

A Psychodrama Intervention to Loneliness Due to COVID-19

Loneliness as a psychological state is affective and cognitive discomfort or uneasiness from being or perceiving oneself to be alone or otherwise solitary. Since the beginning of the pandemic, people stayed at home, afraid of contracting COVID-19. As youths followed lectures via the internet for long hours without physical participation, they became more and more withdrawn and socially isolated. This study explores psychodrama as an intervention to reduce loneliness in university students. COVID-19 pandemic durations seemed to be caused loneliness for all people. The short-version of the ULCA loneliness scale was applied to 358 university students. 24 students were selected for the study based on their higher scores on the assessment. These students also accepted that COVID-19 negatively affected their loneliness state. The average age of participants was 21 years old, and no one was younger than 19 years old. Randomly they were divided into two groups as experimental and controlling with equal representation of number. The experimental group joined 15 weeks of psychodrama groups for 90 minutes each week. All sessions were held with via internet video platform meeting program. In psychodrama method of psychotherapy, clients enacted their concerns to achieve new insight about themselves and others. The psychodrama program started with introducing group participants and expression of why they are in the group to each other. The group was guided with an experienced group leader. With the techniques of psychodrama such as warmup, mirror, doubling, and role reversal, participants self-disclosed their current moods. K-square statistical analyses suggested that the group of university students who joined psychodrama overcame their loneliness. Education policy makers should bear in mind that today’s Covid-19 society suffers from psychological treatment deficits in the area of loneliness. Group action methods should be taken immediately. Group guidance, counseling, and drama in education and psychodrama can be useful for students to cope with problems resulting from of COVID-19. Youths truly need to share their suffering with professionals. Preventive guidance activities should be given importance in schools.

Disturbance of compliance in patients with paranoid schizophrenia in the process of neuroleptic treatment

As the development of approaches to correct compliance disorders in patients with schizophrenia remains relevant today, we examined 112 patients and studied both clinical and psychopathological and pathopsychological features on the background of treatment with neuroleptics. To identify and evaluate clinical and psychological characteristics of patients with varying degrees of adherence to treatment with neuroleptics. For implementation of the objectives of the work both clinical and psychological and psychodiagnostic examination of the mnestic and emotional sphere, personal characteristics and self-esteem in patients were used.The use of the scale of drug compliance gave the opportunity to single out groups of patients with varying degrees of compliance. The application of the technique to study the side effects of antipsychotics revealed a relation between severity of side effects of medications and patients’ compliance. Along with psychopathological features, the group with noncompliance was characterized by the maximum severity of disorders in cognitive sphere. Medical treatment was accompanied with changes in emotional sphere in the form of objective signs of affective discomfort, least pronounced in patients with full compliance. The personal features differing in patients with varying degrees of adherence to treatment were established. Analysis of color associations based on color test relationships with emotionally significant individuals and concepts revealed the most pessimistic associations with negative values of colors in relation to health and disease in patients with noncompliance. Self-assessment of patients with noncompliance was characterized by the lowest rates in contrast to patients with partial and full compliance. The revealed psychodiagnostic features make up pathopsychological complexes of symptoms, which serve as differential diagnostic criteria of compliance of varying degrees.

Emotional Labour and Work-Family Conflict in Voice-to-Voice and Face-to-Face Customer Relations: A Multi-Group Study in Service Workers.

Professions that involve interaction with customers entail great emotional effort: workers are required to show emotions different from their true feeling and they experienced emotional dissonance and verbal aggression from customers. These job demands can generate discomfort and the effects of emotional labour can “expand” in other life domains. The study investigated the relationship among emotional dissonance, customer verbal aggression, affective discomfort at work and work-family conflict, considering differences between two groups of service workers: call centre agents (CA; N = 507, voice-to-voice relation with customers) and supermarket cashiers (SC; N = 444, face-to-face relation with customers). Results showed that emotional dissonance and customer verbal aggression had a positive relationship with work-family conflict, the mediational role of affective discomfort emerged in both groups; different effects of job demands in subsamples appeared. Suggestions for organisations and work processes emerged in order to identify practical implications useful to support employees in coping with emotional labour and to promote well-being and work-family balance.

