Negative Emotional Conditions Research Articles

Borderline personality disorder and learning: The influences of emotional state and social versus nonsocial feedback

BackgroundBorderline personality disorder (BPD) has been associated with decision-making deficits, yet such deficits may be context dependent, particularly emotional state and social context. Reinforcement learning models offer an avenue to pinpoint decision-making impairments. The current study used reinforcement learning models to examine whether feedback type (social vs. nonsocial) or emotional state (neutral vs. negative) influence the association between BPD and decision making. MethodAdults (N = 131) with a range of BPD symptoms completed a diagnostic interview and a computerized learning task after neutral and negative emotion inductions. We examined accuracy, learning rate, and exploration. ResultsWe conducted linear models to examine the association between BPD criteria, feedback type, and emotional state on learning parameters and learning accuracy. We found that the negative emotion condition was associated with greater exploration, particularly for those with elevated BPD features. Furthermore, elevated BPD features were associated with impaired accuracy when aiming to avoid loss. A 3-way interaction between BPD, emotion, and feedback indicated that, for people with higher BPD features, learning performance was further impaired when receiving social feedback in the negative emotion condition. LimitationsSeveral limitations warrant mention, including a relatively homogenous sample, possible co-occurring diagnoses, and methodological consideration with the learning task. ConclusionsThe present study underscored the link between BPD and learning impairments. Amplified learning alterations under negative social contexts have important implications for identifying optimal venues to teach new skills (of relevance to treatment) for those with BPD.

The Pet Attachment Affects The Person's Mental Condition

People are more willing to have pets in current society. The interaction with pets brings pet attachment to owners. Studies try to find the benefits of the pet; the pet attachment is the measurable variable to evaluate the benefits and function of the pet. The essay discusses the emotional support of pets by dividing it into positive and negative emotional conditions. Each condition introduces two studies to develop the benefits of pets. In the positive emotion condition, the studies show that different kinds of companion animals can increase the owners' well-being. The study also figures out that the interaction with and presence of pets contribute to the positive mood of the owners. In negative emotion, two studies studied two periods, which bring long-lasting stress and negatively impact people's mental health. The result shows that companion animals can display the function of buffering negative impacts and promoting positive moods. The studies mainly take surveys to measure the data from the participants. Studies conclude that pet attachment to companion animals has emotional support and positively impacts mental health in daily life.

The impact of emotional valence and stimulus habituation on fMRI signal reliability during emotion generation

BackgroundThe emotional domain is often impaired across many neurological diseases, for this reason it represents a relevant target of rehabilitation interventions. Functional changes in neural activity related to treatment can be assessed with functional MRI (fMRI) using emotion-generation tasks in longitudinal settings. Previous studies demonstrated that within-subject fMRI signal reliability can be affected by several factors such as repetition suppression, type of task and brain anatomy. However, the differential role of repetition suppression and emotional valence of the stimuli on the fMRI signal reliability and reproducibility during an emotion-generation task involving the vision of emotional pictures is yet to be determined. MethodsSixty-two healthy subjects were enrolled and split into two groups: group A (21 subjects, test-retest reliability on same-day and with same-task-form), group B (30 subjects, test-retest reproducibility with 4-month-interval using two equivalent-parallel forms of the task). Test-retest reliability and reproducibility of fMRI responses and patterns were evaluated separately for positive and negative emotional valence conditions in both groups. The analyses were performed voxel-wise, using the general linear model (GLM), and via a region-of-interest (ROI)-based approach, by computing the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) on the obtained contrasts. ResultsThe voxel-wise GLM test yielded no significant differences for both conditions in reliability and reproducibility analyses. As to the ROI-based approach, across all areas with significant main effects of the stimuli, the reliability, as measured with ICC, was poor (<0.4) for the positive condition and ranged from poor to excellent (0.4–0.75) for the negative condition. The ICC-based reproducibility analysis, related to the comparison of two different parallel forms, yielded similar results. DiscussionThe voxel-wise GLM analysis failed to capture the poor reliability of fMRI signal which was instead highlighted using the ROI-based ICC analysis. The latter showed higher signal reliability for negative valence stimuli with respect to positive ones. The implementation of two parallel forms allowed to exclude neural suppression as the predominant effect causing low signal reliability, which could be instead ascribed to the employment of different neural strategies to cope with emotional stimuli over time. This is an invaluable information for a better assessment of treatment and rehabilitation effects in longitudinal studies of emotional neural processing.

