{"title":"The expectation-updating mechanism in gratitude: A predictive coding perspective.","authors":"Ke Ding, Haiqi Lin, Guanmin Liu, Feng Kong, Jinting Liu, Xiaolin Zhou","doi":"10.1037/emo0001421","DOIUrl":"10.1037/emo0001421","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The fluctuations in emotions during constant help are unexplained by traditional emotion theories but may align with the predictive coding theory. This theory suggests that individuals tend to form expectations of others' help during social interactions. When outcomes exceed expectations, positive prediction errors are generated, potentially increasing gratitude. Conversely, constant help may build up expectations that surpass outcomes, resulting in negative prediction errors and reduced gratitude. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies to examine the relationship between prediction errors and gratitude and its underlying mechanism. Here, we conducted two studies. Study 1 consistently found that higher expectations were associated with lower gratitude, when benefactors refused to help, in both reward-gaining and punishment-avoiding tasks. Moreover, prediction errors were positively and reliably linked to gratitude. Study 2 further identified that gratitude dynamically changed through an expectation-updating mechanism. A computational model incorporating predictive coding outperformed traditional theories in predicting the dynamics of gratitude. The findings support predictive coding theory, providing a temporal perspective and a mechanistic understanding of the fluctuations in gratitude, thus having implications for new interventions to improve mental health and well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":"198-209"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142337175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EmotionPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-08-29DOI: 10.1037/emo0001406
Robrecht P R D van der Wel, Yana Prodanova, Jason Snyder, Timothy N Welsh, Anne Böckler
{"title":"Is emotion perception altered by gaze direction, gender appearance, and gender identity of the perceived face?","authors":"Robrecht P R D van der Wel, Yana Prodanova, Jason Snyder, Timothy N Welsh, Anne Böckler","doi":"10.1037/emo0001406","DOIUrl":"10.1037/emo0001406","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The purpose of the present study was to examine how gaze and emotion processing may change due to differences in gender appearance and gender identity of the perceived face. We manipulated gender appearance (male or female), gender identity (cisgender or transgender), gaze direction (direct or averted), and expressed emotions (anger, fear, or neutral) of face models in an emotion rating task. We replicate several previous findings, including a direct gaze advantage, an emotion effect, and an interaction between gaze direction and expressed emotion. In line with previous findings on the influence of facial morphology for face processing, we found that male faces were more quickly and intensely perceived for displays of anger, while female faces were more quickly and intensely perceived for displays of fear. Of key interest, gender identity influenced face perception for different emotion expressions and gaze directions for ratings and reaction times in a variety of ways. For example, transgender male faces were seen as angrier and less fearful than cisgender male faces, while the opposite effect occurred for female faces. These results suggest that face perception is systematically shaped by morphological differences as well as more abstract social constructs related to gender identity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":"33-45"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142113515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Situation covariation and goal adaptiveness? The promoting effect of cognitive flexibility on emotion regulation in depression.","authors":"Wei Gao, Xinyu Yan, Yongqiang Chen, Jiemin Yang, JiaJin Yuan","doi":"10.1037/emo0001410","DOIUrl":"10.1037/emo0001410","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cognitive inflexibility as a generalized characteristic of depression has been closely implicated in maladaptive coping with changing situations and goals in daily life. The association between cognitive flexibility and depression can be elucidated by situation covariation and goal adaptiveness of emotion regulation flexibility (ERF), which facilitates adaptive responses to changing environments. However, little is known about the contribution of cognitive flexibility to emotion regulation in depression under changing situations and goals. To address this gap, we performed three experiments to assess situation covariation and goal adaptiveness of ERF, and we further examined the contribution of situation covariation and goal adaptiveness to the association between cognitive inflexibility and depression. The results of Experiments 1 (<i>N</i> = 120) and 2 (<i>N</i> = 117) showed a significantly negative correlation between cognitive flexibility and goal adaptiveness (but not situation covariation) of ERF. Further mediation analysis revealed the contribution of goal adaptiveness scores to the relationship between cognitive flexibility and depression. In Experiment 3 (<i>N</i> = 93), we performed a 14-day training of cognitive flexibility and observed that the training increased goal adaptiveness, but not situation covariation, of ERF and reduced symptoms of depression. Furthermore, the improvement of goal adaptiveness scores significantly mediated the effect of cognitive flexibility on depressive remission. In sum, these findings identified a vital involvement of goal adaptiveness of ERF in the effect of cognitive flexibility on depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":"18-32"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142113528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EmotionPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-30DOI: 10.1037/emo0001437
