Cognitive-affective Process Research Articles

The Affective Dimensions of Historical Empathy: Opportunities, Problems, and Challenges

Emotions and feelings play an important role within history education. Yet, the affective dimensions (feelings, emotions, connections) of learning about the past are understudied within research on historical empathy—defined here as a cognitive-affective process of attempting to understand the thoughts, feelings, experiences, decisions, and actions of people from the past within their historical contexts. Drawing from interviews with secondary school history teachers in Canada, this article offers insight into teachers’ perspectives on constructive ways that they approach the affective dimensions within history classrooms, as well as problems and challenges that arise when they intentionally elicit emotions or encounter them unexpectedly. In doing so, the article aims to further conceptualize the affective dimensions of historical empathy and expand understandings of emotions in history and social studies education, while positioning these discussions in relation to history education in Canada.

Dynamic functional connectivity changes associated with psychiatric traits and cognitive deficits in Cushing’s disease

Cushing’s disease is a rare neuroendocrine disorder with excessive endogenous cortisol, impaired cognition, and psychiatric symptoms. Evidence from resting-state fMRI revealed the abnormalities of static brain connectivity in patients with Cushing’s disease (CD patients). However, it is unknown whether the CD patients’ dynamic functional connectivity would be abnormal and whether the dynamic features are associated with deficits in cognition and psychopathological symptoms. Here, we evaluated 50 patients with Cushing’s disease and 57 healthy participants by using resting-state fMRI and dynamic functional connectivity (dFNC) approach. We focused on the dynamic features of default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and central executive network (CEN) because these are binding sites for the cognitive-affective process, as well as vital in understanding the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. The dFNC was further clustered into four states by k-mean clustering. CD patients showed more dwell time in State 1 but less time in State 4. Intriguingly, group differences in dwell time in these two states can explain the cognitive deficits of CD patients. Moreover, the inter-network connections between DMN and SN and the engagement time in State 4 negatively correlated with anxiety and depression but positively correlated with cognitive performance. Finally, the classifier trained by the dynamic features of these networks successfully classified CD patients from healthy participants. Together, our study revealed the dynamic features of CD patients’ brains and found their associations with impaired cognition and emotional symptoms, which may open new avenues for understanding the cognitive and affective deficits induced by Cushing’s disease.

(Don’t) mind the gap? Information gaps compound curiosity yet also feed frustration at work

Although information gaps frequently occur in the workplace, surprisingly little organizational research considered their psychological consequences for employees. We refine the information gap theory by integrating it with the cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS) framework to argue that work-related information gaps constitute a double-edged sword for work engagement because they elicit both specific curiosity and frustration. We find support for our cognitive-affective process model of information gaps across two experience-sampling studies and an experimental study. In Study 1 (74 employees, 270 days), we validated a work-related information gap scale to empirically disentangle information gaps from specific curiosity. In Study 2 (107 employees, 719 days), information gaps were positively associated with specific curiosity and frustration, which in turn had differential effects on work engagement. In Study 3 (405 employees across two conditions), we provide causal support for our model and rule out alternative cognitive (i.e., boredom) and affective (i.e., thriving) mechanisms.

Measurement of Yearning in Bereaved Spouses

Yearning can best be described as a cognitive-affective process that consists of repetitive counterfactual thoughts in present situations that can elicit positive and negative feelings related to what life would be like if the deceased lived in an alternative reality compounded with frustration and desire to be with them. Yearning is the only emotional response that differentiates bereavement from other life events. How yearning is measured and assessed within the review of literature has been limited and proven problematic based on the assumption that the underlying construct of yearning is homogeneous, whereas yearning is multifaceted and complex. Single-item assessments of such a complex phenomenon are not enough to clinically diagnose and to plan treatment modalities which is required when diagnosed within DSM-TR-5 criteria.

