Differences In Emotional Reactivity Research Articles

Gender Differences in Emotional Reactivity of Depressed and At-Risk Preschoolers: Implications for Gender Specific Manifestations of Preschool Depression

We investigated whether differences in positive and negative emotional reactivity could be found in depressed preschoolers and preschoolers at risk for later internalizing symptoms relative to nondepressed/low risk comparison groups. Observational measures of emotional reactivity, used to derive a score of the balance between anger and sadness, were obtained and analyzed in independent samples. One study utilized cross-sectional data from preschoolers (M age = 4.6 years) with a current depressive syndrome and two nondepressed comparison groups. The other study utilized longitudinal data that assessed emotional reactivity at preschool age (M age = 4.5 years) and later mental health symptoms during the transition to primary school, allowing a retrospective determination of risk. Depressed and at-risk boys displayed more anger than sadness in contrast to girls in the same groups and in contrast to no disorder/low-risk controls. This finding was detected in depressed and “at risk for internalizing” boys who were not comorbid for externalizing problems.

Emotional reactivity to odors: Olfactory sensitivity and the span of emotional evaluation separate the genders

Numerous studies report gender differences in emotional reactivity in health and disease and the perception of odors is closely linked to the limbic system. In order to investigate gender differences in the emotional perception of odors we extended the Sniffin’ Stick Test with analogue rating scales for hedonic (pleasantness/unpleasantness) and intensity estimates. We matched 172 healthy subjects (86 females and 86 males) on age in order to balance the study population for three age strata (A: 19–39 years, B: 40–59, C: 60 years and above). Overall odors in our statistical analysis demonstrated significant gender differences for the absolute hedonic estimates but not for the relative hedonic and not for the intensity estimates. These findings demonstrate that women evaluate the pleasantness of perceived odors in a more extreme manner than men without significant differences in hedonic polarity (pleasantness/unpleasantness). Thus, we report a singular significant effect of gender on the dimension valence (hedonic estimation) independent from the dimension intensity. Our findings are in accordance with gender differences in facial reactivity to auditory stimuli and differences in the evaluation of emotional pictures. Investigating olfactory sensitivity females detected n-butanol and discriminated the 16 odors of the test significantly better than males. These results indicate that females possess higher olfactory sensitivity.

Stress and Emotional Reactivity as Explanations for Gender Differences in Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms

In this longitudinal study, we examined whether certain types of stressful events and how individuals respond to these events would explain gender differences in depressive symptoms among adolescents. We hypothesized that certain stressful events would mediate the relationship between gender and depressive symptoms. We also hypothesized that individual differences in emotional reactivity would impact part of this relationship. Lastly, we examined whether gender differences in early childhood temperament might explain gender differences in emotional reactivity in adolescence. We examined these hypotheses in a sample of 315 adolescents (51% females; 93% Caucasian; 3% African-American; and 1% each Hispanic, Asian-American, and Native American) participating in a longitudinal study of child development since birth. We used multiple regression and constrained nonlinear regression to analyze the data. Results indicated that stressful events significantly mediated gender differences in depression, and that individual differences in emotional reactivity to these stressors significantly moderated the relationship between stress and depression. We also observed significant gender differences in emotional reactivity to these stressors; temperamental differences in withdrawal negativity in infancy were marginally significant in mediating gender differences in emotional reactivity to stress in adolescence.

Emotional reactivity across the adult life span: The cognitive pragmatics make a difference.

Previously, we found that during films about age-typical losses, older adults experienced greater sadness than young adults, whereas their physiological responses were just as large. In the present study, our goal was to replicate this finding and extend past work by examining the role of cognitive functioning in age differences in emotional reactivity. We measured the autonomic and subjective responses of 240 adults (age range=20 to 70) while they viewed films about age-typical losses from our previous work. Findings were fully supportive of our past work: The magnitude of subjective reactions to our films increased linearly over the adult years, whereas there were no age differences on the level of physiological reactivity. We also found that the subjective reactions of adults with high pragmatic intelligence were of moderate size independent of their own age or the age relevance of the emotion elicitor. In contrast, the subjective reactions of adults low on pragmatic intelligence were more variable. Together, this evidence suggests that research on age differences in emotional reactivity may benefit from a perspective that considers individual difference variables as well as contextual variations.