Identification of Psychological Conditions and Feelings of Fatigue Among Employees at Makassar Air Traffic Service Center

Air Traffic Control (ATC) remains an active field of work during the pandemic due to the demand from domestic and international travelers. It is crucial for controllers to prioritize both their mental health while on duty and their body's immunity against conditions that make them vulnerable to Covid-19. Therefore, this study aims to review psychological conditions, feelings of fatigue, and quality of life among ATC during the pandemic. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used and the participants were 89 ATC in Makassar Air Traffic Service Center. The data collected included the general characteristics of ATC, DASS-21, KAUPK2, and (WHOQOL)-BREF. Data were collected from February to March 2022, then analysis was carried out using SPSS and Excel software. The results indicated the presence of negative emotional conditions among ATC even outside of their normal traffic control duties. Approximately 24% of ATC reported feelings of fatigue, while the quality of life exhibited a wide distribution of data, ranging from moderate to low. Therefore, it was concluded that the health status of ATC, even with regulations limiting the amount of traffic related to the pandemic period, still needs special attention to maintain performance.

Is it true that negative emotions cause more utilitarian judgements? from the influence of emotion and cognition

ABSTRACT The affect-as-information (AAI) model proposes that emotions influence the accessibility and value of information (Avramova & Inbar, 2013). Furthermore, according to the dual-process model of moral judgement, emotions and cognition influence moral judgement (Greene, 2007; Greene et al., 2001, 2008); however, there is no direct evidence of a causal chain to support this model’s proposition. By using a 3 (emotions: positive vs. neutral vs. negative) × 2 (primed rule: save lives vs. do not kill) between-participants design, we examined two hypotheses in two experiments: supraliminal (Experiment 1) and subliminal (Experiment 2) priming. Our results partially supported the AAI model and confirmed that emotions and cognition independently influence moral judgement. Specifically, the positive emotions group made more utilitarian decisions after being primed with the “save lives” rule and more deontological decisions after being primed with the do not kill rule. However, priming did not affect moral judgement in the negative emotion condition. Further, irrespective of whether priming was done, the negative emotion group mostly made utilitarian decisions. Accordingly, we propose a dynamic dual-process model of moral judgement, that can help clarify how emotion and cognition influence moral judgement.

Emotional food-cue-reactivity in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: An electroencephalography study.

Food-cue-reactivity entails neural and experiential responses to the sight and smell of attractive foods. Negative emotions can modulate such cue-reactivity and this might be central to the balance between restrictive versus bulimic symptomatology in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN). Pleasantness ratings and electrocortical responses to food images were measured in patients with AN (n = 35), BN (n = 32) and matched healthy controls (HC, n = 35) in a neutral state and after idiosyncratic negative emotion induction while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. The EEG data were analyzed using a mass testing approach. Individuals with AN showed reduced pleasantness for foods compared to objects alongside elevated widespread occipito-central food-object discrimination between 170 and 535 ms, indicative of strong neural cue-reactivity. Food-object discrimination was further increased in the negative emotional condition between 690 and 1200 ms over centroparietal regions. Neither of these effects was seen in individuals with BN. Emotion modulated food-cue-reactivity in AN might reflect a decreased appetitive response in negative mood. Such specific (emotion-)regulatory strategies require more theoretical work and clinical attention. The absence of any marked effects in BN suggests that emotional cue-reactivity might be less prominent in this group or quite specific to certain emotional contexts or food types. Negative affectivity is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders and individuals with eating disorders experience problems with emotion regulation. To better understand the effects of negative emotions, the present study investigated how they affected neural correlates of food perception in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

