Aversive Feelings Research Articles

How Pain Shapes Depression and Anxiety: A Hybrid Self-regulatory/Predictive Mind Perspective.

Because many persons living with chronic pain achieve a relatively balanced lifestyle without experiencing functional disability, medical psychologists must explain the well-documented co-occurrence of pain complaints and DSM-5-disorders (including but not limited to depression and anxiety) in a significant subset of individuals. The question of differential resilience versus susceptibility has received modest theoretical and empirical attention, but remains open. In this review, I deconstruct the temporally extended pain adaptation process in order to address this vexing question, relying upon two complementary explanatory frames. The first is a motivational/cybernetic systems formulation labeled the Goal-Centered, Self-Regulatory, Automated Social Systems Psychology (GRASSP) model, erected upon feedback sensitive, goal-guided, hierarchically organized self-regulatory processes. Depression and anxiety presumably result from compromised regulatory functions undermining pain processing, goal pursuit, and everyday performance. The second perspective postulates a "Bayesian Brain"/"Predictive Mind" capable of unifying perception, action, and emotion viapredictive processing. From a Bayesian perspective, predictive processing implies that our brains evolved to compare, without conscious direction, incoming environmental information against prior, model-based predictions in order to arrive at accurate perceptual representations of the world. Maladjustment results from failures of active inference. When applied to the perception of visceral information, the embodied process, termed interoceptive inference, can also yield pathogenic outcomes. The Bayesian model holds that depression and anxiety in individuals with pain result from error-prone (biased, rigid, or highly certain) prior evaluations of aversive feeling states and their relation to the external milieu. I consider how the hybrid conceptual framework advanced by the two models points to several novel and familiar avenues of intervention.

Projection-Specific Potentiation of Ventral Pallidal Glutamatergic Outputs after Abstinence from Cocaine.

The ventral pallidum (VP) is a central node in the reward system that is strongly implicated in reward and addiction. Although the majority of VP neurons are GABAergic and encode reward, recent studies revealed a novel glutamatergic neuronal population in the VP [VP neurons expressing the vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VPVGluT2)], whose activation generates aversion. Withdrawal from drugs has been shown to induce drastic synaptic changes in neuronal populations associated with reward, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA) or nucleus accumbens neurons, but less is known about cocaine-induced synaptic changes in neurons classically linked with aversion. Here, we demonstrate that VPVGluT2 neurons contact different targets with different intensities, and that cocaine conditioned place preference (CPP) training followed by abstinence selectively potentiates their synapses on targets that encode aversion. Using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings combined with optogenetics in male and female transgenic mice, we show that VPVGluT2 neurons preferentially contact aversion-related neurons, such as lateral habenula neurons and VTA GABAergic neurons, with minor input to reward-related neurons, such as VTA dopamine and VP GABA neurons. Moreover, after cocaine CPP and abstinence, the VPVGluT2 input to the aversion-related structures is potentiated, whereas the input to the reward-related structures is depressed. Thus, cocaine CPP followed by abstinence may allow VPVGluT2 neurons to recruit aversion-related targets more readily and therefore be part of the mechanism underlying the aversive symptoms seen after withdrawal.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The biggest problem in drug addiction is the high propensity to relapse. One central driver for relapse events is the negative aversive symptoms experienced by addicts during withdrawal. In this work, we propose a possible mechanism for the intensification of aversive feelings after withdrawal that involves the glutamatergic neurons of the ventral pallidum. We show not only that these neurons are most strongly connected to aversive targets, such as the lateral habenula, but also that, after abstinence, their synapses on aversive targets are strengthened, whereas the synapses on other rewarding targets are weakened. These data illustrate how after abstinence from cocaine, aversive pathways change in a manner that may contribute to relapse.

Dorsomedial Medullary Catecholaminergic Neurons Couple Hypoxia to Emotional and Hormonal State

SummaryIn response to hypoxic threat, animals experience aversive feelings to engage behaviors which aid in restoring physiological balance. However, the pathways that connect interoception of tissue-oxygenation to the emotional brain remain largely unknown. Dorsomedial medullary catecholaminergic neurons (dMC) receive interoceptive information and project to the limbic areas that control fear, but their role in interoception and emotional state is unknown. Here, we use fiber photometry to show that dMC neurons are active during hypoxia and hypercapnia. Silencing of dMC neurons shows that they are necessary for deep inhalation during, and avoidance of respiratory threat. Optogenetic stimulation of dMC neurons was capable of generating both innate and conditioned fear responses. By simultaneous stimulation of dMC neurons while silencing axonal projections, we found that hypoxia induced hormonal stress is mediated by the paraventricular hypothalamic and lateral parabrachial nucleus outputs, whereas aversive behaviors are exclusively mediated by outputs to the lateral parabrachial nucleus. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a neural circuit that transforms interoceptive information into behavioral and hormonal response by engaging functionally and anatomically distinct connections.

