The Contribution of Emotion Perceptions and Their Overgeneralizations to Trait Impressions

This study tested the hypothesis derived from ecological theory that adaptive social perceptions of emotion expressions fuel trait impressions. Moreover, it was predicted that these impressions would be overgeneralized and perceived in faces that were not intentionally posing expressions but nevertheless varied in emotional demeanor. To test these predictions, perceivers viewed 32 untrained targets posing happy, surprised, angry, sad, and fearful expressions and formed impressions of their dominance and affiliation. When targets posed happiness and surprise they were perceived as high in dominance and affiliation whereas when they posed anger they were perceived as high in dominance and low in affiliation. When targets posed sadness and fear they were perceived as low in dominance. As predicted, many of these impressions were overgeneralized and attributed to targets who were not posing expressions. The observed effects were generally independent of the impact of other facial cues (i.e., attractiveness and babyishness).     

The Influence of Facial Emotion Displays, Gender, and Ethnicity on Judgments of Dominance and Affiliation

Facial expressions of emotions convey not only information about emotional states but also about interpersonal intentions. The present study investigated whether factors known to influence the decoding of emotional expressions—the gender and ethnicity of the stimulus person as well as the intensity of the expression—would also influence attributions of interpersonal intentions. For this, 145 men and women rated emotional facial expressions posed by both Caucasian and Japanese male and female stimulus persons on perceived dominance and affiliation. The results showed that the sex and the ethnicity of the encoder influenced observers' ratings of dominance and affiliation. For anger displays only, this influence was mediated by expectations regarding how likely it is that a particular encoder group would display anger. Further, affiliation ratings were equally influenced by low intensity and by high intensity expressions, whereas only fairly intense emotional expressions affected attributions of dominance.     

Early parenting and depression: The mediating role of anger control

Applying an attachment theoretical perspective, this study examined the relationship pattern between childhood parenting experience and adulthood depression and how it was mediated by anger control. The data were based on the National Comorbidity Study Replication (2001–2003), in which 1,579 participants met DSM-IV criteria for lifetime major depressive disorder (17%) and 2,242 participants (24.2%) reported that they perceived their anger to be out of control. The mediation hypothesis was tested with logistic regression models. Results showed that childhood parenting experience was significantly related to major depressive disorder and anger control. A significant indirect effect of anger control was detected through bootstrap analysis, supporting the partial mediation hypothesis. This study represents the first attempt to examine the mediating role of anger control in the relationship between early parenting and depressive disorder. The findings of this study suggest that early parenting experience may be an important factor for consideration in research aiming to understand the sequential relationship between anger control and depression.     

Older Adults’ Trait Impressions of Faces Are Sensitive to Subtle Resemblance to Emotions

Younger adults (YA) attribute emotion-related traits to people whose neutral facial structure resembles an emotion (emotion overgeneralization). The fact that older adults (OA) show deficits in accurately labeling basic emotions suggests that they may be relatively insensitive to variations in the emotion resemblance of neutral expression faces that underlie emotion overgeneralization effects. On the other hand, the fact that OA, like YA, show a ‘pop-out’ effect for anger, more quickly locating an angry than a happy face in a neutral array, suggests that both age groups may be equally sensitive to emotion resemblance. We used computer modeling to assess the degree to which neutral faces objectively resembled emotions and assessed whether that resemblance predicted trait impressions. We found that both OA and YA showed anger and surprise overgeneralization in ratings of danger and naiveté, respectively, with no significant differences in the strength of the effects for the two age groups. These findings suggest that well-documented OA deficits on emotion recognition tasks may be more due to processing demands than to an insensitivity to the social affordances of emotion expressions.     

Effects of Social Anxiety on Nonverbal Accuracy and Response Time I: Facial Expressions

Cognitive models of social anxiety provide a basis for predicting that the ability to process nonverbal information accurately and quickly should be impaired during the experience of state anxiety. To test this hypothesis, we assigned participants to threatening and non-threatening conditions and asked them to label the emotions expressed in a series of faces. It was predicted that social anxiety would be positively associated with errors and response times in threatening conditions, but not in a non-threatening condition. It was also predicted that high social anxiety would be associated with more errors and longer response times when identifying similar expressions such as sadness, anger, and fear. The results indicate that social anxiety was not associated with errors in identifying facial expressions of emotion, regardless of the level of state anxiety experienced. However, social anxiety scores were found to be significantly related to response times to identify facial expressions, but the relationship varied depending on the level of state anxiety experienced. Methodological and theoretical implications of using response time data when assessing nonverbal ability are discussed.     