Why employee psychopathy leads to counterproductive workplace behaviours : an analysis of the underlying mechanisms

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine possible explanatory mechanisms linking employee secondary psychopathy to counterproductive workplace behaviour (CWB). Based on the emotion-centred model of voluntary work behaviour we argue that secondary psychopathy is characterized by unfavourable cognitive appraisal tendencies, which in turn positively relate to negative affectivity. We further assume that this cognitive-affective process enhances CWB. We also include primary psychopathy into our research model to test if the presumed mechanism applies to both psychopathy dimensions. We collected daily-survey data from 470 employees (1670 days) and analysed these data using multilevel structured equation modelling. We found strong support for the hypothesized serial mediation model, indicating that secondary psychopathy triggers dysfunctional cognitive-affective tendencies and consequently increases the likelihood of CWB. The proposed model did not hold up for primary psychopathy. Our study outlines the presence of distorted cognition-affective patterns in employee secondary psychopathy only. These patterns seem to play a key role in explaining the link between employee secondary psychopathy and deviant workplace behaviour. Based on this procedural knowledge relevant implications for theory and practice are provided.

ABC-EBDI: An affective framework for BDI agents

The aim of this work is to improve the modelling of intelligent agents that reproduce realistic human behavior. BDI frameworks have been successfully used in this context and have evolved in recent years into EBDI frameworks, in which affective aspects are considered. In this work, an affective EBDI framework named ABC-EBDI is presented. The proposal integrates a well-known psychotherapeutic model, the ABC model, combined with other affective theories, to support the modeling of the agents’ behavioral and affective responses in a unifying and realistic manner. The distinguishing feature of the proposed framework is the classification of the agent’s cognitive-affective process as either rational or irrational. This process will lead to functional emotions and adaptive conduct in the first case and dysfunctional emotions and maladaptive behaviors in the second. The framework models affect by taking into account emotions, mood and personality. It also models human conduct regarding not only actions, but also the way those actions are expressed. A prototype has been implemented based on a bad news scenario and a first evaluation with users has been carried out with promising results.

Applying a Psychotherapeutic Theory to the Modeling of Affective Intelligent Agents

In this paper, we propose the application of a well-known psychotherapeutic model, the Ellis’s ABC theory, to the modeling of intelligent agents. The final aim is to be able to simulate human realistic behavior in situations in which varied reactions are possible and are determined by several factors such as personality, affective state, prior experiences, and regulation capabilities. The proposed framework, called ABC-EBDI, is the result of integrating the ABC theory into a BDI framework. Other affective theories have also been taken into account to support the modeling of personality, mood, and affect regulation. The distinguishing feature of the proposed framework is the classification of the agent’s cognitive-affective process as either rational or irrational. This process will lead to functional emotions and adaptive conduct, in the first case, and dysfunctional emotions and maladaptive conduct in the second. While the ABC-EBDI framework may be used in different application domains due to its characteristics it can be particularly useful in mental health application. A prototype has been implemented and applied to simulate a bad news scenario. A first evaluation with specialists has been carried out with promising results.

Rumination in anorexia nervosa: Cognitive-affective and neuroendocrinological aspects

Rumination about body weight/figure as well as food is common in patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and may be a maintenance factor of the disorder. While rumination can generally be considered as a cognitive-affective process, food-related rumination may be driven primarily by a physiological response to undernutrition. In the current longitudinal study, we integrate ecological momentary assessment of rumination and affect and, as a biological marker of undernutrition, plasma leptin levels collected from 33 AN patients. At the very acute stage and again after short-term weight-restoration patients answered short questionnaires six times per day over two weeks. Analyses via hierarchical linear modelling confirmed that rumination is closely linked to affect in AN before and after weight-restoration. Rumination about food decreased during weight-restoration and was correlated with leptin levels. In contrast, rumination about body weight/figure was not linked to leptin, persisted after weight gain, and showed stronger connections with affect. This suggests that rumination about body weight/figure seems to be a cognitive-affective aspect of the disorder, but food-related rumination may need to be considered from a physiological perspective. It is possible that food-related ruminative thoughts reflect a physiological symptom induced by undernutrition, similar to well-described leptin-associated changes in physical activity.

