Explaining Away: A Model of Affective Adaptation

Lasting Effects of Using Distraction to Manage Responses to Unpleasant Pictures: Electrophysiological Evidence

Distraction is a widely used form of emotion regulation. Most studies have focused on the influence of distraction on the processing of aversive stimuli during distraction regulation, however, few studies investigated the impact on responses to aversive stimuli when they are re-presented later. This study examined whether processing of unpleasant pictures could be modulated by previous distraction and whether this modulation was associated with the intervals between regulation and re-exposure. Participants were presented with unpleasant images and asked to attend to or distract themselves from the images. After a 5- or 30-minute interval, the participants were re-exposed to the same images in an oddball task. Event-related potential measurements revealed that compared with the previous attention condition, the P3 amplitudes were significantly larger in the 30-min interval group, but not in the 5-min interval group under the previous distraction condition, and that the late positive potential amplitudes were significantly larger in the 30-min interval group, but tended to be smaller in the 5-min interval group. These findings suggest that the effects of distraction were diminished or disappeared after a 5-min interval and reversed after a 30-min interval. This pattern suggests that caution should be exercised in the use of distraction strategies to reduce negative emotions, particularly in cases in which unpleasant images may reappear in everyday life.

Responses to Graphic Warning Labels among Low-income Smokers

Objective: Graphic warning labels (GWLs) are effective in communicating tobacco-related harms. Methods: In this mixed-methods study, we used purposive sampling to recruit 100 low-income smokers in the San Francisco Bay Area between October 2017 and February 2018 to participate in an intervention promoting smoke-free homes. We presented the 2009 Food and Drug Administration-proposed GWLs and explored perceptions of affect, efficacy, and appeal using questionnaires at baseline, 3- and 6-months follow-up. Because of participants' interest in this topic, we subsequently conducted a qualitative sub-study among 20 participants exploring perceived efficacy of GWLs on smoking cessation. Results: In all, 87.3% and 59.2% agreed that GWLs were useful and would motivate cessation behaviors, respectively, at baseline. We found that the most common responses were shock (61.8%) and disgust (55.3%), whereas anger (29.0%) and annoyance (19.7%) were less common. Participants also reported that GWLs unequivocally illustrating smoking's harmful effects were more appealing than non-specific images, as were images that depicted positive cessation-related effects. Conclusions: GWLs appear to be an important health communication among low-income smokers. Future studies on GWLs should examine the association of negative affect and cessation among this population.

Monitoring in emotion regulation: behavioral decisions and neural consequences

Monitoring and deciding how to adjust an active regulatory strategy in order to maximize adaptive outcomes is an integral element of emotion regulation, yet existing evidence remains scarce. Filling this gap, the present study examined core factors that determine behavioral regulatory monitoring decisions and the neuro-affective consequences of these decisions. Using a novel paradigm, the initial implementation of central downregulation strategies (distraction, reappraisal) and the emotional intensity (high, low) were manipulated, prior to making a behavioral decision to maintain the initial implemented strategy or switch from it. Neuro-affective consequences of these behavioral decisions were evaluated using the Late Positive Potential (LPP), an electro-cortical measure of regulatory success. Confirming predictions, initial implementation of reappraisal in high intensity and distraction in low intensity (Strategy × Intensity combinations that were established in prior studies as non-preferred by individuals), resulted in increased behavioral switching frequency. Neurally, we expected and found that in high (but not low) emotional intensity, where distraction was more effective than reappraisal, maintaining distraction (relative to switching to reappraisal) and switching to distraction (relative to maintaining reappraisal) resulted in larger LPP modulation. These findings suggest that monitoring decisions are consistent with previously established regulatory preferences and are associated with adaptive short-term neural consequences.

Trajectories of Current and Predicted Satisfaction With One's Life Following a Cancer Diagnosis

Background

Poor physical and mental health is common among cancer survivors, but little is known about how cancer influences life satisfaction and expectations about one's future, both of which may subsequently influence health decisions and outcomes.

Purpose

The current study examined how a cancer diagnosis influences current and predicted future life satisfaction in seven domains, including family, finances, work, and health.

Methods

We leveraged data from three waves of the Midlife in the United States study (N = 6,389) and examined the relation between new and past cancer diagnoses on satisfaction using generalized estimating equations. We also compared participants' predicted satisfaction to the actual satisfaction they reported at later waves of data collection, and examined whether concordance between the two differed by cancer history.

