Emotional Research Articles

Chromatic Resonance: Investigating the Effects of Dynamic Color Changes on Human Emotional Responses

This study investigates the impact of dynamic color changes on human emotional responses by exploring variations in color saturation and transition modes. Previous research has established that static colors evoke specific emotional associations; for example, red is linked with vitality and enthusiasm, blue with sadness and tranquility, and green with nature and freshness. To expand on this understanding, an experiment was designed utilizing the Berkeley Color Project 32 (BCP-32), where participants were grouped to observe three types of video stimuli: discrete high-saturation transitions between red and blue, continuous high-saturation transitions between yellow and violet, and continuous low-saturation transitions between the same colors. Following the viewing, participants completed a questionnaire to assess their emotional reactions. The findings indicate that while the mode of color transitiondiscrete or continuousdid not significantly alter emotional responses, changes in color saturation produced noticeable effects on participants' emotions. This suggests that the intensity of a color, rather than the manner of its change, plays a more pivotal role in influencing human emotional states.

Correction: Duan, Y.; Li, S. Effects of Plant Communities on Human Physiological Recovery and Emotional Reactions: A Comparative Onsite Survey and Photo Elicitation Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 721

In the original publication [...]

Emotions and cognitive processes in labor activity: the role of emotional intelligence

The article is devoted to the study of the problem of the relationship between emotions and reason, as well as the phenomenon of emotional intelligence (furthermore - EI), which combines the ability to recognize and manage one's own emotions and the emotions of others. This paper examines the critical components of emotional intelligence, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, and their impact on the professional environment. A high level of emotional intelligence allows employees to more effectively cope with emotional stress, improve interpersonal relationships, motivate themselves and others, and make informed decisions in stressful situations. The article provides an overview of the main theories of emotions proposed in the context of analytical, cognitive, and domestic psychology, with the aim of expanding the understanding of emotional intelligence. The primary attention is paid to the analysis of theories that consider emotions as a result of physiological reactions or cognitive processes, as well as in the context of social learning and motivation. The critical aspects of the interaction of emotions with perception, motivation, and mental processes, as well as their role in the formation of the integrity of the personality and adaptation to the external environment, are considered. Essential accents are made on analyzing emotional reactions, assessing their significance for the subject, and searching for a connection between emotional states and cognitive activity. The article's conclusions emphasize the importance of EI as a critical factor in understanding emotional reactions, making it an essential element in psychological theory and practice.

Angry tweets. How uncivil and intolerant elite communication affects political distrust and political participation intentions

ABSTRACT Hostile speech by politicians is increasingly prevalent on social media, especially for regular social media users. However, studies that compare the effects of political incivility versus intolerance on recipients’ emotions, political distrust, and political participation intentions are lacking. Findings of an experimental study (N = 297) indicated that uncivil speech had no significant effect on young recipients’ negative emotions. In contrast, intolerant speech elicited negative emotions, which increased political distrust and political participation intentions. Further, we assumed that a female politician using incivility/intolerance elicits stronger emotional reactions than a male politician. However, effects appeared independent of the gender of the communicator. Implications are discussed.

Impact of social movements and employer responses on tourism employees: a reactive attitude framework perspective

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research note is to explore the impact of social movements on the tourism profession from an employee perspective. This study interviewed 28 tourism employees and analyzed the data through the lens of Strawson’s reactive attitude framework. The results revealed how tourism employees reacted to social injustice issues outside of their own workplace. The participants’ feelings varied but were mainly influenced by their work location, ethnicity, and diversity of their working and living environments. Moreover, employees displayed various emotional reactions based on their job positions and attitude toward their company's public support of social movements and implementation of DE&I measures. Based on these preliminary findings, this paper concludes by presenting key research opportunities that integrate social justice, employee well-being and internal crisis management and communication within the tourism industry.

Turning stories into learning journeys: the principles and methods of Immersive Education

This paper describes the theoretical and practical aspects of Immersive Education, an educational methodology based on interactive narratives, articulated as emotional journeys, to develop competencies. It has been developed throughout three school years (2021–2024) with more than 400 students (8–12 years old) in Public Schools in Italy and Spain. Immersive Education can be integrated with curricular school activities and can be used to target both curricular and transversal learning objectives, specifically the ones connected with the Personal, Social and Learning to learn Key Competence (LifeComp European framework). The paper describes the inspirations that led to the creation of the methodology, including similar experiential learning approaches. It then analyses the theoretical principles of the methodology, dividing them in four key-concepts, along with psychological evidence supporting them. The four key-concepts describe how immersive education aims at being a motivation trigger, featuring a dramatic structure, how it is based on the involvement of the self, and how it focuses on fostering a continuous engagement. It continues with a detailed analysis of implementation strategies, specifically about the management of emotional triggers and reactions, enriched by numerous examples taken from the projects implemented with the students. The conclusions open the way to future research directions to measure the impact of this approach on the development of transversal and specific competences.

