Social Emotion Research Articles

Tactile emoticons: Conveying social emotions and intentions with manual and robotic tactile feedback during social media communications.

Touch offers important non-verbal possibilities for socioaffective communication. Yet most digital communications lack capabilities regarding exchanging affective tactile messages (tactile emoticons). Additionally, previous studies on tactile emoticons have not capitalised on knowledge about the affective effects of certain mechanoreceptors in the human skin, e.g., the C-Tactile (CT) system. Here, we examined whether gentle manual stroking delivered in velocities known to optimally activate the CT system (defined as 'tactile emoticons'), during lab-simulated social media communications could convey increased feelings of social support and other prosocial intentions compared to (1) either stroking touch at CT sub-optimal velocities, or (2) standard visual emoticons. Participants (N = 36) felt more social intent with CT-optimal compared to sub-optimal velocities, or visual emoticons. In a second, preregistered study (N = 52), we investigated whether combining visual emoticons with tactile emoticons, this time delivered at CT-optimal velocities by a soft robotic device, could enhance the perception of prosocial intentions and affect participants' physiological measures (e.g., skin conductance rate) in comparison to visual emoticons alone. Visuotactile emoticons conveyed more social intent overall and in anxious participants affected physiological measures more than visual emoticons. The results suggest that emotional social media communications can be meaningfully enhanced by tactile emoticons.

The Role of Emotions in The Formation of Social Relationships in Primary School-Age Children: A Psychological and Educational Approach

The present study aims to examine the influence of emotions on the formation of social interactions among primary school-aged children in Malang City. The research sample consisted of two hundred children selected randomly from ten public or private elementary schools. The frequency and intensity of children's emotional expressions and emotional management abilities were primarily assessed through questionnaires and observation guides. Diverse aspects of social interactions and emotions were evaluated using a Likert scale ranging from "very rarely" to "very often" on a scale of 1 to 5. Multiple linear regression was utilized to examine the relationship between emotional regulation and relationship quality, and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Algorithm was implemented to assess the validity of the instruments. Significant positive correlations were observed between the number of peers one has and the degree of happiness expressed. However, no observable correlation was found between the number of acquaintances or social interactions and emotions of sadness or rage.

Acute effects on the psychological perception of university students after participation in the "RegulACTION" workshop for the improvement of emotional health and promotion of an active lifestyle.

Prospective research in Health Sciences and Sports Sciences warns of the need to design and implement educational program at the different stages of human development, that promote emotional competences, interpersonal competences, an adequate level of healthy physical activity as well as adherence to the Mediterranean diet and a more active lifestyle on a physical and social level. The main objective of the study was to design an intervention program on intra-and interpersonal competences together with emotional education, nutritional education and healthy physical activity, called 'RegulACTION'. The preliminary study sample consisted of 11 participants aged 21-28 years (M = 5.00, SD = 8.76) (8 female and 3 males) university students. An ad hoc questionnaire was elaborated to evaluate the participant's perception of the usefulness of the 'RegulACTION' experience and a semi-structured interview of 5 questions to assess their perception, identification of their emotions, awareness of their cognitions, emotions and behaviors in the different areas of their lives. The descriptive results show that the participants are receptive to continuing training in the regulation of cognitions (thoughts) and emotions to increase their satisfaction in different areas of their lives. Regarding the qualitative results, the participants' perception, collected verbatim, is that they feel the need to apply the knowledge about personal and social emotions, as well as healthy behavior in terms of nutrition and exercise, in their daily lives. The 'RegulACTION' program is designed based on the assessment of the prevalence of mental illness in the young adult and adult population, in line with the literature review in the area of knowledge of the theory of emotions, motivational theories and on the occasion of the development of a workshop organized.

RABA (Rifka's Applied Behaviour Analysis) Model To Improve Tooth Brushing Skills of Autistic Children

Autistic children experience barriers to social interaction, communication, behavior, language, emotion and imagination. Autistic children have different characteristics from children in general. Children are not yet able to brush their teeth properly and there is no special dental health program for children with autism. The RABA (Rifka's Applied Behavior Analysis) is arranged according to their characteristics.This study aimed to develop RABA (Rifka's Applied Behavior Analysis) to improve brushing skills and decrease debris index in children with autistic children.This type of research is uses RD method and model trial (Quasi-Experiment Pretest and Posttest with Control Group Design). The research subjects of autistic children were divided into 2 groups. The results of the model design are validated by experts. Data were tested using intraclass correlation coefficient, Chi Square, Shapiro wilk, repeated measure annova, independent sample t-test.Expert validation of RABA (Rifka's Applied Behaviour Analysis) model averaged 85.46 (very feasible) to improve brushing skills and decrease debris index of autistic children with a p-value of 0.000. This model effectively to improve the brushing skills of autistic children with a p-value (0.033) and decrease the debris index of autistic children with p-value (0.004) compared to the control group. The application of the RABA (Rifka's Applied Behavior Analysis) model was effective to improve brushing of autistic children compared to the control group.