Transdiagnostic mechanism of social phobia and depression: The role of anger dysregulation

ABSTRACT

Emotion dysregulation has been identified as a transdiagnostic mechanism underlying social phobia and depression; however, there is much to learn about how emotion dysregulation leads to these specific outcomes. Thus, this study examined the relationship pattern between anger dysregulation and depression and how it is mediated by social phobia. Anger dysregulation was examined specifically considering anger as a significant emotional feature of both social phobia and depression. The mediation hypothesis within this study was empirically established. The data was drawn from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (2001–2003), in which 2,827 participants met DSM-IV criteria for lifetime major depressive disorder (14.3%), and 1,905 participants met criteria for DSM-IV lifetime social anxiety disorder (9.6%). Among participants, 4,250 (21.5%) reported that they perceived their anger as out of control and either broke items or hit (or tried to hit) others. The mediation hypothesis was tested with logistic regression models. Anger dysregulation was significantly related to social phobia and depression. A significant indirect effect of social phobia was detected through bootstrap analysis, supporting the partial mediation hypothesis. This study represents the first attempt to examine the mediating role of social phobia in the relationship between anger dysregulation and depression. The findings of this study suggest that anger dysregulation may be a transdiagnostic factor across social phobia and depression.     

Wie fühlt man sich in einer virtuellen Arbeitsgruppe?

Participants of a virtual seminar have been examined and compared with participants of a real-life seminar using a questionnaire by Ardelt-Gattinger and Schlögl (1998) which measures emotions as well as norms within groups. In both settings, participants scored higher on positive than on negative emotions and group norms were perceived in a similar way. A closer look at means and standard deviations reveals a high inner-group-variance for items dealing with rivalry or anger, which shows that some students were less satisfied than others. ?Free riders“ and ?drop-outs“ seemed to be responsible for feelings of insecurity and anger of the others. Participants of the virtual seminar liked their group members more and showed lower variance on that dimension than real-life participants. Intensive social contacts may have not been expected before and so afterwards they were valued higher (than they would in a real-life-setting). Participants of the virtual setting rated group conformity of medium intensity, which could be responsible for a reduced feeling of commitment or security, leading to varying intensities of involvement in the group.     

“Stuck in the Middle with You?” Supervisory Level and Anger about Work

Although sociologists have long been interested in the stratification of emotions, the occupational stratification of anger has been investigated in only a few general population studies. Through analyses of data representative of workers in Toronto, we evaluate the hypothesis that workplace hierarchical position, defined by supervisory level, has an inverted u‐shaped association with the frequency of anger about work. We also evaluate the more specific hypothesis that the difference in work‐related anger between front‐line supervisors and nonsupervisory workers will be relatively larger among workers in the commodified services sector than other sectors. Results are generally consistent with our hypotheses. We find that both front‐line supervisors in the commodified services sector, and secondary supervisors in all employment sectors, report more frequent anger about work than do nonsupervisory workers. In contrast, higher level supervisors report anger about work at about the same frequency as nonsupervisory workers. These associations are only slightly reduced by controls for work stress and stressors. We discuss how supervisory relations might explain differences in anger about work among workers at different levels in organizational hierarchies.     

Over-emoting and perceptions of sincerity: Effects of nuanced displays of emotions and chosen words on credibility perceptions during a crisis

This study focuses on understanding how words and discrete facial emotions influence credibility perceptions of both prepared statements and spontaneous question and answer sessions. We build on and extend existing theoretical work concerning crises communication and discrete emotions. Using a press conference simulation, spokesperson video recordings were analyzed using automated face-emotion recognition software (FaceReader™) to characterize discrete emotions. A crisis-message-strategy trained dictionary for Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) was used to characterize message content. Our results indicate that spokespeople can control their verbal messages better in prepared statements than in more spontaneous settings, but their facial emotions are quite similar in both settings. Only three discrete emotions are related to credibility perceptions: anger, sadness, and surprise, but sadness and surprise are not universally viewed positively or negatively. Expressing too much emotion, or over-emoting, is problematic. Expressing more anger in the Q&A, which we refer to as reactive anger, is perceived negatively, and when spokespeople emote a low amount of sadness and use a high amount of words expressing sincerity they are viewed as having the most credible messages.     