AGING AND FEELING CURIOUS: A TIME-SAMPLING STUDY

Curiosity is commonly defined as “the desire for new information and experience.” While curiosity has been associated with numerous positive outcomes (e.g., improved well-being, better cognitive performance and longer life expectancy, some studies suggested that curiosity declined with age. However, very few studies actually attempt to examine why curiosity may be lower among older adults. Moreover, scholars disagreed on “why” people feel curious. According to the dual process theory (Spielberger & Starr, 1994), curiosity is induced by optimal level of uncertainty and anxiety with the desire to reduce these aversive feelings. However, the personal growth facilitation model (Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2002) posits that people are curious intrinsically for one’s own growth, which is associated with positive affects. Therefore, the present study aims to examine age differences in the affective profile of feeling curious by comparing the momentary affective experience of curiosity between younger and older adults. In this study, we conducted a 2-week time-sampling study with 78 younger adults (age 19-29) and 79 older adults (age 60-85) from Hong Kong. Multilevel modeling analyses demonstrated a positive relationship between curiosity and positive emotions for both younger (β=.29, p<.01) and older adults (β=.70, p<.01). Interestingly, anxiousness was positively associated with younger adults’ curiosity (β=.09, p=.01) but not for older adults (β=.06, p=.29). Our study supported both theories, but suggested that one may be more dominant among older adults. These findings have important implications for future interventions to reduce anxiousness to encourage older adults to keep an open-minded attitude towards novelties.

Customer deference to service providers in ordinary service encounters

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of customer deference to service providers in service encounters, and articulate its chief antecedents, experiences and consequences.Design/methodology/approachData were collected in Thailand, using critical incident technique. A total of 253 subjects share their experiences of being “deferential” (i.e. “kreng-jai” in Thailand) during everyday service encounters.FindingsThe findings indicate that in cultures in which the cultural norm (i.e. kreng-jai) is to be considerate of others, customers often become deferential of the service provider during service encounters, especially when customers perceive that the service provider’s well-being is compromised. However, customer deference involves aversive feelings which lead customers to devise coping strategies and avoid future contact with a company.Research limitations/implicationsUsing a specific cultural norm, the findings challenge prior finding that people from collectivist culture are more likely to tolerate and be satisfied with service encounters, and document the role of previously unexamined customer-related factors in driving satisfaction in ordinary service encounters.Practical implicationsThe findings recommend service providers to preempt customers’ deference by establishing and communicating the role and acceptable behaviors, managing physical distance with customers, and monitoring customer non-verbal behavior and facial expressions to detect the customers’ true feelings.Originality/valueNo prior research has comprehensively examined the phenomenon whereby consumers seek to benefit service providers at the expense of their own well-being. This study demonstrates that customer deference degrades customer satisfaction even in ordinary service encounters.

Resolving uncertainty in a social world.

Consider the range of social behaviours we engage in every day. In each case, there are a multitude of unknowns, reflecting the many sources of uncertainty inherent to social inference. We describe how uncertainty manifests in social environments (the thoughts and intentions of others are largely hidden, making it difficult to predict a person's behaviour) and why people are motivated to reduce the aversive feelings generated by uncertainty. We propose a three-part model whereby social uncertainty is initially reduced through automatic modes of inference (such as impression formation) before more control-demanding modes of inference (such as perspective-taking) are deployed to narrow one's predictions even more. Finally, social uncertainty is attenuated further through learning processes that update these predictions based on new information. Our framework integrates research across fields to offer an account of the mechanisms motivating social cognition and action, laying the groundwork for future experiments that can illuminate the impact of uncertainty on social cognition.

Boredom proneness as a predictor of depression, anxiety and stress: The moderating effects of dispositional mindfulness

Boredom is an aversive feeling of weariness, restlessness and constraint, related to both unstimulating environments and individual characteristics such as inattention. The trait of boredom proneness, an individual's propensity to become bored, is associated with negative clinical and life outcomes. This study evaluated dispositional mindfulness, a personality characteristic relating to nonjudgmental attentiveness to thoughts and feelings in the moment, as a moderator of the relationship between boredom proneness and negative emotional symptoms. Participants were 186 adult Chinese residents of Hong Kong (60.8% female, 18 to 83 years of age), who completed the Five-Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Short Boredom Proneness Scale and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale -21 (DASS-21). Pairwise correlational analyses replicated published research in North America. Moderation and conditional analyses showed that of the five FFMQ mindfulness domains, two, FFMQ Acting with Awareness and Describing, moderated the relationship between boredom proneness and DASS-21 scores. Boredom proneness predicted negative emotional symptoms only at low levels of dispositional mindfulness. Average or greater dispositional mindfulness was associated with an uncoupling of the relationship between boredom proneness and negative affect. Additional research is recommended to explore the possibility that cultivation of mindfulness may reduce the negative outcomes associated with characterological boredom proneness.