The interaction of mind and body in the experience of emotion

This study examines the complex interplay between the mind and the body in the phenomena of emotion experience. It investigates whether emotions arise from the mind's interpretation of physiological sensations or if the mind generates them prior to their manifestation in the body. The present work employs a literature review methodology to integrate historical theories, contemporary research, and studies from the fields of neuroscience and neurology. These results underscore the fact that cognitive processes interact dynamically with physiological variables, therefore highlighting the intricate feedback loop in the relationship between the mind and body. This comprehensive viewpoint has significant ramifications for the fields of clinical psychology and artificial intelligence, augmenting our comprehension of emotion control and promoting emotional reactions from AI systems that resemble those of humans.

Beyond the foreign language effect: unravelling the impact of l2 proficiency on rationality

Abstract This study investigated the impact of reading statements in a second language (L2) versus the first language (L1) on core knowledge confusion (CKC), superstition, and conspiracy beliefs. Previous research on the Foreign Language Effect (FLE) suggests that using an L2 elicits less intense emotional reactions, promotes rational decision-making, reduces risk aversion, causality bias and superstition alters the perception of dishonesty and crime, and increases tolerance of ambiguity. Our results do not support the expected FLE and found instead an effect of L2 proficiency: Participants with lower proficiency exhibited more CKC, were more superstitious and believed more in conspiracy theories, regardless of whether they were tested in L1 or L2. The study emphasises the importance of considering L2 proficiency when investigating the effect of language on decision-making and judgements: It—or related factors—may influence how material is judged, contributing to the FLE, or even creating an artificial effect.

The challenges of being imperfect: how do judges and prosecutors deal with sentencing disparity

Legal decision-making aspires to be objective, a principle regarded as foundational to justice, public trust, and the legitimacy of legal outcomes. However, this ideal is often challenged by the reality of human judgment, which is influenced by subjective factors such as emotions, biases, and varying cognitive strategies. This paper investigates the psychological challenges faced by legal professionals in the context of sentencing, drawing on data from studies involving judges and prosecutors in Slovenia. Through workshops, interviews, and focus groups, the research highlights substantial inconsistencies in sentencing practices, even for similar offences. These disparities reveal the limits of objectivity within the judicial process, prompting legal professionals to reflect on the systemic and individual factors driving variability. The analysis focuses on how judges and prosecutors react to these discrepancies, examining a range of emotional and psychological responses—including the rationalization of decisions, the pursuit of consistency through personal “sentencing codes,” and reliance on collegial input to cope with the absence of formal guidelines. The analysis draws on concepts from cognitive dissonance theory, deliberate ignorance, emotional labour, and personality types to explore how professionals reconcile the ideal of objectivity with the imperfections of human judgment. It highlights the profound emotional toll that discrepancies in sentencing can take on decision-makers and how these emotional reactions influence their professional identity and approach to justice. By contextualising these findings within the sociology of emotions, this paper emphasises how the emotional realities of legal professionals shape their responses to perceived failures and impact their capacity to deliver justice. Ultimately, this study aims to foster a deeper understanding of the human aspects of judicial decision-making, underscoring the need for systemic reforms to mitigate disparities, provide support, and promote consistency in sentencing practices.

Up and down: counterfactual closeness is robust to direction of comparison

ABSTRACT People often think about how things could have been better or worse. People make these upward and downward comparisons in different situations and with differing emotional consequences. We investigated whether the direction of counterfactual comparisons affects people’s judgements of counterfactual closeness. In four preregistered experiments (N = 2,142), participants saw vignettes where agents lost or won a luck-based game. In Experiments 1, 2, and 4, participants judged counterfactual closeness in two ways: if a counterfactual outcome almost happened, and if it easily could have happened. These judgments were affected by different factors, but did not substantially differ based on the direction of comparison. In Experiments 3 and 4, participants predicted agents’ emotions – whether losers would be sad, winners would be happy, and whether both would be surprised by the outcome. Emotion predictions showed similar patterns regardless of whether agents lost or won. Participants predicted stronger emotional reactions when the prior probability of the counterfactual outcome was high rather than low, though this effect was somewhat stronger when agents lost. Together, these findings join recent work in suggesting that Almost and Easily judgments tap into distinct forms of counterfactual closeness, and also suggest this distinction is robust to the direction of counterfactual reasoning.