Intraindividual change and variability in daily stress processes: Findings from two measurement-burst diary studies.

There is little longitudinal information on aging-related changes in emotional responses to negative events. In the present article, we examined intraindividual change and variability in the within-person coupling of daily stress and negative affect using data from 2 measurement-burst daily diary studies. Three main findings emerged. First, average reactivity to daily stress increased longitudinally, and this increase was evident across most of the adult lifespan. Second, individual differences in emotional reactivity to daily stress exhibited long-term temporal stability, but this stability was greatest in midlife and decreased in old age. Third, reactivity to daily stress varied reliably within-persons (across-time), with individuals exhibiting higher levels of reactivity during times when reporting high levels of global subject stress in the previous month. Taken together, the present results emphasize the importance of modeling dynamic psychosocial and aging processes that operate across different time scales for understanding age-related changes in daily stress processes.

A Study on the Effects of VMD

【The purpose of this study is the structural relations will be examined among the VMD image of clothe stores, emotional reactions of brand awareness, brand image, brand attitude, and purchase intention. An empirical study in experimental design was conducted to female college students in their twenties, who made a huge influential group in the fashion industry, by considering the VMD characteristics of clothing shops. It measured the effects of VMD based on the changes to the consumer attitude before and after the VMD renewals, the correlations between brand recognition and VMD, and the influences of VMD on brand recognition and image, which were considered as important factors in creating brand assets. The research findings were as follows: 1. There were differences in emotional reactions according to the VMD image changes before and after renewal. Considering that the consumers recognized the VMD changes before and after renewal and showed different emotional reactions, the VMD image seems to be a major variable affecting their emotions. 2. As for the changes to the VMD image and brand image before and after renewal, the consumers recognized the VMD changes before and after renewal and consequently recognized the brad images differently, which implies that brand image can vary according to the effects of VMD renewal and changes to the VMD image.】

Assessment of anxiety-like behaviors in female rats bred for differences in kindling susceptibility and amygdala excitability

Two rat lines bred for kindling susceptibility were previously observed to engage in different behavioral strategies in tests of emotionality. In order to extend past research on defensive behaviors in these strains which largely used males, Fast- and Slow-kindling females were assessed for anxiety-like behaviors in a number of aversive paradigms. Fast rats entered and spent more time in the open arms and spent less time in the closed arms of the elevated plus-maze (EPM) compared to Slow animals. Fast rats had higher conditioned suppression ratios across testing days, defecated less often during conditioning, and successfully disinhibited suppression during extinction in the conditioned emotional response (CER) paradigm compared to Slow-kindlers. In order to pursue these differences in emotional reactivity between the strains and differentiate negative affect from motivational, learning, and impulsive explanations, a separate group of animals were assessed in the light-enhanced acoustic startle chamber, a test of anxiety. When initially exposed to a bright-light, Slow rats significantly increased their startle response while this was not observed in the Fast strain. In combination with previous research on these strains, the present data tentatively suggest that Fast and Slow animals utilize different neural systems in tests of fear and anxiety which may have been co-selected with the direct selection of amygdala-kindling susceptibility.

The partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) in female Roman high- (RHA-I) and low-avoidance (RLA-I) rats

The present experiment was designed with the goal of studying the partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) in female inbred Roman high- (RHA-I) and low-avoidance (RLA-I) rats. Two groups of RHA-I and two of RLA-I food-deprived animals were placed in a straight alley where they were partially or continuously reinforced. Once the animals reached the acquisition criterion, they were exposed to an extinction phase where the reinforcement was omitted. During the extinction phase RHA-I animals continuously reinforced during acquisition exhibited more resistance to extinction than their RLA-I counterparts, whereas only RLA-I rats partially reinforced during acquisition showed an increased resistance to extinction in comparison to continuously reinforced control RLA-I rats, this PREE being absent in RHA-I animals. These results are discussed within the framework of PREE theories that account for this effect by using emotional mechanisms, as pertains to the repeatedly observed RHA–RLA differences in emotional reactivity.