The relevance/significance of stimuli appraisals for personality traits in an academic context

Though appraisals are recognised as an important cognitive-affective process linking traits to emotions, motivations, and behaviours, previous research on the relationship between personality traits and appraisals has been limited by not considering relevance/significance-appraisals. This study used 120 university students to investigate the relationship between conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism, and pleasantness- and relevance/significance appraisals of academic-related words (in the categories of academic-approach, academic-avoidance, performance-evaluative, and academic-neutral). The results suggested that both pleasantness- and relevance/significance-appraisals were important for explaining the variation in personality traits. Overall, stimuli-appraisals accounted for 35% of the variance in conscientiousness, and 49% of the variance in an aspect of conscientiousness related to approach/achievement.

Toward a Cognitive-Affective Process Model of Hostile Media Perceptions: A Multi-Country Structural Equation Modeling Approach

This article develops and tests a theoretical cognitive-affective process model of the hostile media effect (HME). To explain the HME, scholars have mainly focused on cognitive involvement, that is, the extent to which an issue is of personal importance. In addition, we introduce the notion of affective involvement and hypothesize three distinct routes responsible for a HME: a cognitive, an affective, and a cognitive-affective route. Simultaneously collected representative survey data from the United States, Norway, and France employing country-invariant measures provide clear evidence that the three routes each and independently drive the HME. Theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.

Can you feel the beat? Interoceptive awareness is an interactive function of anxiety- and depression-specific symptom dimensions

Delineating the differential effects of anxiety versus depression on patterns of information processing has proved challenging. The tripartite model of mood disorders (Clark & Watson, 1991) suggests that one way forward is to adopt a dimensional rather than categorical approach, making it possible to explore the main and interaction effects of depression- and anxiety-specific symptoms on a given cognitive-affective process. Here we examined how the interplay of anxiety-specific arousal and depression-specific anhedonia symptoms in the same individuals relate to interoceptive (bodily) awareness. 113 participants with varying levels of mood disorder symptoms completed a heartbeat perception task to assess interoceptive accuracy. Superior interoception was associated with anxiety-specific arousal symptoms, and this relationship held when controlling for depression-specific anhedonia symptoms and shared general distress symptoms. This main effect was qualified by an interaction between anhedonia and arousal. As anhedonia symptoms increased in severity, the relationship between arousal and interoceptive accuracy became less strong. These results further validate the tripartite framework, help clarify the mixed existing literature on interoception in mood disorders, and suggest that considering the unique and interactive effects of different symptom dimensions is a useful strategy to help identify the cognitive-affective profiles associated with anxiety and depression.

The moderating role of familiarity in rural tourism in Spain

A review of the literature suggests the importance of a customer's attitude for the cognitive–affective process that derives from a transaction specific to a particular object. The authors examine how tourists’ attitudes toward rural tourism, as a new form of tourism, can affect both the quality and the satisfaction that the tourist associates with a specific facility. Although the authors do not find discriminant validity between perceived quality and satisfaction, the analyses confirm the positive effect of attitude toward rural tourism on perceived quality and the moderating role of familiarity, such that more experienced tourists experience less altered evaluation results.