The Problem of Psychological Traumatization of War Participants

Key words: psychotrauma, combat stress (battle fatigue), stress factor, PTSD, mental reaction, emotional state In the modern world, a person is constantly exposed to various influences of the environment, which for an individual can be a source of mental trauma, and in such a situation, the symptoms of post-traumatic disorder can be quite often found in the surrounding environment. In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that people are concerned about the events happening on Earth that lead to psychological trauma. Such attention is due to long-term inter-ethnic conflicts on the one hand, which eventually lead to wars, and on the other hand, to the rise of the consciousness of people and nations, which makes them bear mutual responsibility. In this situation, it is natural that psychology has become the reliable source of support which can conduct research and develop different methods to overcome similar situations. In the media and among the population, there is often a negative attitude towards combatants, as to people with a disturbed psyche, violators of generally accepted norms of behavior, etc. The lack of clear diagnostic and prognostic criteria creates significant difficulties in recognizing the initial manifestations of post-traumatic stress disorders, readaptation and rehabilitation of patients. In this regard, there is a growing interest in studying the characteristics of the personality and its functioning, which influence the choice and success of strategies for coping behavior. The remote, severe and long-term effects of post-traumatic stress disorder are of particular social relevance. Traumatic situations and their consequences occupy a significant place among negative emotional conditions. Traumatic life events often lead to stress, deterioration of mental health, various mental disorders and diseases. We may say that the events, which are considered traumatic for a person and are not overcome, change life and deform its image. Therefore, we consider it important to study traumatization, especially among war participants, because combat operations cause great trauma and are stressful by their nature. The work aims to conduct a theoretical analysis of the problem of traumatization of war participants.

Generalization and Differentiation Circuit Design Based on Memristor Under Different Emotional Conditions

The reinforcement and extinction in conditioned reflex have been studied extensively, but memristor-based generalization and differentiation circuits under different emotional conditions are rarely studied. Therefore, a memristor-based generalization and differentiation circuit under positive and negative emotional conditions is presented in this paper. The circuit includes emotion module, synapse module, voltage selection module and output module. The emotion module is divided into positive emotion and negative emotion modules. Different emotions have different effects on the synapse module, which in turn affects the output module. The memristor-based circuit proposed in this paper can not only realize the process of generalization and differentiation under the influence of different emotions, but also realize the function of secondary differentiation. The results presented in this paper can be verified in PSPICE. By analyzing the effects of different emotions on differentiation and generalization, this paper provides some references for future researches in the field of generalization and differentiation.

Academics–Athletics Conflict and College Athletes’ Well-Being: The Mediating Effect of Negative Emotions and the Moderating Effect of Life Motivation

For college athletes who perform dual roles (student and athlete), the academics-athletics conflict is inevitable in daily life. Although existing studies have focused on the adverse effects of this conflict on the well-being of college athletes, they have not yet determined the underlying mechanism and effective measures to alleviate it. To explore the underlying mechanism of academics-athletics conflict, which affects the well-being of college athletes, we constructed a moderated mediating model to examine the critical role of negative emotions and life motivation in the relationship between them. The study randomly selected 802 college athletes from China to examine the relationships between academics-athletics conflict, negative emotions, eudaimonic motives, hedonic motives, and life satisfaction. The results showed that (1) negative emotions played an important mediating role between academics-athletics conflict and college athletes' life satisfaction, with more than 79% of the effect of academics-athletics conflict being achieved through negative emotions. (2) Eudaimonic motives significantly moderated the first half of the mediation path of negative emotions between academics-athletics conflict and life satisfaction. Individuals with high eudaimonic motives experienced fewer negative emotions in the medium and weak conflict conditions. (3) Hedonic motives had a significant moderating effect on the second half of the mediation path. Individuals with high hedonic motives had greater life satisfaction across negative emotion conditions. This study provides important insights for a comprehensive understanding and in-depth study of the relationship between conflict and the well-being of college athletes, as well as a reference for the quality-of-life enhancement and motivation development for college athletes.