Claire J Shimshock, Katherine R Thorson, Brett J Peters, Jeremy P Jamieson
{"title":"Behavioral variability in physiological synchrony during future-based conversations between romantic partners.","authors":"Claire J Shimshock, Katherine R Thorson, Brett J Peters, Jeremy P Jamieson","doi":"10.1037/emo0001437","DOIUrl":"10.1037/emo0001437","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Physiological synchrony-or similarity between two people's physiological responses-is thought to have important consequences for health and well-being and has been observed in social relationship contexts. The present study investigated variability in dyads' physiological synchrony as a function of both partners' behaviors during an emotionally salient discussion. We examined concurrent covariation in cardiac interbeat intervals in a sample of young adult romantic couples (<i>N</i> = 79 dyads) who discussed the coordination of a personal goal with the future of their relationship (data collected from 2013 to 2015). Partners assigned to be <i>disclosers</i> revealed hypothetical good news (e.g., a dream job offer) with their partner, the <i>responder</i>, who reacted to this disclosure. To understand covariation-behavior associations, we examined three motivationally relevant behaviors that may underlie synchrony based on people's role in the discussion. We found significant variability in how much couples experienced covariation, and covariation depended, at least in part, on people's behaviors during the discussions. When disclosers spoke more (a behavior associated with less satisfying relationships and less positive partner perceptions), dyads experienced less physiological covariation. Furthermore, when responders showed more neglect and withdrawal, and when both partners displayed less positive emotion, dyads experienced less physiological covariation. These findings underscore couples' physiological synchrony as a heterogeneous process that can emerge with the presence of greater behavioral and emotional positivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":"186-197"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142337123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EmotionPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-19DOI: 10.1037/emo0001408
Themis Nikolas Efthimiou, Joshua Baker, Arthur Elsenaar, Marc Mehu, Sebastian Korb
{"title":"Smiling and frowning induced by facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (fNMES) modulate felt emotion and physiology.","authors":"Themis Nikolas Efthimiou, Joshua Baker, Arthur Elsenaar, Marc Mehu, Sebastian Korb","doi":"10.1037/emo0001408","DOIUrl":"10.1037/emo0001408","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>According to the facial feedback hypothesis, feedback from facial muscles can initiate and modulate a person's emotional state. This assumption is debated, however, and existing research has arguably suffered from a lack of control over which facial muscles are activated, when, to what degree, and for how long. To overcome these limitations, we carried out a preregistered experiment including 58 participants. Facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (fNMES) was applied to the bilateral zygomaticus major and depressor anguli oris muscles for 5 s at 100% and 50% of the participants' individual motor threshold. After each trial, participants reported their emotional valence and intensity and levels of experienced discomfort. Facial muscle activations were verified with automatic video coding; heart rate and electrodermal activity were recorded throughout. Results showed that muscle activation through fNMES, even when controlling for fNMES-induced discomfort, modulated participants' emotional state as expected, with more positive emotions reported after stronger stimulation of the zygomaticus major than the depressor anguli oris muscle. The addition of expression-congruent emotional images increased the effect. Moreover, fNMES intensity predicted intensity ratings, reduced HR, and skin conductance response. The finding that changes in felt emotion can be induced through brief and controlled activation of specific facial muscles is in line with the facial feedback hypothesis and offers exciting opportunities for translational intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":"79-92"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142298828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EmotionPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-26DOI: 10.1037/emo0001425
Allon Vishkin, Min Young Kim, Nevin Solak, Kinga Szymaniak, Cindel J M White, Shinobu Kitayama