Results

A cancer diagnosis was associated with a decline in satisfaction about one's present health and sex life, ps < .05, but satisfaction with all other domains remained steady or improved. In contrast, predictions about the future became and remained less optimistic than the predictions of those without cancer across all life domains except relationships with children, ps < .05. Within-subjects comparisons of predicted and actual satisfaction suggest those without a cancer history were optimistic in their predictions across all life domains except health whereas survivors were more accurate in their predictions.

Conclusions

Given the many ways in which expectations about the future can influence decision making, behavior, and health, survivors' attenuated optimistic outlooks may influence their health and well-being.

Decoding dynamic affective responses to naturalistic videos with shared neural patterns

This study explored the feasibility of using shared neural patterns from brief affective episodes (viewing affective pictures) to decode extended, dynamic affective sequences in a naturalistic experience (watching movie-trailers). Twenty-eight participants viewed pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) and, in a separate session, watched various movie-trailers. We first located voxels at bilateral occipital cortex (LOC) responsive to affective picture categories by GLM analysis, then performed between-subject hyperalignment on the LOC voxels based on their responses during movie-trailer watching. After hyperalignment, we trained between-subject machine learning classifiers on the affective pictures, and used the classifiers to decode affective states of an out-of-sample participant both during picture viewing and during movie-trailer watching. Within participants, neural classifiers identified valence and arousal categories of pictures, and tracked self-reported valence and arousal during video watching. In aggregate, neural classifiers produced valence and arousal time series that tracked the dynamic ratings of the movie-trailers obtained from a separate sample. Our findings provide further support for the possibility of using pre-trained neural representations to decode dynamic affective responses during a naturalistic experience.

A proof-of-concept study of the benefits of a single-session of tinnitus instruction and counselling with homework on tinnitus

Objective: The objective of this study was to provide proof-of-concept of a single session of tinnitus instruction and counselling with and without homework.Design: A mixed-method design using questionnaires and thematic evaluation of qualitative data was implemented.Study sample: Sixteen participants received instruction in a single, one-to-one counselling session; eight participants additionally undertook homework consisting of either positive visualisation augmented by sound or a workbook of written and drawing activities supporting the instruction provided in the counselling session. All participants completed questionnaires just before and 3 weeks after the intervention, half were interviewed 3 weeks following the intervention.Results: Average tinnitus functional index (TFI) scores were 45 (SD 25) before and 29 (SD 23) following counselling, with a change of 4.8 or greater recorded in 75% and change of 13 points or greater in 50% of participants. Both counselling and counselling with homework showed similar changes in the TFI. This finding was supported by the qualitative analysis from which a model consisting of the themes of counselling benefit, content, application and homework benefit was derived.Conclusions: This study provides proof-of-concept of a single tinnitus instruction and counselling session, based on an ecological model of tinnitus.

Being surprised and surprising ourselves: A geography of personal and social change

Surprises are refuted expectations and therefore an inevitable concomitant of errors of anticipating the future. This paper argues that the timing is just right for a spatial account of surprise, or rather, for a geography of personal and social change that deploys the trope of surprise to help explain how and why change happens. Whether we are surprised by what transpires in our surroundings or we are surprising ourselves by leaping forward in impetuous deeds of reinventing who we are, the common denominator of these processes of becoming is that they produce geographical space and are produced by it.

Predicted and remembered emotion: tomorrow's vividness trumps yesterday's accuracy

People rely on predicted and remembered emotion to guide important decisions. But how much can they trust their mental representations of emotion to be accurate, and how much do they trust them? In this investigation, participants (N = 957) reported their predicted, experienced, and remembered emotional response to the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They also reported how accurate and vivid they perceived their predictions and memories to be, and the importance of the election. Participants remembered their emotional responses more accurately than they predicted them. But, strikingly, they perceived their predictions to be more accurate than their memories. This perception was explained by the greater importance and vividness of anticipated versus remembered experience. We also assessed whether individuals with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory for personal and public events (N = 33) showed superior ability to predict or remember their emotional responses to events. They did not and, even for this group, predicting emotion was a more intense experience than remembering emotion. These findings reveal asymmetries in the phenomenological experience of predicting and remembering emotion. The vividness of predicted emotion serves as a powerful subjective signal of accuracy even when predictions turn out to be wrong.

