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Capitalizing on the success of romantic partners: A laboratory investigation on subjective, facial, and physiological emotional processing
Abstract
Receiving a constructive, supportive response from romantic partners after sharing good news has been shown to magnify the positivity of events and predict healthy relationship outcomes. We conducted a laboratory social interaction to determine whether supportive responses to success led to changes in facial expressions, sympathetic arousal, and felt emotions. Our methodology allowed us to break down the sequence of capitalization support. In 69 romantic couples, we recorded emotional processing before, during, and after the task in both partners. Person A received performance feedback on a computer task and shared their success via text messages with Person B, who then reacted to this success. Supportive capitalization responses led to greater felt positive emotions and a trend for fewer negative emotions; effects were similar for givers and receivers of supportive responses. Facial expressions were also happier for people receiving supportive capitalization responses. Results suggest the importance of addressing the giving and receiving of capitalization support within the same social situation.
... Responders may also anticipate that capitalizers will, in turn, be responsive to responders' own future capitalization attempts. For example, experimental research demonstrated that responders felt more positive and less negative emotions through active-constructive responding after the capitalization process (Monfort et al., 2014). While active-constructive feedback is conducive to a range of positive outcomes for responders, we know little about the factors that may inhibit this type of reaction. ...
... Participants sent a selfie and a short pre-defined message adapted from prior capitalization research (Lambert et al., 2013;Monfort et al., 2014;Reis et al., 2010). We provided a range of five choices that included messages that were enthusiastic (activeconstructive; e.g., "Wonderful! ...
... The latter finding was unexpected because we anticipated negative affect would lead responders to express less positive emotions and that greater avoidance motivation would attenuate the expression of happiness. Interestingly, one of the previous studies on capitalization found that people may smile when sending a negative message in response to a capitalization attempt, and this finding also was described as contradictory (Monfort et al., 2014). The authors argued that smiling while experiencing greater Avoidance avoidance motivation could be a self-regulatory strategy that down-regulates negative affect (Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998). ...
Capitalization is an interpersonal process in which individuals (capitalizers) communicate their accomplishments to others (responders). When these attempts to capitalize are met with enthusiastic responses, individuals reap greater personal and social benefits from the accomplishment. This research integrated the interpersonal model of capitalization with moral foundations theory to examine whether accomplishments achieved through immoral (vs. moral) means disrupt the interpersonal processes of capitalization. We hypothesized that an accomplishment achieved through immoral (vs. moral) means would suppress the positive affective response often reaped from capitalizing on good news. We conducted two, mixed-methods experiments in which individuals interacted with a stranger (Study 1) or with their romantic partner (Study 2). We found that responders exhibited greater self-reported negative emotions, avoidance motivation, and arousal when reacting to capitalizers' immoral (vs. moral) accomplishments. In turn, greater negative affect predicted less enthusiastic verbal responses to capitalization attempts. In Study 2 we found that immoral accomplishments increased avoidance motivation, which contrary to our expectations, increased expressions of happiness. These studies reveal that the moral means by which accomplishments are achieved can disrupt the interpersonal process of capitalization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... In contrast, the other three types of feedback-passive-constructive (understated support), passive-destructive (ignoring the event or the partner), and active-destructive (demeaning the event)-are linked to negative outcomes (Gable et al., 2004(Gable et al., , 2006Woods et al., 2015). Individuals receiving more enthusiastic feedback report greater life satisfaction (Gable et al., 2012), happiness (Demir & Davidson, 2013;Gable et al., 2004), positive affect (Gable et al., 2004;Monfort et al., 2014;Lambert et al., 2013), less anxiety (Gable et al., 2012) and negative affect (Gable et al., 2004;Monfort et al., 2014). Moreover, individuals feel more understood, grateful, and cared for by their partners after receiving enthusiastic responses following positive self-disclosures (Gable et al., 2006;Woods et al., 2015). ...
... In contrast, the other three types of feedback-passive-constructive (understated support), passive-destructive (ignoring the event or the partner), and active-destructive (demeaning the event)-are linked to negative outcomes (Gable et al., 2004(Gable et al., , 2006Woods et al., 2015). Individuals receiving more enthusiastic feedback report greater life satisfaction (Gable et al., 2012), happiness (Demir & Davidson, 2013;Gable et al., 2004), positive affect (Gable et al., 2004;Monfort et al., 2014;Lambert et al., 2013), less anxiety (Gable et al., 2012) and negative affect (Gable et al., 2004;Monfort et al., 2014). Moreover, individuals feel more understood, grateful, and cared for by their partners after receiving enthusiastic responses following positive self-disclosures (Gable et al., 2006;Woods et al., 2015). ...
... The majority of literature on capitalization assesses emotions using self-reports (e.g., Demir & Davidson, 2013;Ilies et al., 2015). Only three capitalization studies used physiological indicators (Gouin et al., 2019;Monfort et al., 2014;Peters, Reis, & Jamieson, 2018a, b). Subjective, physiological, and behavioral responses are only moderately interrelated during a response to an affective stimulus (Mauss & Robinson, 2009;Mauss et al., 2005). ...
When individuals communicate enthusiasm for good events in their partners' lives, they contribute to a high-quality relationship; a phenomenon termed interpersonal capitalization. However, little is known when individuals are more ready to react enthusiastically to the partner's success. To address this gap, we examined whether positive and negative emotions boost or inhibit enthusiastic responses to partner's capitalization attempts (RCA). Participants ( N = 224 individuals) responded to their partner's success. Before each capitalization attempt (operationalized as responses following the news that their partner won money in a game), we used video clips to elicit positive (primarily amusement) or negative (primarily anger) or neutral emotions in the responder. We recorded emotional valence, smiling intensity, verbal RCA, and physiological reactivity. We found indirect (but not direct) effects such that eliciting positive emotions boosted and negative emotions inhibited enthusiastic RCA (smiling intensity and enthusiastic verbal RCA). These effects were relatively small and mediated by emotional valence and smiling intensity but not physiological reactivity. The results offer novel evidence that positive emotions fuel the capitalization process.
... Recent research has replicated and extended these early findings. Capitalizing with a partner who is (or perceived to be) responsive and enthusiastic has been associated with greater positive affect, life satisfaction, self-esteem, happiness, and per- ceptions of shared reality, along with lesser negative affect and loneliness (paths A and A'; Lambert et al., 2012;Mikelic, Zee, Rossignac-Milon, Bolger, & Higgins, 2018;Monfort et al., 2014;Otto, Laurenceau, Siegel, & Belcher, 2015;Reis et al., 2010;see also Gentzler, Ramsey, Yuen Yi, Palmer, & Morey, 2014, for similar findings among ado- lescents). Moreover, not only do people tend to capitalize on the most positive event of their day, they also capitalize on seemingly small events-for example, describing an enjoyable TV show one saw-and the association between capitalizing and positive intrapersonal outcomes holds when controlling for the importance and/or positivity of the capitalization event ( Reis et al., 2010, Study 5; see also Gable et al., 2004). ...
... When responding to their partners' good fortune, responders reported feeling greater positive affect, lesser negative affect, and higher self-regard (path F; Smith, 2012). Monfort et al. (2014) found that both capitalizers and responders reported more positive and less negative emotions following an encouraging capitalization conversation (paths A and F). Moreover, responders who reported empathizing with others' positive emotions reported more positive emotions themselves (path F; Andreychik & Migliaccio, 2015). ...
... Above, we reviewed evidence showing that responders may reap some of the same intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits as capitalizers do (e.g., Monfort et al., 2014;Otto et al., 2015). Future research should continue to explore other potential benefits for responders, as well as unpack the underlying mechanisms and moderators of these benefits. ...
When good things happen, individuals will often retell this good news to others, a process termed capitalization. In so doing, individuals sharing their good news (i.e., capitalizers) boost their mood and relationships with the person(s) to whom they retell their news (i.e., responders). Most extant research has focused on the benefits for the capitalizers. Capitalization, however, is a social process that affects both capitalizers and responders, and research has only begun to explore the benefits of capitalization for responders. In this article, we provide a fresh perspective on the state of this literature by proposing the interpersonal model of capitalization (InterCAP). We illustrate how InterCAP (a) integrates and organizes existing research and theory, (b) formally emphasizes the interpersonal and iterative nature of the capitalization process, and (c) identifies gaps in current knowledge. We conclude by offering recommendations for integrating InterCAP with other theoretical models and suggestions for future research.
... Although a Polish translation of the RAS exists (RAS-PL) 29 and has been utilized by Polish researchers, the psychometric properties of the RAS have yet to be subjected to a solid and comprehensive investigation with a Polish sample. Thus, the primary aim of the current study was to assess the psychometric functioning of the existing Polish translation of the RAS30 to provide additional information on the psychometric properties of the RAS by assessing its measurement invariance across countries (Poland, Hungary, the USA), genders (women vs. men) and relationship type groups (marital and nonmarital relationships) and its general functioning based on an IRT analysis. ...
... The Relationship Assessment Scale. The Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) 5,6 in the Polish translation by Monfort et al. 29 was completed by participants in the reference sample and validation sample 1. The RAS consists of 7 items assessing global relationship satisfaction (e.g., "How much do you love your partner?"). ...
