Negative Emotional Arousal Research Articles

The erosion of rationality in high vulnerability conditions: A cognitive‐disruption perspective

AbstractThis research examines how a decision‐maker's perceived vulnerability influences their susceptibility to the “anecdotal bias,” a phenomenon where statistical evidence is disregarded in favor of anecdotal information. Across six studies, our research shows that high vulnerability aggravates the anecdotal bias instead of reducing it. Study 1 provides preliminary evidence that high vulnerability exacerbates the anecdotal bias among individuals seeking decision‐relevant information in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Studies 2A and 2B demonstrate that high vulnerability intensifies the anecdotal bias in different decision contexts. Study 3 replicates these findings and identifies negative emotional arousal as a key mechanism underlying this effect. Study 4 examines the moderating role of personal relevance, showing that when individuals make decisions for others (vs. themselves), high vulnerability does not lead to the anecdotal bias. Moreover, it is cognitive disruption and intuitive thinking caused by negative emotional arousal that increases reliance on anecdotal (vs. statistical) information. Finally, Study 5 demonstrates the moderating effect of mindfulness meditation, highlighting its role as a preemptive safeguard against this biased behavior. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Behavioral Intentions to Donate Blood: The Interplay of Personality, Emotional Arousals, and the Moderating Effect of Altruistic versus Egoistic Messages on Young Adults.

Human blood is one of the most valuable and irreplaceable goods in modern medicine. Although its necessity increases daily, one of the most significant challenges we have to overcome is a scarcity of willing blood donors. Volunteer motives and attitudes have been studied for decades, but it is now considered vital to grasp the many aspects that will increase the effectiveness of attracting new blood donors. This study focuses on the impact of emotional arousal produced by advertising messages, as well as the determining role of altruistic and egoistic incentives in deciding behavior. We also incorporated the element of personality to investigate how personality traits influence behavioral intention to donate blood. To this end, a quantitative non-experimental correlational 2 × 2 experimental design (positive vs. negative emotional appeal; altruistic vs. egoistic message) was implemented with the participation of 462 respondents who were shown a total of 12 advertisements (ads) promoting blood donation. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, with a focus on the direct impacts on donation intentions, the role of emotional arousals and attitude towards the ads as mediators and the moderating effect of the message. The empirical results of our hypotheses revealed that only Honesty-Humility had a strong direct impact on behavioral intention to donate, while Emotionality and Agreeableness did not have any direct effect. On the other hand, attitudes towards advertisements significantly and directly influenced positive and negative emotional arousals, respectively. Furthermore, if we consider these two variables alone, they can be found to exert a direct impact on BI. Mediation analysis showed that attitudes towards the advertisements and emotional arousals partially mediated the relation between Honesty-Humility and Behavioral Intention, thus confirming partial mediation. With respect to Emotionality and Agreeableness, mediation was found to be full since these factors only affected BI through a mediated path, which confirmed full mediation. Furthermore, the moderation analysis highlighted that the type of message (altruistic vs. egoistic) significantly moderated the relationship between both emotional arousals and BI. In particular, positive emotional arousal's influence is strengthened when it is aligned with altruistic messages, while negative emotional arousal's influence is weakened if it follows an altruistic message. These findings illustrate that using positive emotions will be more beneficial for increasing people's donation intentions than bringing negative ones, which implies that message framing has a hidden impact on donation decisions.