{"title":"Cultural variation in the motivational correlates of gratitude.","authors":"Allon Vishkin, Min Young Kim, Nevin Solak, Kinga Szymaniak, Cindel J M White, Shinobu Kitayama","doi":"10.1037/emo0001425","DOIUrl":"10.1037/emo0001425","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gratitude confers a sense of indebtedness to repay the benefactor, which poses a limitation on one's autonomy-an aversive experience in individualist cultures. Yet, gratitude is frequently valued and expressed in individualist cultures such as the United States. One solution to this dilemma is that gratitude has different aspects: It confers a sense of obligation but also strengthens social relations. Thus, gratitude might be associated more strongly with indebtedness in cultural contexts where autonomy is less valued, but it might be associated with a desire to be close to others in cultural contexts where autonomy is more valued. We tested how motivations for being indebted, for connecting to others, and for a hedonic emotional balance predict both gratitude to God and interpersonal gratitude in samples from the United States, India, Israel, Poland, South Korea, and Turkey (<i>N</i> = 2,093). Results revealed substantial cultural variation in how these correlates are associated with gratitude. We discuss how gratitude can inform cultural differences in how relationships are construed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":"114-125"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142337125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EmotionPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-26DOI: 10.1037/emo0001416
David J Disabato, Emily A Gawlik, Pallavi Aurora, Karin G Coifman
{"title":"Unpacking the components of positive affect variability: Implications for psychological health across contexts.","authors":"David J Disabato, Emily A Gawlik, Pallavi Aurora, Karin G Coifman","doi":"10.1037/emo0001416","DOIUrl":"10.1037/emo0001416","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prior research suggests variability of positive affect (PA), or the degree to which an individual's experience of PA is variable rather than stable, is associated with worse psychological health. However, it is unclear whether different aspects of PA variability serve different psychological functions. One possibility is that changes in PA in response to rewarding contexts, or PA reactivity, serve a healthy function, while general instability of PA from one moment to the next serves an unhealthy function. The current investigation separated out PA reactivity to pleasant activities from general PA instability. We tested associations in three experience-sampling studies collected between 2012 and 2020 (<i>N</i> = 323). An internal meta-analysis revealed a significant association between PA reactivity to pleasant activities and <i>less</i> well-being. Moderation by average levels of PA was present but inconsistent across studies. We discuss how PA reactions to rewarding contexts may <i>not</i> necessarily reflect healthy emotion regulation and consider that \"mood brightening\" effects in daily life may indicate ill-being rather than well-being. Caution is warranted when interpreting the primary findings, as the indirect effect of PA reactivity was significant in only one of the three individual studies, and the effect was only found for the outcome of well-being and not distress. Results can be most confidently generalized to White adults living in the Midwest region of the United States. Future research should test not only the intensity of PA reactivity to rewarding contexts but also how long a person can sustain elevated PA-in relation to psychological health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":"126-143"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142337177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Examining the association among adolescents' emotional clarity, emotion differentiation, and the regulation of negative and positive affect using a daily diary approach.","authors":"Nicola Hohensee, Jutta Joormann, Reuma Gadassi-Polack","doi":"10.1037/emo0001424","DOIUrl":"10.1037/emo0001424","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emotional clarity and emotion differentiation (ED) are two core aspects of the application of emotional knowledge. During adolescence, novel emotional experiences result in temporary decreases of differentiation and clarity. These temporary difficulties might profoundly impact choices of regulatory strategies. And indeed, prior research has shown that lower emotional clarity and emotion differentiation are each associated with higher use of putatively maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in youth. The two constructs, however, are rarely examined together, and it remains unclear how they are associated in daily life, particularly in children and adolescents. In addition, previous studies have focused on the regulation of negative but not positive affect. To address these gaps, the present study used an intensive longitudinal design in youth. Between June 2021 and March 2022, 172 children and adolescents (<i>M</i> = 12.99 years) completed a 28-day diary (> 3,500 entries in total) reporting daily affect, emotional clarity, and the use of five emotion regulation strategies in response to negative and positive affect (i.e., rumination, dampening, behavioral