The current article reports data from three Polish samples to examine the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) with respect to its unidimensionality, invariance across countries, gender, formal and informal relationships, degree of precision (or information) across latent levels of relationship satisfaction, and the functioning of individual items. The analyses of the data from the reference sample ( n = 733) confirmed a clear 1-factor structure of the RAS-PL and good internal consistency. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance for countries (Poland, Hungary, USA), gender (women and men) and relationship types (formal and informal relationships) were achieved. Item Response Theory Analysis (IRT) suggested that the RAS-PL assesses relationship satisfaction most reliably at low to average levels. Analyses of the data from validation samples ( n = 203 and n = 209) confirmed the convergent and divergent validity by weak, medium, and large correlations of the RAS-PL with measures of other theoretically related constructs. Concurrent criterion validity was demonstrated by a strong positive correlation between the RAS-PL and the intent to continue the current relationship. This investigation provides considerable psychometric information about the items and scale of the RAS-PL.
... This response provides an opportunity to obtain and convey understanding and validation while recognizing and accepting the partner's individuality, thereby strengthening the couple's intimacy (Gable et al., 2006;Hadden et al., 2015;Reis et al., 2010). In self-report and observational studies among community couples, a person's greater perception of their partner's active-constructive responses was associated with several positive relational and individual outcomes for that person (e.g., greater relationship satisfaction and positive emotions; Gable et al., 2004;Kashdan et al., 2013;Monfort et al., 2014) and their partner (Pagani et al., 2020). Conversely, a person's greater perception of their partner's passiveconstructive, active-destructive, and passive-destructive responses was negatively correlated with that person's commitment, daily satisfaction, and positive emotions (Donato et al., 2014;Gable et al., 2004). ...
... The majority of those studies found no gender differences, but a few suggest that perceived responses to capitalization attempts are more strongly associated with women's relationship outcomes (e.g., Pagani et al., 2020). Most studies did not examine participants' perception of their own responses in a context of capitalization, even though recent studies demonstrate that emitting active-constructive responses was also associated with individual and relational benefits (Kashdan et al., 2013;Hershenberg et al., 2016;Monfort et al., 2014). Also, most did not adopt observational designs, which allow for the measurement of participants' own and their partner's responses, with minimal retrospective bias and using objective external observer ratings. ...
Whereas greater levels of intimacy have been shown to promote couples’ sexual well-being, recent theories suggest that satisfying sex is maintained via the capacity to encourage the partner’s individuality, while remaining intimately connected. Responses to capitalization attempts (i.e., the disclosure of a positive personal event) provide an opportunity to strengthen both the couple’s intimacy and each partner’s autonomy. Although responses to capitalization attempts are linked to couples’ greater relationship adjustment, very little is known about their relation to couples’ sexual well-being. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between self-reported, perceived, and observed responses to capitalization attempts and sexual satisfaction, sexual distress, and sexual function in 151 cohabiting couples who participated in a filmed discussion in the laboratory. They also completed self-report questionnaires pertaining to their responsiveness and to that of the partner during the discussion, as well as their sexual well-being. Results indicated that one’s higher levels of self-reported and partner-perceived active–constructive responses (enthusiasm/elaboration) during the discussion were associated with one’s own greater sexual satisfaction. Higher levels of perceived passive–constructive responses (quiet but interested) from one’s partner were associated with one’s own lower sexual satisfaction, and one’s higher levels of self-reported and perceived passive–destructive responses (lack of interest/self-focus) were associated with one’s own greater sexual distress. Finally, higher levels of observed active–destructive responses (undermines/denies the positive nature of the event) were associated with one’s own lower sexual function, while in women, they were associated with their lower sexual satisfaction. Findings contribute to a growing body of literature underscoring the importance of intimacy for sexual well-being in long-term relationships.
... Despite their important role in preventing negative outcomes, only limited research has focused on the perspective of the responder and the methods for forming a constructive response. In the last decade, researchers have acknowledged the interpersonal nature of capitalization and begun to explore the benefits of capitalization for the responder (e.g., Reis et al., 2010;Monfort et al., 2014;Conoley et al., 2015). However, research on the potential mechanisms through which the responder can hinder or promote the capitalization is largely missing (Peters et al., 2018). ...
... At the intrapersonal level, a successful validating response to another person's positive event has been shown to increase the amount of positive affect for both the responder (Monfort et al., 2014;Conoley et al., 2015) and the discloser (Gable et al., 2004;Bryant et al., 2005;Maisel and Gable, 2009). Although positive events and positive emotions are different, they can share considerable overlap in terms of the potential impacts on consequential positive affect; both processes require a validating response to the positive emotional experience of the discloser that is connected to the shared positive event or the expressed positive emotion. ...
In order to capitalize on positive emotions at work and build high-quality interpersonal relationships and psychological safety, it is important that coworkers respond to each other’s positive emotions in a constructive and validating way. However, despite the importance of symmetrical emotion regulation outcomes, organizational research has largely overlooked how an employee can positively respond to coworkers’ positive emotions. Existing research has concentrated almost exclusively on negative ways of responding, with a particular focus on envy. This article develops a theoretical model of employees’ positive responses to coworkers’ positive emotional experiences, introduced here as a validating response. We identify four steps – noticing, sensemaking, feeling, and acting – and the key mechanisms within each step that enable a responder to react in a validating way. We connect the validating response to important potential individual and organizational outcomes. These outcomes include improved relationship quality and trust, as well as increased positivity and well-being that can result in enhanced learning behavior and collaboration. This article also discusses the connection between a validating response and compassion. We identify them both as parallel affirmative processes that acknowledge a coworker’s emotions, with the former being a response to positive emotion while the latter is a response to negative emotion.
... In a series of daily diary studies, for example, Gable et al. (2004) found that active-constructive capitalization experiences predicted increased positive affect and life satisfaction among undergraduate students as well as members of married couples. Additional work has found that interpersonal capitalization is effective in producing increases in subjective and physiological indicators of positive affect even when conducted via digital modalities, such as text message (Monfort et al., 2014). Moreover, active-constructive capitalization experiences are related to increased relationship satisfaction, intimacy, and trust among romantic partners (e.g., Fivecoat et al., 2015;Reis et al., 2010), and positive relational effects of activeconstructive capitalization experiences, even those occurring among relative strangers, persist as long as one week later (Kleiman et al., 2015). ...
... Such active-constructive capitalization experiences may also increase the likelihood of future capitalization attempts, reinforcing the quality of the relationship and contributing to interpersonal wellbeing (Peters et al., 2018). A smaller body of work suggests that engaging with a partner's positive emotions also confers intrapersonal affective benefits to the responder (e.g., Andreychik, 2019;Monfort et al., 2014), although further research on the effects of capitalization on responders is needed to draw strong conclusions (Peters et al., 2018). ...
Positive affect and positive parent-adolescent relationships have been found to reinforce one another across youth development in a pattern of an “upward spiral,” yet little is known regarding processes facilitating such “upward spirals” of social and emotional wellbeing among parent-adolescent dyads. This study addressed this gap by examining interpersonal capitalization, or the process of sharing positive news with others, as one candidate interpersonal process contributing to increases in both parent and adolescent experiences of positive affect in naturalistic settings. Participants included 146 adolescents (52.1% girls; ages 10–14; M[SD] = 12.71[0.86]) and a participating caregiver (N = 139; 78.7% mothers; ages 33–58; M[SD] = 44.11[5.08]) who completed a dyadic experience sampling method procedure assessing both parent and adolescent momentary affect and patterns of engagement in interpersonal capitalization in daily life settings (31 surveys across 9 days). Multilevel models indicated that adolescent positive affect increased following instances of interpersonal capitalization, and increases in positive affect were specific to high-arousal positive emotions (e.g., excited, energetic) relative to low-arousal positive emotions (e.g., calm, relaxed). Parental high-arousal positive affect also increased following instances in which they provided validating, enthusiastic responses to their children’s capitalization attempts. The results of the present study indicate that interpersonal capitalization may be one mechanism facilitating “upward spirals” of positive affect for both parents and adolescents, with implications for health and wellbeing across development.
... GSR is an autonomic measure of emotion based on electrodermal responses, and follows the assumption that sweating reflected in an increased skin conductance is a marker of physiological arousal, indexing the activity of the autonomous nervous system (ANS). For this reason, GSR is frequently employed as a marker of emotional arousal (Bradley et al. 1990;Cook et al. 1991;Waugh et al. 2011;Monfort et al. 2014), and is often used to measure the physiological arousal in response to experiencing basic emotions (i.e., anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise; Ekman 1999). Although basic emotions might vary on the arousal scale, with anger and fear usually described as high arousing emotions, and sadness as a low arousing emotion (e.g., Kensinger and Corkin 2004;Kensinger 2004), previous studies have shown that this difference might not necessarily be reflected in GSR patterns (e.g., Levenson et al. 1990;Kreibig et al. 2007;Vidmar et al. 2016), thus indicating that GSR signal might not be a clear indicator of which particular basic emotion is currently experienced. ...
... Importantly, the activity of the ANS may not necessarily reflect emotional responding, but it might also index other functions of the organism, for example those related to attention and cognitive engagement (Frith and Allen 1983;Berntson and Cacioppo 2000;Mauss and Robinson 2009). As a result of such potential confounds, the GSR measurement is often combined with other measures of emotion processing, including self-reports, which instead of examining physiological arousal, allow for measuring cognitive labels (Schachter and Singer 1962;Waugh et al. 2011;Monfort et al. 2014). ...