Penerapan Pembelajaran Praktik Wudhu Dan Solat Dalam Meningkatkan Sosial Emosional di SD Muhammadiyah Kaliabu Salaman Magelang

. In order to improve social emotions at SD Muhammadiyah Kaliabu Salaman Magelang, the objectives to be achieved in this thesis are: 1) To find out the application of ablution practice learning; 2) To ensure the implementation of learning the practice of prayer; and 3) To find out the factors that influence the implementation of learning the practice of ablution and prayer in increasing social emotions at Muhammadiyah Kaliabu Salaman Elementary School, Magelang. Qualitative descriptive research is used in this thesis. In this research, researchers collected data by means of observation, interviews and documentation (documentary study). The principal, educators and students of Muhammadiyah Kaliabu Salaman Elementary School, Magelang, were used as research subjects. Almost the same approach is used in teaching ablution and prayer at Muhammadiyah Kaliabu Salaman Elementary School: the teacher explains the material first, then gives a demonstration in front of the students, then asks the students to practice what they have learned. The practice of ablution and prayer helps shape children's social-emotional souls, makes students more able to control their emotions, increases understanding of religion, strengthens ties between teachers, and develops the social-emotional aspects of students' souls. Environmental influences, social relationships, support from those closest to the child, the role of teachers, incompatibility with peers, etc., can all have an impact on how a child shapes his social-emotional spirit.

Research progress on the effects of exposure to major persistent organic pollutants during pregnancy on the functional development of nervous system in children

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) have the characteristics of resistance to environmental degradation, bioaccumulation and long-distance migration potential. Maternal exposure to POPs during pregnancy can enter the fetal blood circulation through the placental barrier, and have a potential impact on the functional development of the nervous system of the offspring. This in turn leads to the occurrence and development of neurological defects and diseases in adulthood. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the effects of exposure to three major POPs (organochlorine compounds, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers) during pregnancy on the functional development of the nervous system (social emotions, cognition, language, exercise, and adaptability) in children, and to provide reference for subsequent studies.

Family and parenting factors are associated with emotion regulation neural function in early adolescent girls with elevated internalizing symptoms.

A prominent tripartite model proposes that parent role modeling of emotion regulation, emotion socialization behaviors, and the emotional climate of the family are important for young people's emotional development. However, limited research has examined the neural mechanisms at play. Here, we examined the associations between family and parenting factors, the neural correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation, and internalizing symptoms in early adolescent girls. Sixty-four female adolescents aged 10-12 years with elevated internalizing symptoms completed emotional reactivity, implicit (affect labeling) and explicit (cognitive reappraisal) emotion regulation tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Positive family emotional climate was associated with greater activation in the anterior cingulate and middle temporal cortices during emotional reactivity. Maternal emotion regulation difficulties were associated with increased frontal pole and supramarginal gyrus activation during affect labeling, whereas supportive maternal emotion socialization and positive family emotional climate were associated with activation in prefrontal regions, including inferior frontal and superior frontal gyri, respectively, during cognitive reappraisal. No mediating effects of brain function were observed in the associations between family/parenting factors and adolescent symptoms. These findings highlight the role of family and parenting behaviors in adolescent emotion regulation neurobiology, and contribute to prominent models of adolescent emotional development.

Multilevel Factors Associated with Unsupportive Emotion Socialization: An Examination of Child Maltreatment and its Sequelae

Multilevel Factors Associated with Unsupportive Emotion Socialization: An Examination of Child Maltreatment and its Sequelae

LCSEP: A Large-Scale Chinese Dataset for Social Emotion Prediction to Online Trending Topics

LCSEP: A Large-Scale Chinese Dataset for Social Emotion Prediction to Online Trending Topics

Empathy is associated with interpersonal emotion regulation goals in everyday life.

