Emotional Words Research Articles

The Colourful Masks of Emotion in Multi-Language Switching: A Formal Literature Review

During the process of language learning, we automatically invest our emotions in perceiving and understanding words and sentences, which is a quite natural motivation for human to create interest on new matters. But how does emotion relate to language learning exist various phenomena full of complexity. This research aims to discuss the relationship between emotion and language learning with resources from previous literature, and unfolds a thematic classification with respect to measuring morality line between native and foreign language(s), anxiety in foreign language learning, how emotional intelligence helps build language competency, emotional difference when using native language and foreign languages, a close look at emotion in second language learning, cross-linguistic self-cognition, and reflection on Emotions and Multilingualism, a typical book including charisma of emotion in learning different languages. This paper concludes several featured types of emotion stimulating or inspired by multi-languages, confirms the effect of emotion in language learning, and provides foundation for further studies in exploring one’s mental power to learn languages.

K-Pop Idol Controversies: Malaysian Tweets and the Emotive Language of Cultural Appropriation

This study aims to analyze the use of emotive language in Malaysian tweets reacting to the cultural appropriation by K-Pop idols. As K-Pop grows globally, cultural sensitivity within the industry becomes crucial. Twitter serves as a key platform for idols to engage with fans, and Malaysia's cultural values shape how user express emotions, particularly in response to cultural appropriation by idols from more homogeneous societies. A qualitative content analysis was employed, examining 20 tweets from Malaysian users to explore emotive language and its connection to cultural values. The analysis followed the framework by Martin and White (2005), revealing that all tweets expressed negative emotions in response to appropriation. Additionally, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions were applied to understand how Malaysian cultural values influence the use of emotive language. The findings suggest that strong cultural pride and sensitivity play significant roles in shaping these reactions. This study aims to reduce incidents of cultural appropriation by enhancing cultural awareness among K-Pop idols and the industry. Furthermore, it contributes to the broader discourse on the intersection of cultural values and emotive language in addressing issues of appropriation within global entertainment cultures like K-Pop.

An image-based investigation on color associations among 100 Chinese emotion words

ABSTRACT Image data serves as a valuable resource for investigating relationships between colors and emotions. This study conducts an image-based visual corpus analysis on the color associations of 100 Chinese emotion words, aiming to uncover the pivotal roles of colors in understanding emotional concepts. The study addresses two primary objectives: (i) examining the interrelations among four affective properties (valence, arousal, prototypicality, and emotionality) and four image-based color attributes (Jz: a dimension depicting black–white color distinction, Az: a dimension for green-red, Bz: a dimension for blue–yellow, and color variability) associated with these emotion words; and (ii) assessing the efficacy of image-based color information in profiling affective (dis)similarities among different emotion words. The empirical results reveal (i) significant positive correlations between color variability and arousal, Jz and valence, Az and arousal, Bz and valence, as well as a negative correlation between Jz and prototypicality; (ii) the effectiveness of image-based color information in depicting the valence-dominated affective (dis)similarities among the 100 Chinese emotion words. This study contributes image-based empirical support to complement existing research on color-emotion mappings. Moreover, it advances methodological approaches by advocating for the utilisation of image data to address theoretical inquiries in cognitive science.

The effect of congruent emotional context on semantic memory during discourse comprehension

ABSTRACT This study examined the effect of emotional context on the semantic memory of subsequent emotional words during discourse comprehension in two eye-tracking experiments. Four-sentence discourses were used as experimental materials. The first three sentences established an emotional or neutral context, while the fourth contained an emotional target word consistent with the preceding emotional context's valence. The discourses were presented twice using the text change paradigm, where the target words were replaced with strongly - or weakly-related words during the second presentation. Thus, four conditions were included in the present study: Emotional-strongly-related, Emotional-weakly-related, Neutral-strongly-related and Neutral-weakly-related. In Experiment 1, negative contexts and negative target words were used, whereas in Experiment 2, positive contexts and positive target words were used. The results revealed a semantic relatedness effect, whereby the strongly-related words have lower change detection accuracy, longer reading times and more fixations in both Experiments 1 and 2. Furthermore, across both experiments, the magnitude of the semantic relatedness effect was greater in the emotionally congruent contexts than in the neutral contexts. These results suggest that emotional context could increase efforts to change the discrimination of subsequent words and demonstrate an important role of emotional context on semantic memory during discourse processing.

