Positive Emotional Experiences Research Articles

Emotional Appetite Questionnaire: psychometric properties in Brazilian adult samples before and after the COVID-19 pandemic onset.

Appetite represents a desire of a person to eat specific food in order to reach satisfaction and pleasure states. This desire may be associated with the experience of negative or positive emotions (emotional appetite). Emotional appetite can influence eating behavior, and its investigation is relevant to avoid possible damage to health resulting from a disordered eating. To adapt the Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (EMAQ) to the Portuguese language; to assess the validity and reliability of the data; and to assess emotional appetite in three samples of adults collected before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a cross-sectional study with non-probabilistic convenience sampling. The Portuguese version of the EMAQ was presented after translation, back-translation, and content analysis. Two studies were conducted, the first before and the second after the pandemic onset. Three samples were formed (2019: Sample 1 (age = 19.7 ± 1.5 years) n = 323; 2020: Sample 2 (age = 21.3 ± 1.8 years) n = 1,011; and Sample 3 (age = 28.9 ± 3.1 years) n = 909). An exploratory strategy with parallel analysis was performed. The analyses were conducted in FACTOR and R (lavaan and semTools packages) software. After determining the best-fit model for the data, emotional appetite was examined considering decrease, non-alteration, and increase in appetite in the face of positive and negative emotions/situations. The profile of emotional appetite was determined using a circumplex model. The two-factor model described by the valence of emotions/situations fitted the samples (Comparative Fit Indexminimum-maximum = 0.95-0.98; Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.94-0.98; Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.03-0.08; αord = 0.78-0.88). Increases in appetite were more frequent for positive emotions/situations (52.0-57.5%), and both decreases (35.4-44.5%) and increases (50.0-56.2%) in appetite were observed for negative emotions/situations. Emotions with negative valence and activation were more relevant to appetite reduction, while a significant increase in appetite was observed with anxiety (negative valence and positive activation). Different emotions and situations may influence appetite in people, and such an investigation may be useful in preparing eating protocols.

The impact of conversational interaction on users’ cognitive absorption in mobile news reading context: evidence from EEG

ABSTRACT From the perspective of the user experience of media products, the study primarily focuses on the influence of users’ interaction mode on cognitive absorption. Specifically, 80 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to different interactive modes: a conversational interactive news interface and a webpage-based interactive news interface. They needed to be recorded with an EEG during the interaction and completion of the cognitive absorption (CA) scale after the interaction. The results demonstrated that there were significant differences in CA between the webpage-based interaction group and the conversational interaction group. Meanwhile, the PSD of theta and delta bands under the conversational interaction group appeared to be significantly higher. Besides, the frontal EEG asymmetry in the conversational interaction group was significantly higher than in the webpage-based interaction group. In contrast, the individual alpha frequency of the webpage-based interaction group was higher than that of the conversational interaction group. These results suggest that conversational interaction reduces the user’s reading difficulty while also reduces the cognitive load in the process of task. This helps improve user’s level of being immersed, enjoyment, sense of control, and curiosity while also improving users’ cognitive absorption as they also exhibit stronger positive emotional experiences.

The good, the bad, the ugly: Predictors of positive and negative experiences of traditional and nontraditional graduate students

Nontraditional students pursuing an advanced degree face unique challenges as compared to full-time traditional students. Current and former masters and PhD students ( N = 266) were surveyed to examine differences in their educational experiences and emotional outcomes, and determinants of their positive and negative graduate education experiences. Traditional and nontraditional students differed significantly on most of the variables. Compared to traditional students, nontraditional students reported higher positive emotional experiences. Simple linear ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models were used to examine the determinants of positive and negative experiences during graduate education. Self-fulfillment motives were the strongest predictors of positive emotional experiences, while stress and anxiety uniformly predicted negative experiences; with variability in determinants of emotional experiences between traditional and nontraditional students.