Wine as a self-gift: a consumer approach

ABSTRACT Although the selection of wine as a gift has been discussed in the relevant literature, the purchase of wine as a self-gift remains unexplored. Driven by the assumption that a profound analysis of self-gifting patterns and behaviour could have some important marketing implications for the wine industry, the current paper attempts to identify the most common situational contexts for self-gifting wine and explore the consumer behaviour and decision-making process behind it. Using an exploratory approach, totally 32 in-depth interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. Results reveal that consumers being involved in negative emotional or stressful conditions are very likely to prefer wine as a self-gift. It is also common to purchase wine as a self-reward when celebrating an event. Based on the key findings of the study, wineries could adjust their marketing strategies by including the concept of self-gifting.

АНАЛІТИЧНИЙ ОПИС ТЕОРЕТИЧНОГО ЕТАПУ СТВОРЕННЯ ПСИХОЛОГІЧНОГО ІНСТРУМЕНТАРІЮ – МЕТАФОРИЧНИХ АСОЦІАТИВНИХ КАРТ "МАСКА" ДЛЯ РОБОТИ З ВІЙСЬКОВОСЛУЖБОВЦЯМИ (КОМБАТАНТАМИ) ЗБРОЙНИХ СИЛ УКРАЇНИ

The article presents analytical review of theoretical phase of psychological techniques development – metaphorical association cards "Masc" to work with servicemen (combatants) of the Ukrainian armed forces. The main purpose of the tools abovementioned is to increase efficiency of psychological support of servicemen (combatants) of the Ukrainian armed forces (including those who take part in combat actions in the combat area). Metaphorical association cards provide arrangement of constructive dialog between a serviceman and a psychologist that makes possible to optimise time for getting into psychological contact. Metaphorical associational cards are helpful both in performing of psychognosis of servicemen (individually and in groups) promptly and enabling to resolve numerous problems (normalize negative emotional conditions, increase motivation for activity, contribute to resolve conflict situations inside of unit) etc. Use of these cards is more practical because of massive refusals of servicemen to perform tests' tasks with traditional methods of psychognosis, i.e. survey, blank test procedures, computer-based automated psychological procedures, etc. The following results were obtained from theoretical phase of research: 1) peculiarities of metaphorical associational cards were defined, they were recognised as an active psychological tool. Procedure for their employment was determined. Basic recommendations for their development were formed; 2) particularities and advantages of Masc therapy method were defined, and recommendations for it practical use were developed; 3) advantages of both methods combination – Masc therapy method and metaphorical associational cards (MAC) use were established. Creation of psychological tools MAC "Masc" was the result of this research, it is designed for psychological work with servicemen (combatants) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; 4) the basic list of problems was defined, that is the object to find solution for them by mean of abovementioned psychological tools. It is based on analytical description of part-time groups of psychological aid that accompany Ukrainian Armed Forces units in the battle area from the beginning of full-scale invasion; 5) the procedure for development of metaphorical association cards for psychological work with combatants of Ukrainian armed forces was created.

Vocal acoustic features may be objective biomarkers of negative symptoms in schizophrenia: A cross-sectional study

BackgroundThere are currently no objective biomarkers that allow the quantification of negative symptoms of schizophrenia. This study therefore explored the use of acoustic features in identifying the severity of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. MethodsWe recruited 79 inpatients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (the schizophrenia group) at the Huilongguan Hospital in Beijing, China, and 79 healthy controls from the surrounding community (the control group). We assessed the clinical symptoms of the patients with schizophrenia using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) and recorded the voice of each participant as they read emotionally positive, neutral, and negative texts. The Praat software was used to analyse and extract acoustic characteristics from the recordings, such as jitter, shimmer, and pitch. The acoustic differences between the two groups of participants and the relationship between acoustic characteristics and clinical symptoms in the patient group were analysed. ResultsThere were significant differences between the schizophrenia and control groups in pitch, voice breaks, jitter, shimmer, and the mean harmonics-to-noise ratio (p < 0.05). Jitter was negatively correlated with the blunted affect and alogia subscale scores of the BNSS, both in the positive and neutral emotion conditions, but the correlation disappeared in the negative emotion condition. However, shimmer exhibited a stable negative correlation with the blunted affect and alogia subscale scores of the BNSS in all three emotion conditions. A linear regression analysis showed that pitch, jitter, shimmer, and age were statistically significant predictors of BNSS subscale scores. ConclusionsAcoustic emotional expression differs between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Some acoustic characteristics are related to the severity of negative symptoms, regardless of semantic emotions, and may therefore be objective biomarkers of negative symptoms. A systematic method for assessing vocal acoustic characteristics could provide an accurate and feasible means of assessing negative symptoms in schizophrenia. TweetAcoustic emotional expression differs between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. A systematic method for assessing vocal acoustics could provide an accurate and feasible means of assessing negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ ОСВІТНЬОГО ПРОЦЕСУ В ЗАКЛАДІ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ В УМОВАХ ВОЄННОГО СТАНУ