Two languages, two emotional minds in one brain: processing emotion-label and emotion-laden words by Chinese-English bilinguals

ABSTRACT The present study examined the neural correlates of emotion effects evoked by emotion-label and emotion-laden nouns in Chinese-English bilinguals’ two languages through the emotion categorization tasks. At the perceptual processing stage, only L2 emotion-label and emotion-laden nouns induced amplified N100 than neutral nouns. At the semantic processing stage, relative to neutral nouns, L2 negative emotion-laden nouns triggered heightened EEPN, and L1 emotion-laden nouns evoked marginally smaller EEPN; only L2 emotion-laden and positive emotion-label nouns exhibited augmented LEPN; L2 positive emotion-label and L1 emotion-label and emotion-laden nouns displayed reduced N400. At the integration processing stage, L2 positive nouns showed larger LPC and L1 positive nouns displayed smaller LPC than neutral nouns. These results verified emotion word type hypothesis across languages, and also implied that emotional attributes were encoded within both perceptual and semantic representations in L2, and predominantly within semantic representation in L1.

Language of emotions: Establishing connection with customers in tourism industries

Establishing a deep connection to customers is crucial in the highly competitive tourism industry. Service providers in the tourism industry must be good expressive communicators in order to deliver a better product and enhance the customer’s experience. This qualitative study explores the significance of the 'Language of Emotions' in the tourism industry, including the use of empathy, emotional intelligence, and effective communication to comprehend and address the emotional requirements of consumers. Tapping twelve (12) frontline tourism industry workers with at least three years of experience and twelve (12) tourists who made six purchases of tourism-related goods in the previous two years totaling to 24 respondents via purposive sampling, results of this study implies that tourism industry professionals can use this language to develop unique experiences, cultivate client loyalty, and accelerate company expansion. Personalized service delivery, emotional engagement, and attentive listening are some strategies. The study also highlights the necessity of providing personnel with communication and emotional intelligence training. The usefulness and difficulties of applying the "Language of Emotions" are covered in the conclusion, along with suggestions for further study and use. For tourism industry experts looking to improve client satisfaction and loyalty through emotional connections, this research provides insightful information.

Jazz hands and jitters: Exploring valence and arousal dimensions with multidimensional scaling techniques

Utilizing the two-dimensional plane of valence and arousal with multi-dimensional scaling (MDS), the current study sought to better understand the structure of affect and the relationship between emotion items. The positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS) is the most frequently applied self-report measure of affect but has been criticized for only including high arousal emotions. A between-subjects, two-part experimental study was conducted. Participants (N = 548) were recruited online and asked to rate the similarity between one of two target words (anger: n = 271; calm: n = 277) and 143 emotion words. Our results provided evidence for the two-dimensional plane of valence and arousal, indicating that all four quadrants are important when studying affect. Overall, the current study found support for the activation-arousal theory of affectivity with MDS analyses. Emotion words clustered in all four quadrants of the two-dimensional plane, demonstrating the necessity of an affect measure that encompasses all four quadrants. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the PANAS does not include items in the positive valence/low activation quadrant, however, a newly published measure was found to have increased item dispersion, with items included in all four quadrants of affect. Limitations and proposed future directions are discussed.

Impulsive adolescents exhibit inefficient processing and a low decision threshold when decoding facial expressions of emotions.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness whose symptoms frequently emerge during adolescence. Initial studies in adults suggest that the interpersonal difficulties common in BPD may emerge from disrupted processing of social and emotional stimuli. Less is known about these processes in adolescents with BPD symptoms, despite substantial changes in socioemotional processing during this developmental period. 86 adolescents and young adults with and without BPD symptoms completed an emotional interference task involving the identification of a facial emotion expression in the presence of a conflicting or congruent emotion word. We used hierarchical drift diffusion modeling to index speed of processing and decision boundary. Using Bayesian multilevel regression, we characterized age-related differences in facial emotion processing. We then examined whether BPD symptom dimensions were associated with facial emotion processing on this task. To determine the specificity of our effects, we analyzed behavioral data from a corresponding nonemotional interference task. Impulsivity, but not negative affectivity or interpersonal dysfunction, predicted inefficient processing when presented with conflicting negative emotional stimuli. Across both tasks, impulsivity in adolescents was further associated with a lower decision boundary. Impulsive adolescents were especially likely to make fast, but inaccurate decisions about another person's emotional state. Impulsive adolescents with BPD symptoms are prone to making errors when appraising facial expressions of emotions, which may potentiate or worsen interpersonal conflicts. Our findings highlight the role of lower-level social cognitive processes in interpersonal difficulties among vulnerable youth during a sensitive developmental window.

