Emotion Goals: A Missing Piece in Research on Psychopathy and Emotion Regulation

Psychopathy is associated with profound emotional disturbances. Yet little is known about associations between psychopathic traits and what individuals want to feel (i.e., emotion goals). Associations between psychopathy and emotion goals were investigated in two studies with nonclinical samples (N = 148 undergraduate students; N = 520 community sample). Four emotions often studied in psychopathy research were targeted: anger, fear, sadness, and joy. Furthermore, perceived utility and perceived pleasantness of emotions were assessed to investigate whether potential associations between psychopathy and emotion goals could be partly explained by instrumental or hedonic considerations, respectively. Psychopathic traits were positively related to negative emotion goals (primarily anger). Although joy was the most wanted emotion on average, psychopathy was negatively but less robustly related to the emotion goal of joy. Mediation analyses suggested differential motivational (hedonic and/or instrumental) mechanisms for different emotion goals. These findings provide preliminary evidence for motivated emotion regulation in psychopathy.

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Poor Emotion Regulation Ability Mediates the Link between Depressive Symptoms and Affective Bipolarity - Preprint

10.31234/osf.io/u6x92 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Egon Dejonckheere

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Community Sample ◽

Positive And Negative Affect ◽

Mediation Analyses ◽

Mediating Mechanisms ◽

Emotional Complexity ◽

The Relationship

People’s relationship between positive and negative affect varies on a continuum from relatively independent to bipolar opposites, with stronger bipolar opposition being termed affective bipolarity. Experiencing more depressive symptoms is associated with increased bipolarity, but the processes underlying this relation are not yet understood. Here, we sought to replicate this link, and to examine the role of two potential mediating mechanisms: emotion regulation ability, and trait brooding. Drawing from the Dynamic Model of Affect, we hypothesized that (a) a poor ability to regulate negative emotion, and (b) the tendency to brood over one’s depressed feelings would predict stronger affective bipolarity, and mediate the relationship between depressive symptoms and affective bipolarity. To measure affective bipolarity, we calculated within-person affect correlations using two weeks of experience sampling data from a community sample (n = 100). Mediation analyses indicated that baseline assessments of an inability to regulate negative emotions in general, but not brooding specifically, mediated the relation between depressive symptoms and affective bipolarity. These findings highlight an initial mechanism through which depressive symptoms are associated with lower emotional complexity and flexibility.

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Emotion Goals: What Do Sexual Offenders Want to Feel?

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology ◽

10.1177/0306624x19866114 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 63 (15-16) ◽

pp. 2611-2629 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Carlo Garofalo ◽

Belén López-Pérez ◽

Michaela Gummerum ◽

Yaniv Hanoch ◽

Maya Tamir

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Sexual Offenders ◽

Positive Emotion ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Emotional Experience ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

The Other ◽

Limited Data ◽

Perceived Utility ◽

Emotional Dysfunction

Sexual offenders typically experience more negative emotions and greater difficulties in regulating emotions than non-offenders. However, limited data exist on what sexual offenders want to feel (i.e., their emotion goals). Notably, emotion goals play a key role in emotion regulation and contribute to emotional experience. The present study tested whether sexual offenders ( N = 31) reported higher scores for negative emotion goals and lower scores for positive emotion goals, compared with general offenders ( N = 26) and non-offenders ( N = 26). In addition, we tested whether sexual offenders differed from the other two groups in their perceived pleasantness and perceived utility of emotions. Sexual offenders reported greater scores for the emotion goal of sadness, and lower scores for the emotion goal of excitement, compared with both general offenders and non-offenders. State and trait levels of these emotions could not fully account for these differences. Furthermore, sexual offenders reported lower perceived pleasantness for sadness than general offenders and lower perceived pleasantness for excitement compared with both other groups. Finally, sexual offenders reported greater perceived utility of sadness than non-offenders. These novel findings and their implications for research and interventions are discussed in the context of sexual offenders’ emotional dysfunction.

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Psychopathic Traits, Inhibition, and Positive and Negative Emotion: Results from an Emotional Go/No-Go Task

10.31234/osf.io/62kr4 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Lauren Frances Fournier ◽

Julia Blayne McDonald ◽

Peter E Clayson ◽

Edelyn Verona

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Community Sample ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Psychopathic Traits ◽

Affective Processing ◽

Emotional Stimuli ◽

Related Potentials

Inhibitory control, the ability to stop or prevent an action, is of relevance to disorders marked by increased disinhibition and impulsivity, including some facets of psychopathy. Because aspects of cognitive control (including inhibitory control) and emotion are theorized to compete for processing resources, emotional conditions may exacerbate aggressive, impulsive, and potentially harmful behaviors. The present study examined relationships between specific facets of psychopathy and inhibitory control in the context of positive, negative, and neutral emotional stimuli in a community sample using event-related potentials during an emotional-linguistic Go/No-Go task. Results indicated distinct cognition-emotion interactions for each facet of psychopathy. High scorers on the interpersonal facet exhibited decreased inhibitory processing in the presence of emotional stimuli, and decreased emotional processing in the presence of inhibitory demands, suggesting reciprocal interference between cognition and emotion. Higher scores on the callous affect facet were associated with lower emotion and inhibition processing, except when stimuli were most engaging (emotional No-Go trials). Higher lifestyle facet scores related to reciprocal facilitation between inhibition and emotion processing. Finally, higher scores on the antisocial facet were associated with poorer behavioral inhibition overall. Results provide novel evidence for interactions between affective processing and cognitive control among individuals high on distinct psychopathic traits.