Self-Efficacy of Breast Self-Examination among Female Adolescents

Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s ability to perform a task confidently and successfully. Self-efficacy of breast self-examination is key to early detection of any abnormality that could lead to breast cancer. Evidence has shown a correlation between self-efficacy of breast self-examination and performance of breast self-examination. Self-efficacy of breast self-examination could be determined by performance accomplishments, vicarious experience (learning from people or observing breast self-examination being done), verbal persuasion (encouragement received from someone to perform breast self-examination), and physiological/emotional states (emotional reactions to performing breast self-examination). Female adolescents should be educated to acquire self-efficacy to perform breast self-examination since adolescence is a critical period for developing lifelong habits, attitudes, forming health-related lifestyles, and behaviours for the future. Breast self-examination performed monthly at the right time using the right techniques will aid in the early detection of breast cancer. Consistent breast self-examinations are the best protection in detecting early breast cancers.

Streaming disasters on TikTok: Examining social mediated crisis communication, public engagement, and emotional responses during the 2023 Maui wildfire

Short video-sharing platforms, such as TikTok, play a significant role in allowing the public to experience natural disasters vicariously, share information, and coordinate peer-led disaster relief efforts. With emerging platforms like TikTok providing experientially immersive content, the role of digital storytelling in stimulating public engagement and emotions remains underexplored. Drawing from narrative persuasion theory and visual storytelling literature, the current study proposes an integrated framework to examine the storyteller, visual frame, and digital presentation characteristics of TikTok videos in predicting social-mediated public engagement and emotional reactions surrounding a recent natural disaster, the 2023 Maui Wildfire. Using visual content analysis and computational methods, the study analyzed 526 TikTok videos and 59,950 associated comments. Results showed that audiovisual vividness consistently predicted all three types of disaster engagement. In contrast, storyteller type, storytelling frame, and other presentation characteristics inconsistently predicted information consumption intention, information sharing intention, and emotional reactions on TikTok.

How to manage a smart city brand image, taking into account residents’ perspective?

The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of brand values and their components on smart city brand image (SCBI) from the residents’ perspective. The authors want also to formulate recommendations regarding the management of a smart city brand image in cooperation with inhabitants. Today, smart city branding is an important aspect of public management because it can facilitate better engagement with citizens, leading to a more successful implementation of public authorities’ initiatives and consequently to smart city development. The research was conducted on 250 French respondents and a selfadministered questionnaire was the research tool. This study makes it possible to indicate values and their components creating the smart city’s brand image to properly manage a smart city brand in cooperation with inhabitants. We confirmed the positive impact of smart (SV), functional (FV), and emotional (EV) values on a smart city’s brand image from the residents’ perspective. Considering together the importance of these three categories of values for building the smart city’s image, it should be noticed that on the first place, there are the smart values followed by the functional and emotional ones. The smart city’s brand image is changing with residents’ time living in a city. The longer residents live in the city, the stronger particular values impact a smart city’s brand image. Taking into account the relational and participatory nature of the city’s brand management, citizens – who have lived in a city for a long time or since birth – can be more involved in the cities. Research results concerning French citizens can provide references for other countries. The results of the study contribute to both the theory of city branding and smart city management as a part of modern public management. From the managerial perspective, our findings can be useful for smart cities’ authorities in the management of the smart city brand.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Tourism Promotional Videos: Creativity, Emotional Impact, Perceived Quality, and Attitude Towards the Destination

Tourism promotional videos (TPVs) are widely used by destination management organizations (DMOs) in promotional campaigns. With the aim of opening new research perspectives in the field of tourism promotion, this article proposes a model for evaluating the effectiveness of TPVs—the Emovie model—conceptually anchored in studies on transformational and symbolic advertising. The model describes the interrelationship of four constructs: artistic value, positive emotional impact, perceived quality of the video, and perceived quality of the destination. The model was tested in three empirical studies carried out in parallel and using the same methodological procedures for quantitative analysis, applied to three samples totaling 674 individuals. The results show that the creativity and originality of TPVs elicit positive emotional reactions, resulting in favorable attitudes towards the message and the destination. This study is particularly important because it provides DMOs with a tool for evaluating the effectiveness of their promotional videos.