The article deals with the problem of studying peculiarities of educational process in the higher educational institution under martial law. The authors define the problem of identifying the peculiarities of educational process under martial law as extremely actual. It is noted that for the students who received higher education during COVID-19 remotely, it will be significantly easier to adaptat to new educational conditions. One of the main drawbacks of distance learning was the merger of higher education students with classmates and teachers. As a result, absence of group processes, difficulty in forming close relationships, and unity. In order to study the psycho-emotional state of the students of the higher educational institutions, as well as the peculiarities of the educational process they observe in connection with the military situation, a survey of students of Berdyansk State Pedagogical University was conducted. The researched students gave an answer as for their own location, assessed their own feeling of secutiry, and dominant emotional experiences, identified their the source of support, analyzed their success and dependence on the military, and identified the main learning difficulties during the war. Special attention was given to psychological condition of respondents. According to the results of the survey, the authors identified a condition aimed at solving the task of adapting the educational process to the conditions of the military situation by selecting appropriate methods that will help minimize traumatic experience. To minimalize the stress threshold, negative emotional and psychological condition and to continue educational process according to educational programs. It was offered to plan all stages of education in new conditions in detail; get acquainted with new organizational moments of the educational applicants; care about the emotional state of all participants of the educational process; take into account the impact of stress on human cognitive abilities; create educational road maps for war-affected; establish the psychological service to help the students and pedagogical workers overcome the impact of traumatic events on psychological conditions, etc. Key words: Educational process, military situation, poll, higher education applicants, adaptation, psychological condition.

Brief Solution Focused Therapy in Ukraine to Work with People with Emotional, Cognitive and Behavioural Disorders

Aim. To study the way how Brief Solution Focused Therapy (BSFT) tackles emotional, cognitive and behavioural disorders. To provide basic definitions of such disorders and identify major approaches and techniques focusing on Brief Solution Focused Therapy aspects that may be applied in psychotherapeutic works with these people. Methods. Ana\lysis and synthesis of scientific data regarding defining emotional, cognitive and behavioural disorders. Distinguishing basic diagnostic signs of such disorders in clients. Methods of BSFT psychotherapy. Results. The following BSFT techniques proved to be the most effective in the work on emotional disorders: problem-free talk, compliments, resource questions and scaling. These techniques can be called the most emotional ones – the techniques that call for your emotions, replenish your psychological resource, help rebuild your emotional attitude to the situation, look at it from a different angle. BSFT-based psycho-correction and psychotherapy of cognitive impairments and behavioural disorders is longer and more fundamental. Effective techniques are goal setting, resource identification, and also there are special turning points, such as the technique of life analysis, which is a variant of scaling as a method, use of coping questions. Conclusions. BSFT-methods are effective in addressing different disorders – both partial (emotional, behavioural, cognitive) and more complex ones. The fact that BSFT does not focus on the negative emotional conditions, the problem and its causes, enables the depressive clients, grieving clients and clients experiencing loss to relatively fast discover their resources and start building plans, demonstrating how it is possible to optimize the process of overcoming complicated life situations.