Effects of Fitness Dance and Funny Running on Anxiety of Female Ph.D. Candidates

Anxiety has been widely prevalent among female Ph.D. candidates. There is a positive correlation between exercise and mental health promotion. Nevertheless, little is known about the use of fitness dance and funny running to intervene in the anxiety of female Ph.D. candidates. In this paper, the effects of fitness dance and funny running on the anxiety of female Ph.D. candidates were evaluated by a repeated measurement experimental design. We randomly divided the participants into two groups, one group received a fitness dance exercise, and the other received a funny running exercise. The Spielberger State–Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to investigate the female Ph.D. candidates’ anxiety. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to test the effects of a fitness dance group and a funny running group on participants’ anxiety, and to compare the differences between the two groups. Results showed that a 12-week fitness dance and funny running can alleviate participants’ anxiety from severe to moderate. Specifically, fitness dance increased the positive emotional experience of participants’ state anxiety (p = 0.018) and trait anxiety (p = 0.019) at 8-week, and decreased the negative emotional experience of state anxiety (p = 0.012), trait anxiety (p = 0.008), state anxiety level (p = 0.001) and trait anxiety level (p = 0.034) at 12-week. Funny running increased the positive emotional experience of participants’ state anxiety (p = 0.014), and trait anxiety (p = 0.002), and reduced the negative emotional experience of state anxiety (p = 0.043), state anxiety level (p = 0.047) and trait anxiety level (p = 0.022) at 12-week. This study suggests that fitness dance and funny running are healthy behaviors, which can help Chinese female Ph.D. candidates to dissociate from anxiety and stress situations and develop a healthy lifestyle. It is worth noting that the effects of fitness dance on Chinese female Ph.D. candidates’ anxiety are better than that of funny running. Based on the good effects of fitness dance in alleviating the anxiety of Chinese female Ph.D. candidates, future researches can design fitness dance intervention programs combining exercise therapy and psychotherapy according to the anxiety characteristics of female Ph.D. candidates, such as mindfulness fitness dance programs.

Investigating student interpreters’ emotional component of aptitude: a mixed method approach

ABSTRACT Past studies on aptitude for interpreting have investigated the correlation between personal traits and achievement, yet relatively few have singled out students’ emotional state as an important aptitude constituent or tracked its developmental patterns. To address this gap, the present study followed 116 Chinese students of interpreting for five months (one semester) and examined their emotional reports as well as interpreting proficiency. The study differentiated learner-internal (positive and negative emotional traits) from learner-external emotional aspects (positive and negative emotional experiences), then administered questionnaires at three time points (the 1st month, the 3rd month, the 5th month) to determine the emotion-proficiency relations. Based on the regression analysis of the questionnaire data and qualitative analysis of students’ emotion reports, the study found that: 1) As students’ proficiency matured, they experienced growing positive and negative external emotions yet their internal emotions remained relatively stable; 2) While students’ internal emotions were only moderately related to proficiency, their positive emotional experience was always the most reliable proficiency indicator; 3) Positive external emotions could stimulate students’ long-term engagement with learning, and negative emotions such as anxiety could also promote learning by prompting students to use anxiety-reduction strategies. Specific suggestions are thus formulated for interpreter education.

Problems and Countermeasures of Cultivating Pupils' Sports Interest

Sports interest is a psychological tendency for people to actively understand, explore and participate in sports activities. It is an intentional activity related to the needs of participating in sports activities. If a person is interested in sports activities, he will actively participate and devote himself to them. The result of the activities will be the satisfaction of needs and thus get positive emotional experience. At this stage of primary school, pupils' sports interest is changeable. In order to solve the problems in the process of cultivating pupils' sports interest, this paper analyzes the internal and external factors from the problems in the process of cultivating pupils' sports interest, and puts forward how to solve them.

THE MODERATOR ROLE OF DIFFICULTIES OF EMOTIONAL REGULATION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE AND THE INTENSITY OF POSITIVE EMOTIONS

Objectives. Identifying aspects of the difficulties of emotional regulation (awareness and understanding of emotions, acceptance of emotions, the ability to control impulsive behavior and be in line with the desired goals in terms of negative experiences and the ability to flexibly use emotional regulation strategies in similar situations to correctly modulate emotional responses) and the force with which positive emotional experiences are lived in adolescence. Material and methods. The sample of this study was made up of 427 students aged between 15 and 18 years (Mage = 16.35, SD = .93), 136 male (Mage = 16.38, SD = .95), from which data have been collected by applying questionnaires aimed at self-reporting to different emotional situations using Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and Revised Emotional Intensity Scale (EIS-R). Results. The results shows the effect of the predictor (age) on the dependent variable (the intensity of positive emotions) at different levels of the moderator (average, low and high). Five of the six dimensions of emotional disorder have a moderator effect between age and the intensity of positive emotions (respectively: non-acceptance of emotional responses, difficulty in achieving objectiveoriented behaviors, limited access to emotional regulation strategies, lack of emotional clarity and difficulty in controlling impulse). Poor emotional awareness is the difficulty of emotional regulation that does not moderate the relationship. Conclusions. The results of the study emphasize those strategies of emotional regulation that specialists interested in developing in any programs or psychotherapeutic intervention techniques to consider with regard to adolescents. Keywords: adolescence, emotion regulation, intensity of positive emotions, age.