Both partners’ negative emotion drives aggression during couples’ conflict

Researchers examining conflict between intimate partners believe that the experience and expression of emotion drives aggressive behaviour. Intra-personally, increases in negative affect make aggression more likely. Inter-personally, theoretical models suggest that each individuals’ perception of their partners’ emotion also influences aggression, potentially creating a Violence Escalation Cycle. Here, using a lab-based aggression task across a primary study (n = 104, number of trials = 3095) and a replication (n = 58, number of trials = 3167), we show that both intra- and inter-personal experiences of negative emotion predict reactive aggression within couples, revealing retaliation but not escalation. Critically, analyses of facial affect reveal that prototypic displays of negative emotions have a compounding effect, leading to dramatic changes in aggression depending on whether one, both, or neither partner expressed negative emotion. We propose a mechanism by which temporal delays (i.e., experimentally imposed forced breaks) reduce aggression by decreasing negative emotional arousal and limiting impulsive action. Our results show that both forced breaks and elective breaks (i.e., extra participant-initiated extensions of the forced break time) reduce aggression, providing exciting evidence that interventions focused on preventing impulsive action when people are in a provoked state can reduce aggression within couples.

The Effect of Anti-Tobacco Ad Length and Skippability on Perceived Message Effectiveness and Emotional Responsiveness

ABSTRACT The media landscape changes have resulted in significantly more people viewing content in shorter and skippable formats. There is limited evidence about the impact of these formats on anti-tobacco campaign effectiveness. This study examined the effect of anti-tobacco ad length and skippability on perceived message effectiveness (PME) and emotional responsiveness among people who smoke. Initially, 805 people who smoke were randomized to a message type (anti-tobacco vs. control) × message length (15 vs. 30 seconds) condition. A week later, participants saw the same message, but were randomized to a skippable or non-skippable version. Following ad exposure, outcomes were measured and examined in mixed-effects linear regression models. We found that at initial exposure, participants in the 30-second anti-tobacco condition reported significantly higher scores on personal relevance (75% cf. 68%), motivation to act (61% cf. 52%), action-oriented negative emotion (62% cf. 53%) and positive emotion (37% cf. 28%) relative to participants in the 15-second anti-tobacco condition. At repeated exposure, there was no effect of ad skippability on PME or emotional responsiveness regardless of message type condition. However, participants in the 30-second anti-tobacco condition reported significantly higher scores on action-oriented negative emotion (60% cf. 50%) and inaction-oriented negative emotion (54% cf. 46%) relative to participants in the 15-second anti-tobacco condition. Our findings suggest that initial exposure to non-skippable and longer novel anti-tobacco messages can lead to stronger personal relevance, motivation to act and emotional arousal, and ongoing negative emotional arousal, which may attenuate the negative effects of allowing individuals to skip later.

Assessing the Impact of Street Visual Environment on the Emotional Well-Being of Young Adults through Physiological Feedback and Deep Learning Technologies

Investigating the impact of street visual environments on young adults’ emotions is crucial for the promotion of walkable and healthy streets. However, the applicability and accuracy of existing studies are limited by a lack of large-scale sample validation. Moreover, many studies have determined emotions through subjective evaluation methods or relied solely on a single physiological indicator to assess levels of emotional arousal, neglecting the significance of emotional valence. In response, this study aims to enhance our understanding of the emotional impact of street visual environments by employing a method that integrates physiological feedback technology and deep learning. We collected videos of 100 streets from five districts in Chengdu to serve as experimental stimuli, and utilizing physiological feedback technology, we gathered data on electrocardiograms (ECG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and respiratory responses (RESP) from 50 participants as they observed these street environments. Subsequently, we applied deep learning techniques to process the video and physiological data, ultimately obtaining 500 data entries on street visual environment elements and 25,000 data entries on emotional arousal and valence. Additionally, we established multiple linear regression and multinomial logistic regression models to explore the relationship between visual street environments and emotions. The results reveal that elements such as green view factor (GVF), sky view factor (Sky VF), and sidewalk view factor (SVF) not only reduce emotional arousal levels but also facilitate the shift from negative to positive emotions, positively affecting emotional regulation. In contrast, visual enclosure (VE), vehicle view factor (VVF), and person view factor (PVF) are associated with negative emotional arousal, adversely affecting emotional valence. Moreover, the impact of specific visual environmental elements on different emotional states may vary. This study introduces a novel, multidisciplinary approach to accurately quantify the relationship between the environment and emotions, providing significant theoretical and practical insights for the development of healthier cities.