Emotional Reactivity and the Emergence of Conduct Problems and Emotional Symptoms in 7- to 11-Year-Olds: A 1-Year Follow-up Study

To determine whether individual differences in emotional reactivity predicted high levels of conduct problems and/or emotional (depressive and anxiety) symptoms at 1-year follow-up in a community sample of 7- to 11-year-old children (N = 659). The study used a prospective design with picture perception methodology at baseline to elicit emotional responses from children. Conduct problems and symptoms of anxiety and depression were evaluated using repeated measures from self-, teacher, and parent report questionnaires completed at baseline and 1 year. Children who reported decreased emotional arousal to unpleasant (B = -0.069; p = .011) and pleasant (B = -0.134; p = .036) pictures showed higher levels of self-reported and teacher-reported conduct problems at 1-year follow-up, respectively. Conversely, children who reported increased emotional arousal to neutral pictures (B = 0.661; p = .030) at baseline showed higher levels of anxiety symptoms at follow-up. These findings held when baseline level of problems and symptoms, sex, age, socioeconomic status, and IQ were taken into account. Findings were nonsignificant for symptoms of depression at the multivariate level of analyses. Although findings showed that symptom level at baseline remains the best predictor of symptom level at follow-up, these prospective findings extend previous reports in children and adults and provide predictive validity for decreased arousal correlating with high levels of subsequent conduct problems and increased arousal correlating with high levels of subsequent anxiety symptoms. Differences in emotional processing may constitute a risk process for the subsequent onset of conduct and anxiety disorder in middle childhood.

Biological Substrates of Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Adolescence During an Emotional Go-Nogo Task

Adolescence is a transition period from childhood to adulthood that is often characterized by emotional instability. This period is also a time of increased incidence of anxiety and depression, underscoring the importance of understanding biological substrates of behavioral and emotion regulation during adolescence. Developmental changes in the brain in concert with individual predispositions for anxiety might underlie the increased risk for poor outcomes reported during adolescence. We tested the hypothesis that difficulties in regulating behavior in emotional contexts in adolescents might be due to competition between heightened activity in subcortical emotional processing systems and immature top-down prefrontal systems. Individual differences in emotional reactivity might put some teens at greater risk during this sensitive transition in development. We examined the association between emotion regulation and frontoamygdala circuitry in 60 children, adolescents, and adults with an emotional go-nogo paradigm. We went beyond examining the magnitude of neural activity and focused on neural adaptation within this circuitry across time with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Adolescents showed exaggerated amygdala activity relative to children and adults. This age-related difference decreased with repeated exposures to the stimuli, and individual differences in self-ratings of anxiety predicted the extent of adaptation or habituation in amygdala. Individuals with higher trait anxiety showed less habituation over repeated exposures. This failure to habituate was associated with less functional connectivity between ventral prefrontal cortex and amygdala. These findings suggest that exaggerated emotional reactivity during adolescence might increase the need for top-down control and put individuals with less control at greater risk for poor outcomes.

Emotional responses in borderline personality disorder and depression: Assessment during an acute crisis and 8 months later

Stability of subjective emotional responses to positive and negative film stimuli was examined in female patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD, n = 30), depressed patients ( n = 27) and a non-clinical control group ( n = 30). At first assessment ( t1) clinical participants were inpatients. The second assessment was conducted 8 months later, when clinical participants were not in an acute crisis. Positive emotions and other-focused negative emotions were successfully induced in all participants. Altogether, more negative baseline emotionality describes both patient groups better than differences in emotional reactivity. Our findings contradict the hypothesis of general emotional hyperreactivity in BPD patients for both positive and negative emotions.

Negative emotions in supervisory relationships: The role of relational models

The reasons why supervisory/line management relationships are one of the most frequently cited causes of workplace negative emotions are poorly understood. Existing research on emotions at work provides some clues but largely omits the role of relational context. Drawing on attachment theory, the present research develops a model suggesting that employees hold differing relational models of their supervisory relationship in conjunction with global relational models that they bring with them to the workplace. Together, these relational models are associated with different interpretations of supervisor behaviour, which in turn are associated with differences in emotional reactions. The model was tested with a survey of 174 nurses employed in a UK NHS Trust. Some support was found for the propositions. The research highlights that in order to understand why negative emotions occur in supervisory relationships it is important to examine affective events within the historical relational context in which they occur.