The Moral Emotions of Guilt and Shame in Children: Relationship with Parenting and Temperament

This study aimed to understand the role of parenting and child temperament in explaining guilt and shame proneness in elementary school children (aged 8–10 years). For that purpose, 69 caregivers completed measures of parental disciplinary strategies and child temperament (SOMA-PC and TMCQ), while 81 children (57% boys) completed measures of shame and guilt-proneness (TOSCA-C) and performed a behavioral task (DNT) to assess effortful control. Results showed that children from parents that use victim-oriented induction practices are more prone to feel guilt, and consequently more prone to adopt reparative behaviors in sociomoral situations. In contrast, love withdrawal techniques predicted negatively guilt-proneness. Furthermore, no relationship between parenting practices and shame-proneness has been found. Regarding the association between temperament and moral emotions, our results indicate that effortful control, either measured by parental report or through the behavioral task performed by children, predicted positively guilt-proneness. This result suggests that effortful control components may facilitate the experience of affective discomfort associated with guilt proneness, as well as the adoption of normative and prosocial behaviors. Results concerning shame-proneness were less consistent: we did not find any associations between shame proneness and the temperament measures used in the present study. Overall, these findings partially support previous studies on parenting and moral emotions, contributing to a new discussion on the relationship between self-regulatory aspects of temperament and morality in childhood.

Accounting for the uncounted: Physical and affective distress in individuals dropping out of oral naltrexone treatment for opioid use disorder

BackgroundThe theoretical benefits of naltrexone as a treatment for opioid use disorder (e.g., safety, non-addictive, low risk of diversion) stand in sharp contrast to its disappointing record on retention in most samples. The relationship of uncomfortable physical and dysphoric symptoms to retention on naltrexone is a controversial and under-studied issue. MethodsUsing data from a randomized controlled trial of voucher-based contingency management and support from a significant other to enhance retention on oral naltrexone, we compared self-reported somatic and dysphoric symptoms, measured weekly, for individuals who were retained on naltrexone through the 12-week trial (n = 50) versus those who dropped out (n = 70). ResultsThere were no differences between participants who completed treatment and those who dropped out on multiple baseline characteristics, including somatic or affective symptoms prior to treatment. However, whether analyzed cross-sectionally or over time, participants who dropped out consistently reported higher rates of somatic symptoms, particularly difficulty sleeping, as well as affective symptoms, including multiple indicators of depression, anxiety, and anhedonia. ConclusionsAlthough the smaller group of participants who were retained on oral naltrexone for 12 weeks reported decreasing physical and affective discomfort over time, there was substantial evidence that those who dropped out experienced continued and significant levels of distress. Individuals who report physical or affective distress while taking naltrexone may be at higher risk of dropout.

The Cake Looks Yummy on the Shelf up There: The Interactive Effect of Retail Shelf Position and Consumers’ Personal Sense of Power on Indulgent Choice

This paper advances our understanding of consumer responses to retail product displays by examining the interplay between the vertical shelf position of choice options and consumers’ personal sense of power in determining their preference for indulgent options. Six experiments show that when consumers choose from assortments placed on a low shelf position, requiring them to lower their heads, those higher (vs. lower) in personal power are more likely to choose an indulgent option over its prudent counterpart. In contrast, when choosing from assortments placed on a high shelf position, requiring consumers to raise their heads, those lower (vs. higher) in personal power are more likely to choose an indulgent option. This effect hinges on a mismatch (vs. match) between consumers’ personal sense of power and that triggered by the products’ retail shelf position, increasing affective discomfort and guiding consumers, thus, towards indulgent choices.

Perception and duration of pain after office-based vocal fold injection augmentation.

In-office laryngology procedures are important in the treatment of voice and swallowing disorders. Patient tolerance determines which procedures can be performed without sedation or formal anesthesia. This study examines pain perception during and after in-office vocal fold injection augmentation. Prospective cohort study. Patients scheduled for office-based vocal fold injection augmentation were prospectively enrolled at an academic voice center. The short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire was administered before, during, and after the procedure and on postprocedure days 1, 3, and 7. Pre- and postprocedure vital signs were recorded and heart rate was continuously monitored. Telephone questionnaires were completed on postprocedure days 1 and 3. Forty-five patients consented to participate in our study (24 males, mean age 61 years). Most patients experienced mild to moderate pain with increasing heart rate during the procedure. Pain remained or increased 20 minutes after the procedure and improved but persisted for 1 day. Sensory and affective discomfort was endorsed by the majority. A minority of patients experienced bruising and changes in swallowing with diet modification for 3 days after the procedure. Sixteen percent had discomfort after 1 week. This is the first prospective study examining patient perception of pain during and after in-office injection augmentation using a validated scale and pain descriptors with extended follow-up. The results may offer guidance for patient counseling, consent, and treatment to improve tolerance and success. 4. Laryngoscope, 128:929-934, 2018.