Investigating psychometric properties of the scale of emotional experience towards the spouse

Objective: The objective of the present study was to establish and assess the psychometric properties of the scale of emotional experience towards the spouse in 2018-19. Methods and Materials: For this purpose, all the married women in the city of Isfahan were considered as the statistical population from which 300 married women were selected as the statistical sample using convenience sampling. The research instruments included the scale of emotional experience towards the spouse, extroversion and introversion subscales of NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992), and triangulation (Dehghani & Yousefi, 2019). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (correlation analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and norm determination. Findings: Convergent validity and divergent validity results revealed that the subscale of negative emotional experience towards the spouse was significantly positively related to neuroticism and triangulation (convergent validity), but negatively related to extroversion (divergent validity). The subscale of positive emotional experience towards the spouse, on the other hand, had a positive relationship to extroversion (convergent validity) and a significantly negative relationship to neuroticism and triangulation (divergent validity). Exploratory factor analysis showed two basic factors called positive emotional experience towards the spouse and negative emotional experience towards the spouse. Test-retest coefficients, at a three-week interval, confirmed test-retest reliability. Conclusion: Thus, based on what the results revealed, this test can be used to assess the scale of emotional experience towards the spouse in the married women both in research and psychotherapy.

Research on the space design strategy of college classrooms based on positive emotion and learning happiness experience

Traditional education mostly guides students’ learning through teachers’ words and deeds, while ignoring the spatial environment of learning is another kind of subtle education. The experiment was conducted with 66 students, 84 class hours, and 5544 action tracking data. Based on environmental psychology theory and teaching practice, this paper proposes a space design strategy for college classrooms to stimulate positive emotions and learning happiness: the Harkness round table model, which stimulates the willingness to communicate, responds to the flexible layout of different teaching situations and the ablation of classroom boundaries.

Psychological Health Education Strategies for Enhancing Positive Emotional Experiences among College Students

Psychological Health Education Strategies for Enhancing Positive Emotional Experiences among College Students

How COVID-19 Pandemic affects Software Developers’ Wellbeing, and the New Trends in Soft Skills in Working from Home

The coronavirus COVID-19 swept the world in early 2020, working from home was a necessity. In the software industry, thousands of software developers began working from home, many did so on short notice, under difficult and stressful conditions. The emotions of developers can be affected by this situation. On the other hand, some well-known soft skills have been emphasized as required for working remotely. Software engineering research lacks theory and methodologies for addressing human aspects in software development. In this paper, we present an exploratory study focused on the developers’ wellbeing during pandemic, expressed as emotions, and the perceptions of the level in which soft skills are practiced/required in the working from home mode. The results show that high percent expressed to experience positive emotions, however, a portion of respondents expressed to feel negative emotions. In the case of soft skills, some of them are revealed as practiced in high level in working from home, but still there is not consensus.

PROSPECTS OF INCORPORATING THE CONCEPT OF PROGRAMMING CONSUMER EXPERIENCES IN THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS

The relevance of the chosen research topic is due to the need to find new ways of developing the restaurant business in the conditions of modern challenges. The restaurant business plays an important social, image and economic role in the development of the national economy, acts as a supporting component of tourism and creates jobs for a significant number of the population. In the conditions of the СOVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant business faced a number of new and unpredictable problems that stopped the dynamic development of the industry and required the development of new strategic solutions for adaptation in transformational conditions. The existence of a direct relationship between the evaluation of the quality of the service received and the customer’s repeat visit to the restaurant confirmed the feasibility of incorporating the concept of programming customer impressions to acquire a positive emotional experience and exceed consumer expectations. The basis for the introduction of the concept of programming consumer impressions should be the understanding of the restaurant business owners of the psychological characteristics and needs of individuals in acquiring a positive emotional experience. The implementation of consumer impression programming technologies at restaurant enterprises will allow to achieve mutual agreement between the value positions of customers and the enterprise, determine the space for ensuring the unity of their expectations, and as a result will ensure the growth of loyalty. Therefore, the introduction of the concept should include such a complete knowledge of the habits, intentions, preferences and needs of its customers that allows the company to create and offer a personalized approach to each customer, which will encourage them not only to remain loyal, but also to play the role of an active communication channel for attraction of new customers.