Prenatal stress does not alter innate novelty-seeking behavioral traits, but differentially affects individual differences in neuroendocrine stress responsivity

Exposure to stress during prenatal or early postnatal life can dramatically impact adult behavior and neuroendocrine function. We recently began to selectively breed Sprague-Dawley rats for high (high responder, HR) and low (low responder, LR) novelty-seeking behavior, a trait that predicts a variety of differences in emotional reactivity, including differences in neuroendocrine stress response, fear- and anxiety-like behavior, aggression, and propensity to self-administer drugs of abuse. We evaluated genetic-early environment interactions by exposing HR- and LR-bred animals to prenatal stress (PS) from pregnancy day 3-20, hypothesizing that PS exposure would differentially impact HR versus LR behavior and neuroendocrine reactivity. We evaluated novelty-induced locomotion, anxiety-like behavior, and corticosterone stress response in weanling (25-day-old) and adult HR-LR stressed and control males. Exposure to PS did not alter HR-LR differences in locomotion, but did impact anxiety-like behavior, specifically in LR animals. Surprisingly, LR animals exposed to PS exhibited less anxiety than LR controls. HR rats were not affected by PS, with both stress and control groups showing low levels of anxiety. PS differentially impacted neuroendocrine stress reactivity in young versus adult HR-LR animals, leading to an exaggerated corticosterone response in LR pups compared to LR controls, while HRs pups were unaffected. In contrast, exposure to PS produced an exaggerated stress response in HR adults, compared to HR controls, while LR animals were not significantly affected. These findings highlight how genetic predisposition may shape individual's response to early life stressors, and furthermore, show that a history of early life stress may differentially impact an organism at different points in life. Future work will explore neural mechanisms which underlie the different behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of PS in HR versus LR animals.

Sex Differences in the Experience of Unwanted Sexual Attention and Behaviors During Childhood

ABSTRACT Girls receive considerable amounts of unwanted sexual attention (UWSA) and behaviors (UWSB). Less is known about boys' unwanted sexual experiences. The primary goal of this study was to obtain a descriptive profile of the types and perpetrators of childhood UWSA/B. Secondary goals were to examine sex differences in emotional reactions to UWSA/B and influence of perpetrator. As many as300 male and 100 female undergraduates completed the Exposure to Sexual Attention Scale and the Emotional Reaction Checklist. Results indicated that the majority of participants experienced UWSA/B during childhood, with females reporting higher rates of UWSB than males. Sex differences were also observed regarding types of perpetrators and emotional reactions. Findings are discussed as they relate to the sociocultural norms in which children are reared.

Successive negative contrast effect in instrumental runway behaviour: A study with Roman high- (RHA) and Roman low- (RLA) avoidance rats

It has been recently shown that Roman high- (RHA) and low- (RLA) avoidance rats show behavioural divergence in successive negative contrast (SNC) induced in one-way avoidance learning [Torres C, Cándido A, Escarabajal MD, de la Torre L, Maldonado A, Tobeña A, et al. Successive negative contrast effect in one-way avoidance learning in female roman rats. Physiol Behav 2005;85:377–82]. A 2-experiment study was conducted with the goal of analyzing whether these differences in SNC can also be extended to a different experimental paradigm. Food-deprived RHA and RLA female rats were exposed to a straight alley, recording the latency (DV) between leaving the start box and reaching the food available in the goal box at the end of the alley. To induce the SNC effect the amount of reinforcement received went from 12 pellets in the pre-shift phase to 1 pellet (Experiment 1) or 2 pellets (Experiment 2) in the postshift phase. The SNC effect appeared in both strains in Experiment 1, but only in RLA rats in Experiment 2. These results are discussed within the framework of SNC theories that account for this effect by using emotional mechanisms, as related to the differences in emotional reactivity seen between the RHA and RLA strains in a number of behavioural tests of fear/anxiety.

Measuring Emotional Expression with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count

The Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis program often is used as a measure of emotion expression, yet the construct validity of its use for this purpose has not been examined. Three experimental studies assessed whether the LIWC counts of emotion processes words are sensitive to verbal expression of sadness and amusement. Experiment 1 determined that sad and amusing written autobiographical memories differed in LIWC emotion counts in expected ways. Experiment 2 revealed that reactions to emotionally provocative film clips designed to manipulate the momentary experience of sadness and amusement differed in LIWC counts. Experiment 3 replicated the findings of Experiment 2 and found generally weak relations between LIWC emotion counts and individual differences in emotional reactivity, dispositional expressivity, and personality. The LIWC therefore appears to be a valid method for measuring verbal expression of emotion.