Though previous research has shown a decreased sensitivity to emotionally-laden linguistic stimuli presented in the non-native (L2) compared to the native language (L1), studies conducted thus far have not examined how different modalities influence bilingual emotional language processing. The present experiment was therefore aimed at investigating how late proficient Polish (L1)–English (L2) bilinguals process emotionally-laden narratives presented in L1 and L2, in the visual and auditory modality. To this aim, we employed the galvanic skin response (GSR) method and a self-report measure (Polish adaptation of the PANAS questionnaire). The GSR findings showed a reduced galvanic skin response to L2 relative to L1, thus suggesting a decreased reactivity to emotional stimuli in L2. Additionally, we observed a more pronounced skin conductance level to visual than auditory stimuli, yet only in L1, which might be accounted for by a self-reference effect that may have been modulated by both language and modality.
... The Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS; Hendrick 1988) was used according to the Polish translation by Monfort et al. (2014). The RAS was designed to assess general relationship satisfaction. ...
The current study was designed to investigate the concurrent and temporal associations between petitionary-focused prayer for a partner and relationship outcomes such as relationship satisfaction, commitment and quality, romantic loneliness, and relationship disillusionment from the perspective of the moderating role of relationship form (marital vs. nonmarital relationship). This study utilized a cross-sectional and longitudinal design and examined 412 Polish adults aged 18–75 (M = 35.10, SD = 9.50) at Time 1 and 190 participants after a four-month interval. The results revealed a moderation function of relationship form at T1 for relationship satisfaction at T1 and that more praying for a partner at T1 was associated with higher relationship satisfaction at T1 in marital relationships but not in nonmarital relationships. There was, however, a trend suggesting that more praying for a partner at T1 might be related to lower levels of romantic loneliness at T2 in marital relationships but not in nonmarital relationships. No interaction effects were observed for other relationship outcomes. These results suggest that the effects of praying for a partner may differ depending on relationship outcomes and that prayer may play a positive function with respect to relationship satisfaction in marital relationships in comparison to nonmarital relationships.
... A single item, "In general, how satisfied are you with your relationship?" is a one-item version of the original seven-item Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS; Hendrick, 1988) developed by Fülöp et al. (2022). In the current investigation, we used the Polish adaptation of the RAS by Monfort et al. (2014) at T1. The item was rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (completely). ...
The present study examines social, family, and romantic loneliness as mediators and satisfaction with social and intimate relationships as moderators in the link between daily spiritual experiences and purpose in life. This cross-sectional and longitudinal investigation involved 700 Polish adults at T1 (M = 39.83, SD = 9.24) and 236 at T2. Our cross-sectional analyses revealed that lower satisfaction with social relationships and higher daily spiritual experiences are related to lower family and social loneliness, whereas lower intimate relationship satisfaction and higher daily spiritual experiences are related to decreased social and romantic loneliness, which contribute to a greater purpose in life. The longitudinal data analyses did not support the concurrent moderated mediation model. The enhancing function of daily spiritual experiences for purpose in life concerns domain-specific loneliness and manifests amid decreased levels of satisfaction with social and intimate relationships.
... The Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS; Hendrick, 1988), a seven-item measure of relationship satisfaction, was translated from English into Polish by Monfort et al. (2014). Response options ranged from 1 to 5 (with item-specific anchors such as unsatisfied to extremely satisfied, or poorly to extremely). ...
In Poland, individuals enter marriages and relationships increasingly to derive personal fulfillment, creating high expectations that may elevate individuals' risk for romantic disillusionment (the perception that the relationship has not lived up to expectations and has deteriorated). Given these dynamics in Poland, a Polish‐language measure of disillusionment would open up new research opportunities. Three studies, therefore, examined psychometric properties of a new Polish‐Language Relationship Disillusionment Scale (RDS‐PL), which was translated and back‐translated with an established English‐language measure. Study 1 (pilot study) administered the English‐ and Polish‐language RDS versions 2 months apart to 19 bilingual Polish university students, yielding cross‐language test–retest reliability of 0.61. In Study 2, 214 individuals completed the RDS‐PL and other Polish‐language measures. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a one‐factor RDS‐PL structure, and significant correlations of the RDS‐PL with relationship satisfaction, forgiveness, and resentment provided convergent validity. Study 3 (N = 280) supported the RDS‐PL's convergent validity with English and Polish‐language relationship measures. Studies 2 and 3 also partially supported its discriminant validity.
... Next, we calculated reactivity scores for HR, PEP, and CO (Christenfeld, Glynn, & Gerin, 2000), where the score of the last 2 min of baseline was subtracted from the Match 1 and Match 2. This calculation is mathematically equivalent to computing the area between the reactivity curve and the resting level. Using difference scores is a standard strategy for the study of autonomic responses to psychological factors (e.g., Monfort et al., 2014). ...
... This calculation is mathematically equivalent to computing the area between the reactivity curve and the resting level. Using difference scores is a standard strategy for the study of autonomic responses to psychological factors (Monfort et al., 2014;Peters, Reis, & Jamieson, 2018). ...
... The recorded GSR signal pertains to the resistance between two electrodes that are attached to participants' fingers and connected to a voltage amplifier. The number of galvanic skin responses as well as the magnitude of the GSR amplitude reflects the emotional state of a participant, and is thus employed as a marker of emotional arousal, with a more pronounced GSR response indexing an increased intensity of emotions experienced (Bradley, Cuthbert, & Lang, 1990;Cook, Hawk, Davis, & Stevenson, 1991;Waugh, Thompson, & Gotlib, 2011;Monfort et al., 2014). ...
Investigating human emotions empirically is still considered to be challenging, mostly due to the questionable validity of the results obtained when employing individual types of measures. Among the most frequently used methods to study emotional reactions are self-report, autonomic, neurophysiological, and behavioral measures. Importantly, previous studies on emotional responding have rarely triangulated the aforementioned research methods. In this paper we discuss main methodological considerations related to the use of physiological and self-report measures in emotion studies, based
on our previous research on the processing of emotionally-laden narratives in the native and non-native language, where we employed the SUPIN S30 questionnaire as a self-report tool, and galvanic skin response (GSR) as a physiological measure (Jankowiak & Korpal, 2018). The findings revealed a more pronounced reaction to stimuli presented in the native relative to the non-native language, which was however reflected only in GSR patterns. The lack of correlation between GSR and SUPIN scores might have resulted from a number of methodological considerations, such as social desirability bias, sensitive questions, lack of emotional self-awareness, compromised ecological validity, and laboratory anxiety, all of which are thoroughly discussed in the article.
... Sharing positive events enhances and prolongs the happiness induced by the event to the extent that individuals feel that their partner understands (e.g., listens attentively what they share, gathers information about the event), validates (e.g., expresses appreciation and agreement), and cares for them (e.g., shows love and affection, expresses empathy) (Maisel et al., 2008). In daily life, partner responsiveness to capitalization attempts predicts diverse indicators of happiness including relationship satisfaction (Gable, Reis, Impett, & Asher, 2004) and hedonic well-being (Gable, Gosnell, Maisel, & Strachman, 2012;Monfort et al., 2014). Importantly, these effects hold even when positivity of the event itself is partialled out, indicating that the role of partner responsiveness goes above and beyond individual differences in positivity of shared events. ...
The importance of close relationships for happiness has long been recognized. This long-held interest has produced an increase in relevant empirical work investigating the links between relationships and personal well-being in the last three decades. Recent attempts at integrating this vast body of literature suggest that responsiveness—i.e., the belief that close relationship partners understand, validate, and care for us—is a core process linking close relationships to health and happiness. In the present chapter, we review the links between responsiveness and happiness, with an emphasis on studies of marital and long-term romantic relationships. The available evidence indicates that partner responsiveness improves happiness in both negative contexts (by preserving happiness in the face of stress and adversity) and positive contexts (by augmenting and prolonging happiness induced by pleasant events and supporting the pursuit of personally meaningful goals and self-actualization). We believe that future work should build on this literature by investigating intergenerational effects of partner responsiveness on offspring happiness, comparing the roles of different social network members in happiness, examining how cultural grounding of relationships modulate the responsiveness-happiness link, and identifying the different components of responsiveness critical for happiness across cultures and developmental stages.
... A galvanic skin response (GSR) method was employed to measure emotional responding. Since an increased skin conductance indexes physiological arousal, GSR has been frequently employed as a marker of emotional arousal (Bradley, Cuthbert and Lang 1990;Cook et al. 1991;Waugh, Thompson and Gotlib 2011;Monfort et al. 2014). For this study, a PsychLab SC amplifier was used to measure the number of galvanic skin responses. ...
An experimental study was conducted to examine whether simultaneous interpreters are affected by the speaker’s emotions. To this end, two measures of emotion were used: galvanic skin response (GSR) as a marker of emotional arousal, and SUPIN – the Polish adaptation of PANAS ( Positive and Negative Affect Schedule ). A group of interpreters with Polish as their A language and English as their B language ( N = 20) took part in the experiment. They were asked to simultaneously interpret two speeches (recordings accompanied by video) from Polish into English: a neutral speech and an emotional speech. The results show that the interpreters are indeed affected by the speaker’s emotions, which is reflected in both a greater galvanic skin response and higher SUPIN scores for the emotional speech, when compared to the neutral speech and baseline values. The results may shed new light on the importance of emotion processing in simultaneous interpreting.