Emotions in the aisles: Unpacking the use of emotive language in the UK House of Commons

Emotions in the aisles: Unpacking the use of emotive language in the UK House of Commons

Phrasing Crisis Communication: How are Distinct Crisis Response Strategies Put Into Words?

This study employs a quantitative content analysis to investigate how reputation-restoring crisis responses (i.e., denial, diminishment, and apology) from organizations and public figures are verbalized. In addition, this study examines if distinct crisis response strategies are systematically associated with particular language categories (i.e., language abstraction, uncertain language, passive voice, and emotional language). By analyzing 179 audiovisual crisis messages (e.g., press conference broadcasts, television interviews, social media videos), this study shows that denials are generally expressed in the most concrete way (i.e., precise numbers), diminish strategies in the most uncertain way (i.e., hedges), and apologies are the most emotionally charged, primarily referring to the emotions of sadness and shame. These findings highlight the significant role of language in crisis communication and help practitioners in the field to become aware of key linguistic features that could influence the effectiveness of a crisis message.

Study on the event-related potential in recognition of emotional words between typical “five-state personality”

Objective: To explore the event-related potential (ERP) differences of people with typical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) “five-state personality” in the task of judging the emotional attributes (positive, neutral, and negative) of Chinese words. Methods: The “five-state personality test” was applied to screen the typical TCM “five-state personality”, and three groups were established including positive personality, negative personality, and atypical personality. The differences of electroencephalogram (EEG) components in the task of judging the emotional attributes of Chinese words were collected using ERPs. The 3 personality groups ×3 words with emotional attributes were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: The N1 and P300 components were induced successfully. The analysis on the mean values of corresponding electrodes in left frontal lobe, right frontal lobe, frontal lobe and parietal lobe showed that in the typical negative personality group, the absolute value of N1 amplitude was smaller in the prefrontal and frontal lobes, and the latency was shorter in the left frontal lobe, while in the typical positive personality group, the absolute value of N1 amplitude was larger in the left frontal lobe. In the prefrontal and frontal lobes, the N1 peak absolute value of negative words was higher and the latency was longer, and the N1 latency of neutral words was shorter. The N1 latency of positive words was shorter in the parietal lobe. In the right frontal and frontal lobes, the P300 peak of negative words was higher and the latency was longer, while the latency of positive words was longer in the parietal lobe. In addition, there was some interaction between personality groups and emotional attributes of words. Conclusion: When people with typical “five-state personality” judge the emotional attributes of words, the absolute value of N1 amplitude in left prefrontal lobe of typical positive personality group is high, while that of typical negative personality group was small and the latency is short. The P300 latency of negative words is longer in the right frontal and frontal lobes, and that of positive words is longer in the parietal lobes, with more significant difference in the positive personality group.

The role of emotional prototypicality in Chinese emotion word recognition: evidence from implicit and explicit emotion tasks

Abstract Emotional prototypicality (EmoPro) quantifies the extent to which an emotion-label word represents emotion concepts. While previous research demonstrated faster recognition for high EmoPro words than low EmoPro words in Spanish, the modulation of EmoPro on emotion word recognition in other languages and its dependence on task demands remain unclear. This study employed both the lexical decision task (Experiment 1) and the valence judgment task (Experiment 2) to investigate the EmoPro effect among Chinese speakers. The results not only confirmed the role of EmoPro in Chinese emotion word recognition, supporting the prototype theory of emotion concepts, but also highlighted that the EmoPro effect was more pronounced in the valence judgment task (an explicit emotion task) than in the lexical decision task (an implicit emotion task). This suggests that EmoPro is associated with the ease of accessing emotion concepts and serves as an affective-semantic variable.