Are vaccination uptake and non-uptake influenced by our emotions? An experimental study on the role of emotional processes and compassion

Objective This study examined the effects of emotional arousal, emotional competence, emotion regulation (ER), and compassion on COVID-19 and flu vaccination intentions (VI) among the French population. Design Data were collected online from October to December 2020. Altogether, 451 participants (Mage = 35.8, SD = 16.4) were allocated to four groups. High positive (n = 104) or negative (n = 103) emotional arousal were induced into two groups using pictures and music, and compared against a control group (flu group; n = 116) and a reference group (COVID-19 group; n = 114). All groups completed questionnaires on emotional arousal, ER, emotional competence, compassion, and VI. Results The findings indicated a significant effect of group on VI, h2 =.023, 95% CI [–.002, .09]. The Group*Gender interaction on emotional arousal was non-significant, η p 2 =.015, 95%CI [.000, .041]. However, emotional arousal was observed to have a significant main effect on VI, η p 2 =.09, 95% CI [.043, .238]. The ER type*Emotional arousal*Gender interaction on ER use was trend, η p 2 = .002, 95% CI [.000, .005]. The emotional competence*ER type interaction on ER use was significant, η p 2 = .028, 95% CI [.011, .049]. Only experiential avoidance mediated the relationship between emotional arousal and VI, p < .018, 95% CI [.015, .18]. Conclusion Emotional arousal impacts VI. High emotional competence only reduces the use of dysfunctional ER strategies.

The impact of culture on Emotion Suppression: Insights from an Electrophysiological Study of Emotion Regulation in Japan

Prior theory and evidence suggest that native East Asians tend to down-regulate their negative emotional arousal through expressive suppression, an emotion regulation technique focused on suppressing one’s emotional experience. One proposed explanation for this choice and effectiveness of regulation strategy is rooted in their commitment to the cultural value of interdependence with others. However, prior work has not yet thoroughly supported this hypothesis using in vivo neural correlates of emotion regulation. Here, we utilized an established electroencephalogram (EEG) correlate of emotional arousal, the late positive potential (LPP), to examine whether down-regulation of the LPP in native East Asians might be particularly pronounced for those high in interdependent self-construal. Here, 52 native Japanese participants attempted to suppress their emotional reaction to unpleasant images during EEG recording. In support of the hypothesis that emotion suppression among native East Asians is influenced by the cultural value of interdependence, there was a significant effect of interdependent self-construal on the LPP. Specifically, those high in interdependent self-construal had a smaller LPP for unpleasant pictures when instructed to suppress emotions than when watching the stimuli naturally. However, this effect was negligible for those low in interdependent self-construal, suggesting that cultural values impact the efficacy of different in vivo emotion regulation techniques. These results demonstrate the importance of identifying correspondence between self-report measures and in vivo correlates of emotion regulation in cross-cultural research.

Analysis of Students’ Emotional Patterns Based on an Educational Course on Emotions Management

Based on the current research trends and academic applications, which suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and enhanced through education and training, this academic project coded and analyzed the emotional patterns of 46 undergraduate students who attended an 18-week academic course on emotional management. A paired-sample t-test showed a significant increase from pre-course to post-course emotional intelligence scores, suggesting the importance of designing an academic course in formal educational settings. Analysis of students’ emotions journals indicated a total of 18 negative emotions, with the emotion of irritability occurring most frequently, followed by anger and anxiety. Loneliness, impatience, and guilt were some of the least felt negative emotions. The triggers for the arousal of negative emotions spanned family matters, interpersonal relations, academics, and communication skills, among others. The majority of the students used cognitive-behavioral and family systems theories in understanding and analyzing their emotional patterns. Students used various strategies to deal with the negative emotions, including developing communication skills, talking with family and friends, better time management, improving self-efficacy, cultivating a positive attitude, engaging in physical activities, etc. These results are discussed in this paper and the possible implications for practical purposes and further research are suggested.