... One interpersonal process that may buffer FCR is capitalization, which describes the process of disclosing positive events to a close other (attempt), whose response is perceived as genuine and enthusiastic (perceived partner responsiveness, hereafter termed responsiveness). 15,16 Prior research has revealed benefits of capitalization on individual and relationship well-being, including less negative affect, 15,17,18 less relationship conflict, 19 and greater intimacy. 15,17,19 Capitalizing on positive events may be one mechanism through which couples adapt to FCR in daily life, but this has not been studied. ...
Objective
The core of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR)—a top concern of couples after successful breast cancer (BC) treatment—is fear of death. Daily relationship processes may be instrumental in regulating FCR as triggers of existential distress are encountered. We tested the hypothesis that daily capitalization, the process of sharing good news (capitalization attempts) to a partner perceived as responsive (responsiveness), buffers patient and spouse FCR as they confront the first mammogram post‐diagnosis.
Methods
Fifty‐seven early‐stage BC survivors and their spouses reported daily FCR, capitalization, and positivity of the disclosed event during a three‐week diary period beginning two weeks before the first annual mammogram post‐diagnosis. Dyadic multilevel path models estimated within‐person effects of patient and spouse capitalization on same‐day FCR, controlling for event positivity.
Results
Before the mammogram, capitalization attempts were unrelated to FCR, but for patients, responsiveness was predictive of greater same‐day FCR. After the mammogram, for both partners, attempts were predictive of greater same‐day FCR, yet responsiveness was predictive of lower FCR.
Conclusions
Findings were largely inconsistent with the hypothesis that capitalization buffers existential distress. However, results revealed novel insights about daily dyadic processes that may characterize within‐person adaptation to existential threat. Potential explanations for the differential links between capitalization and FCR based on timing (before versus after threat) and capitalization component (attempts versus responsiveness) are discussed.
... Past research also showed that PRCA in romantic relationships and friendships are related to happiness (Demir and Davidson 2013;Gable et al. 2004;Lakey 2013). Notably, providers of enthusiastic responses to significant others' capitalization attempts also report higher levels of happiness (Conoley et al. 2015;Monfort et al. 2014). Gable and her colleagues (Gable and Algoe 2010;Gable and Reis 2010) argue that enthusiastic responses are related to happiness because they reinforce the perceived value and significance of the event for the discloser, which may contribute to the generation of an upward spiral of positive emotions (Gable and Reis 2010). ...
Friends share positive events with each other, and the perception of the responses as active and constructive (i.e., enthusiastic) is related to happiness. Two studies (N = 685) investigated friendship maintenance (FM) in same-sex best friendships as the mediator of the relationship between perceived responses to capitalization attempts (PRCA) and happiness. Results in both studies showed that PRCA was positively related to FM, and that FM explained why PRCA was associated with happiness, even when different measures of happiness were utilized. Although women reported higher levels of PRCA and FM compared to men, the associations of the friendship experiences with happiness were similar and the model was supported for both women and men. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of understanding the role of friendship experiences in the capitalization process. Also, directions for future research were provided.
... W badaniu analizowano postawy afektywne wobec relacji obejmujące pomiar pozytywnych i negatywnych emocji. Pozytywne emocje pełnią ważną funkcję regu- lacyjną w związkach romantycznych [24]. Emocjonalny komponent postawy badano, prosząc o zaznaczenie na skali od 0 do 10 nasilenia emocji po- zytywnych i negatywnych wobec związków. ...
Introduction: The aim of this paper is to analyse the findings of the study on attitudes towards intimate relationships of heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual men. Material and methods: In the study participated 90 men aged 18-58 (61 heterosexual, 20 homosexual and 9 bisexual). Results: Sexual orientation is connected with selected aspects of attitudes towards relationships in affective, cognitive and behavioural component. It does not differentiate for statistical significance the parameters like: the length of the relationship, undertaking sexual intercourse in the relationship or cheating on a partner. Conclusions: Sexual orientation is related to some facets of attitudes towards intimate relationships but it does not differentiate groups as much and in as many aspects to be regarded as the only or the basic one to shape the attitudes towards love relationship.
... W badaniu analizowano postawy afektywne wobec relacji obejmujące pomiar pozytywnych i negatywnych emocji. Pozytywne emocje pełnią ważną funkcję regu- lacyjną w związkach romantycznych [24]. Emocjonalny komponent postawy badano, prosząc o zaznaczenie na skali od 0 do 10 nasilenia emocji po- zytywnych i negatywnych wobec związków. ...
WSTĘP:
Celem niniejszej pracy jest analiza wyników badań dotyczących postaw wobec związków intymnych mężczyzn hetero-, homo- i biseksualnych.
MATERIAŁ I METODY:
W badaniu udział wzięło 90 mężczyzn w wieku 18–58 lat (61 osób heteroseksualnych, 20 homoseksualnych, 9 osób biseksualnych).
WYNIKI:
Orientacja seksualna wiąże się z wybranymi aspektami postaw wobec związków w komponentach emocjonalnym, poznawczym i behawioralnym. Nie różnicuje w sposób istotny statystycznie badanych mężczyzn w zakresie takich wymiarów, jak: długość związku, podejmowanie stosunków seksualnych w związku oraz występowanie zdrady.
WNIOSKI:
Orientacja seksualna mężczyzn wiąże się z niektórymi aspektami postaw wobec związków intymnych, lecz nie różnicuje grup na tyle mocno i w tylu aspektach, żeby uznać ją za jedyną lub podstawową dla kształtowania postaw wobec związku miłosnego.
... Relationship Satisfaction To assess general relationship satisfaction the Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick 1988) (Polish adaptation - Monfort et al. 2014) was used. This questionnaire consisted of 7 items rated by respondents on a 5point scale ranging from 1 (not well) to 5 (very well). ...
This study examined the incremental validity of the Satisfaction with Relationship Status Scale (ReSta; Lehmann et al. 2015) in comparison to the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS; Hendrick 1988). The incremental validity of ReSta was assessed using a cross-sectional (N = 239) and longitudinal sample (N = 117) of Polish young adults aged 20 to 36. The results showed that ReSta, as opposed to RAS, predicted life satisfaction, emotional and psychological well-being, but it did not predict depressive symptoms, which were predicted by RAS. ReSta also significantly contributed to the higher accuracy of cross-validation of individuals to single and partnered groups when compared with RAS. The Satisfaction with Relationship Status Scale as an analog scale measuring satisfaction with relationship status provides meaningful information in the prediction of life satisfaction, and emotional and psychological well-being when compared with RAS, which in turn is the only significant predictor of depressive symptoms.
... The Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick 1988) (Polish adaptation - Monfort et al. 2014) was used to measure general relationship satisfaction. This questionnaire consisted of 7 items rated by respondents on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (not well) to 5 (very well). ...
This article presents a study aimed at developing and validating a Polish-language version of the Satisfaction with Relationship Status Scale (ReSta) (Lehmann et al. in Journal of Happiness Studies, 16, 169–184 2015). The construct and concurrent validity, and psychometric properties of the Polish ReSta were examined in the sample of 185 Polish respondents aged 20–32 (M = 22.59, SD = 3.23). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the unidimensionality of the Polish ReSta. The analyses demonstrated the existence of differences in the domain of status satisfaction between single and partnered individuals, and between women and men, as well as between single individuals who reported different frequency of preference of the alternate relationship status. The analysis of zero-order correlations revealed strong associations between status satisfaction and relationship satisfaction, and romantic loneliness. Finally, status satisfaction was found to be a better predictor of life satisfaction, emotional and psychological well-being, and depressive symptoms than relationship status per se. The Polish ReSta was assessed to be a valid measure of status satisfaction with high reliability and high test-retest reliability over a lag of one month.
... Spouses' responses to positive events, or capitalization support, should also be further examined as a candidate mechanism of marriage's health effects. Among romantic partners in a lab study, partners' supportive responses increased positive emotions and facial expressions but not skin conductance responses (Monfort et al. 2014). Future studies might expand the range of physiological outcomes to determine the scope of capitalization's effects. ...
This review highlights recent advances in research addressing intimate partner relationships and health. Consideration of the strong mutual influences that the members of a couple have on each other's mental and physical health trajectories provides a new way to view the health implications of couples' convergence or interdependence; marital closeness can have a clear downside when one partner has mental or physical health problems. Couples' interconnectedness can also be leveraged to promote better treatment outcomes. Major themes include the pivotal role of depression and the importance of gender differences in the pathways from the marital relationship to physiological functioning and health. The health risks and benefits of support are weighed. Additionally, two prominent emerging paths from marital distress to poor health are emphasized: sleep problems and metabolic alterations that promote obesity and its comorbidities. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology Volume 13 is May 7, 2017. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
... FaceReader 5.0 detects and classifies frame-by-frame expressions using existing algorithms with 500 key points in the face that correspond to basic emotions. Prior research suggests that this software is reliable and valid (Chentsova-Dutton & Tsai, 2010; Monfort et al., 2014). In addition to basic emotions such as happiness and disgust, FaceReader 5.0 provides a robust compound index of facial behavior known as emotional valence. ...