Decoding Clickbait: The Impact of Clickbait Types and Structures on Cognitive and Emotional Responses in Online Interactions.

This study delves into the influence of clickbait types (hyperbole, insinuation, visual rhetoric, and puzzle) and structures (emotion-label and emotion-laden words) on user cognitive and emotional responses in an online environment. Using electroencephalography with 32 internet-experienced participants, we analyzed how these different clickbait configurations affect engagement and processing. Our findings highlight that clickbait types such as hyperbole and visual rhetoric swiftly capture attention and enhance emotional engagement, whereas insinuative and puzzling clickbait demand more cognitive effort and deeper processing. In addition, the structure of emotional words significantly influences user responses; emotion-laden words facilitate quicker cognitive processing and enhance emotional reactions, particularly in contexts involving negative emotions. These insights offer valuable implications for content creators and marketers in strategizing ethical clickbait usage, aiming to balance user engagement with information integrity. This research contributes to a nuanced understanding of the interplay between content presentation and user perception, providing a foundation for future explorations into ethical digital content practices.

Temporal recall in the shadow of emotion: separate emotional contexts during encoding enhance the temporal source memory retrieval.

Episodic memory, with its emphasis on temporal-spatial contexts, has been a longstanding focus in memory research. While previous studies have investigated the role of emotion in temporal source memory using emotionally charged stimuli, such as emotional words or images, the influence of a separated emotional context remains less explored. This study sought to understand the impact of separate emotional contexts on temporal source memory. Participants were shown Chinese characters alongside separate emotional contexts (i.e. a neutral or negative picture) and then engaged in either a retrieval practice or a control condition. Finally, they were tested for recognition, temporal source memory, and emotional source memory for all the learned characters. Results revealed that a negative emotional context, unlike a neutral setting, enhanced the accuracy of temporal memory for adjacent neutral characters. However, this negative context reduced the accuracy of recalling the associated emotion. Importantly, the boost in temporal memory due to the emotional context remained even when participants were unsure or mistaken about the associated emotion. This study demonstrates the complex interplay between emotion and temporal memory, underscoring the enhancement effect of separated emotional contexts on temporal recall, irrespective of explicit emotional memory retrieval.

Combining style generative adversarial networks with particle swarm optimisation-support vector regression to design affective social robot for public health intervention

In order to improve the attractiveness of social robot serving health interventions in public workspace, we propose a product design method with the combination of Style-generative adversarial network (StyleGAN) model and particle swarm optimisation-support vector regression (PSO-SVR). This paper aims to explore the modelling generation method of social robots for health intervention based on artificial intelligence generated content (AIGC) and a mapping model between the shape characteristics and users’ visual perception based on Kansei Engineering (KE). Firstly, to address the defects of typical KE over-reliance on existing samples, we introduce the StyleGAN model in AIGC to learn and train existing robots’ shape samples and generate new robots’ shape sample images. Secondly, the morphological deconstruction method is used to deconstruct the shape features of the new robot sample. Factor analysis (FA) is also used to reduce dimension and cluster emotional words and establish a Likert scale between the shape features of robots and users’ emotional vocabulary. Finally, particle swarm optimisation-support vector regression (PSO-SVR) is used to establish a mapping model between the shape features of social robots and the emotional images of users, thus obtaining the most attractive shape combination scheme. The research results showed that the StyleGAN model in AIGC can be used to assist industrial designers in creative expression and provide rich sample sources for KE; and the PSO-SVR of machine learning can be used to build a mapping model among users’ visual feelings, emotional images and shape features. In the end, we designed an attractive social robot for public health intervention.

Processing of Emotional Words in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulties in understanding emotional language, but little research has discussed the developmental course of the processing of emotional words in the clinical population. Previous studies have revealed distinct processing for emotion-label (e.g., happiness) and emotion-laden (e.g., birthday) words in typically developing (TD) children and adolescents. Extending these findings, the study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the processing of these two types of emotional words in children and adolescents with ASD. The stimuli included two-character Chinese words with factors of word type (emotion-label versus emotion-laden) and valence (positive versus negative). The participants were 11 to 14-year-old children and adolescents with ASD (N = 23) and age-matched TD peers (N = 23). They categorized emotion valence for words while their brain responses were recorded. Both the TD and the ASD groups exhibited emotional processing for all emotional words across the N400 and late positivity component (LPC). The emotional processing was modulated by word type but varied with group and valence. A trend for group differences was observed in processing positive words at 500-600ms. In particular, the emotion effects of positive emotion-label words were positively correlated with social dysfunction across all participants. These findings suggested that children and adolescents with ASD have a selective impairment in understanding emotional concepts from language. The ERP measurements may reflect atypical emotional word processing for individuals with higher autistic severity in positive valence contexts.