Does Neutral Affect Exist? How Challenging Three Beliefs About Neutral Affect Can Advance Affective Research

Researchers interested in affect have often questioned the existence of neutral affective states. In this paper, we review and challenge three beliefs that researchers might hold about neutral affect. These beliefs are: (1) it is not possible to feel neutral because people are always feeling something, (2) neutrality is not an affective state because affect must be positively or negatively valenced, and (3) neutral affect is unimportant because it does not influence cognition or behavior. We review the reasons these beliefs might exist and provide empirical evidence that questions them. Specifically, we argue that neutral affect is a felt experience that provides important valence-relevant information, which influences cognition and behavior. By dispelling these beliefs about neutral affect, we hope to shine a light on the assumptions that researchers hold about the nature of affect and to provide novel theoretical and methodological perspectives that help advance our understanding of the affective landscape.

How Behavioral Economics and Nudges Could Help Diminish Irrationality in Suicide-Related Decisions

People regularly make decisions that are not aligned with their own self-interests. These irrational decisions often stem from humans having bounded rationality (e.g., limited computational power), which produces reliable cognitive biases that occur outside of people's awareness and influences the decisions people make. There are many important decisions leading up to a suicide attempt, and it is likely that these same biases exist within suicide-related decisions. This article presents an argument for the likely existence of cognitive biases within suicide-related decision making and how they may influence people to make irrational decisions. In addition, this article provides new evidence for using a behavioral economic intervention-nudges-as a potential way to combat rising suicide rates. We explore how nudges can help increase means safety, disseminate suicide prevention skills/materials, diminish well-known biases (e.g., confirmation bias), and uncover biases that may be occurring when making suicide-related decisions.

Anticipated, experienced, and remembered subjective effort and discomfort on sustained attention versus working memory tasks

This study examined individuals' ability to accurately anticipate how cognitively effortful and uncomfortable a task will feel based on a short sample of the task. Participants completed a sustained attention or working memory task. Post-practice, participants rated the effort and discomfort that they anticipated their task would require and engender, respectively. Participants also rated their effort and discomfort during task-administration and the effort and discomfort they recalled feeling after task-administration. Sustained attention task participants anticipated significantly less effort than working memory task participants. Sustained attention task participants felt significantly more effort during the task and remembered feeling more effort than they had anticipated. Working memory task participants felt significantly less effort during the task than they had anticipated. Sustained attention task participants anticipated, experienced, and recalled feeling more discomfort than working memory task participants. Individuals' anticipation of effort required depends on the task and is different from the effort they actually feel during the task and later recall feeling.

Shades of surprise: Assessing surprise as a function of degree of deviance and expectation constraints

Merging recent surprise theories renders the prediction that surprise is a function of how strong an event deviates from what was expected and of how easily this event can be integrated into the constraints of an activated expectation. The present research investigates the impact of both these factors on the behavioral, affective, experiential, and cognitive surprise responses. In two experiments (total N = 1257), participants were instructed that ten stimuli of a certain type would appear on the screen. Crucially, we manipulated the degree of deviance of the last stimulus by showing a stimulus that deviated to either no, a medium, or a high degree from the previous nine stimuli. Orthogonally to this deviation, we induced an expectation with either high, moderate, or low constraints prior to the experimental task. We measured behavioral response delay and explicit ratings of liking, surprise, and expectancy. Our findings point out an overall only low association between the behavioral, affective, experiential, and cognitive surprise responses and reveal rather dichotomous response patterns that differentiate between deviance and non-deviance of an event. Challenging previous accounts, the present evidence further implies that surprise is not about the ease of integrating an event with the constraints of an explicit a-priori expectation but rather reflects the automatic outcome of implicit discrepancy detection, resulting from a continuous cognitive fine-tuning of expectations.

Understanding Long-Term Trajectories in Web-Based Happiness Interventions: Secondary Analysis From Two Web-Based Randomized Trials

Background

A critical issue in understanding the benefits of Web-based interventions is the lack of information on the sustainability of those benefits. Sustainability in studies is often determined using group-level analyses that might obscure our understanding of who actually sustains change. Person-centric methods might provide a deeper knowledge of whether benefits are sustained and who tends to sustain those benefits.