Maternal childhood adversity, OXTR genotype and cognitive load impact on perceptual and behavioral responses to infant crying

The crying of infants elicits aversive feelings and poses a risk for child abuse. Maternal childhood maltreatment can have negative parenting ability consequences and interact with the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) single nucleotide polymorphism (rs53576) to predict maternal response to infant distress stimuli. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of individual vulnerability differences to situational cognitive load in parenting situations. The current study, in which 124 mothers participated in a standardized infant vocalization paradigm, examined three-way interaction on subjective empathy, behavior intention, and handgrip force response to a crying infant. Participants were asked to squeeze a handgrip dynamometer at maximal and half strength while memorizing a meaningless alphabet syllable as the cognitive load manipulation. Significant interactions were also observed between OXTR rs53576, childhood adversity, and cognitive load when predicting excessive force and harsh response intention on hearing a crying infant. These findings suggested that, as the G allele carriers of OXTR rs53576 appear to be susceptible to the effects of severe childhood adversity, inter- and intra-individual approaches are needed when assessing maternal responses to infant stimuli.

Responses of Nurses and Other Healthcare Workers to Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Sexual harassment against healthcare workers is an international problem, but little is known about how recipients of sexual harassment respond to this type of workplace violence. An integrative review was conducted that summarized the findings of 15 studies from around the world that revealed how healthcare workers respond to sexual harassment. The review indicated that recipients of sexual harassment experience a wide variety of aversive feelings, including fear, anger, and shock. Some also experience negative psychological and physical harms and negative employment-related consequences. In conclusion, more studies using increasingly sophisticated designs are required to develop an explanatory model that explicates complex relationships among characteristics of the harassment, institutional responses, and responses of the recipients over time.

After-effects of self-control: The reward responsivity hypothesis.

Exercising self-control can be phenomenologically aversive. Insofar as individuals strive to maintain a positive emotional state, one consequence of exercising self-control may thus be a temporarily tuning toward or amplification of reward-related impulses (perhaps arising to countermand the aversive feelings that stem from self-control). Reward-relevant after-effects are relatively underappreciated in self-control research. In the current paper, we review theory and research pertaining to the idea that exercising self-control increases reward responsivity. First, we review theoretical models of self-control focusing on the relationship between control systems and reward systems. Second, we review behavioral studies regarding the effects of exercising self-control on subsequent reactivity to food, money, drugs, and positive emotional images. Third, we review findings from functional neuroimaging and electroencephalographic research pertaining to the reward responsivity hypothesis. We then call for additional research to integrate how, when, and under what circumstances self-control exertion influences reward processing. Such an endeavor will help to advance research and theory on self-control by offering a more precise characterization of the dynamic interactions between control systems and reward systems.

Blunted emotion‐modulated startle reflex in anorexia nervosa

Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) often show difficulties in the perception, expression, and regulation of emotions and a strong avoidance of aversive feelings. According to psychobiological models, dietary restraint and accompanying weight loss may serve as a maladaptive mechanism of emotion regulation by attenuating aversive emotional states in AN, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the disorder. Twenty-seven women with AN and 26 age-matched healthy women were shown short film-clips to elicit fear, sadness, amusement, and neutral emotional states. Eyeblink startle response was measured by electromyography in reaction to startle-eliciting acoustic stimuli presented 12 times binaurally during each film-clip. As compared to healthy controls, patients with AN showed a blunted startle response to the fear- but not to the sadness-eliciting stimulus. The findings support the assumption that underweight is associated with attenuated emotional reactivity to fear-eliciting material in AN. This is in line with the hypothesis that starvation and low body weight constitute a maladaptive mechanism of emotion regulation in AN, contributing to the maintenance of the disorder.

