Showing papers on "Valence (psychology) published in 1989"

Developmental changes in children's awareness of strategies for coping with uncontrollable stress.

Abstract: Children at 3 age levels (5-6 1/2, 7 1/2-9, and 10-12 years) were interviewed to determine their spontaneous suggestions of coping strategies designed to manage frustration caused by waiting for a desired object (positive valence) and fear caused by waiting for an unpleasant event (negative valence) in uncontrollable situations. Subjects' responses were grouped into categories based on coping techniques discussed in the adult coping literature on a continuum from approach to avoidance techniques. The avoidance tactics, the main focus of interest, were further divided into 4 distinct forms. In contrast to investigations of children's coping in more controllable situations, approach strategies were very infrequently mentioned. An age increase was found in the proportion of cognitive distraction strategies suggested, but behavioral distraction strategies were most frequently suggested by children at all age levels and did not differ significantly across age. The developmental differences were particularly evident for the negative valence scenarios and, within the negative valence scenarios, for the story likely to be the most stressful to young children--getting a shot. The results are discussed in terms of possible reasons for age differences in cognitive but not behavioral distraction and their implications for children's ability to cope with uncontrollable stress.

The Nature of Arousal and Nonverbal Indices

Abstract: The current monograph asserts that nonverbal behaviors can serve as useful overt indices of experienced arousal. Various conceptualizations of arousal and factors eliciting arousal in communication situations are examined. It is proposed that, from a communication standpoint, indices of arousal and arousal change are best classified along two dimensions of arousal intensity and arousal valence. Diverse bodies of literature on nonverbal concamitants of arousal are reviewed. As a first test of whether separate profiles exist for negatively, as opposed to positively or neutrally, valenced arousal, data are analyzed from a mock-interview experiment in which, following a baseline interview, participants (N=52) were subjected by an interviewer to either increased or decreased involvement. The involvement changes were expected to elevate arousal intensity for all participants and induce positively or negatively valenced arousal in the two respective conditions. Polynomial regressions and z-test comparisons of correlations revealed that 16 composites, comprising a total of 47 nonverbal variables, showed significant associations with changes in arousal.

The Negativity Effect in Interaction It's All in Your Point of View

Abstract: The negativity effect is defined as the disproportionate weighting of negative information in comparison to equidistantly valenced positive information in the formation of judgments. The informativeness explanation of the negativity effect posits that the evaluative extremity (the distance from a psychological neutral point) and evaluative valence (positive/negative) of an event serve as determinants of its informativeness. Traditionally, this informativeness hypothesis explains the occurrence of a negativity effect by presuming a skewed distribution with unequal tails for the frequency of outcomes for valence; a mirror-image distribution for informativeness as a function of valence; and a negative, linear relationship between typicality and informativeness. These three assumptions were tested directly in this research through the fitting of nonlinear equations. It was determined that (a) a negatively skewed distribution of outcomes for valence does not occur in interaction contexts and that (b) typicality was a determinant of informativeness, although its importance as a determinant varies in response to whether one's perspective is that of an observer or a participant. Thus, reliance on evaluative extremity and evaluative valence as determinants of informativeness was rejected; these variables are only descriptors when the distribution for the frequency of outcomes for valence is skewed and has uneven tails.

Children's reports of conflict between simultaneous opposite-valence emotions.

Abstract: This study investigated children's reports of their experiences of simultaneous different-valence emotions and examined whether such reports included indications of internal conflict or ambivalence. A structured interview and a procedure to assess internal emotional conflict were developed and administered to children aged 9-12. Our findings call into question previous assumptions about the necessary presence of conflict. Children reported conflict in slightly less than half of the multiple-emotion experiences they described. When conflict was reported, children convincingly recounted a dynamic interaction between the 2 feelings, often personifying the feelings as arguing over what to do or which feeling should predominate. When children described the absence of conflict, they often emphasized the lack of distress accompanying the feelings or pointed out that the situation was relatively unimportant. Reports of conflict were related to the degree to which the positive or negative emotion was stronger and to the perceived similarity or dissimilarity of the 2 emotions: Conflict was most likely when the negative emotion was reported to be equal to or more intense than the positive emotion and when the 2 emotions were perceived to be different.

Asymmetry in the relationship between finger temperature changes and emotional state in males.

Abstract: Eighty male college students each listened to monaural music that was intended to cause either positive-valence emotions (e.g., happiness) or negative-valence emotions (e.g., unhappiness). When the music was to the left ear, subjects' finger temperature changes during the music correlated significantly with the subjects' ratings of the valence of the emotions they experienced during the music. When the music was to the right ear, finger temperature changes were not different during positive- versus during negative-valence music, and the subjective reports did not correlate significantly with the finger temperature changes. The results are interpreted as indicating that the extent to which males' autonomic responses, such as finger temperature changes, reflect the emotional state of the subject depends upon which cerebral hemisphere is more involved in the processing of the emotion-generating stimulus. Theoretical and practical aspects of this finding are discussed.

Effects of Superiors' Feedback, Credibility, and Expertise on Subordinates' Reactions: An Experimental Study:

Abstract: The effects of valence of feedback, credibility of superior, and expertise of superior on subordinates' reactions to superior and effort intentions were examined in a 2 × 2 × 2 experimental study i...