Responding to the emotions of the people around us is a phenomenon traversing human lives; however, research has only recently started exploring the predictors of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER). In two ecological momentary assessment studies conducted in 2021 and 2022, we tested whether facets of empathy (i.e., mentalizing, experience sharing, empathic concern, and personal distress) are associated with other-focused IER goals and their attainment in everyday life (Ns = 125 and 204). Study 1 examined associations between mentalizing, experience sharing, and global hedonic and counter-hedonic IER goals (i.e., making others feel better or worse) in a relatively young and predominantly female student sample in Germany. Study 2 expanded these findings to empathic concern, personal distress, and specific types of hedonic and counter-hedonic IER goals (i.e., increasing, decreasing, and/or maintaining others' positive and/or negative emotions) in a more diverse U.S. community sample. Participants primarily endorsed hedonic IER goals, which were associated with higher mentalizing and experience sharing in both studies and higher empathic concern and lower personal distress in Study 2. Counter-hedonic IER goals were positively associated with experience sharing and personal distress in Study 2. Conversely, empathic concern and mentalizing were negatively related to counter-hedonic IER goals. We also found differential associations for state and trait empathy with IER goals. All empathy facets except personal distress were positively associated with goal attainment in Study 2. These findings address a major gap in our knowledge about everyday IER and offer a novel perspective on empathy in social emotion regulation processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effects of Mothers’ Parenting Stress on Preschoolers’ Prosocial Behavior: The Serial Mediating Effects of Mothers’ Emotion Socialization and Preschoolers’ Effortful Control

Objectives: As infants spend extensive time in caregiving and educational institutions, there is a heightened emphasis on the significance of prosocial behavior in cultivating positive relationships. Consequently, this study explores the effects of mothers’ parenting stress on preschoolers' prosocial behavior, with a focus on the mediating effect of mothers’ emotion socialization and preschoolers' effortful control.Methods: A total of 215 mothers of children aged 3-5 years were included in this study. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and path analyses were conducted.Results: First, mothers’ parenting stress did not directly affect preschoolers’ prosocial behavior. Second, mothers’ parenting stress significantly affected preschoolers’ prosocial behavior, mediated by supportive emotion socialization. However, the unsupportive response of emotion socialization did not mediate the relationship between mothers’ parenting stress and preschoolers’ prosocial behavior. Third, mothers’ parenting stress significantly affected preschoolers’ prosocial behavior, mediated by preschoolers’ effortful control. Finally, the serial mediating effect of mothers’ parenting stress on preschoolers’ prosocial behavior, mediated by mothers’ emotion socialization and preschoolers’ effortful control, was significant.Conclusion: The results show that positive parenting aspects such as mothers’ supportive responses (rather than unsupportive responses) and preschoolers’ effortful control have an positive influence on preschoolers’ prosocial behavior. This finding underscores the necessity for targeted intervention programs to mitigate mothers’ parenting stress and enhancing supportive responses to improved prosocial behavior in preschoolers.

Revisiting the conceptualization and measurement of ethnic‐racial identity affect: Recommendations for future directions

AbstractEthnic‐racial identity (ERI) is an important psychological construct that can have significant implications for individuals' positive development and adjustment. The multifaceted nature of ERI has been well documented, and scholars have identified clear distinctions between process and content dimensions of ERI. ERI affect is among the most widely studied dimensions of ERI. In this article, I revisit the theoretical and empirical foundations on which the conceptualization and measurement of ERI affect have been grounded, and present findings that suggest that distinctions between positive and negative affect are necessary. I also draw on social identity and emotion science theories to explain the patterns of findings for positive and negative affect and offer suggestions for future theorizing and empirical work on ERI affect. Finally, I offer recommendations for revised interpretations of prior work, more refined measurement approaches for future work, and increased attention to the practice‐based implications of research on ERI affect.

Oxytocin predicts positive affect gains in a role-play interaction.