avoidance, negative and positive suppression). As predicted, on both between- and within-person levels, higher emotional clarity was associated with decreased use of all maladaptive emotion regulation strategies after adjusting for mean affect intensity. Results for emotion differentiation were mostly nonsignificant. Only higher daily positive emotion differentiation was associated with decreased rumination. In sum, this innovative study explores multiple aspects of emotional knowledge usage and regulation during a critical developmental stage and emphasizes the role of emotional clarity in the regulation of negative and positive affect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":"144-157"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11920256/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142337126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EmotionPub Date : 2025-01-30DOI: 10.1037/emo0001489
Gregory John Depow, Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello, Michael Inzlicht
{"title":"A positive empathy intervention to improve well-being on Instagram.","authors":"Gregory John Depow, Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello, Michael Inzlicht","doi":"10.1037/emo0001489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001489","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With more than half the global population on social media, there is a critical need to understand how to engage it in a way that improves rather than worsens user well-being. Here, we show that positive empathy is a promising tool. Participants who received brief positive empathy instructions before 10 min of browsing their own Instagram feed showed greater affective well-being (Studies 1-4) and life satisfaction (Study 4) at posttest relative to participants who were instructed to browse as usual. The positive empathy intervention showed an average effect size on well-being of about a quarter of a standard deviation (mean Cohen's <i>d</i> = 0.25). We included unique active control groups in each study. We found using positive empathy on social media was about as beneficial to well-being as watching a nature video (Study 1, N = 298) and was better than instructions to focus on positive content (Study 2, <i>N</i> = 302), empathize with all emotions (Study 3, <i>N</i> = 301), or reappraise one's own emotions (Study 4, <i>N</i> = 426). We used structural equation modeling to demonstrate the effect of the intervention on subjective well-being is mediated by changes in positive emotion sharing, appreciative joy, and self-compassion. These experiences form a latent factor we term positive empathy. Our results show that a brief intervention successfully manipulates positive empathy on Instagram, which increases well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143068419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
EmotionPub Date : 2025-01-20DOI: 10.1037/emo0001483
Kaitlyn M McMullen, Alexandra MacVittie, Jessica S Leffers, Nicole Betz, Jolie B Wormwood
{"title":"Categorization processes in emotion expression recognition: The roles of language and essentialism.","authors":"Kaitlyn M McMullen, Alexandra MacVittie, Jessica S Leffers, Nicole Betz, Jolie B Wormwood","doi":"10.1037/emo0001483","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001483","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We examined categorical processing biases in the perception and recognition of facial expressions of emotion across two studies. In both studies, participants first learned to discriminate between two ambiguous facial expressions of emotion selected from the middle of a continuous array of blended expressions (i.e., an array created from morphing images of two facial expressions together, with still images selected in equidistant increments). Participants were then asked to recognize the specific expressions they were trained to discriminate. In Study 1, target expressions labeled with emotion words (e.g., more angry face) during discrimination and recognition tasks were misremembered as more perceptually distinct from one another and therefore more perceptually similar to the stereotypical expression for their labeled emotion category than they were in reality. Critically, in Study 2, these recognition biases were significantly reduced or absent in conditions where the target expressions were not labeled with emotion words (e.g., Face A), demonstrating the role of emotion words in promoting categorical processing biases in emotion recognition. Moreover, in the absence of emotion labels, peoples' beliefs about the nature of emotion categories were related to the extent to which they employed categorical processing during emotion perception and recognition. Specifically, people with more essentialist beliefs about emotion categories-believing emotion categories are more innate, biologically-based, and immutable-exhibited more pronounced categorical processing biases during emotion recognition. Findings shed light on the critical role of language and cognition in constructing emotion and add to empirical findings on categorical processing in emotion perception. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48417,"journal":{"name":"Emotion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143014371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}