The Impact of Contradictory Online Reviews on Consumer Online Purchase Decision: Experimental Evidence From China

Most consumers read online reviews before making online purchase decisions. Online reviews of a product usually include positive and negative contradictory online reviews (CORs). Previous studies have confirmed the impact of CORs on consumers’ online purchase decisions. However, literature review showed that most of the conducted studies on the dimension of CORs are single dimension. Therefore, this study examined how CORs affected consumers’ online purchase decisions from two dimensions: proportion of positive and negative reviews and emotional arousal. The results of a two (proportion of positive and negative reviews: high vs. low) × 2 (emotional arousal: calm vs. arousing) inter group experiment from 306 Chinese consumers showed that CORs have a significant negative impact on consumers’ purchase online decision, and CORs affect consumers’ online purchase decision by affecting perceived risk. The results of this study enrich literature of online reviews. Findings of this study provide important information to e-retailers on how CORs affect consumers’ online purchase decisions. The theoretical and practical implications of the proposed study are also discussed.

Testing the effectiveness of alcohol health warning label formats: An online experimental study with Australian adult drinkers.

Health warning labels (HWLs) on alcohol containers may help reduce population-level alcohol consumption. However, few studies have examined the most effective formats for alcohol HWLs. This study tested the effects of three different types of alcohol HWLs. In an online experiment, N = 1,755 Australian adult drinkers were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: (a) No HWL control; (b) DrinkWise control (industry-developed labels currently on some containers); (c) Text-Only HWLs; (d) Text + Pictogram HWLs; or (e) Text + Photograph HWLs. In the three intervention conditions, participants were exposed to eight HWLs, each depicting a different long-term harm. Exposure occurred during an initial session, and repeatedly over the subsequent eight days. Differences between conditions were assessed immediately following initial exposure and at nine-day follow-up. Compared to participants in the No HWL control, participants exposed to Text + Pictogram HWLs were more likely to have intentions to avoid drinking alcohol completely in the next month (post-exposure) and intentions to drink less alcohol in the next week (follow-up), and participants in all three intervention conditions reported stronger negative emotional arousal (follow-up) and weaker positive emotional arousal (follow-up). Compared to participants in the DrinkWise control, those exposed to Text + Pictogram HWLs had stronger intentions to drink less alcohol in the next week and intentions to avoid drinking alcohol completely in the next month (follow-up), participants in the Text + Photograph condition reported significantly weaker positive emotional arousal, and all three intervention conditions resulted in stronger negative emotional arousal. There would likely be benefits to public health if any of the three types of intervention HWLs were implemented. However, there is some evidence that Text + Pictogram HWLs should be recommended over Text-Only or Text + Photograph HWLs, given they were the only HWLs to increase intentions to drink less.

Energetic music is used for anger downregulation: A cross‐cultural differentiation of intensity from rhythmic arousal

AbstractMusic is often used to “soothe the soul,” and one important function of music listening has been emotion regulation. In comparing consumption trends across cultures, past research has shown that individuals in Western countries, with typically higher prevalence of high arousal negative emotions, tend to listen to similarly high arousal rhythmic (danceable) music to cathartically discharge those emotions. However, other studies have shown that Spotify's energy feature, a measure of the intensity‐based arousal of a song, indicates the opposite effect: Energy was higher in songs in East Asian top‐50 charts than in Western ones. Combining evidence from reanalyses of secondary data (Pilot Analyses 1 and 2), sentiment analyses of lyrics from the US and Singapore (Study 1; N = 87 songs), and an emotion induction experiment in Japan and the US (Study 2; N = 353 participants), we show that collectivistic, East Asian cultures generally prefer songs with higher energy levels, and energetic songs are robustly associated with anger downregulation, over sadness and anxiety downregulation. We speculate that energy, as an intensity‐based musical arousal feature, may represent internalizing (control) regulation that one uses to “drown out” anger, which would be more prevalent in East Asian cultures due to sociocultural norms of emotion (non)expression. Conversely, this would be different from the externalizing regulation associated with rhythm‐based musical arousal (i.e., danceability).