The article presents a case report of comorbidity between bipolar disorder and Asperger syndrome in a 23-year-old woman. In the patient since adolescence, abnormal behavior and social functioning were observed, further accompanied by symptoms meeting the criteria for a diagnosis of bipolar disorder type II. Once the final diagnosis was established and treatment consistent with reports from the literature was introduced, it resulted in significant improvements of the psychiatric status. One and a half years after the last affective episode, the patient is continuing her academic activity (study of law) at a university in a foreign country.
... FaceReader 5.0 detects and classifies frame-by-frame expressions using existing algorithms with 500 key points in the face that correspond to basic emotions. Prior research suggests that this software is reliable and valid (Chentsova-Dutton & Tsai, 2010; Monfort et al., 2014). In addition to basic emotions such as happiness and disgust, FaceReader 5.0 provides a robust compound index of facial behavior known as emotional valence. ...
Research has shown that creative performance, such as painting, influences affective and cognitive processes. Yet, little is known about how tactile sensations experienced during painting determine what individuals feel and how they think while they create. Based on prior research, we expected finger painting (compared to brush painting) to generate more tactile sensations, enhance state mindfulness, and broaden the scope of attention. We also expected an effect of painting on emotional processing. Volunteers (N = 54) were randomly assigned to finger painting or brush painting sessions. The global-local test was used to measure scope of attention. Participants reported state mindfulness with a cued-recall rating dial method. Automated facial expression analysis provided a continuous index of emotions. In support of the hypotheses, finger painting was related to more tactile sensations, more state mindfulness, and a broader attentional focus. These results suggest that assigning finger painting to individuals is a viable method for improving state mindfulness and enhancing scope of attention. The effects for affective processes, however, are mixed.
... For example, a parent might help shorten a child's expression of anger by ignoring it. Among adults, capitalization, defined as communicating and sharing about pleasant event with others, has been identified as one interactive strategy that can prolong or increase positive mood (Ramsey & Gentzler, 2015;Monfort et al., 2014). Given the benefits of positive emotion for development and health, including its role in promoting social connectedness (Fredrickson, 2001), it is important to understand how family members act to increase or maintain positive emotion in children. ...
Research on family socialization of positive emotion has primarily focused on the infant and toddler stages of development, and relied on observations of parent-child interactions in highly structured laboratory environments. Little is known about how children's spontaneous expressions of positive emotion are maintained in the uncontrolled settings of daily life, particularly within the family and during the school-age years. This naturalistic observational study examines 3 family behaviors-mutual display of positive emotion, touch, and joint leisure-that surround 8- to 12-year-old children's spontaneous expressions of positive emotion, and tests whether these behaviors help to sustain children's expressions. Recordings taken of 31 families in their homes and communities over 2 days were screened for moments when children spontaneously expressed positive emotion in the presence of at least 1 parent. Children were more likely to sustain their expressions of positive emotion when mothers, fathers, or siblings showed positive emotion, touched, or participated in a leisure activity. There were few differences in the ways that mothers and fathers socialized their sons' and daughters' positive emotion expressions. This study takes a unique, ecologically valid approach to assess how family members connect to children's expressions of positive emotion in middle childhood. Future observational studies should continue to explore mechanisms of family socialization of positive emotion, in laboratory and naturalistic settings. (PsycINFO Database Record
Why do people fall in love? Does passion fade with time? What makes for a happy, healthy relationship? This introduction to relationship science follows the lifecycle of a relationship – from attraction and initiation, to the hard work of relationship maintenance, to dissolution and ways to strengthen a relationship. Designed for advanced undergraduates studying psychology, communication or family studies, this textbook presents a fresh, diversity-infused approach to relationship science. It includes real-world examples and critical-thinking questions, callout boxes that challenge students to make connections, and researcher interviews that showcase the many career paths of relationship scientists. Article Spotlights reveal cutting-edge methods, while Diversity and Inclusion boxes celebrate the variety found in human love and connection. Throughout the book, students see the application of theory and come to recognize universal themes in relationships as well as the nuances of many findings. Instructors can access lecture slides, an instructor manual, and test banks.
Previous research has shown that enthusiastic responses to personal good news are associated with positive relationship qualities, whereas more muted or ambivalent responses tend to have negative effects on relationships. This process, called capitalization, has been studied almost exclusively in Western cultures. The present research examined capitalization in three East Asian cultural groups (Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), as well as in the United States. Whereas enthusiastic responses were associated with positive relationship outcomes in all groups, muted and critical responses showed significant moderation by culture. In three North American samples, these responses were negatively associated with relationship qualities. However, muted and critical responses revealed strong and positive correlations with relationship outcomes in Mainland China, non-significant associations in Hong Kong, and significant negative (but still weaker than in North America) associations in Taiwan. These findings point to the importance of examining relationship processes in the context of culture.
People benefit when others react enthusiastically to their good news, a process known as capitalization. However, little is known regarding individual differences that predict who responds enthusiastically, and how capitalization might benefit responders. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, we hypothesize that responders with a stronger promotion predominance, who emphasize ideals and pursue goals eagerly, (a) provide more enthusiastic (active-constructive) responding following their partners’ capitalization attempts, and (b) experience positive capitalization outcomes, namely higher perceptions of interaction quality and greater positive mood. Findings from 1 correlational study (Study 1) and 2 dyadic studies (Studies 2–3) supported these hypotheses. These results are among the first to consider the role of motivation in the context of capitalization interactions and reveal important benefits associated with providing capitalization support.
In Erikson's model of development, intimacy and isolation denote polar outcomes of psychosocial crisis in young adulthood. Drawing on this model, the present study used three-wave longitudinal data to examine patterns of the success and lack of success in the resolution of Eriksonian crisis in relation to romantic loneliness as a negative outcome of the intimacy crisis, and compared across Poland and the United States. The data were collected from Polish and U.S. individuals aged 18-40 for Wave 1 (N = 763). Four patterns of the Eriksonian intimacy crisis were identified: (a) stable partnered status; (b) stable single status; (c) transition from single to partnered status; (d) transition from partnered to single status. In both countries, transition from single to partnered status was related to decreased romantic loneliness. Greater initial romantic loneliness was observed among Polish single adults who transited to partnered status in contrast to stable single adults. In turn, the U.S. partnered adults who transited to single status initially experienced lower romantic loneliness than stable single adults. Bivariate latent growth curve models pairing romantic loneliness with relationship satisfaction revealed that higher initial relationship satisfaction was associated with lower initial romantic loneliness, and a greater increase in relationship satisfaction was associated with smaller increases in romantic loneliness. The findings highlight that different resolutions of the intimacy crisis are related to diverse romantic loneliness and relationship satisfaction trajectories and these associations also appear to differ as a function of various marital and loneliness contexts in Poland and the United States. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Emotional deficits are prominent in schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology and linked with poorer outcomes. Schizotypy, an underlying personality organization that putatively confers vulnerability to developing schizophrenia, has been associated with increased negative affect, decreased positive affect, and some difficulty with emotion regulation. This study explored the role of social capitalization, the upregulation of positive emotion when positive life events are shared with others, in schizotypy. Social capitalization is relevant for schizotypy given its association with social functioning and social motivation abnormalities. Using mobile assessment methods, a sample of college students (N=73) completed daily surveys via a mobile application two times per day for seven days and made daily ratings of mood and answered questions regarding any capitalization attempt for a positive event. Results indicated that higher schizotypy and not sharing an event were independently associated with lower happiness and increased sadness and anxiety. When an event was shared, lower schizotypy and supportive/enthusiastic response perception were independently associated with increased happiness. No significant interactions were observed between schizotypy and social capitalization variables. Future research would benefit from exploring the role that other common schizotypy concomitants, e.g., social anxiety or social disconnection, play in social capitalization and the extent this is helped or hindered via mass personal technological mediums.
There is growing recognition that relationship factors besides relationship status play an important role in young adults' mental and physical health. This study explored the concurrent (between-individual) and longitudinal (within-individual) associations between relationship status, relationship satisfaction, satisfaction with relationship status, and varied dimensions of health in samples of Polish and U.S. young adults. Data from young adults (aged 18-34 at Wave 1) were collected in a three-wave investigation in Poland and in the USA with one-year intervals between each of the measurements. The cross-sectional analyses demonstrated that individuals in relationships reported better health, particularly if they were in a higher-quality relationship. The fixed-effects models showed that relationship quality was a much more consistent and powerful predictor of health than was relationship status; however, for depression, satisfaction with relationship status was an independent contributor to health. Cross-cultural analyses revealed a stronger link between partner status and depression and emotional well-being, and relationship satisfaction and psychological well-being among Polish young adults than their American counterparts. The results demonstrated that characteristics of relationships and satisfaction with relationship status matter more for changes in health than relationship status alone and that these links may differ by cultural context.
A person can reap psychological benefits when sharing their accomplishments or capitalizing with a partner. These benefits often depend on whether a partner responds with enthusiasm; however, it is unknown what prompts enthusiastic responses. In two experiments, we aimed to examine whether partners reciprocate enthusiastic responses to capitalization attempts. In Study 1, participants (N = 394) who recalled their partner’s past enthusiastic feedback to capitalization attempts endorsed stronger intentions to respond enthusiastically to their partner’s capitalization attempts (relative to a comparison group recalling their partner’s prior demeaning feedback). In Study 2 (N = 326), we found that enthusiastic responses to capitalization attempts were reciprocated among romantic couples but reciprocation was not mediated by subjective emotion, emotional expressiveness, nor physiological responses. In conclusion, our findings support reciprocity in capitalization, i.e. romantic partners are more motivated and more likely to respond enthusiastically to capitalization attempts depending on their partner’s previous behavior.