How Emotions do not Provide Reasons to Act

If emotions provide reasons for action through their intentional content, as is often argued, where does this leave the role of the affective element of an emotion? Can it be more than a motivator and have significant bearing of its own on our emotional actions, as actions done for reasons? One way it can is through reinforcing other reasons that we might have, as Greenspan (2011) argues. Central to Greenspan’s account is the claim that the affective discomfort of an emotion, as a fact about the agent’s state of being, provides an additional normative reason to act to alleviate the state. This, I argue, is not correct, nor is it the best way to understand emotions as reason-reinforcers. In this paper, I thus do two things: I provide an examination of how and why the affect of emotion could provide reasons to act to alleviate it and I propose that the real way emotions reinforce reasons is through the way they orient our attention onto things that matter, registering them as salient.

Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands - Resources Model.

Background: Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities.Aim: The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support, and job autonomy) on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service (CA) and information service.Method: The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the CA and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Results: Analyses showed that CA agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. Results also showed, only for the CA group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort.Conclusion: This study’s findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities. Suggestions for organizations and practitioners emerged in order to identify practical implications useful both to support employees in coping with emotional labor and to promote well-being in inbound call centers. In detail, results showed the need to improve training programs in order to enhance employees’ emotion regulation skills, and to introduce human resource practices aimed at clarifying emotional requirements of the job.

Differences in viewing history affect discomfort associated with stereoscopic video

The relationship between differences in individuals' past experience viewing stereoscopic images and their discomfort associated with 3D video was examined. In the current study, 21 subjects were categorized as either inexperienced or experienced viewers of stereoscopic images (12 and 9 subjects, respectively). Two commercially available 3D movies with different depth and motion characteristics were presented to the subjects under two different viewing conditions. Eye discomfort, fatigue in parts of the body, and mental workload were measured. We found that experienced viewers were affected more from moderate depth video with less motion, perhaps because of their higher degree of attention toward subtler depth detail. Experienced viewers reported more severe fatigue in the upper parts of their bodies, which could be attributed to their body adjustments effected in an effort to optimally receive depth information. Inexperienced viewers were affected more by images with more depth and motion, a result perhaps of their initial excitement to experience the new technology. It was shown that particularly depth-emphasized segments demand higher mental workload from experienced viewers, but the effect is transient and not cumulative. It was found that differences between the two groups are exaggerated under the near viewing condition.

Distress tolerance moderates the relationship between negative affect intensity with borderline personality disorder levels

A number of studies have suggested that negative emotionality and negative affect intensity play key roles in the development and maintenance of borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, more recent research indicates that one's response to affective discomfort may be an even more important variable in the pathogenesis of BPD than either negative emotionality or negative affect intensity per se. As such, the current study aimed to empirically test the moderating role of 2 well-validated laboratory measures of the ability to tolerate psychological distress (distress tolerance) in the relationship of negative emotionality and negative affect intensity with BPD levels. Results provide laboratory-based evidence for a moderating effect of distress tolerance on the relationship of negative emotionality and negative affect intensity with levels of BPD. Specifically, the 2 former variables were related to levels of BPD among those with low distress tolerance. The current results add support to existing developmental frameworks of BPD and suggest the importance of modifying one's response to affective distress along with levels of negative emotionality in treatment settings.

How to Read the Future: The Yield Curve, Affect, and Financial Prediction

Financial prediction provokes intense affect. For bond traders, hedge fund managers, and economic planners, both statistical reasoning and affective discomfort surround professional judgments about the future. This article argues that contemporary financial knowledge is organized around the interplay of reason and affect. The history and contemporary use of the U.S. Treasury yield curve—a key economic indicator—point to this intractable problem of modern knowledge more generally. The devices that should create grounds for calculating future profits also open avenues of affect. Specifically, the reflexive character of financial devices provides fertile ground. As a forecasting tool, the yield curve's effectiveness is bound to its particular social content. Financial tools aggregate and objectify professionals' assessments about the economic future. Readers of the curve's shape must evaluate the rationality of the economic participants whose activities compose this reflexive device. Reading the financial future places affect at the center of calculation.

Pijn bij dementie

Pain and affective discomfort are very prevalent in dementia patients, but are often difficult to recognize. We applied a systematic literature search on publications on standardised assessment and management of pain en affective discomfort in dementia patients. After studying 352 titels and abstracts, 21 papers were selected, of which only three articles could be included. The included studies all applied to the same intervention, the Serial Trial Intervention, which is a stepwise protocol for assessment and management. The STI has a positive effect on the number of behavioural manifestations. To apply this intervention in Dutch Nursing homes, there should be a translation and adaptation of the STI, because the better availability of nursing home physician, and lower availability of nurse practioners.