Rousing the Partisan Combatant: Elite Incivility, Anger, and Antideliberative Attitudes

The claim that elite political incivility can rouse partisan, antideliberative attitudes has many adherents, but the empirical record demonstrating a relationship is surprisingly limited. Yet the extant research suggests that incivility can stimulate aversive feelings, of the sort that discrete and dimensional theories of emotion predict should induce a partisan, antideliberative mode of citizenship among those exposed. Leveraging two online experiments, I address the questions of whether elite incivility provokes anger, rather than enthusiasm and anxiety, and whether the affective reactions induced by incivility yield the changes in deliberative attitudes that theories of emotion predict. I find that elite incivility, when counterattitudinal, rouses anger, which in turn can provoke an active and combative form of partisan citizenship. Despite claims to the contrary, the link between proattitudinal incivility, anger, and antideliberative attitudes is less clear. The results provide insight into the dynamics of discourse in the digital age, when affective polarization is the norm and elites commonly employ uncivil rhetoric.

Relationship between the interpersonal aversive feelings for undergraduates and their coping behavior (1)

Relationship between the interpersonal aversive feelings for undergraduates and their coping behavior (1)

Are Drinking Motives Universal? Characteristics of Motive Types in Alcohol-Dependent Men from Two Diverse Populations.

Since alcohol use disorders are among the most prevalent and destructive mental disorders, it is critical to address factors contributing to their development and maintenance. Drinking motives are relevant driving factors for consumption. Identifying groups of drinkers with similar motivations may help to specialize intervention components and make treatment more effective and efficient. We aimed to identify and describe distinct motive types of drinkers in dependent males from two diverse cultures (Uganda and Germany) and to explore potential differences and similarities in addiction-related measures. Moreover, we investigated specific links between motive types and childhood maltreatment, traumatic experiences, and symptoms of comorbid psychopathologies. To determine distinct drinking motive types, we conducted latent class analyses concerning drinking motives (Drinking Motive Scale) in samples of treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent men (N = 75). Subsequently we compared the identified motive types concerning their alcohol consumption and alcohol-related symptoms (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), history of childhood maltreatment (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire), trauma exposure (Violence, War and Abduction Exposure Scale), psychopathology (Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, Depression-section of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, and Brief Symptom Inventory) and deficits in emotion regulation (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale). We found two congruent drinking motive types in both contexts. Reward-oriented drinking motives like the generation of positive feelings and enhancing performance were endorsed almost equally by both motive types, whereas high relief motive endorsement characterized one group, but not the other. The relief motive type drank to overcome aversive feelings, withdrawal, and daily hassles and was characterized by higher adversity in general. Emotional maltreatment in childhood and psychopathological symptoms were reported to a significantly greater extent by relief drinkers (effect sizes of comparisons ranging from r = 0.25 to r = 0.48). However, the motive types did not differ significantly on alcohol consumption or alcohol-related symptoms and traumatic experiences apart from childhood maltreatment. The chronology of addiction development and patterns of drinking motivation seem to be similar across cultures, i.e., that motive targeting interventions might be applicable cross-culturally. Addressing comorbid symptomatology should be a key treatment component for relief drinkers, whereas finding alternatives for the creation of positive feelings and ways to counteract boredom and inactivity should be a general treatment element.

How much does finance benefit society

The financial crisis that erupted in 2007 has generated feelings of deep aversion towards finance among the public. Zingales (2015) urges the economics profession not to underestimate these feelings, noting that economists tend to overestimate the benefits of finance and to ignore that the ‘best form of finance’ is accompanied by a ‘bad type of finance’. The problem with these statements is that the macroeconomic theory elaborated over the last decades is unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the coexistence of these two forms of finance. The aim of this work is to present a sound explanation of the distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ finance, based on: i) Keynes’s distinction between ‘enterprise’ and ‘speculation’; ii) Schumpeter analysis of the role of bank money in a capitalist economy. JEL codes : G01, G20, E12, E44 Keywords : good finance, bad finance, enterprise, speculation

The geographies of difference in conflating digital and offline spaces of encounter: Migrant professionals' throwntogetherness in Singapore

This article explores the effects of people's digital coexistence on the construction of difference and feelings of aversion to or recognition of “others”. It seeks to make a theoretical contribution to works on the geographies of difference and encounter, Internet or digital geography, as well as on migration and digital media, by highlighting the relevance of indirect and fleeting digital encounters and the dialectical process in which encounters play out in intertwined, specific and multiple digital and physical spaces that we define as “cON/FFlating situational places of encounter”. Based on a qualitative study with Chinese, Filipino and German migrant professionals in Singapore, it shows how fleeting digital encounters take an ambivalent role through challenging but also producing new “temporary fixings of difference”. As such they can engender new sensibilities for and openness toward the host society but also breed new, or aggravate existing, cultural stereotypes and prejudices. The findings show that inherited and instituted classificatory practices that people use to structure and make sense of their fleeting interactions with others in offline space are, where possible, transferred and imposed on encounters in digital space. At the same time, they are inflected or replaced with new markers of difference where ingrained sorting mechanisms applied in offline space did not help them make sense of encounters in digital space.