Chronic stress and depression can enhance chronic low-grade inflammation. Interpersonal factors may buffer the impact of stress and depression on inflammation. Interpersonal capitalization is a social support process in which one discloses positive personal events and experiences to close others. Greater capitalization may attenuate the deleterious impact of chronic stress and depression. The goal of the current study was to assess whether interpersonal capitalization is associated with inflammation and whether it moderates the association of chronic stress and depression with inflammation. In this cross-sectional study of chronic caregiving stress, 222 caregiving mothers of adolescents with developmental disabilities or comparison mothers of typically developing adolescents completed a self-reported daily diary assessment of capitalization, the Center for Epidemiological Study-Depression scale, and provided blood samples to assess interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-, and C-reactive protein, three circulating inflammatory markers. Regression analysis indicated that there was no main effect of capitalization on inflammation, p = .24, R 2 = .006. However, there was a significant three-way interaction among capitalization, chronic caregiving stress, and depressive symptoms, p = .01, R 2 = .02. Among participants with lower capitalization, greater depressive symptoms were associated with higher inflammation in the caregiving group, but not in the comparison group. Among participants with higher capitalization, greater depressive symptoms were no longer significantly associated with higher inflammation among caregivers, but were marginally related to inflammation in the comparison group. Capitalization may thus be an interpersonal process mitigating the effects of chronic stress and depression on inflammation.
Major areas of focus within past work on leader development center on aspects of one’s own identity and self-awareness, one’s ability to grow, change, and adapt to new situations, and development of the necessary skills and competencies needed to lead. There has been some discussion of the importance of social networks or relationships, but an understanding of the unique ways in which various types of social support received (and provided) within those relationships may contribute to leader development has not been fully examined. Here, I explore past work on social support to illustrate the unique ways in which support given and received for both positive and negative events may help develop leaders, as support communicates acceptance and affirmation and provides important outside perspectives.
In recent years, a variety of disparate literatures have emerged to test interventions intended to increase individuals' psychological, cognitive, and physiological resources. Although many of these interventions were originally designed for individual or clinical use, a growing number of commentators have called for their adoption in organizations. But controversy remains about their efficacy in the workplace. We review the research literature on 6 interventions that have been used to build volatile personal resources: malleable, individual-level constructs that are vital for withstanding work stress and proximal to work outcomes. In so doing, we evaluate the generalizability of these interventions to organizational settings, along with their potential benefits and costs. Our findings highlight new opportunities for both research and practice.
Prior research has examined links between Dark Triad traits—Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism—and aggression in individuals, but not couples. Dating heterosexual couples self-reported measures of the Dark Triad and aggression (trait and displaced; Study 1) or negativity (Study 2). Actor–partner interdependence models showed positive links between (a) women's psychopathy and women's trait and displaced aggression (actor effects), and (b) men's psychopathy and women's trait aggression (partner effect). Positive actor effects also linked narcissism to displaced aggression. Using integrative data analysis to combine Studies 1 and 2, relationship duration moderated actor and partner effects linking psychopathy to women's argumentativeness (negativity and verbal aggression); men in longer relationships and women in shorter relationships had psychopathy–argumentativeness slopes that were especially positive.
Both positive affect and positive close relationships contribute significantly to overall well-being. This review examines the literature assessing associations between positive affect and positive indices within close relationships across the life span. Specifically, the reviewed research includes parent-child relationships, friendships, and romantic relationships in relation to a variety of positive emotions and happiness more generally. This review also highlights several processes that may serve as partial mechanisms linking positive close relationships and positive affect including the interpersonal regulation and coregulation of positive emotion and the biological processes involved in experiences of positive affect and close relationships. Throughout the review, evidence of bidirectional, reciprocal associations between positive affect and positive close relationships is emphasized. Based on the current state of the literature, future directions for research in this area are considered.
Prior research has found that perceiving positive responses from others following self-disclosures enhances social bonds and plays a role in the maintenance of romantic relationships. We sought to extend this effect by exploring perceived responsiveness to good news in the context of initial social interactions with a stranger. In this study, unacquainted college students (n = 106) participated in a 45-minute semi-structured social interaction, and information on their emotions and behaviours was collected immediately after and one week later. We found that the receipt of supportive reactions to self-disclosure attempts during the social interaction was associated with immediate positivity and a more positive memory of the event (remembered enjoyment and positive emotions) one week later. This effect could not be attributed to how positively the event was experienced immediately afterwards, suggesting that perceived responsiveness during an initial social interaction facilitates a positive memory bias. These results offer new insights into how friendships might develop and be maintained.
Extending prior work on social anxiety and positivity deficits, we examined whether individual differences in social anxiety alter the ability to share and respond to the good news of romantic partners (i.e., capitalization support) and how this influences romantic relationship satisfaction and commitment. In this study of 174 heterosexual couples (average age of 21.5 with 58.3% identifying as Caucasian), greater social anxiety was associated with the provision and receipt of less supportive responses to shared positive events as measured by trait questionnaires, partner reports, and behavioral observations in the laboratory. In longitudinal analyses, individuals in romantic relationships with socially anxious partners who experienced inadequate capitalization support were more likely to terminate their relationship and report a decline in relationship quality six months later. As evidence of construct specificity, social anxiety effects were independent of depressive symptoms. Taken together, social anxiety influenced a person's ability to receive and provide support for shared positive events; these deficits had adverse romantic consequences. Researchers and clinicians may better understand social anxiety by exploring a wider range of interpersonal contexts and positive constructs. The addition of capitalization support to the social anxiety literature offers new insights into interpersonal approaches and treatments.
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Naturalistic observation at a bowling alley (
N = 1,793 balls) shows that bowlers often smiled when socially engaged, looking at and talking to others, but not necessarily after scoring a spare or a strike. In a 2nd study, bowlers (
N = 166 balls) rarely smiled while facing the pins but often smiled when facing their friends. At a hockey game, fans (
N = 3,726 faces) smiled both when they were socially involved and after events favorable to their team. Pedestrians (
N = 663) were much more likely to smile when talking but only slightly more likely to smile in response to nice weather than to unpleasant weather. These 4 studies suggest a strong and robust association of smiling with a social motivation and an erratic association with emotional experience. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The meaning of spontaneous skin conductance activity, and its relevance to appraisal theory, are examined. Spontaneous skin conductance activity is hypothesised to reflect task engagement, and thus to be correlated with appraisals of problem-focused coping potential. In a within-subjects design, subjects solved anagrams in which task difficulty was manipulated by varying both the difficulty of the anagrams and the amount of time available to solve them. In the most difficult condition, appraisals of coping potential were expected, and observed, to be especially low, and these appraisals were predicted to produce selective disengagement from the task, yielding reduced skin conductance activity. Within trials, skin conductance activity increased at the start of the trials in all conditions, but decreased by the end of the trials in the most difficult condition only. At the end of the trials, both spontaneous response rate and maximum response amplitude were positively correlated, within-subjects, with appraisals of coping potential, and, even after controlling for task difficulty, with solving the anagram. These findings support the hypothesised relation between appraised coping potential and spontaneous skin conductance activity, and the interpretation of this activity as reflecting task engagement.
It is argued that insufficient attention has been paid to the nature and processes underlying positive experiences. An analogy is drawn between coping with negative events and the processes of taking advantage of, or capitalizing on, positive events. It was hypothesized that expressive displays (e.g., communicating the event to others, celebrating, etc.) and perceived control would be effective capitalizing responses after positive events. These responses were predicted to augment the benefits of the events on temporary moods and longer-term well-being. Two daily-diary studies of college undergraduates showed that expressive responses and perceived control were associated with positive affect above and beyond the benefits due to the valence of the positive events themselves.
This study integrated results from controlled trials of reminiscence interventions.
Meta-analysis was used to aggregate results from 128 studies on 9 outcome VARIABLES.
Compared to non-specific changes in control-group members, moderate improvements were observed at posttest with regard to ego-integrity (g=0.64) and depression (g=0.57 standard deviation units). Small effects were found on purpose in life (g=0.48), death preparation (g=0.40), mastery (g=0.40), mental health symptoms (g=0.33), positive well-being (g=0.33), social integration (g=0.31), and cognitive performance (g=0.24). Most effects were maintained at follow-up. We observed larger improvements of depressive symptoms in depressed individuals (g=1.09) and persons with chronic physical disease (g=0.94) than in other individuals, and in those receiving life-review therapy (g=1.28) rather than life-review or simple reminiscence. Moderating effects of the control condition were also detected.
Reminiscence interventions affect a broad range of outcomes, and therapeutic as well as preventive effects are similar to those observed in other frequently used interventions.
We have constructed a frontal face detection system which achieves detection and false positive rates which are equivalent to the best published results [7, 5, 6, 4, 1]. This face detection system is most clearly distinguished from previous approaches in its ability to detect faces extremely rapidly. Operating on 384 by 288 pixel images, faces are detected at 15 frames per second on a conventional 700 MHz Intel Pentium III. In other face detection systems, auxiliary information, such as image differences in video sequences, or pixel color in color images, have been used to achieve high frame rates. Our system achieves high frame rates working only with the information present in a single grey scale image. These alternative sources of information can also be integrated with our system to achieve even higher frame rates.