Objective

The aim of this study was to conduct a person-centric analysis of longitudinal outcomes, examining well-being in participants over the first 3 months following a Web-based happiness intervention. We predicted we would find distinct trajectories in people’s pattern of response over time. We also sought to identify what aspects of the intervention and the individual predicted an individual’s well-being trajectory.

Methods

Data were gathered from 2 large studies of Web-based happiness interventions: one in which participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 14 possible 1-week activities (N=912) and another wherein participants were randomly assigned to complete 0, 2, 4, or 6 weeks of activities (N=1318). We performed a variation of K-means cluster analysis on trajectories of life satisfaction (LS) and affect balance (AB). After clusters were identified, we used exploratory analyses of variance and logistic regression models to analyze groups and compare predictors of group membership.

Results

Cluster analysis produced similar cluster solutions for each sample. In both cases, participant trajectories in LS and AB fell into 1 of 4 distinct groups. These groups were as follows: those with high and static levels of happiness (n=118, or 42.8%, in Sample 1; n=306, or 52.8%, in Sample 2), those who experienced a lasting improvement (n=74, or 26.8% in Sample 1; n=104, or 18.0%, in Sample 2), those who experienced a temporary improvement but returned to baseline (n=37, or 13.4%, in Sample 1; n=82, or 14.2%, in Sample 2), and those with other trajectories (n=47, or 17.0%, in Sample 1; n=87, or 15.0% in Sample 2). The prevalence of depression symptoms predicted membership in 1 of the latter 3 groups. Higher usage and greater adherence predicted sustained rather than temporary benefits.

Conclusions

We revealed a few common patterns of change among those completing Web-based happiness interventions. A noteworthy finding was that many individuals began quite happy and maintained those levels. We failed to identify evidence that the benefit of any particular activity or group of activities was more sustainable than any others. We did find, however, that the distressed portion of participants was more likely to achieve a lasting benefit if they continued to practice, and adhere to, their assigned Web-based happiness intervention.

Ventral prefrontal cortex and emotion regulation in aging: A case for utilizing transcranial magnetic stimulation

OBJECTIVES

The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) has been speculated to play an important role in complex processes that allow emotional factors to influence human cognition. Accumulating evidence from human neuroimaging studies, in conjunction with studies of patients with lesions and animal models, shed light on the role of the vlPFC in emotion regulation (ER). This review aims to discuss and integrate recent findings related to vlPFC's role in ER in the context of aging, drawing from diverse sources, and suggest future directions for research utilizing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

METHODS/DESIGN

We summarize findings from the existing literature investigating the neural basis of frontal-lobe mediated ER and then highlight major findings from recent studies directly comparing healthy younger and older adult groups. We conclude by pointing to unaddressed questions worth pursuing in future research.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

We propose future research directions utilizing TMS to answer key unaddressed questions. Moreover, we discuss the potential advantages, challenges, and limitations of using TMS as a complement to the existing neuroimaging methods in ER.

State emotional clarity and attention to emotion: a naturalistic examination of their associations with each other, affect, and context

Despite emotional clarity and attention to emotion being dynamic in nature, research has largely focused on their trait forms. We examined the association between state and trait forms of these two constructs, and how they are related to affect intensity and two contextual variables: Social context and significant event occurrence. Seventy-nine adults recruited from the community reported eight times a day for a week on the extent to which they were clear about their emotions, attended to their emotions, levels of affect intensity, the number of people with whom they were interacting, and whether a significant event had occurred. State clarity and attention were positively associated, demonstrating a moderate relation similar to that of their trait forms. Trait and state attention, but not trait and state clarity, were significantly positively associated. Positive and negative affect were quadratically associated with clarity and attention, with the highest levels of affect intensity reported at high levels of clarity and attention. Clarity and attention were positively associated with increasing numbers of people with whom people were interacting. Attention and clarity were elevated when significant events occurred - especially during positive events. We discuss the findings in the context of functional adaptation theories of emotion.