Mothers' aversion sensitivity and reciprocal negativity in mother-child interactions: Implications for coercion theory.

Coercion theory well characterizes the behavioral aspects that often lead to dysfunctional family processes. Recent conceptualizations have incorporated emotion into models of coercive interactions, yet empirical evidence has been limited. In this study, repeated measures of mother-child dyads (N = 319) were assessed over the course of 2 years to examine whether within-mother (i.e., intraindividual) levels of aversion sensitivity-their negative emotional arousal when faced with aversive child behavior-are associated with four known components of coercive parent-child interactions: initiation, length, frequency, and the tendency to end the negative cycle. During multiple assessments over 2 years, conflictual conversations between newly divorced mothers (Mbaseline age = 36.8, SDbaseline age = 6.6; 64% non-Hispanic White) and their 4- to 11-year-old children (Mbaseline age = 7.77, SDbaseline age = 2.0; 52% female) were observed and microcoded. Forty-seven observed child behaviors were ranked from low to high aversive. Mothers' general rates of negative emotional expression and the rates at which their negative expression increased as children's behavior became increasingly aversive (i.e., their aversion sensitivity) were recorded. Results were consistent with coercion theory, revealing significant within-dyad associations between mothers' aversion sensitivity and all four components of coercive parent-child interactions. These findings suggest the importance of understanding the functions that parents' intraindividual emotional processes have in difficult, coercive family processes. Understanding such processes holds promise for clarifying how to intervene to reduce parent-child interactions known to be problematic for children's development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Code red for humanity or time for broad collective action? Exploring the role of positive and negative messaging in (de)motivating climate action

Despite decades of warning from climate scientists, the international community has largely failed at reining in planet-warming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this context, scientific assessments of climate change—like those periodic reviews provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—are repeatedly faced with the challenge of communicating the rapidly closing window for securing a livable future on Earth. Yet, it remains unclear whether sounding “code red for humanity” fosters climate action or climate paralysis. The ongoing debate among climate change communication scholars about the (in)effectiveness of fear-based messaging sheds light on three intertwined and often overlooked aspects of emotional appeals in communication: the content of the message frame, the emotional arousal it induces, and the values and dispositions of the audiences receiving the message. While previous work has addressed questions related to one or two of these aspects, this study examines the role of positive and negative messaging in (de)motivating climate action, with particular attention to how messages, emotions and audiences interact in the process of communication. Leveraging data drawn from a sample of environmental group supporters in Canada (N = 308), we first identify and describe four unique audiences within supporters of Canada's environmental movement that vary in their levels of engagement and radicalism. We then examine how negative and positive messaging influence emotional arousal and climate action across audience segments. We find that negative messages about climate change (e.g., sounding “code red for humanity”) can be less mobilizing than positive messaging, even when the message is directed toward relatively engaged audiences and followed by the opportunity to take a specific, actionable and effective action. These findings help shed light on the potential limits of fear-based messaging in the context of a global public health pandemic while further highlighting the importance of communicating in ways that inspire people through hopeful and optimistic messages.

The Role of Consumers' Emotions in Online Impulse Buying of Fashion Apparel

This study examined emotions as predictors of subsequent buying behavior. The primary aim of this research was to investigate consumers’ experience of impulsive buying in the online shopping environment and the influence that emotions have on these experiences, focusing on fashion apparel. Hypotheses were developed around the premise that emotions play a prominent role in everyday decisions, including an individual’s impulsive decisions and buying behavior. The study used a self-administered 10-item questionnaire to test the hypotheses. One hundred and twenty-eight people (N=128; 55% men, 45% women) from various parts of the world, with persons aged between 18 and 34 (77.34%) most represented, completed the survey. The data revealed a strong correlation between negative emotions and impulse buying, and between low arousal of negative emotions and impulse buying. Other results and implications are discussed.