Solid or Liquid Food-The Intention to Eat Different Foods under Negative Emotions.

Food can relieve an individual’s emotions, especially for emotional eaters. For instance, chewing alleviates negative emotions. Solid and liquid foods comprise a huge part of our daily lives, and the chewiness of solid foods is always high. Here, we explored whether people, especially emotional eaters, have higher eating intentions to eat highly chewy foods while experiencing negative emotions by comparing their eating intentions toward solid and liquid foods. To this end, we conducted a survey of 147 participants using a questionnaire (Experiment 1) to understand their eating intention toward five types of food (purple potato, maize, black soya bean, mango, and soybean; each food group contained a solid food and a liquid food) while experiencing negative emotions. The results showed that individuals exhibited higher eating intention toward solid food compared with liquid food while experiencing negative emotions. In Experiment 2, we selected 85 and 65 high-emotional and low-emotional eaters, respectively, and further explored their preference for solid foods. The results showed that individuals with high levels of emotional eating exhibited higher intentions toward solid food while experiencing negative emotions compared with those with low levels of emotional eating. In conclusion, this study proved that individuals’ higher eating intentions toward highly chewable food were pronounced among individuals with high levels of emotional eating under negative emotion conditions.

Characteristics of Facial Muscle Activity Intensity in Patients With Schizophrenia and Its Relationship to Negative Symptoms.

IntroductionPrevious studies have shown that in addition to having impairments in facial emotion recognition, patients with schizophrenia also show a lack of facial expression. Although negative symptoms such as decreased facial activity are common symptoms of schizophrenia, the related factors remain inconclusive. Therefore, this study compared healthy controls to explore the characteristics of facial muscle activity intensity in patients with schizophrenia and its relationship with negative symptoms.MethodsThis observational and cross-sectional study conducted in a psychiatric hospital in China included a total of 135 patients with schizophrenia and 134 healthy controls. The negative symptoms of schizophrenia were evaluated using the Brief Negative Symptom Scale. The intensity of facial muscle activity under positive, neutral, and negative emotional stimuli conditions was automatically collected by a computer, including 17 values (F01-F17) that represent different facial muscle activities. Statistical tests were performed to analyze facial muscle activity indexes, to explore an objective and quantitative method to evaluate the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.ResultsThe facial muscle activity intensity of the schizophrenia group at F02 (outer eyebrow), F04 (upper eyelid), F07 (nose), F10 (dimple), F12 (lower jaw 1), F14 (lip 2), and F17 (blink) was lower than that of the healthy controls (p < 0.05). Under positive, neutral, and negative emotional stimuli conditions, the facial muscle activity intensity of F16 (lower jaw 2) was positively correlated with negative symptoms (p < 0.05).ConclusionOur study indicated that patients with schizophrenia show defects in facial muscle activity and that is associated with negative symptoms.

“Church Is a Solution Centre”: Strategies of Migrant Churches in Switzerland in Overcoming Hardships

Abstract Migrant churches in Switzerland are an increasingly emerging, heterogenous phenomenon at the fringes of the Swiss church landscape. Migrant churches are mostly founded and visited by migrants, in many cases asylum seekers, who sometimes find themselves in precarious situations. Moreover, migrant churches cannot rely on government finances like state-affiliated churches in Switzerland do. This article provides a case study on two migrant churches. Both belong to the Pentecostal-charismatic family of World Christianity. The case study seeks to describe what difficulties the churches and their members face and how they deal with these. The coping strategies to overcome challenges are mostly not targeting the problems themselves but trying to regulate the negative emotional conditions the problems give rise to. In my sample churches, this is mainly achieved through a specific charismatic reinterpretation of the situation, where trust in God’s guidance and his providence are given more weight than prosperity promises.

Teacher's Emotional Display Affects Students' Perceptions of Teacher's Competence, Feelings, and Productivity in Online Small-Group Discussions.