Role-play, a key creative process in theatre, is used in therapeutic interventions to improve social skills, emotion regulation, and memory. Although role-play is widely used as a psychotherapeutic technique, its mechanisms of action are not fully understood. Our study introduces a standardized controlled procedure for promoting role-play in the laboratory based on the portrayal of a fictional persona and examines its effects on anxiety, affect, prosocial attitudes, and salivary oxytocin dynamics in 38 participants. In our experiment, role-play significantly increased positive affect and prosocial attitudes and decreased anxiety compared to a control condition. Basal salivary oxytocin levels predicted higher gains in positive affect following role-play, suggesting a specific moderating effect of oxytocin. The fictional persona used in the procedure was rated as very happy by subjects, creating a positive social context for the role-play social interaction. We propose that the observed moderation effect of oxytocin in our study is specific to the role-play condition due to the capacity of role-play to generate an affective regulatory context based on congruency toward the emotional state of the fictional persona. Our findings indicate that basal oxytocin levels could predict specific outcomes of role-play in therapeutical setting. We discuss several psychological and biological mechanisms that could account for the observed effects of role-play and how oxytocin could act as a substrate for them.

Two Sides of the Same Coin in Female Borderline Personality Disorder: Self-Reported Guilt and Shame and Their Neurofunctional Correlates.

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) report to be especially prone to social emotions like shame and guilt. At the same time, these emotions seem to play an important role in BPD pathology. The present study aimed to deepen the knowledge about the processes behind shame and guilt in patients with BPD. Twenty patients with BPD and twenty healthy controls (HCs) took part in an experiment that induced shame and guilt by imagining scenarios during scanning using functional brain imaging. Participants also filled out self-report questionnaires and took part in diagnostic interviews. BPD patients reported more proneness to guilt but not to shame than the HCs. There was no difference in the self-reported intensity rating of experimentally induced emotions between the groups. Between-group contrast of neural signals in the shame condition revealed a stronger activation of cingulate and fusiform gyrus for the BPD patients compared to the controls, and a more pronounced activation in the lingual gyrus and cuneus for the HCs. In the guilt condition, activation in the caudate nucleus, the fusiform gyrus, and the posterior cingulate cortex was stronger in BPD patients, while HC showed stronger activations in cuneus, lingual gyrus, and fronto-temporal regions. Differences in the neuro-functional processes between BPD patients and HC were found, even though the two groups did not differ in their self-report of subjective proneness to guilt and emotional intensity of shame and guilt during the experiment. While the HCs may be engaged more by the emotional scenarios themselves, the BPD patients may be more occupied with cognitive regulatory and self-referential processing.

Investigating the Correlation between Frustration and Values with an Emphasis on Gender

This research paper investigates the correlation between individuals’ reactions to frustration and their values, with an emphasis on sex differences. Frustration is an arbitrary emotional response to obstacles or unmet expectations, although social values carry beliefs and principles that guide behavior within a societal context. Getting a gist of how sex influences these aspects can shed light on societal dynamics and inform interventions aimed at promoting psychological well-being and social harmony. The study undergoes a quantitative approach to the data, through different scales using SPSS to analyze data and gather comprehensive insights. Results reveal new patterns in how individuals of different genders perceive and respond to frustration in relation to their value system, Enlightening the need for gender-sensitive works in addressing emotional regulation and socialization processes.

Social and Communication Development in Infants with Isolated Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum

ObjectiveTo evaluate the development of social behavior, communication, emotion regulation, and repetitive behaviors in infants with congenital malformation of the corpus callosum, specifically those with isolated Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (ACC) in comparison to typically developing infants. Study DesignThis case-control longitudinal observation study examined parent report of social behavior, social-communication, emotion regulation, and repetitive behavior development in community ascertained infants (n = 156) and infants with isolated ACC (n = 57) between 12 and 24 months of age. ResultsInfants with isolated ACC produced fewer words at 12- (p = 0.003) 18- (p < 0.001), and 24-months of age (p = 0.003), and fewer gestures at 12- (p < 0.001), 18- (p < 0.001), and 24-months of age (p < 0.001). In addition, the ACC group demonstrated delays in reciprocal social behavior at 18-months (p = 0.01) and social competence at 12- (p < 0.001) and 18-months (p = 0.01). No concerns were noted in emotion regulation or restricted and repetitive behavior and social behavior appears to normalize at 24 months. ConclusionsExisting data suggests heterogeneity in developmental outcomes among individuals with isolated ACC. The current findings fill a gap in knowledge about development in the second year of life. Surveillance of social and communication ability in infants with ACC may be warranted. The role of the corpus callosum in facilitating rapid interhemispheric information processing impacts skills beyond the motor system. More work is needed to identify intervention targets for infants and toddlers with ACC.

Analysis of addiction craving onset through natural language processing of the online forum Reddit.