The role of creative cognitive reappraisals in positively transforming negative emotions.

Recent studies have found the connections between cognitive reappraisals' creativity and their regulatory efficacy. The present study proposed and tested a novel hypothesis on the function of cognitive reappraisals, especially creative ones. That is, whether they could positively alter negative emotional arousal toward unpleasant stimuli. To this end, two questions were investigated: (a) whether the creative reappraisals were more capable than ordinary ones of transforming the negative stimuli (pictures) to be perceived as positive, and (b) whether these two kinds of reappraisals made the "negative-to-positive transformation" through different mechanisms. To answer the first question, we examined the power of the creative and ordinary reappraisals in making the "negative-to-positive transformation" using an indirect and delayed "positive-or-negative" picture-sorting task (Exp. 1, n=41 with a statistical power of 0.877), or using a direct and immediate subjective rating (Exp. 2, n=31 with a statistical power of 0.768). To answer the second question, we checked how the factor of creativeness (creative vs. ordinary reappraisal) interacted with the factor of "timing" (simultaneous vs. delayed reappraisal delivery, Exp. 1), or with that of "dose" (one vs. three reappraisal applications; Exp. 2), in making the "negative-to-positive transformation," respectively, and examined if the variation of "timing" or "dose" factors would exert different effects on the creative and ordinary reappraisals' regulatory function. Our results generally proved that creative reappraisal was more capable of making the "negative-to-positive transformation" than the ordinary reappraisal, regardless of the direct and indirect emotion evaluation ratings as well as the variations in the timing and dose of reappraisal delivery. Moreover, we found that these two kinds of reappraisals could show dissociable dose-dependent effects (but not timing-dependent ones), thus partially implying that creative and ordinary reappraisal might make the "negative-to-positive transformation" through fundamentally different processes or mechanisms.

Facing a Real Threat of Death: Dynamic Changes in Death-Thought Accessibility

PurposeThis study explored the relationship between emotion and death-thought accessibility (DTA) in individuals experiencing true mortality salience (MS), specifically, patients with cancer.Patients and MethodsThe study included 255 participants; among them, 132 patients had cancer and represented the MS group, and 123 had dental pain and served as a control group. Participants completed the Projective Diseases Attitude Assessment Questionnaire to induce priming, completed an affect scale, completed one of four calculation tasks as manipulation of cognitive load (all four were done over several sessions), and performed a Pinyin-Chinese characters exercise to measure DTA.ResultsMS was associated with strong negative emotional arousal. When these negative emotions are generated, they enter an individual’s consciousness and activate proximal defense mechanisms. At this point, DTA can be measured. Patients with cancer had significantly higher levels of DTA in the high-frequency cognitive load condition than in the other three conditions (no task, simple delay task, and single cognitive load task). Patients with dental pain had significantly higher levels of DTA in the no task and simple delay conditions than in the single cognitive load or high-frequency cognitive load conditions. This study also found that negative experiences without MS (specifically, dental pain) are associated with higher levels of DTA.ConclusionThese findings suggest that in addition to death-related events, both negative and stress-inducing events can produce DTA.

Prioritizing Positivity, Styles of Rumination, Coping Strategies, and Posttraumatic Growth: Examining Their Patterns and Correlations in a Prospective Study.