Perioperative real-life experiences and care needs of patients undergoing lung cancer ablation: A qualitative study

Objective To gain an in-depth understanding of the perioperative real experiences and care needs of patients undergoing lung cancer ablation, to make a reliable basis for the construction of care programs for perioperative complications of lung cancer ablation, and to further improve the quality of perioperative clinical care interventions for such patients. Methods Sixteen lung cancer patients undergoing lung cancer ablation who were hospitalized in the Department of Oncology of our hospital from April 2023 to October 2023 as well as six healthcare professionals of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital were recruited by purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the enrolled individuals by using a phenomenological approach, and the Colaizzi's 7-step analysis method was used to analyze, summarize and refine the themes of the interview data. Results A total of seven study themes were identified emotional reactions of ablation patients, financial stress, needs for information on treatment outcomes and health education during recovery, reassurance of living and care needs during hospitalization, concerns about the treatment of complications, correct and detailed preoperative assessment, and doctor-nurse collaboration for good management of patient complications. Conclusion In the clinical nursing of patients with lung cancer, we should construct standardized perioperative ablation nursing process as soon as possible, create diversified health guidance materials, strengthen the continuity of nursing after discharge, improve patients’ understanding of the disease, pay attention to their emotional changes, and provide more maintenance support, so as to reduce complications and improve the quality of life of patients with lung cancer ablation.

Resources of psychological resilience in combating the stressors of war

Numerous sociological studies have recorded a generally stable psycho-emotional state of the population since the beginning of a full-scale invasion, despite the constant negative pressure of existential threats. However, there are still no representative quantitative studies that would allow us to determine which psychological resources ensure the stability of the psychological state of the population in conditions of prolonged exposure to the negative influence of wartime stressors. This article is devoted to finding an answer to this question. An analysis of existing theoretical works devoted to the study of psychological resources for coping with stressors has shown a significant variety of possible solutions regarding the involvement of certain resources in the analysis. It was decided to focus on those resources whose role is considered key, regardless of the theoretical positions of the researchers. Accordingly, we focused on determining the role of optimism, which is operationalized as positive expectations about the future, self-efficacy, which is understood in a broad sense as the ability to control the situation, and emotional stability, which is understood as the ability to control emotional reactions to an unfavorable situation. To assess the role of psychological resources in coping with stressors, a special tool was created in the study: the Complex Psychological Resources Assessment Scale - "Complex Psychological Resources - 8". Multiple linear regression analysis was used to study the relationship between the CPR-8 scale and the expanded distress scale (SCL-28). Multiple regression models for each of the stress states were built to assess the role of the CPR-8 scale components as predictors. A comparison procedure was used to determine the role of optimism, self-efficacy and emotional stability in coping with stressors. The respondents’ identification of stressors that have a negative impact on them and the resources that help them resist such impact were compared in groups with different levels of expression of each of the studied individual psychological resources. The analysis confirmed: 1 - the role of optimism and self-efficacy as key psychological resources that help maintain the stability of the psychological state of the population under the long-term pressure of wartime stressors; 2 - the relationship between psychological stability and high activity and intensive involvement in social relations; 3 - the leading role of self-efficacy in reducing the relevance of the negative impact of stressors in risk groups (women and youth); 4 - the importance of emotional stability as a predictor of stressors associated with panic, conflicts and suffering due to what they heard and saw in the media.

Emotional reactions of hospitalized children due to COVID-19

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the manifestation of anxiety symptoms in children who have experienced COVID-19. It examines psychological effects, their emotional responses to distress, and the coping mechanisms they employ to manage their illness. Methodology: Participants included 50 children aged 6-14, hospitalized in the "General Pediatrics" and "Infectious Pediatrics" departments at the University Hospital Center Tirana (QSUT). The "State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC)" was used to assess self-reported anxiety. The children's way of life changed significantly due to social isolation and fears of losing their own lives or those of family members. These fears affected their daily functioning. While anxiety is a natural adaptive response, it becomes a disorder when uncontrollable, frequent, and occurs without external stimuli, manifesting in physical and emotional symptoms, and leading to behavioral and cognitive changes. Conclusions: Children aged 10-14 reported higher levels of anxiety. Variables such as illness severity and age influenced results. Common symptoms included: · Need for reassurance · Irritability · Physical complaints (functional) · Difficulty concentrating · Feelings of tension and fear · Negative thoughts about the future Children aged 6-10 expressed their anxiety through symptoms such as fear of being alone, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and changes in eating habits.