The Current State of Subjective Training Load Monitoring-a Practical Perspective and Call to Action

This commentary delivers a practical perspective on the current state of subjective training load (TL) monitoring, and in particular sessional ratings of perceived exertion, for performance enhancement and injury prevention. Subjective measures may be able to reflect mental fatigue, effort, stress, and motivation. These factors appear to be important moderators of the relationship TL has with performance and injury, and they also seem to differ between open and closed skill sports. As such, mental factors may affect the interaction between TL, performance, and injury in different sports. Further, modeling these interactions may be limited due to the assumption that an independent signal can adequately account for the performance or injury outcomes. An independent signal model does not accurately reflect training environments where multiple stressors (e.g., mechanical, emotional, nutritional) impact adaptations. Common issues with using subjective TL monitoring, including a lack of differentiation between biomechanical, physiological, and cognitive load, may be overcome by considering psychometric measurement best practices, finer graded scales, and differential ratings of perceived exertion. Methods of calculating TL, including different acute and chronic time periods, may also need to be individualized to different sports and potentially different individuals within the same sport. As TL monitoring is predominately a "chronic" decision-making tool, "acute" decision-making tools, e.g., subjective wellness and autonomic nervous system measures, should be combined in a bespoke multivariate model to aid sports coaches. A call to action is presented for future research on key issues associated with TL monitoring that will have relevance for practitioners in an applied setting.

Relative importance of the EQ-5D five dimensions among patients with chronic diseases in South Korea – a comparison with the general population preference weights

Background

Who should provide the values of health states in economic evaluations of health technologies has long been the subject of debate. This study examined and compared the relative importance of the EQ-5D five dimensions, using both patient-reported values and general population tariffs, among patients with chronic diseases in South Korea and also assessed the pattern of the discrepancy between patient and general population values by type of chronic diseases.

Methods

Data were taken from the 2013 Korea Health Panel survey. This analysis focused on adult patients with chronic diseases (n = 3216). Patient-reported EQ-5D profiles and visual analogue scale (VAS) values were used to assess the relative importance of the EQ-5D five dimensions among these patients, using a linear regression model. The relative importance of the EQ-5D dimensions was then compared to the EQ-5D tariffs elicited from the general population. The relative magnitude of the discrepancies between patient and general population values was also assessed by type of chronic diseases.

Results

Anxiety/depression and pain/discomfort appeared to have the largest impact on the self-rated patient VAS, which fairly contrasted with the general population model. In addition, a further regression analysis showed that the discrepancy between patient and general population values varied with the type of chronic diseases. The greatest discrepancy between the two was found in patients with diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs, neoplasms and diseases of the digestive system.

Conclusions

These analyses revealed differences in the relative weights attached to the EQ-5D dimensions between patient groups and the general population, particularly in those ‘non-tangible’ dimensions. These differences consequently led to greater discrepancies between patient and general population values in certain patient groups, which can have significant implications for resource allocation decisions in South Korea.

The Role of Surprise in Learning: Different Surprising Outcomes Affect Memorability Differentially

Surprise has been explored as a cognitive-emotional phenomenon that impacts many aspects of mental life from creativity to learning to decision-making. In this paper, we specifically address the role of surprise in learning and memory. Although surprise has been cast as a basic emotion since Darwin's () The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, recently more emphasis has been placed on its cognitive aspects. One such view casts surprise as a process of "sense making" or "explanation finding": metacognitive explanation-based theory proposes that people's perception of surprise is a metacognitive assessment of the cognitive work done to explain a surprising outcome. Or, to put it more simply, surprise increases with the explanatory work required to resolve it. This theory predicts that some surprises should be more surprising than others because they are harder to explain. In the current paper, this theory is extended to consider the role of surprise in learning as evidenced by memorability. This theory is tested to determine how scenarios with differentially surprising outcomes impact the memorability of those outcomes. The results show that surprising outcomes (less-known outcomes) that are more difficult to explain are recalled more accurately than less-surprising outcomes that require little (known outcomes) or no explanation (normal).

The Effect of Graphic Warnings on Sugary-Drink Purchasing

Governments have proposed text warning labels to decrease consumption of sugary drinks-a contributor to chronic diseases such as diabetes. However, they may be less effective than more evocative, graphic warning labels. We field-tested the effectiveness of graphic warning labels (vs. text warning labels, calorie labels, and no labels), provided insight into psychological mechanisms driving effectiveness, and assessed consumer sentiment. Study 1 indicated that graphic warning labels reduced the share of sugary drinks purchased in a cafeteria from 21.4% at baseline to 18.2%-an effect driven by substitution of water for sugary drinks. Study 2 showed that graphic warning labels heighten negative affect and prompt consideration of health consequences. Study 3 indicated that public support for graphic warning labels can be increased by conveying effectiveness information. These findings could spur more effective labeling policies that facilitate healthier choices, do not decrease overall beverage purchases, and are publicly accepted.