Angry drivers: a test of state-trait theory

Tested hypotheses from state-trait theory applied to anger while driving. College student drivers high in trait driving anger were compared to drivers low in trait driving anger. High anger drivers were more frequently angered in day-to-day driving (frequency hypothesis). They reported more intense anger in their most angering driving situations, when visualizing provocative driving events, and in day-to-day driving (intensity hypothesis). Driving diaries and surveys showed they engaged in more aggressive behavior and expressed their anger through more verbal, physical, and vehicular means (aggression hypothesis). They reported handling of their anger less well when visualizing provocative events and on the Adaptive/Constructive Expression scale (reduced adaptive expression hypothesis). They engaged in risky behavior (risky behavior hypothesis) and experienced more moving violations, close calls, and losses of concentration, but not more major or minor accidents (partial support for crash-related outcomes hypothesis). High anger drivers were more generally angry and impulsive and employed more negative, less controlled forms of general anger expression. Results supported state-trait theory and added to the literature showing that high anger drivers have some other psychological and behavioral characteristics that may interact negatively with anger behind the wheel.     

Do infants express discrete emotions? Adult judgments of facial,vocal, and body actions

Adult judges were presented with videotape segments showing an infant displaying facial configurations hypothesized to express discomfort/pain, anger, or sadness according to differential emotions theory (Izard, Dougherty, & Hembree, 1983). The segments also included the infant's nonfacial behavior and aspects of the situational context. Judges rated the segments using a set of emotion terms or a set of activity terms. Results showed that judges perceived the discomfort/pain and anger segments as involving one or more negative emotions not predicted by differential emotions theory. The sadness segments were perceived as involving relatively little emotion overall. Body activity accompanying the discomfort/pain and anger configurations was judged to be more jerky and active than body activity accompanying the sadness configurations. The sadness segments were accompanied by relatively little body movement overall. The results thus fail to conform to the predictions of differential emotions theory but provide information that may contribute to the development of a theory of infant expressive behavior.This article is based on the second author's master's thesis. The authors thank Dennis Ross for his expert assistance in the data analyses.     

Influence of Social Context on Children's Affect Regulation: A Functionalist Perspective

This study investigated the influence of social context (mothers, fathers, best friends, medium friends) and type of negative affect (anger, sadness, pain) on 66 second-grade and 71 fifth-grade children's goals and strategies for affect regulation. Hypothetical vignette methodology was used. Results indicated that children perceived parents to be more accepting of emotional expressivity than peers. Children endorsed instrumental, prosocial, and rule-oriented goals and verbal regulation strategies more for anger and sadness than pain. Girls endorsed affective more than aggressive strategies, whereas the opposite pattern held for boys. Older children endorsed more regulation strategies than younger children.     

Gender,race, and the use of prayer to manage anger

ABSTRACT

Women and blacks are more likely than men and whites to use prayer to manage negative emotions such as anger. However, the pathways explaining these associations are not fully understood. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey’s emotion module, we evaluate four potential mechanisms that might account for these associations: women’s and blacks’ relatively high levels of religious participation, relatively low socioeconomic status, extended duration of their negative emotional experiences, and relatively lower perceived control. Women’s and blacks’ higher likelihood of using prayer to manage anger is partially accounted for by their higher levels of religious participation, lower socioeconomic status, and duration of anger. Lower levels of perceived control contribute only to blacks’ use of prayer to manage anger. Our findings highlight the importance of identifying pathways that explain why particular social groups use particular emotion management strategies.     

Women who use violence in intimate relationships: the role of anger, victimization, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression

The present study examines the role of anger and victimization in women's use of aggression in heterosexual intimate relationships. The sample was composed of 108 women, primarily African American, urban, and poor, who had used violence against a partner in the previous 6 months. Path modeling was used to examine the interrelationships among anger, women's aggressive behavior, victimization, childhood abuse experiences, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Results revealed that almost all of the women experienced violence from their partners. Greater frequency of victimization from partners and experiences of childhood abuse increased the likelihood that women would use aggression against their partners. Victimization from partners and childhood abuse also increased the likelihood that women would experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Women with more symptoms of posttraumatic stress were also more likely to express anger outwardly towards others. Expressing anger outwardly toward others, in turn, predicted an increased likelihood of using aggression against partners.     

Age and anger.

Are older people less angry? I propose that age differences in roles, personal and social circumstances, the sense of control, health, and socio-emotional outlook explain the association. I use data from a 1981 representative sample of 951 physically disabled individuals from Southwestern Ontario, Canada and a 1996 national probability sample of 1,450 U.S. respondents--the General Social Survey (GSS). Both surveys show a negative association between age and anger. In the Ontario sample older people are more likely to occupy widowhood and retirement roles, live with fewer people, have less interpersonal estrangement, and have fewer life events; these characteristics explain their lower anger. Also, were it not for their lower control and worse health older people in the Ontario sample would report even lower anger. In the GSS sample, age differences in household composition, satisfaction with family life and financial circumstances, perceived time pressures in daily life, religious involvement, and socio-emotional outlook contribute to the lower anger among older adults. Collectively, my findings show that the psychosocial and structural environment--experienced differently by age--influences the risk of anger.     