Model of Effects of Adult Attachment on Emotional Empathy of Counseling Students

Counselor educators and counseling researchers have historically devoted a great deal of attention to empathy in counseling (Bowman & Reeves, 1987; Duan & Hill, 1996; Gladstein, 1977). From most counseling theoretical perspectives, empathy is seen as a fundamental part of the counseling process (Carlozzi, Bull, Eells, & Hurlburt, 1995; Hartley, 1995; Ivey, Ivey, & Simek-Morgan, 1993). However, research on empathy has decreased over the last several years. Duan and Hill argued for a renewal of research on empathy. They illuminated the theoretical salience of empathy and the lack of empirical evidence. In particular, Duan and Hill called for increased study of (a) the cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy, (b) variables that influence empathy, (c) the experience and communication of empathy by counselors, (d) the interaction of counselor and client emotions, and (e) empathy in the context of cultural diversity. The present study focused on the first two of these suggestions. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influences of adult attachment on emotional empathy in master's-level counseling students. Through structural equation modeling, a measurement and structural model of the effects of attachment on empathy was developed. Gender was an exogenous variable in the structural model. Because attachment theory focuses firmly on emotional processes (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978), the present study focused on the emotional dimension of empathy. The research question was the following: How well does the adult attachment-emotional empathy model fit the data for master's-level counseling students? * Literature Review Empathy Duan and Hill (1996), in a review of literature, described various conceptualizations of the empathy construct. Researchers have conceptualized and defined empathy in terms of cognitive and affective mechanisms, resulting in three common conceptualizations: (a) as a cognitive or intellectual process, (b) as an affective or emotional process, and (c) as a process involving both cognitive and affective phenomena. Both Duan and Hill and Gladstein (1977) described cognitive empathy as the ability to intellectually assume the perspective of another person. The authors characterized emotional empathy as an emotional response to another person's emotion (feeling another person's feeling). According to Gladstein (1977), Rogers's (1957, 1975) conceptualization of empathy involves both intellectual and emotional components. Duan and Hill recognized the emotional aspects of Rogers's conceptualization but characterized it more in terms of intellectual empathy. Empathy has also been conceptualized and studied as (a) a personality trait (e.g., Davis, 1983; Mehrabian & Epstein, 1972), (b) a state (e.g., Baston, Fultz, & Schoenrade, 1987), and (c) an experiential process (Rogers, 1975). Rogers initially described empathy as a cognitive-affective state (Rogers, 1957), then later as a cognitive-affective process (Rogers, 1975). There have been many studies of emotional empathy, but the number of recent studies using samples of counseling students is relatively small. However, there is evidence that emotional empathy is related to counseling skill and other variables indicative of effective counseling. Ridgway and Sharpley (1990) examined the relationships of several measures to three outcome variables: counseling skill, counselor behavior, and client satisfaction. Participants were counseling students who were beginning their counseling-skills training. The independent variables included measures of intellectual (cognitive) empathy, emotional empathy, and communicative (nonverbal) empathy. Emotional empathy was the only empathy variable that was significantly related to the outcome variables. In addition, the relationships of emotional empathy to other dimensions of empathy were very weak. From a review of literature on empathy, Gladstein (1983) concluded that emotional empathy is most important in the initial stages of counseling and important in helping clients increase their self-awareness. …

Review: A Cognitive-Affective Model of Organizational Communication for Designing IT

There are several theories available to describe how managers choose a medium for communication. However, current technology can affect not only how we communicate but also what we communicate. As a result, the issue for designers of communication support systems has become broader: how should technology be designed to make communication more effective by changing the medium and the attributes of the message itself? The answer to this question requires a shift from current preoccupations with the medium of communication to a view that assesses the balance between medium and message form. There is also a need to look more closely at the process of communication in order to identify more precisely any potential areas of computer support. This paper provides the spadework for a new model of organizational communication, and uses it to review existing research, as well as to suggest directions for future research and development. Beginning with the crucial aspects of action, relationship, and choice, an integrated model of how people communicate is developed. This model incorporates three basic factors: (1) inputs to the communication process (task, sender-receiver distance, and values and norms of communication with a particular emphasis on inter-cultural communication); (2) a cognitive-affective process of communication; and (3) the communication impact on action and relationship. The glue that bonds these factors together is a set of communication strategies aimed at reducing the complexity of communication. The model provides a balance between relationship and action, between cognition and affect, and between message and medium. Such a balance has been lacking in previous work, and we believe it reflects a more realistic picture of communication behavior in organizations. A set of propositions generated from the model sets an agenda for studying the communication process as well as its inputs and outputs. Furthermore, this knowledge of the mechanisms that guide behavior is used to demonstrate the potential for developing design principles for future communication support systems.

The Design of Problem-Solving Systems

Problem solving, from a systems point of view, is to be considered as a complex, cognitive-affective process of formation and reorganization of conceptual systems. Conceptualization of problem-solving systems includes the development of a problem solver's possible points of view, their naming by explicitly introduced terms, and finally elaboration of ideal-typical formal design models. This paper suggests a taxonomic framework that elaborates and interconnects six design viewpoints, in order to give the problem solver (comprehended as a systems designer) better conceptual support than the “general” systems concept which is still mechanistically employed. These viewpoints furnish corresponding formal design ideals for the design and improvement of problem-solving processes. They must be completed by both normative premises and behavioral science concepts.