The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-Being Data

Are individuals more sensitive to losses than gains in terms of economic growth? We find that measures of subjective well-being are more than twice as sensitive to negative as compared to positive economic growth. We use Gallup World Poll data from over 150 countries, BRFSS data on 2.3 million US respondents, and Eurobarometer data that cover multiple business cycles over four decades. This research provides a new perspective on the welfare cost of business cycles, with implications for growth policy and the nature of the long-run relationship between GDP and subjective well-being.

Out of sight but not out of mind: Home countries' macroeconomic volatilities and immigrants' mental health

We provide the first empirical evidence that better economic performances by immigrants' countries of origin, as measured by lower consumer price index (CPI) or higher gross domestic product, improve immigrants' mental health. We use an econometrically-robust approach that exploits exogenous changes in macroeconomic conditions across immigrants' home countries over time and controls for immigrants' observable and unobservable characteristics. The CPI effect is statistically significant and sizeable. Furthermore, the CPI effect diminishes as the time since emigrating increases. By contrast, home countries' unemployment rates and exchange rate fluctuations have no impact on immigrants' mental health.

How and when immersion and distancing are useful in emotion focused therapy for depression

Objective: The potential benefit or harm of immersion (egocentric perspective) and distancing (observer perspective) on negative experiences are unclear and have not been empirically investigated in therapy. This is a first exploratory study aimed to analyze and compare the perspectives adopted on reflection (immersion and distancing) of negative experiences across therapy and the relationship between them and depressive symptoms in contrasting therapeutic outcomes of emotion-focused therapy (EFT). Method: Three good-outcomes cases and three poor-outcomes cases of EFT, diagnosed with mild to moderate depression at the beginning of therapy, were randomly selected. Immersion and distancing on negative experiences were analyzed using the measure of immersed and distanced speech. The depressive symptoms were assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Results: Significant differences across sessions were only found in the good-outcome cases which showed a significant decrease of immersion and an increase of distancing, and this evolution pattern was found related to the reduction of symptoms. Moreover, at the beginning of therapy, distancing was higher in the poor-outcome cases rather than in the good-outcome cases. Conclusion: The progressive and significant evolution from higher immersion at the initial phase to higher distancing in the final phase may be helpful in EFT for depression.

How "you" makes meaning

"You" is one of the most common words in the English language. Although it typically refers to the person addressed ("How are you?"), "you" is also used to make timeless statements about people in general ("You win some, you lose some."). Here, we demonstrate that this ubiquitous but understudied linguistic device, known as "generic-you," has important implications for how people derive meaning from experience. Across six experiments, we found that generic-you is used to express norms in both ordinary and emotional contexts and that producing generic-you when reflecting on negative experiences allows people to "normalize" their experience by extending it beyond the self. In this way, a simple linguistic device serves a powerful meaning-making function.

Changes in Affect, Cognition, and Perceived Behavioral Changes Among Vicarious Victims of the Paris Terrorist Attacks of November 13, 2015

Terrorist attacks are supposed to hit not only the direct victims but the entire society. In this prospective longitudinal study, we examined changes in mood, life satisfaction, and terror-related cognitions and perceived behavioral changes 2, 4, and 8 weeks after the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015, in Paris in a sample of the so-called vicarious victims ( N = 201). Average mood levels dropped significantly after the attacks compared to preattack levels but recovered within 8 weeks. Average levels of life satisfaction did not change significantly across this time period. Level of preoccupation with the attacks, perceptions of the likelihood of future terrorist attacks, and perceived changes in terror-related cognitions and behaviors declined over the 8 weeks after the attacks. Together, these findings indicate that terrorist attacks may impact changes in affect, cognition, and behavior even among vicarious victims; however, these changes are only temporary.

I-Through-We: How Supportive Social Relationships Facilitate Personal Growth

Personal growth is usually considered an outcome of intrapersonal processes-personal resources residing within the person. Comparatively, little research has examined the interpersonal processes underlying personal growth. We investigated how one interpersonal factor-people's relationships with others-influences personal growth. Study 1 showed that brief reminders of a supportive (vs. nonsupportive) other led people to choose a job that promoted personal growth over one that offered a higher salary. Moreover, feelings of self-confidence from thinking about a supportive (vs. nonsupportive) other mediated personal growth. Extending these results, Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that people's perceptions of how supportive their close others are predicted personal growth in two distinct cultures with varying emphasis on individual (vs. collective) growth. Consistent with Study 1's findings, the results were also mediated by feelings of self-confidence. These findings suggest that the link between supportive relationships and personal growth may reflect a general process.