Anger—Has It a Positive as Well as Negative Value? (Recent Research into Causes,Associated Features,Diagnosis and Treatment, 1998–2003)

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, anger has both positive and negative aspects, and hence, there is a value to anger. Properly directed anger can lead to positive action and produce feelings of being in control of situations perceived to be threatening. On the other hand, there are a large number of negative repercussions with the feeling and expression of anger, i.e., negative physiological reactions such as increased blood pressure and heart rate. Anger appears to be age and gender related and is likely precipitated by a particular situation. There are a number of diagnostic out treatment approaches to anger management that are discussed here with reference to their usefulness with adult and child and adolescent populations. Programs that are used early and long enough appear to promise good results in preventing further expressions of anger or internalised anger.     

Evaluations of aggressive women: the effects of gender, socioeconomic status, and level of aggression

Research finds gender differences in aggression and suggests that female violence is viewed differently from male violence. Participants were 94 female and 38 male students from a mid-size public university in the Southeast. Participants read a mock trial and answered questions about their attitudes concerning an aggressor in the scenario. The study was a 2 (male or female) by 2 (high socioeconomic status or low socioeconomic status) by 2 (verbal aggression or physical aggression) between-subjects factorial design. The participants responded to a revised version of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Nelson, 1988). As hypothesized aggressive women were evaluated more negatively than aggressive men and participants evaluated the female aggressor who used physical aggression more negatively than the female who used verbal aggression. The hypothesis that the female aggressor would be perceived as more in need of counseling than the male aggressor was not supported. Contrary to another hypothesis, respondents did not evaluate higher socioeconomic status aggressors more negatively than those of lower status. As hypothesized people with traditional views of women evaluated the female aggressor more negatively than people with more liberal views of women, and liberal participants evaluated the male and female aggressors similarly. The more negative evaluation of female aggressors and, in particular, females who use physical aggression, may result in unfair treatment of such females. These social biases may cloud perceptions of aggressive females, suggesting that their actions are more inappropriate than those of a male who committed the same act.     

The effect of verbal content on children's encoding of paralinguistic affect

This study examines the accuracy with which 6th-grade children communicate affect as a function of consistency and inconsistened between the verbal and paralinguistic channels. Accuracy was determined by comparing the level of affect that children intended to encode with ratings made by judges. Two independent variables were manipulated: (1) literal content of the child's verbal message (positive/negative), and (2) encoder's intended level of vocal intonation (extremely unfriendly, moderately unfriendly, neutral, moderately friendly, and extremely friendly). The hypothesis that paralinguistic encoding would be more accurate when literal content and intended affect are consistent (rather than inconsistent) was confirmed. The hypothesis that positive verbal/negative paralinguistic inconsistenc would bet more accurately encoded than negative verbal/positive paralinguistic inconsistency was also confirmed. Also, male children were more accurate encoders than female children.The authors appreciate the assistance of Linda B. Brideau in dealing with statistical problems in this study.The research was supported by the Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, by funds from the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (Center Contract No. NE-00-3-0065).     

Sexual behavior of cohabitors: A comparison of three independent samples

I tested the hypothesis that cohabitors, as a component of their lifestyle choice to live together without being married, would be more sexually experienced and sexually active than noncohabitors. Differences between cohabitors and noncohabitors were examined in three independent samples (Ns = 173, 136, and 148). Within each group, differences between cohabitors and noncohabitors were examined in regard to background variables, perceived parent sexual attitudes, sexual behavior, sexual history, sexual satisfaction, orgasmic responsiveness, conception history, social competence, and relationship attachment. In general, the hypothesis was confirmed that cohabitors have greater and earlier sexual experience than noncohabitors. Other findings indicated that cohabitors were more socially competent and had parents with more negative sexual attitudes than noncohabitors. No differences in relationship attachment (love and liking for their partner) were found.     

Oral Sex: Varied Behaviors and Perceptions in a College Population

Views and behaviors pertaining to oral sex have changed in recent years. This anonymous, online survey posed both old and new questions pertaining to oral sex among a college population. This study not only confirmed previous findings about virgins engaging in oral sex but also found that women reported giving oral sex more often than receiving it from men. Oral sex was not only perceived as less intimate than intercourse but also more likely to be perceived as less intimate by women than men. Participants most frequently endorsed a committed relationship, but not a married relationship, for comfort in engaging in oral sex. Last, college students were more knowledgeable of the sexually transmitted infection risks of oral sex than how to actually protect themselves during oral sex. Additional analyses by gender and virginity were also performed to further understanding of the nuances amongst virgins and women and men.