ObjectivesA growing number of studies indicate that coping with the experience of a crisis event, which causes a breach in the individual’s fundamental beliefs regarding the world and his/her place in it, can result in posttraumatic growth. Positive emotions can have an undoing effect on negative emotional arousal and broaden an individual’s scope of action, and they can foster posttraumatic growth. This study aimed to examine relations between prioritizing positivity, styles of rumination, coping strategies, and posttraumatic growth.MethodsOne hundred and sixty-four Polish adults took part in the study, filling out questionnaires to measure prioritizing positivity, hope, and self-efficacy. Twelve to fifteen months later, 104 of them accepted the invitation to the second part of the study. The participants reported the intensity of rumination associated with the most critical event in their lives, which took place between the first and second stages of the study and the coping strategies they used. Posttraumatic growth and life satisfaction were also measured.ResultsResults from hierarchical regressions found that higher levels of prioritizing positivity, deliberate ruminations, and religious coping and lower level of intrusive ruminations were associated with posttraumatic growth. The results also indicate that self-esteem was a significant predictor of life satisfaction.ConclusionsThe results of the prospective study confirm that individual differences in prioritizing positivity can relate to a process of posttraumatic growth. Prioritizing positivity was associated with the use of an active coping strategy and deliberate but not intrusive ruminations. Previous studies on the role of prioritizing positivity have focused on the impact on the level of wellbeing of seeking positive emotions in everyday life. Our results show the importance of prioritizing positivity in coping with stress and trauma. These results can be used to design effective psychological intervention techniques to support people experiencing trauma and psychological crises. The results also indicate that life satisfaction has different predictors from posttraumatic growth.

The perils of hotel technology: The robot usage resistance model

The COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated the development of service robots. However, service robots in some hotels have been put aside despite successful adoption. This study thus focuses on hotel employees' inhibited continuous usage intention by examining the challenges of benefiting from service robots. A robot usage resistance model (RURM) has been proposed based on the results. In this model, lack of authentic anthropomorphous features and low usability as technological characteristics could influence employees' cognitions toward service robots, while robot-related excessive workloads, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty as psychological stimuli could trigger negative emotional arousal, which in turn fosters employee resistance to service robot continuous usage. This study offers a more solid conceptual investigation into employee resistance to service robot continuous usage, thus allowing the development of strategies to better reap the rewards of hotel service robot usage.

LEADERS AND SCHOLARS: How Faculty Mentoring Behavior Influences the Development of Leadership Self Efficacy

Students pursuing doctoral degrees are expected to become leaders in their disciplines. Given that, leadership development should be an important part of any curriculum that prepares doctoral students for professional careers after graduation. However, there are questions regarding the effectiveness and prevalence of formal leadership development structures in graduate school. With this gap in formal professional preparation, faculty mentors are expected to provide the necessary socialization, support, and guidance for doctoral students to develop as leaders in their disciplines. This mixed-methods study of graduate students was conducted using online questionnaires and personal interviews to determine the impact of faculty mentoring behaviors on the development of doctoral student leadership self-efficacy. Findings suggest that students in doctoral programs experience significant negative emotional arousal in the form of uncertainty, anxiety, and self-doubt. Faculty mentors that are accessible, trustworthy, and provide constructive feedback can mitigate these negative feelings and encourage the development of leadership self-efficacy through verbal support and mastery experiences. In addition, the data suggests that active student cohorts and effective departmental leadership are also important to the development of doctoral student leadership self-efficacy.

“In-emotional blindness”? Lower detection rates for unexpected stimuli in negative compared to positive emotions

Abstract Determining how emotional experience influences attention is a long standing goal of cognitive psychologists. Emotion is often broken down into two main dimensions, arousal and valence. While many theories focus more on the influence of one dimension than the other, the systematic investigation of the independent influences of the two dimensions of emotion on attention has been slow. In order to examine the relevance of both aspects of emotion, and their interplay on attention simultaneously, in the current experiment we induced low (satisfaction) and high (happiness) arousal positive emotions and low (sadness) and high (anger) arousal negative emotions in subjects before having them complete an inattentional blindness (IB) test. In line with theories that focus on the role of valence, we found that negative emotions led to more IB than positive emotions, and that arousal did not influence attention. Implications of the results for the theoretical contributions of the dimensions of emotion to visual attention are discussed.