Immersion and distancing across the therapeutic process: relationship to symptoms and emotional arousal

This study aims to clarify the roles of immersion and distancing (that is, reflection on an experience from an egocentric point of view or as an observer, respectively) on therapeutic change analyzing i) the evolution of these two perspectives across the resolution of a clinical problem, and ii) the relationship between immersion/distancing with symptoms and emotional arousal. We extracted all the passages of speech pertaining to the most relevant clinical problem of a good outcome case of depression undergoing cognitive-behavioral therapy. We assessed the distancing/immersion of these extracts using the Measure of Immersed and Distanced Speech, and emotional arousal with the Client Emotional Arousal Scale-III. The symptoms were assessed from the Beck Depression Inventory-II and Outcome Questionnaire-10.2. Immersion was associated with symptoms and negative emotions, while distancing was associated with clinical well being and positive emotions. Immersion was still dominant when depressive symptoms were below the clinical threshold. Clinical change was associated with a decrease in immersion and an increase in distancing. The dominance of immersion does not necessarily indicate a bad outcome.

Curiosity about a positive or negative event prolongs the duration of emotional experience

Some researchers claim that uncertainty prolongs the duration of emotional experiences because uncertainty toward an emotion-eliciting event prolongs attention to that event. However, some results contradict this claim. We assumed that curiosity rather than uncertainty prolongs the duration of emotional experience via attention, and that attention and emotional experience are prolonged only when uncertainty elicits curiosity. This assumption is based on the information gap theory, which proposes that curiosity increases with uncertainty, but that curiosity decreases at a certain level of uncertainty. We conducted a survey study to investigate the relationships among curiosity, uncertainty, attention and duration of positive and negative emotional experiences. The results showed that curiosity, but not uncertainty, prolonged the duration of emotional experiences and the process was completely mediated by attention both for positive and negative emotions. Moreover, uncertainty prolonged the duration of emotional experiences only when uncertainty elicited curiosity, which in turn prolonged attention to the emotion-eliciting event.

Does A Major Earthquake Change Job Preferences and Human Values?

Does a major natural disaster change human values and job preferences? The present studies examined whether the experience of a natural disaster experience shifts people's values and job preferences toward pro–social directions. In Study 1 (cross–temporal analysis), we analysed job application data in nine cities in Japan over 12 years and found that the popularity of pro–social occupations (e.g. firefighter) increased after the Great Hanshin–Awaji Earthquake in 1995, in particular the area hit hardest by the quake. In Study 2 (a large national survey), we found that Japanese respondents who had experienced a major earthquake are more likely to hold a pro–social job than those who never experienced a major earthquake. Together, the current findings suggest that the experience of a major natural disaster shifts human values from the egocentric to the allocentric direction, which in turn could result in a social structure that values pro–social occupations. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology

Questioning the differences between general public vs. patient based preferences towards EQ-5D-5L defined hypothetical health states

The purpose of this article is to explore whether any differences exist between the general population and patient based preferences towards EQ-5D-5L defined hypothetical health states. The article discusses the role of adaptation and self-interest in valuing health states and it also contributes rigorous empirical evidence to the scientific debate on the differences between the patient and general population preferences towards hypothetical health states. Patient preferences were elicited in 2015 with the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire using time trade-off and discrete choice experiment design and compared to the Spanish general population preferences, which were elicited using identical methods. Patients were chosen on a voluntary basis according to their willingness to participate in the survey. They were recruited from patient organisations and a hospital in Madrid, Spain. 282 metastatic breast cancer patients and 333 rheumatoid arthritis patients were included in the sample. The analysis revealed differences in preferences between the general population and patient groups. Based on the results of our analysis, it is suggested that the differences in preferences stem from patients being more able to accurately imagine "non-tangible" dimensions of health states (anxiety or depression, and pain or discomfort) than the general population with less experience in various health states. However, this does not mean that general public values should not be reflected in utilities derived for coverage decision making.