Pijn bij dementie

Pain and affective discomfort are very prevalent in dementia patients, but are often difficult to recognize. We applied a systematic literature search on publications on standardised assessment and management of pain an affective discomfort in dementia patients. After studying 352 titles and abstracts, 21 papers were selected, of which only three articles could be included. The included studies all applied to the same intervention, the Serial Trial Intervention, which is a stepwise protocol for assessment and management. The STI has a positive effect on the number of behavioural manifestations. To apply this intervention in Dutch Nursing homes, there should be a translation and adaptation of the STI, because the better availability of nursing home physician, and lower availability of nurse practioners. (aut. ref.)

Deconstruction of a complex tailored intervention to assess and treat discomfort of people with advanced dementia

This paper describes the use of components of the Serial Trial Intervention (STI), which is designed to address problems of physical and affective discomfort in people with late-stage dementia. Nursing intervention studies frequently test the efficacy of tailored interventions that contain multidimensional assessment and diverse treatment components. Describing differences in the intervention as planned in the research design and as delivered under study conditions increases understanding of what really contributed to outcomes achievement, Type III error and improves the validity of conclusions regarding intervention effectiveness. Data from 57 participants in the treatment arm of a randomized experiment testing the intervention are used to describe the assessments and treatments actually delivered, to evaluate the effectiveness of specific components, and to compare differences between those receiving and not receiving the intervention. While targeted treatment in response to positive physical assessment was effective for 86% of those receiving treatment, 70% of participants with a positive assessment finding did not receive treatment during this step of the STI. Trials of non-pharmacological treatments were effective for 62% and trials of analgesics were effective for 75% of participants. Those treated at the not-for-profit facilities received a higher dose of the intervention and had statistically significant less discomfort after treatment than those at for-profit facilities (effect size of 0.963). Components of the STI were effective for many participants and this supports the use of a multidimensional approach to resolve the unmet needs of people with dementia who no longer communicate their needs through spoken language. Treating the intervention as both a categorical and continuous variable in experimental studies allows the effect of group assignment as well as dosage delivered to be examined.

The Assessment of Discomfort in Dementia Protocol

Many people with dementia are unable to clearly or consistently verbalize pain symptoms. The Assessment of Discomfort in Dementia (ADD) Protocol is a systematic tool that can be used by nurses to make a differential assessment and treatment plan for both physical pain and affective discomfort experienced by people with dementia. This ADD Protocol is based on the assumption that behaviors associated with dementia are symptoms of unmet physiologic and/or nonphysiologic needs. Steps of the process include a physical assessment, a review of the patient's history, an assessment of affective needs including environmental stress and sensoristasis, and the administration of analgesics. The ADD Protocol is unique in that it uses “as needed” analgesics as a part of the assessment process. The dualistic perspective, in which physical and affective needs are considered in tandem, is an essential and innovative feature of the ADD Protocol. © 2002 by the American Society of Pain Management Nurses

Assessment and Treatment of Discomfort for People with Late-Stage Dementia

People with dementia have often been excluded from pain studies. However, there is evidence supporting that people with dementia experience frequent pain, often poorly assessed and undertreated, and that the etiology for pain descriptions is poorly documented. The Assessment of Discomfort in Dementia (ADD) Protocol is designed to: a) more accurately assess discomfort in people with dementia who can no longer verbally describe physical pain or affective discomfort; b) more accurately and thoroughly treat physical pain and affective discomfort; and c) decrease inappropriate use of psychotropic medication. The use of the ADD Protocol was studies with a convenience sample of 104 residents of long-term care with end-stage dementia. Use of the ADD Protocol was associated with a significant decrease in discomfort (t = 6.56, p = 0.000). The most frequently seen behavioral symptoms associated with discomfort were tense body language, sad facial expression, fidgeting, perseverant verbalizations, and verbal outburts. The ADD Protocol was also associated with a significant increase in the use of scheduled analgesics and non-pharmacological comfort interventions. The protocol was not associated with an increase in the use of prn analgesics or with prn or scheduled psychotropics. This study has provided some support for the notion that the needs of people with significant dementia can be discerned and treated.

Personality Correlates of Homophobia

ABSTRACT This study explored the relationship between homophobia and several personality traits (empathy, religiosity, and coping style) in the context of respondents' gender and age. The sample consisted of 714 college students who responded to the Homophobia Attitude Scale (HAS) and personality trait scales. Results revealed that women endorsed fewer homophobic attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors than men and that age was negatively correlated with homophobia. Empathic concern and perspective taking were significantly correlated with lower overall homophobic attitudes, less affect discomfort in regard to gays, and less likelihood to abridge the human rights of gays. Religiosity was significantly correlated with more biased beliefs about the origins of homophobia, greater affective discomfort around gays, less endorsement of human rights for gays, and greater homophobia. Use of denial and isolation as coping styles were positively related to homophobia and use of turning against style was negatively correlated.