The Mechanism of CP fandom Behaviors among Chinese Young Adults: A Grounded Theory Study

CP fandom behaviors or shipping, a growing popular phenomenon among Chinese young adults, refers to the activities of fans who take great satisfaction from the romantic relationships and interactions of their preferred pairings of idols or virtual characters. CP fans are regarded as a special group of fans with unique identities and interaction styles. This grounded theory study was conducted to explore the mechanism of CP fandom behaviors. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with thirty-one Chinese CP fans (twenty-eight females and three males). The antecedents, development, behavioral patterns, and consequences of shipping were identified in a comprehensive model. The reasons for CP fandom behaviors include individual factors (e.g., psychological projection, compensation, and social needs) and external factors (e.g., pop culture and internet environment). The consequences include positive emotional experiences, changed love values, and improved social interaction. CP fandom behaviors can be different in terms of the fans’ degrees of engagement, and the development of shipping can be divided into three stages: exploratory stage, formation and stability stage, and rupture stage. This study contributes to the literature of CP fandom behaviors among young adults in China and proposes the directions of future studies on such topics.

POSITIVE EMOTION EXPRESSION AND ADAPTIVE COPING BEHAVIORS FOR ADULT CHILDREN OF PARENTS WITH MEMORY LOSS

Abstract The broaden-and-build theory suggests that experiences of positive emotion may lead to enhanced utilization of adaptive coping strategies, and a decrease in maladaptive coping strategies (Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016). This relationship between positive emotion and adaptive coping has yet to be studied directly in a sample of adult child caregivers of a parent with memory loss. As part of a larger study investigating relationship dynamics between adult children and their parents with memory loss, adult children 18 years of age and older (n= 67) responded to self-report surveys and engaged in a 6 minute, video recorded, positive interaction session, playing “name that tune” with each other. The session was observationally coded by two coders for “enjoyment/enthusiasm/fun” (k= .516), “laughter” (k= .631), and “positive affect displayed towards partner” (k=.464), using a reliable and valid support-seeking and caregiving behavior coding system (Collins & Feeney, 2000). Spearman’s rank correlations between these behavior codes and the self-reported Brief COPE Inventory (BCI) scores suggested positive correlations between “laughter” and the emotional support subscale of the BCI (rs=.259, p= .034), and between “positive affect displayed towards partner” and the venting subscale of the BCI (rs= .256, p= .036). These findings suggest that the expression of positive emotions in the caregiving process might yield important psychological benefits to the caregiver, through increased utilization of specific coping mechanisms. More research in this area is needed to determine whether positive emotion expression is associated with the use of adaptive coping more so than maladaptive coping mechanisms in this population.

INSIGHTS INTO HEALTH-RELEVANT INTERPERSONAL DYNAMICS IN AGING COUPLES FROM THE LAB AND DAILY LIFE

Abstract Emerging research demonstrates that long-term and daily health indicators are closely linked in aging partners. Yet, not much is known about exactly how partners get under each other’s skin. This symposium investigates different positive and negative interpersonal contexts, including physical intimacy, positive and negative emotional experiences, and couple conversations (e.g., conflict, recounting distressing memories, discussing enjoyable topics), and their link with neuroendocrine and cardiovascular markers. The four talks feature a variety of study designs ranging from laboratory research to ambulatory assessment methods which recruited couples in midlife and old age. Kolodziejczak et al. use ambulatory assessment data to examine links between (experienced and wished for) physical intimacy, affect, and cortisol in older couples. Pauly et al. pool data from three ambulatory assessment aging studies to analyze how own and partner positive and negative affective states are intertwined with everyday cortisol secretion in old age. Wilson et al. invited middle-aged to older couples to engage in two different conversations (recounting a difficult memory, conflict) and investigated concurrent changes in affect and cardiovascular activity. Meier and colleagues make use of automated language analysis to examine how positive and negative emotion word use during a positive and negative conversation in the laboratory relates to cardiovascular reactivity in middle-aged couples. The discussion by Christina Röcke will delineate insights gained from these four papers, discuss their strengths and limitations, and outline directions for future inquiry.

Dissecting the dissection experience: Whither the need for humanising the cadaver.

The author makes a case for humanizing the cadaver during anatomical dissection in order to foster a positive emotional experience, empathic skills and attitudes, and humanization within training programs.