Teacher's emotions have been shown to be highly important in the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning. There is a recognized need to examine the essential role of teacher's emotions in students' academic achievement. However, the influence of teacher's displays of emotions on students' outcomes in small-group interaction activities, especially in the online environment, has received little attention in prior research. The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between teacher's different emotional displays and students' perceptions of the teacher's competence, as well as students' collaborative feelings and productivity in online small-group discussions. Using a three-level between-subjects design, 74 participants were randomly divided into four-member groups comprising a teacher and three other participants. All the groups were asked to discuss an open-ended realistic problem using online software, during which the teacher's display of emotions varied (positive vs. negative vs. neutral). The participants' self-reported questionnaire data (perception of the teacher's competence, students' feeling of pleasure, collaborative satisfaction, and willingness to continue collaborating) and productivity (number of effective ideas expressed within a given time) were measured to compare the participants who were exposed to different emotional displays. As expected, the results showed that the participants who received the teacher's positive emotional display reported that they experienced higher levels of pleasure during the task. However, in contrast to our expectations, those under the negative emotional display condition showed a significantly higher level of productivity in the group task. In addition, compared to emotional display, the participants' perceptions of the teacher's competence were rated significantly higher under the neutral condition, and they reported higher levels of collaborative satisfaction and greater willingness to continue collaborating with their group. The findings have the potential benefit of informing educational practice on whether teachers should display their emotions in a small-group discussion or how they should display emotions following adjustment for the relative aim of the teaching activities.

Empathic Responses of Behavioral-Synchronization in Human-Agent Interaction

Artificial entities, such as virtual agents, have become more pervasive. Their long-term presence among humans requires the virtual agent's ability to express appropriate emotions to elicit the necessary empathy from the users. Affective empathy involves behavioral mimicry, a synchronized co-movement between dyadic pairs. However, the characteristics of such synchrony between humans and virtual agents remain unclear in empathic interactions. Our study evaluates the participant's behavioral synchronization when a virtual agent exhibits an emotional expression congruent with the emotional context through facial expressions, behavioral gestures, and voice. Participants viewed an emotion-eliciting video stimulus (negative or positive) with a virtual agent. The participants then conversed with the virtual agent about the video, such as how the participant felt about the content. The virtual agent expressed emotions congruent with the video or neutral emotion during the dialog. The participants’ facial expressions, such as the facial expressive intensity and facial muscle movement, were measured during the dialog using a camera. The results showed the participants’ significant behavioral synchronization (i.e., cosine similarity ≥ .05) in both the negative and positive emotion conditions, evident in the participant's facial mimicry with the virtual agent. Additionally, the participants’ facial expressions, both movement and intensity, were significantly stronger in the emotional virtual agent than in the neutral virtual agent. In particular, we found that the facial muscle intensity of AU45 (Blink) is an effective index to assess the participant's synchronization that differs by the individual's empathic capability (low, mid, high). Based on the results, we suggest an appraisal criterion to provide empirical conditions to validate empathic interaction based on the facial expression measures.

Personality, Psychological Mediators and Adherence to ART: A Correlational Clinical Study

Since the effectiveness of antiretroviral treatment (ART) depends on adherence, this study aimed to assess the personality characteristics of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA)—by considering general patterns of behavior and attitude—and to verify its association with perceived social support, expectation of self-efficacy to follow ART, and biological markers of adherence. This clinical, exploratory, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was conducted on PLWHA on ART by means of a structured questionnaire, scale of perceived social support in HIV (PSS-HIV), Scale of self-efficacy expectations of adherence to antiretroviral treatment (SEA-ART) and the HumanGuide (HG) personality test. Scores indicative of good prognosis on the PSS-HIV correlated with higher CD4+ T cells and lower viral load. Personality characteristics such as sociability and optimism, ability to deal with changes, and flexibility influenced perceived social support. Low self-efficacy expectations to follow ART were associated with dependency on social approval and recognition, while high expectations when associated to negative emotional and physical conditions had a positive impact on adherence. Sense of responsibility and care for life correlated with higher CD4+ T cells. Thus, personality characteristics may influence psychological mediators in terms of adherence to ART and can offer relevant information to plan a successful intervention for PLWHA.