Alcohol cravings are considered a major factor in relapse among individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD). This study aims to investigate the frequency and triggers of cravings in the daily lives of people with alcohol-related issues. Large amounts of data are analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to identify possible groupings and patterns. For the analysis, posts from the online forum "stopdrinking" on the Reddit platform were used as the dataset from April 2017 to April 2022. The posts were filtered for craving content and processed using the word2vec method to map them into a multi-dimensional vector space. Statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the nature and frequency of craving contexts and triggers (location, time, social environment, and emotions) using word similarity scores. Additionally, the themes of the craving-related posts were semantically grouped using a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model. The accuracy of the results was evaluated using two manually created test datasets. Approximately 16% of the forum posts discuss cravings. The number of craving-related posts decreases exponentially with the number of days since the author's last alcoholic drink. The topic model confirms that the majority of posts involve individual factors and triggers of cravings. The context analysis aligns with previous craving trigger findings related to the social environment, locations and emotions. Strong semantic craving similarities were found for the emotions boredom, stress and the location airport. The results for each method were successfully validated on test datasets. This exploratory approach is the first to analyze alcohol cravings in the daily lives of over 24,000 individuals, providing a foundation for further AI-based craving analyses. The analysis confirms commonly known craving triggers and even discovers new important craving contexts.

Nostalgia increases punitiveness by intensifying moral concern

We addressed the relation between nostalgia and moral judgment or behavior. We hypothesized that nostalgia, a social emotion, increases moral concern (H1), nostalgia intensifies punitiveness against moral transgressors (H2), and that the nostalgia—punitiveness link is mediated by moral concern (H3). We conducted three cross-sectional (Studies 1, 2, 4) and one experimental (Study 3) investigations (N = 1145). The investigations, involving distinct operationalizations of the relevant constructs (nostalgia, moral concern, punitiveness) and diverse samples (U.S., Canadian, and European Prolific workers, French business school students, Dutch community members), yielded results consistent with the hypotheses. Nostalgia keeps one’s moral compass in check. The findings enrich the emotions and morality literatures.

Trajectories and influencing factors of social anxiety in postoperative breast cancer patients

BackgroundSocial anxiety among postoperative breast cancer patients is a prevalent concern, with its intensity fluctuating throughout the course of treatment. The study aims to describe the trajectory of social anxiety in postoperative breast cancer patients, explore the influencing factors, and provide theoretical support for the construction of future intervention programs.MethodsThis study was conducted from June 2022 to January 2023, encompassing 213 breast cancer patients from three first-class hospitals in China. Data collection occurred at four distinct time points. A growth mixture model was employed to identify latent categories representing the trajectories of social anxiety changes among patients. A multiple regression analysis was utilized to explore predictive factors associated with different latent trajectory categories.ResultsThe trajectory of social anxiety changes in postoperative breast cancer patients includes five potential categories: maintaining mild social anxiety group, changing from mild to moderate social anxiety group, maintaining moderate social anxiety group, changing from moderate to severe social anxiety group, and maintaining severe social anxiety group. Cluster analysis results indicated three types: positive, negative, and low. Logistic regression analysis revealed that younger age, spouses concerned about postoperative appearance, chemotherapy with taxol-based drugs, opting for modified radical surgery or radical mastectomy surgical approaches, and breast cancer patients with negative rumination were factors that influenced patients’ social anxiety (P < 0.05).ConclusionThe trajectory of social anxiety in postoperative breast cancer patients comprises five potential categories. In clinical practice, it is essential to strengthen the management of high-risk populations susceptible to experiencing social anxiety emotions, including younger age, spouses concerned about postoperative appearance, chemotherapy with taxol-based drugs, opting for modified radical surgery or radical mastectomy surgical approaches, and breast cancer patients with negative rumination.

Social identities, emotions and policy preferences

Emotions are gaining increasing attention in public policy. Policy process research so far has focused on the effects of emotions rather than their roots. In social psychology, emotions are a central part of social identity theory (SIT), and the relevance of social identities in the policy process (SIPP) has recently been acknowledged. This raises the question of how the identification with social groups is linked to emotions related to policies and policy preferences. Filling this research gap, this article analyses social identities and resulting emotions as potential explanations for public policy preferences. The findings reveal that the strength of social identities is a significant predictor for policy-related emotions. However, it also shows that the explanatory power of social identities and related emotions differs by policy field. Our results have implications for the study of social groups and emotions and for understanding and overcoming conflicts between people with different identities and emotions.