Cognitive and emotional processing of pleasant and unpleasant experiences in major depression: A matter of vantage point?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

In nonclinical populations, adopting a third-person perspective as opposed to a first-person perspective while analyzing negative emotional experiences fosters understanding of these experiences and reduces negative emotional reactivity. We assessed whether this generalizes to people with major depression (MD). Additionally, we assessed whether the emotion-reducing effects of adopting a third-person perspective also occur when subjects with MD and HC subjects analyze positive experiences.

METHODS

Seventy-two MD subjects and 82 HC subjects analyzed a happy and a negative experience from either a first-person or a third-person perspective.

RESULTS

Unexpectedly, we found no emotion-reducing effects of third-person perspective in either group thinking about negative events. However, across groups, third-person perspective was associated with less recounting of negative experiences and with a clearer, more coherent understanding of them. Negative affect decreased and positive affect increased in both groups analyzing happy experiences. In MD subjects, decreases in depressive affect were stronger for the third-person perspective. In both groups, positive affect increased and negative affect decreased more strongly for the third-person perspective.

LIMITATIONS

While reflecting on their positive memory, MD subjects adopted their assigned perspective for a shorter amount of time (70%) than HC subjects (78%). However, percentage of time participants adopted their assigned perspective was unrelated to the significant effects we found.

CONCLUSIONS

Both people suffering from MD and healthy individuals may benefit from processing pleasant experiences, especially when adopting a self-distant perspective.

Beauty is in the belief of the beholder: cognitive influences on the neural response to facial attractiveness

Judgments of facial attractiveness are central to decision-making in various domains, but little is known about the extent to which they are malleable. In this study, we used EEG/ERP methods to examine two novel influences on neural and subjective responses to facial attractiveness: an observer's expectation and repetition. In each trial of our task, participants viewed either an ordinary or attractive face. To alter expectations, the faces were preceded by a peer-rating that ostensibly reflected the overall attractiveness value assigned to that face by other individuals. To examine the impact of repetition, trials were presented twice throughout the experimental session. Results showed that participants' expectations about a person's attractiveness level powerfully altered both the neural response (i.e. the late positive potential; LPP) and self-reported attractiveness ratings. Intriguingly, repetition enhanced both the LPP and self-reported attractiveness as well. Exploratory analyses further suggested that both observer expectation and repetition modulated early neural responses (i.e. the early posterior negativity; EPN) elicited by facial attractiveness. Collectively, these results highlight novel influences on a core social judgment that underlies individuals' affective lives.

Neural processing of emotional-intensity predicts emotion regulation choice

Emotional-intensity is a core characteristic of affective events that strongly determines how individuals choose to regulate their emotions. Our conceptual framework suggests that in high emotional-intensity situations, individuals prefer to disengage attention using distraction, which can more effectively block highly potent emotional information, as compared with engagement reappraisal, which is preferred in low emotional-intensity. However, existing supporting evidence remains indirect because prior intensity categorization of emotional stimuli was based on subjective measures that are potentially biased and only represent the endpoint of emotional-intensity processing. Accordingly, this study provides the first direct evidence for the role of online emotional-intensity processing in predicting behavioral regulatory-choices. Utilizing the high temporal resolution of event-related potentials, we evaluated online neural processing of stimuli's emotional-intensity (late positive potential, LPP) prior to regulatory-choices between distraction and reappraisal. Results showed that enhanced neural processing of intensity (enhanced LPP amplitudes) uniquely predicted (above subjective measures of intensity) increased tendency to subsequently choose distraction over reappraisal. Additionally, regulatory-choices led to adaptive consequences, demonstrated in finding that actual implementation of distraction relative to reappraisal-choice resulted in stronger attenuation of LPPs and self-reported arousal.

Why Do People Believe What They Do? A Functionalist Perspective

Why do people believe what they do? Scholars and laypeople alike tend to answer this question by focusing on the representational functions of beliefs (i.e., representing the world accurately). However, a growing body of theory and research indicates that beliefs also can serve important hedonic functions (i.e., decreasing/increasing negative or positive emotional states). In this manuscript, we describe: (1) the features of belief, (2) the functions served by beliefs, with a focus on the hedonic function, (3) an integrative framework highlighting the hedonic function and contrasting it with the representational function, (4) the implications of our framework, and related future research directions for individual differences in belief, belief change, and the ways in which beliefs contribute to adaptive versus maladaptive psychological functioning.