Tendency to share positive emotions buffers loneliness-related negativity in the context of shared adversity

Loneliness is associated with adverse outcomes, and the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to increase loneliness. How loneliness-related outcomes unfold, though, varies across individuals. Individuals’ sense of social connectedness and engagement with others to regulate emotional experiences (interpersonal emotion regulation; IER) may modulate loneliness-related outcomes. Individuals failing to maintain social connectedness and/or regulate emotions may be at heightened risk. We assessed how loneliness, social connectedness, and IER related to valence bias, a tendency to categorize ambiguity as more positive or negative. Loneliness was associated with a more negative valence bias among individuals reporting above average social connectedness but who shared positive emotion less often (z = -3.19, p =.001). These findings suggest that sharing positive emotional experiences may buffer loneliness-related outcomes during shared adverse experiences.

대학(원)생의 사회불안과 긍정 및 부정정서 경험의 관계

Objectives The current study examined the moderating effect of self-compassion on the relationship between social anxiety, avoidance behavior, and positive and negative affect. Methods A total of 445 undergraduate and graduate students completed the self-report questionnaires including Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), Korean-Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (K-PANAS), Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS), Subtle Avoidance Frequency Examination (SAFE), Korean version of the Self-Compassion Scale (K-SCS). The date was analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and SPSS PROCESS Macro. Results The current study yielded three noteworthy results. First, there were significant correlations among social anxiety, social avoidance, subtle avoidance, self-compassion, negative affect, and positive affect. Second, Social avoidance was completed mediated the relationship between social anxiety and positive affect. Subtle avoidance was partially mediated their relationships. Third, the mediating effects of social avoidance and subtle avoidance in relationship between social anxiety and positive affect were moderate by self-compassion. Conclusions The results suggest that self-compassion may act as a protective factor for positive emotional experiences of people with high social anxiety.

Sleep and Daily Positive Emotions – Is Heart Rate Variability a Mediator?

Abstract. Sleep quality is considered a basic dimension of emotional health. The psychophysiological mechanisms underlying the associations between sleep quality and positive emotions are still largely unknown, yet autonomic regulation may play a role. This study employed a two-day ecological momentary assessment methodology in a sample of young adults to investigate whether subjective sleep quality reported in the morning was associated with daily positive emotional experience and whether this association was mediated by heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of cardiac vagal tone. Sleep quality was assessed using an electronic sleep diary upon awakening, while resting HRV and positive emotions were inspected at random times throughout the day using photoplethysmography and an electronic diary, respectively. Relevant confounding variables such as smoking, alcohol intake, and physical exercise between each measurement were also assessed. The sample included 121 participants (64.8% females, Mage = 25.97 ± 5.32 years). After controlling for relevant confounders including health behaviors and psychiatric comorbidities, mediation analysis revealed that greater sleep quality positively predicted daily HRV (β = .289, p < .001) which, in turn, had a direct influence on positive emotions (β = .244, p = .006). Also, sleep quality directly predicted positive emotional experience (β = .272, p = .001). Lastly, the model showed an indirect effect between sleep quality and positive emotions via HRV (β = .071, 95% BCI [.011, .146]). Results support the view of HRV as a process variable linking sleep to positive emotions. Experimental data is needed to consolidate the present findings.

Psychiatric consultation in general practitioners’ daily practice: a qualitative study on the experience of consultation-liaison psychiatry interventions in primary care settings in French-speaking Switzerland

BackgroundMental disorders are frequent in primary care settings, which is challenging for primary care physicians. In Neuchâtel (Switzerland), a Consultation-Liaison psychiatrist integrated three primary care group practices, proposing both clinical interventions and supervisions/psychiatric training. Primary care physicians’ experience regarding this collaboration was investigated.MethodsA qualitative study was conducted. Three focus groups were organized in each primary care group practice involved in the project (10 primary care physicians participated in focus groups). Data were analysed with thematic content analysis.ResultsSix major themes emerged from our analysis, describing primary care physicians’ collaboration with psychiatrists: 1) Impact on a difficult to reach and “reluctant to consult” population; 2) Fluidity of the intraprofessional collaboration; 3) Influence on the doctor-patient relationship; 4) Positive emotional experiences; 5) Psychiatric counselling and training; 6) Long-term prospects for the project.ConclusionsConsultation-Liaison psychiatrist’s presence came as a relief for participating primary care physicians, facilitating accessibility to mental healthcare, introducing a common culture of care, and offering “in-situ” psychiatric training. Primary care physicians felt that their relationships with patients benefited from such interventions, being better able to deal with complex emotional experiences and found patients more confident regarding proposed care. Models of psychiatric intervention provided in primary care must establish settings of collaboration that reinforce relationships between primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and patients.