Εντροπη: Shame and Identity Formation in the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch

Since the 1980s, biblical scholars have started to employ the framework of “honor and shame” to study the culture of the ancient Mediterranean region. However, this application of the social–scientific honor–shame model has led to “massive generalizations of ‘honor’ and ‘shame’”. In particular, when focusing on the concept of honor/shame rather than its lexemes, the social–scientific school ignores the nuanced nature of each Greek word group related to shame. By studying classical Greek literature, Douglas Cairns further points out a puzzling situation that the word group αἰδώς contains polarized meanings of both “to shame” and “to respect”. In this paper, we examine the puzzling double meanings of “to shame/to respect” by focusing on the use of the word group ἐντροπή in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch. This paper argues that the word group ἐντροπὴ serves a rhetorical purpose of protecting the church’s identity by rejecting beliefs/customs that are unacceptable to Christianity and promoting unity in the churches through obedience to church authorities. This paper also explores the fundamental epistemological issue of understanding emotion words in its ancient context. It provides a provisional definition for ἐντροπή, that it is a self-inhibitory emotion of sensitivity to one’s proper place in social interaction to protect one’s self-image.

How Dancers Enhance Emotional Expression Through Body Language

This paper examines the intricate dynamics of emotional expression in dance, focusing on how dancers utilize body language to articulate a wide array of feelings. It discusses the significance of facial expressions, gestures, and postures in conveying the emotional depth of a performance. The role of cultural influences is also explored, highlighting how different dance styles and historical contexts shape the way emotions are expressed and perceived. The paper delves into the challenges that dancers encounter in their quest to communicate emotions effectively and the various techniques they employ to overcome these challenges. It also touches upon the importance of cultural sensitivity and the need for dancers to understand the cultural significance of their movements. The conclusion of the paper emphasizes the evolving nature of emotional expression in dance, reflecting on the art form s ability to adapt and innovate while maintaining its core capacity to evoke emotional responses from audiences. The study of emotional expression in dance is not only a celebration of the art form but also an exploration of the human capacity for empathy and connection, showcasing the power of dance as a universal language of emotion.

The Impact of Headline Characteristics on Clicks: A Case Study of a Chinese Local Medium

ABSTRACT This paper addressed the question of whether the headline characteristics of a WeChat post affect its click counts. The research collected more than 40,000 posts from the WeChat official accounts of two local Chinese media outlets, scrutinizing headline features such as headline length, clickbait-type punctuation marks, and Arabic numeric symbols, and controlling for sharing amounts, content themes, and emotion words in titles. It found that the headline length and whether it contained clickbait-type punctuation marks had a significant impact on the number of clicks. Among them, the shorter the headline, the more likely it was to get a higher number of clicks, and the higher chance for the post to become a “100,000 + clicks” content. Moreover, an interesting finding was that headlines containing positive emotional words seemed to have a negative impact on click-through rates.

Playful, coded, and emotional language: Discursive strategies of online criticism on Chinese social media

Language has always been essential in collective actions. Because offline collective actions are highly controlled in China, Chinese people often resort to online criticism, which heavily relies on the creative use of language to circumvent the government’s control of public communication. This study collects and analyzes the data of the #JiangshanjiaoandHongqiman# public discourse on Weibo to investigate the discursive characteristics of Chinese people’s online expressions. In February 2020, a mass organization of the government launched two official virtual idols on Weibo, one of the most widely used social media platforms in China. Amidst widespread discontent with the management of the pandemic, this intervention in fandom culture triggered a backlash among the Chinese Internet users. This study shows that the Chinese netizens expressed criticism through coded, playful, and emotional language. This article contributes to the literature on discursive strategies of online public discourse in China.