Why Do Mistreated Employees Behave Badly? A Meta-Analytic Review of Multiple Mediation Processes

Although a litany of theoretical accounts exists to explain why mistreated employees engage in counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), little is known about the relative importance of each mechanism and whether they are complementary in nature. This paper presents a meta-analytic review of three proposed mechanisms through which experiencing interpersonal mistreatment may result in employee CWBs. In particular, we invoke three theoretical perspectives that frequently appear in the literature: (1) a social exchange perspective, which states that social exchange quality is reduced when employees are mistreated, which leads them to engage in negative reciprocity, (2) a self-regulatory perspective, which states that employees’ self-regulatory capacity is depleted when they are mistreated, which renders them unable to inhibit undesirable behaviors, and (3) an affective experience perspective, which suggests that employees experience negative affect when they are mistreated, which leads them to engage in CWBs to resolve the issue or to alleviate the aversive feeling. Our meta-analytic structural equation model supported our predictions that social exchange quality, depletion of self-regulatory capacity, and negative affect each uniquely mediate the hypothesized direct effect of mistreatment on CWB. In addition, albeit being the least frequently invoked mechanism in literature, negative affect seems to be the strongest pathway when the three mechanisms are compared to each other.

Conspiracy theories as part of history: The role of societal crisis situations.

In the present contribution, we examine the link between societal crisis situations and belief in conspiracy theories. Contrary to common assumptions, belief in conspiracy theories has been prevalent throughout human history. We first illustrate historical incidents suggesting that societal crisis situations—defined as impactful and rapid societal change that calls established power structures, norms of conduct, or even the existence of specific people or groups into question—have stimulated belief in conspiracy theories. We then review the psychological literature to explain why this is the case. Evidence suggests that the aversive feelings that people experience when in crisis—fear, uncertainty, and the feeling of being out of control—stimulate a motivation to make sense of the situation, increasing the likelihood of perceiving conspiracies in social situations. We then explain that after being formed, conspiracy theories can become historical narratives that may spread through cultural transmission. We conclude that conspiracy theories originate particularly in crisis situations and may form the basis for how people subsequently remember and mentally represent a historical event.

Understanding intentions to purchase bio-based products: The role of subjective ambivalence

This article aims to explore whether subjective ambivalence increases the understanding of consumers' intentions to buy bio-based products. Subjective ambivalence is the aversive feeling that accompanies evaluations containing both negative and positive elements. Two studies (N = 1851) in six European countries show that subjective ambivalence increases the explained variance beyond vested exploratory variables: emotions and variables of the theory of planned behaviour. This finding implies that the intention to purchase bio-based products is based on more than cognitive deliberations or emotions; it is also associated with an aversive feeling of subjective ambivalence. Additionally, this article divides attitudes into risks and benefits associated with bio-based products and thereby shows that subjective ambivalence strengthens the association between risks and intentions and not that between benefits and intentions. Highly ambivalent consumers are more sensitive to risks than less ambivalent consumers, whereas for the sensitivity to benefits there are no differences between individuals with high and low ambivalence. In conclusion, to understand public opinion regarding bio-based products, it is important to comprehensively monitor and understand ambivalence.

Effects of relational uncertainty in heightening national identification and reactive approach motivation of Japanese.

This study investigated whether relational uncertainty poses uncertainty threat, which causes compensatory behaviours among Japanese. We hypothesised that Japanese, as collectivists, would perceive relational uncertainty to pose uncertainty threat. In two experiments, we manipulated relational uncertainty, and confirmed that participants exhibited compensatory reactions to reduce aversive feelings due to it. In Study 1, we conducted direct comparison between relational uncertainty, independent self-uncertainty and control conditions. The results revealed that participants who were instructed to imagine events pertaining to relational uncertainty heightened national identification as compensation than did participants in the control condition, but independent self-uncertainty did not provoke such effects. In Study 2, we again manipulated relational uncertainty; however, we also manipulated participants' individualism-collectivism cultural orientation through priming, and the analyses yielded a significant interaction effect between these variables. Relational uncertainty evoked reactive approach motivation, a cause for compensatory behaviours, among participants primed with collectivism, but not for individualism. It was concluded that the effect of uncertainty on compensatory behaviour is influenced by cultural priming, and that relational uncertainty is important to Japanese.