This paper describes a face detection framework that is capable of processing images extremely rapidly while achieving high detection rates. There are three key contributions. The first is the introduction of a new image representation called the Integral Image which allows the features used by our detector to be computed very quickly. The second is a simple and efficient classifier which is built using the AdaBoost learning algorithm (Freund and Schapire, 1995) to select a small number of critical visual features from a very large set of potential features. The third contribution is a method for combining classifiers in a cascade which allows background regions of the image to be quickly discarded while spending more computation on promising face-like regions. A set of experiments in the domain of face detection is presented. The system yields face detection performance comparable to the best previous systems (Sung and Poggio, 1998; Rowley et al., 1998; Schneiderman and Kanade, 2000; Roth et al., 2000). Implemented on a conventional desktop, face detection proceeds at 15 frames per second.
Positive emotions are hypothesized to undo the cardiovascular aftereffects of negative emotions. Study 1 tests this undoing effect. Participants (n = 170) experiencing anxiety-induced cardiovascular reactivity viewed a film that elicited (a) contentment, (b) amusement, (c) neutrality, or (d) sadness. Contentment-eliciting and amusing films produced faster cardiovascular recovery than neutral or sad films did. Participants in Study 2 (n = 185) viewed these same films following a neutral state. Results disconfirm the alternative explanation that the undoing effect reflects a simple replacement process. Findings are contextualized by Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (B. L. Fredrickson, 1998).
Field studies and laboratory experiments have documented that a key component of resilience is emotional flexibility--the ability to respond flexibly to changing emotional circumstances. In the present study we tested the hypotheses that resilient people exhibit emotional flexibility: (a) in response to frequently changing emotional stimuli and (b) across multiple modalities of emotional responding. As participants viewed a series of emotional pictures, we assessed their self-reported affect, facial muscle activity, and startle reflexes. Higher trait resilience predicted more divergent affective and facial responses (corrugator and zygomatic) to positive versus negative pictures. Thus, compared with their low-resilient counterparts, resilient people appear to be able to more flexibly match their emotional responses to the frequently changing emotional stimuli. Moreover, whereas high-trait-resilient participants exhibited divergent startle responses to positive versus negative pictures regardless of the valence of the preceding trial, low-trait-resilient participants did not exhibit divergent startle responses when the preceding picture was negative. High-trait-resilient individuals, therefore, appear to be better able than are their low-resilient counterparts to either switch or maintain their emotional responses depending on whether the emotional context changes. The present findings broaden our understanding of the mechanisms underlying resilience by demonstrating that resilient people are able to flexibly change their affective and physiological responses to match the demands of frequently changing environmental circumstances.
Sharing good news with others is one way that people can savor those experiences while building personal and interpersonal resources. Although prior research has established the benefits of this process, called capitalization, there has been little research and no experiments to examine the underlying mechanisms. In this article, we report results from 4 experiments and 1 daily diary study conducted to examine 2 mechanisms relevant to capitalization: that sharing good news with others increases the perceived value of those events, especially when others respond enthusiastically, and that enthusiastic responses to shared good news promote the development of trust and a prosocial orientation toward the other. These studies found consistent support for these effects across both interactions with strangers and in everyday close relationships.
Research conducted with European Americans suggests that attention to the individual self intensifies emotional reactivity. We propose, however, that cultural models of the self determine which aspect of the self (individual vs. relational), when attended to, intensifies emotional reactivity. In 3 studies, we predicted and observed that attention to individual aspects of the self was associated with levels of emotional reactivity that were greater in individuals from European American contexts (which promote an independent model of the self) than in individuals from Asian American contexts (which promote an interdependent model of the self). In contrast, attention to relational aspects of the self was associated with levels of emotional reactivity that were similar or greater in individuals from Asian American than in individuals from European American contexts. These findings highlight the importance of considering cultural and situational factors when examining links between the self and emotion.
Previous research has indicated that the frequency of skin conductance responses without external stimulation or motor activity is a reliable indicator of psychophysiological states and traits. Some authors have suggested that cognitions elicit nonspecific skin conductance responses. These cognitions may resemble the stimuli that evoke a specific skin conductance response. In a within subjects design (n = 31 graduate students) the onset of nonspecific skin conductance responses triggered a signal for the subject to rate cognitions on several indices. These ratings ("absent" to "fully present") were compared with samples in the absence of phasic electrodermal activity. The subjects' current concerns, negative emotion, subjective arousal, and inner speech were rated to be significantly more intense at the time of nonspecific skin conductance responses compared to electrodermal nonresponding periods. Cognitive processes seem to be concomitants of nonspecific skin conductance responses.
In Experiment I 41 subjects performed one of three tasks while also hearing irrelevant tones tones. The three tasks were forewarned reaction time, vigilance and mental arithmetic and each was divided into discrete trials. The irrelevant tones either occurred during task performance (i.e., within a trial) or outside task performance (i.e., between trials). There was no difference in skin conductance OR magnitude to tones across the three tasks. Heart rate changes in contrast showed clear differences between tasks with a marked deceleration occurring during forewarned reaction time and a marked acceleration occurring during mental arithmetic. Skin conductance OR magnitude was significantly greater to tones occurring during task performance than to tones occurring outside task performance. This was interpreted as reflecting changes in the level of attention (higher during task performance) rather than direction of attention (away from tones during task performance). In Experiment II 39 subjects heard a series of irrelevant tones either while performing a forewarned reaction time task as in Experiment I or while performing no concomitant task. Rate of habituation was significantly faster for the subjects performing the concomitant task. This was interpreted as reflecting direction of attention which should be away from the tones when the subject was performing a concomitant task. Thus while rate of habituation to a class of stimuli may reflect direction of attention, short-term changes in OR amplitude probably reflect level of attention.
Four studies examined the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of seeking out others when good things happen (i.e., capitalization). Two studies showed that communicating personal positive events with others was associated with increased daily positive affect and well-being, above and beyond the impact of the positive event itself and other daily events. Moreover, when others were perceived to respond actively and constructively (and not passively or destructively) to capitalization attempts, the benefits were further enhanced. Two studies found that close relationships in which one's partner typically responds to capitalization attempts enthusiastically were associated with higher relationship well-being (e.g., intimacy, daily marital satisfaction). The results are discussed in terms of the theoretical and empirical importance of understanding how people "cope" with positive events, cultivate positive emotions, and enhance social bonds.
Successes--defined broadly as meeting important standards or receiving positive evaluations--are widely assumed to be enjoyed equally by people with high self-esteem (HSEs) and low self-esteem (LSEs). Three studies examined the contradictory hypothesis that HSEs react more favorably to success than do LSEs and that success brings about certain unfavorable consequences for LSEs. Undergraduate participants reacted to a laboratory-manipulated success (Studies 1 and 2) or imagined highly positive events in the future (Study 3). Self-esteem differences emerged in anxiety, thoughts about the self, and (in Study 3) thoughts about non-self-related aspects of the event. LSEs were more anxious than HSEs after succeeding, success improved HSEs' self-relevant thoughts but not LSEs', and LSEs focused more on success's negative aspects.
In this article, I introduce an emotion paradox: People believe that they know an emotion when they see it, and as a consequence assume that emotions are discrete events that can be recognized with some degree of accuracy, but scientists have yet to produce a set of clear and consistent criteria for indicating when an emotion is present and when it is not. I propose one solution to this paradox: People experience an emotion when they conceptualize an instance of affective feeling. In this view, the experience of emotion is an act of categorization, guided by embodied knowledge about emotion. The result is a model of emotion experience that has much in common with the social psychological literature on person perception and with literature on embodied conceptual knowledge as it has recently been applied to social psychology.
Close relationship partners often share successes and triumphs with one another, but this experience is rarely the focus of empirical study. In this study, 79 dating couples completed measures of relationship well-being and then participated in videotaped interactions in which they took turns discussing recent positive and negative events. Disclosers rated how understood, validated, and cared for they felt in each discussion, and outside observers coded responders' behavior. Both self-report data and observational codes showed that 2 months later, responses to positive event discussions were more closely related to relationship well-being and break-up than were responses to negative event discussions. The results are discussed in terms of the recurrent, but often overlooked, role that positive emotional exchanges play in building relationship resources.
Naturalistic observation at a bowling alley (N = 1,793 balls) shows that bowlers often smiled when socially engaged, looking at and talking to others, but not necessarily after scoring a spare or a strike. In a 2nd study, bowlers (N = 166 balls) rarely smiled while facing the pins but often smiled when facing their friends. At a hockey game, fans (N = 3,726 faces) smiled both when they were socially involved and after events favorable to their team. Pedestrians (N = 663) were much more likely to smile when talking but only slightly more likely to smile in response to nice weather than to unpleasant weather. These 4 studies suggest a strong and robust association of smiling with a social motivation and an erratic association with emotional experience. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
The positive impact of active–constructive responding (i.e., showing enthusiasm) to the sharing of good news (i.e., capitalization attempts) on relationship well-being is well documented. The objective of this research was to determine whether individuals in a close relationship benefit from training to increase active–constructive responding to partner capitalization attempts and to document its impact on relationship well-being. Compared with a joint activity control group, individuals who received training in providing active–constructive responses perceived a greater amount of gratitude from their study partner and perceived their study partner as having greater relationship satisfaction; however, there were no significant differences in reported relationship satisfaction or gratitude expression. Gratitude receipt from a study partner mediated the relationship between experimental condition and perceived study partner relationship satisfaction. These results are discussed in terms of their potential impact on interventions and future research.