The Impact of Behaviorism and the Predilection of Ruskin Bond's Discourse on Society's Psyche

The study with respect to interactive behaviorist principles regarding the stylistic intricacies of Ruskin Bond's work tries to understand how these factors affect individual actions, social norms, and emotional reactions. This study aims at probing into how storytelling by Bond causes people's inherent attributes such as sympathy, durability, and generosity through behaviorism, which is a psychological framework emphasizing the observable behavior governed by external influence. The factor of Bond's spare, lyrical writing lies in its timelessness due to frequent explorations of innocence, nature, loneliness, and nostalgia. The characters and settings of Bond reflect the behaviorist ideas that humans learn through observation, reinforcement, and incentives. Given to the behaviorist theories of learned social behavior, the life in small towns and conventional Indian values in Bond's writings urge the readers to value their personal relations and such simple way of living. The research looks at Bond's most notable works and refers to readers' opinion polls to show that Bond's writing serves two purposes: entertainment and the building of social norms and values. Often while reading Bond's stories, a person feels at ease, remember some fond memories, and provides oneself with a chance to hope that there will be good once again; hence, it shows that Bond's writing provides growth in emotions and thoughts as does behaviorism. The findings of the analysis show that the stories narrated by Bond had deep impacts on social psyches of men in order to pursue positive qualities of life and gain emotional strength. His strange way of narration, interwoven with faithfulness to the behaviorist doctrine, made James Bond an impact that bears a semblance of how literature subtly goes about changing some patterns of behavior-individually and collectively. This highlights the importance of telling stories as vital in the development of society's values and attitudes.

Impact of War on Ukrainian University Students and Personnel: Repeated Cross-Sectional Study

This study aims to discern significant shifts in the impact of war on university students and academic personnel, from the war’s onset (March–April 2022) to eight months later (November–December 2022). Our research questions focus on the individual experiences affected by warfare, changes in mental health status, and factors accounting for these observed changes. This research is a repeated cross-sectional survey, conducted in two waves, in March and November 2022. Findings revealed a significant increase in the general fear of war (t(1018.4) = −9.79, p < .001), emotional and physiological reactions to war remained stable overall but escalated among those with relatives in the armed forces and decreased in subsets not experiencing significant shifts in well-being and emotional reactions to war. Burnout levels increased (t(723.2) = 2.06, p = .040), but decreased among those reporting no change in well-being due to the war. Results also reveal a significant increase in: being in blockade and/or under shelling (χ 2(1) = 12.737, p < .001); lost (χ 2(1) = 11.644, p < .001) and dead relatives (χ 2(1) = 14.248, p < .001); worsening of chronic diseases (χ 2(1) = 11.838, p < .001); relatives in armed forces (χ 2(1) = 889.360, p < .001). Conversely, resilience did not significantly increase, although a trend toward its improvement over time was observed. Given the unpredictable and prolonged nature of the conflict and changes in the impact of the war, our study shows that more regular follow-up studies are needed.

Development of adaptive coping strategies of students in a university setting (on the example of the Educational and Practical Center for Conflict Resolution of Southwestern State University)

The purpose of the study. A significant task today is to increase the socio-psychological well-being of students in a university setting. Due to the increased intensity of educational activity, its complexity, and multitasking, the mental stress of students is increasing. Significant stress factors are the new social situation of development; the situation of external assessment in the process of intellectual tests; individual and personal characteristics of participants in educational relations; students' concerns about the ability to cope with educational tasks.The purpose of our work is to explore the possibilities of using the potential of the Educational and Practical Conflict Resolution Center of Southwestern State University for the development of adaptive coping strategies of students.In our work, we investigated the preferred coping strategies of students, offered recommendations for creating psychological and pedagogical conditions for the development of students' coping strategies that contribute to successful adaptation to the conditions.Methods. Theoretical and methodological analysis of scientific sources on the research problem was used in the work; empirical research methods: testing using the following techniques: "Questionnaire of coping methods" by R. Lazarus and S. Folkman (Ways of Coping Questionnaire – WCQ), adapted by the Bekhterev National Research Institute; "Coping behavior in stressful Situations" by N. Endler, J. Parker.Results. In the process of empirical research, it was revealed that the most characteristic for students in a stressful situation is coping, focused on avoidance, which manifests itself in distraction. That is, a significant number of students prefer not to solve the problem, but to distract themselves from it by other activities.Among the methods of coping behavior, "escape-avoidance" is pronounced, which most researchers consider to be maladaptive. Coping strategies "distancing" and "positive reassessment" are significantly expressed, which are aimed not at solving the problem, but at reducing emotional involvement in it, preventing emotional reactions to frustration.Conclusion. Thus, there is an obvious need for students to develop problem-oriented coping strategies. In particular, the strategies of "self-control" and "solution planning", which will help students direct their efforts to a rational solution of the problem.