Individual differences in novelty-seeking and emotional reactivity correlate with variation in maternal behavior

Numerous studies have demonstrated that Sprague–Dawley rats exhibit a wide range of locomotor reactivity when placed in a novel environment. High Responder (HR) rats show exaggerated locomotor response to novelty, enhanced neuroendocrine stress reactivity, decreased anxiety-like behavior, and propensity to self-administer psychostimulants, compared to the less active Low Responder (LR) animals. Few studies have explored the early environmental factors which may underlie the HR–LR differences in emotional reactivity. Considering the enormous impact of maternal care on rodent neurodevelopment, we sought to examine maternal behavior in HR–LR dams to determine whether they exhibit differences which could contribute to their offspring's differential temperaments. Females, like males, can be classified as HR versus LR, showing marked differences in novelty-induced locomotor activity and anxiety-like behavior. HR–LR mothers behaved differently with their pups during the first two postpartum weeks. LR dams spent greater time licking and nursing their pups compared to HR dams, with the most prominent differences occurring during the second postpartum week. By contrast, when non-lactating HR–LR females were presented with orphaned pups, the pattern of maternal response was reversed. HR females were more responsive and showed greater maternal care of the novel pups compared to LR females, which were probably inhibited due to fear of the unfamiliar pups. This underscores the critical interplay between the female's emotional phenotype, her hormonal status and her familiarity with the pup as key factors in determining maternal behavior. Future work should explore neural and hormonal mechanisms which drive these HR–LR differences in maternal behavior and their impact on the development of the offspring.

Reward sensitivity in depression: A biobehavioral study.

The approach-withdrawal model posits 2 neural systems of motivation and emotion and hypothesizes that these systems are responsible for individual differences in emotional reactivity, or affective styles. The model also proposes that depression is characterized by a deficit in reward-seeking behavior (i.e., approach motivation) and is associated with a relative decrease in left frontal brain activity. The authors tested aspects of this model by comparing the electroencephalogram alpha power of depressed and nondepressed individuals during a task that manipulated approach motivation. The study found that control participants and individuals with late-onset depression exhibited the hypothesized increase in left frontal activity during the approach task but individuals with early-onset depression did not. This suggests that early-onset depression may be associated with a deficit in the hypothesized approach motivation system.

The Persuasive Influence of Emotion in Cancer Prevention and Detection Messages

This paper reviews and summarizes the literature on the relationship between emotion and persuasion as it bears on the production of cancer prevention and detection messages. A series of propositions are presented that serve to illustrate the intricacies of the emotion–persuasion relationship. These propositions deal with the necessary conditions for emotional arousal, individual differences in emotional reactivity to cancer messages, the potential for emotion-inducing messages to produce persuasive and counterpersuasive effects, the conditions that circumscribe the influence of emotions on persuasion, and the mechanisms by which that influence is achieved. To the extent that the literature permits, advice on message design is offered. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00286.x Among its many responsibilities, the National Cancer Institute produces messages that encourage individuals to (a) behave in ways that lessen their risk of cancer and (b) recommend actions to detect cancer in its earliest stages. Given the inherently threatening nature of cancer, it may be impossible for such messages to achieve these goals without intentionally or unintentionally arousing their audiences’ emotions. Although emotions can overwhelm individuals, they may also motivate behaviors that are psychologically difficult to enact. The effective use of emotions as persuasive devices, however, requires an understanding of not only principles related to emotional arousal but also the processes that allow emotional arousal to be translated into an effective action. This article is intended to speak to these two overarching issues. Although there is scant literature linking persuasive effects of emotion and cancer-related issues, we illustrate our claims with cancer-related research whenever possible, including previously unpublished data on individuals’ reactions to an antitobacco public service announcement (PSA). However, we augment these data with hypothetical message scenarios to further illuminate our points, which we outline in the eight propositions that follow.

The relation of stress and psychiatric illnesses to coronary heart disease

The relation of stress and psychiatric illnesses to coronary heart disease