In a series of five studies we examined the relationship between sharing positive experiences and positive affect using a diary method (Study 1) and laboratory manipulations (Studies 2 and 3). All of these studies demonstrated that sharing the positive experience heightened its impact on positive affect. In Study 4, we conducted a four-week journal study in which the experimental participants kept a journal of grateful experiences and shared them with a partner twice a week. Control participants either kept a journal of grateful experience (without sharing), or kept a journal of class learnings and shared it with a partner. Those who shared their positive experiences increased in positive affect, happiness, and life satisfaction over the course of four weeks. Study 5 showed that those who received an “active-constructive” response to good news (enthusiastic support) expressed more positive affect than participants in all other conditions, indicating that the response of the listener is important. In sum, our findings suggest that positive affect, happiness, and life satisfaction reach a peak only when participants share their positive experiences and when the relationship partner provides an active-constructive response.
Abstract This paper describes our FaceReader system, which we presented at Measuring ,Behavior 2005. This system is able to describe facial expressions and other facial features online with a remarkable accuracy. In this paper we ,will describe the possibilities of sucha s ystemand,will discuss the technology used to make the system work. Currently, emotional expressions can be recognized with anaccur acy of89% and it can also classify a number ,of other facial features. Keywords Facial expressions, classification, model-based, Active AppearanceM odel,re al-time.
Previous research has shown that receiving social support in the face of negative events (i.e., enacted support) is sometimes correlated with positive outcomes, sometimes unrelated to outcomes, and sometimes associated with negative outcomes. However, people's perception that they have high-quality support available to them when they have a stressor (i.e., perceived support) is consistently and strongly associated with better health, well-being, and relationship functioning. However, both enacted and perceived support available in response to positive event disclosures are consistently associated with positive outcomes. In 2 studies, we examined why enacted support for negative events has such a spotty record and compared it with enacted support for positive events; a third study examined how support for positive events may be a major contributor to perceived availability of effective support for negative events. The results showed that providing responsive support to negative events is particularly difficult; received support for negative events disclosures (but not positive event disclosures) involves substantial drawbacks and risks, especially when that support is not responsive to the recipient's needs; and that enacted support for positive events was a better predictor of later perceptions of the quality of available support for stressors than enacted support for negative events. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for the social support literature and how positive relationship processes influence health and well-being, not only directly but also indirectly by providing critical information regarding the availability of others if a problem occurs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
Laypeople and scientists alike believe that they know anger, or sadness, or fear, when they see it. These emotions and a few others are presumed to have specific causal mechanisms in the brain and properties that are observable (on the face, in the voice, in the body, or in experience)-that is, they are assumed to be natural kinds. If a given emotion is a natural kind and can be identified objectively, then it is possible to make discoveries about that emotion. Indeed, the scientific study of emotion is founded on this assumption. In this article, I review the accumulating empirical evidence that is inconsistent with the view that there are kinds of emotion with boundaries that are carved in nature. I then consider what moving beyond a natural-kind view might mean for the scientific understanding of emotion.
© 2006 Association for Psychological Science.
The idea that global structuring of a visual scene precedes analysis of local features is suggested, discussed, and tested. In the first two experiments subjects were asked to respond to an auditorily presented name of a letter while looking at a visual stimulus that consisted of a large character (the global level) made out of small characters (the local level). The subjects' auditory discrimination responses were subject to interference only by the global level and not by the local one. In Experiment 3 subjects were presented with large characters made out of small ones, and they had to recognize either just the large characters or just the small ones. Whereas the identity of the small characters had no effect on recognition of the large ones, global cues which conflicted with the local ones did inhibit the responses to the local level. In Experiment 4 subjects were asked to judge whether pairs of simple patterns of geometrical forms which were presented for a brief duration were the same or different. The patterns within a pair could differ either at the global or at the local level. It was found that global differences were detected more often than local differences.
Emotions are viewed as having evolved through their adaptive value in dealing with fundamental life-tasks. Each emotion has unique features: signal, physiology, and antecedent events. Each emotion also has characteristics in common with other emotions: rapid onset, short duration, unbidden occurrence, automatic appraisal, and coherence among responses. These shared and unique characteristics are the product of our evolution, and distinguish emotions from other affective phenomena.
Two studies tested the hypothesis that certain positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. In Study 1, 60 subjects (Ss) viewed an initial fear-eliciting film, and were randomly assigned to view a secondary film that elicited: (a) contentment; (b) amusement; (c) neutrality; or (d) sadness. Compared to Ss who viewed the neutral and sad secondary films, those who viewed the positive films exhibited more rapid returns to pre-film levels of cardiovascular activation. In Study 2, 72 Ss viewed a film known to elicit sadness. Fifty Ss spontaneously smiled at least once while viewing this film. Compared to Ss who did not smile, those who smiled exhibited more rapid returns to pre-film levels of cardiovascular activation. We discuss these findings in terms of emotion theory and possible health-promoting functions of positive emotions.
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented.
Synopsis
A prospective study of 400 largely working-class women with children living at home has used measures of self-esteem and ‘social support’ to predict the risk of depression in the following year once a stressor had occurred. Actual support received at the time of any crisis in the follow-up year was also measured. Self-esteem was correlated quite highly with some of the measures of support.
A core tie was defined as a husband, lover or someone named as very close at first contact. Negative evaluation of self (i.e. low self-esteem), and various indices of lack of support from a core tie at the first interview, were associated with a greatly increased risk of subsequent depression once stressor occurred. Lack of support from a core tie at the time of the crisis was particularly highly associated with an increased risk. There was also a high risk among those who were ‘let down’ - that is, for those who did not receive the support which they might have expected in terms of the first interview material. It is concluded that it is essential for prospective enquiries to take account of the actual mobilization of support in the follow-up period.
We hypothesized that autonomic responses conditioned to fear-relevant stimuli, in contrast to responses conditioned to neutral stimuli, can be elicited after only an automatic, non-conscious analysis of the stimulus. Consequently, they may be expected to be insensitive to verbal instructions. Normal subjects were conditioned to either fear-relevant stimuli (snakes or spiders) or neutral stimuli (flowers or mushrooms) in a differential conditioning paradigm with shock as the unconditioned stimulus. In a subsequent extinction series, half of the subjects were shown the conditioned stimuli under masking conditions preventing their conscious recognition, whereas the other half were exposed to non-masked stimuli. Then half of the subjects in each of the masking conditions were verbally instructed that no more shocks would be delivered and then the extinction trials followed. Consistent with our hypothesis, differential responses to the fear-relevant CSs+ and CSs- remained unaffected by both masking and instruction, whereas differential responding to neutral stimuli was wiped out by the masking procedure and the verbal instruction.
The evolution of the autonomic nervous system provides an organizing principle to interpret the adaptive significance of physiological responses in promoting social behavior. According to the polyvagal theory, the well-documented phylogenetic shift in neural regulation of the autonomic nervous system passes through three global stages, each with an associated behavioral strategy. The first stage is characterized by a primitive unmyelinated visceral vagus that fosters digestion and responds to threat by depressing metabolic activity. Behaviorally, the first stage is associated with immobilization behaviors. The second stage is characterized by the sympathetic nervous system that is capable of increasing metabolic output and inhibiting the visceral vagus to foster mobilization behaviors necessary for 'fight or flight'. The third stage, unique to mammals, is characterized by a myelinated vagus that can rapidly regulate cardiac output to foster engagement and disengagement with the environment. The mammalian vagus is neuroanatomically linked to the cranial nerves that regulate social engagement via facial expression and vocalization. As the autonomic nervous system changed through the process of evolution, so did the interplay between the autonomic nervous system and the other physiological systems that respond to stress, including the cortex, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the neuropeptides of oxytocin and vasopressin, and the immune system. From this phylogenetic orientation, the polyvagal theory proposes a biological basis for social behavior and an intervention strategy to enhance positive social behavior.
We examined neural activity related to modulation of skin conductance level (SCL), an index of sympathetic tone, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while subjects performed biofeedback arousal and relaxation tasks. Neural activity within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) covaried with skin conductance level (SCL), irrespective of task. Activity within striate and extrastriate cortices, anterior cingulate and insular cortices, thalamus, hypothalamus and lateral regions of prefrontal cortex reflected the rate of change in electrodermal activity, highlighting areas supporting transient skin conductance responses (SCRs). Successful performance of either biofeedback task (where SCL changed in the intended direction) was associated with enhanced activity in mid-OFC. The findings point to a dissociation between neural systems controlling basal sympathetic tone (SCL) and transient skin conductance responses (SCRs). The level of activity in VMPFC has been related to a default mode of brain function and our findings provide a physiological account of this state, indicating that activity within VMPFC and OFC reflects a dynamic between exteroceptive and interoceptive deployment of attention.
Will you be there for me when things go right? Supportive responses to positive event disclosures
- S L Gable
- G Gonzaga
- A Strachman
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HLM 6 for Windows (Version 6.02)
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