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Parental Overprotection and Emotional Abuse Predict the Presence of Psychopathic Traits in Adulthood

10.20944/preprints201610.0047.v2 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Guillaume Durand ◽

Polett Bali

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Parenting Styles ◽

Childhood Maltreatment ◽

Emotional Abuse ◽

Community Sample ◽

Psychopathic Traits ◽

And Gender ◽

Childhood Traumas ◽

The Relationship

Recent findings support an association between childhood maltreatment and the presence of elevated psychopathic traits in adulthood. Using a community sample recruited online (N = 210), we sought to (1) confirm the relationship between childhood traumas and psychopathic traits, and (2) investigate the role of parenting styles in psychopathic traits. Consistent with our predictions, we found an association between all types of childhood traumas and disinhibition. Age and gender moderated the relations between psychopathic traits and childhood maltreatments. Parental rejection and overprotection were positively correlated with the presence of psychopathic traits, while parental emotional warmth was negative correlated. Although our results converge with previous findings, the strength of the correlations observed was not as compelling as in research on undergraduate students. We discuss the numerous interpretations for our findings, and highlight the limitations of research in the field of psychopathy and childhood trauma in the general population.

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The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale–Parent Report: A Psychometric Investigation Examining Adolescents With and Without ADHD

Assessment ◽

10.1177/1073191118792307 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (5) ◽

pp. 921-940 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Nóra Bunford ◽

Anne E. Dawson ◽

Steven W. Evans ◽

A. Raisa Ray ◽

Joshua M. Langberg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Emotion Dysregulation ◽

Community Sample ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Parent Report ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽

Two Samples ◽

Psychometric Investigation

Emotion dysregulation is associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and confers risk for behavior problems and functional impairment; however, there is little guidance on best practices for measurement in adolescents. We developed a parent-report version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-P). Evidence of reliability and validity was evaluated in a large community online sample (Study 1: n = 978; Mage= 13.52 years; SD = 1.93) and in two samples of adolescents with ADHD (Study 2, Sample 1: n = 78; Mage= 12.12 years, SD = 0.91; Sample 2: n = 206; Mage= 15.35 years; SD = 0.85). A four-factor solution of the DERS-P was obtained in Study 1 and confirmed in Study 2, with factors demonstrating acceptable internal consistency. The community sample was generally rated as less dysregulated than the ADHD samples. Support was obtained for convergent, concurrent, and incremental validity evidence. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the DERS-P as a psychometrically sound parent-report measure of emotion dysregulation in 11- to 17-year-old adolescents.

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Neural correlates of primary and secondary psychopathic traits in a juvenile community sample

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e571212013-151 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Melissa L. Paiva-Salisbury ◽

Timothy Stickle ◽

Robert Whelan ◽

Hugh Garavan

Keyword(s):

Community Sample ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Psychopathic Traits

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Smiling won’t make you feel better: Response-focused emotion regulation strategies have little impact on cognitive, behavioural, physiological, and subjective outcomes

10.31234/osf.io/9a2gn ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nancy Bahl ◽

Allison Ouimet

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Electrodermal Activity ◽

Adaptive Strategy ◽

Expressive Suppression ◽

Memory Accuracy ◽

Cognitive Behavioural ◽

Regulation Strategies ◽

The Common ◽

Subjective Outcomes

Background and Objectives. Response-focused emotion regulation (RF-ER) strategies may alter people’s evoked emotions, influencing psychophysiology, memory accuracy, and affect. Researchers have found that participants engaging in expressive suppression (ES; a RF-ER strategy) experience increased sympathetic nervous system arousal, affect (i.e., higher subjective anxiety and negative emotion), and lowered memory accuracy. It is unclear, however, whether all RF-ER strategies exert maladaptive effects. Expressive dissonance (ED; displaying an expression opposite from how one feels) is a RF-ER strategy, and thus likely considered “maladaptive”. As outlined by the facial feedback hypothesis, however, smiling may increase positive emotion, suggesting it may be an adaptive strategy. We compared the effects of ED and ES to a control condition on psychophysiology, memory accuracy, and affect, to assess whether ED is an adaptive RF-ER strategy, relative to ES. Methods. We randomly assigned 144 female participants to engage in ED, ES, or to naturally observe, while viewing negative and arousing images. We recorded electrodermal activity and self-reported affect throughout the experiment and participants completed memory tasks. Results. There were no differences between groups across outcomes. Conclusion. Engaging in ES or ED may not lead to negative or positive impacts, shedding doubt on the common conclusion that specific strategies are categorically adaptive or maladaptive.

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Inflammation and the Association of Vitamin D and Depressive Symptomatology

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13061972 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 1972

Author(s):

Ezgi Dogan-Sander ◽

Roland Mergl ◽

Anja Willenberg ◽

Ronny Baber ◽

Kerstin Wirkner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vitamin D ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Inflammatory Markers ◽

Depressive Symptomatology ◽

Community Sample ◽

Significant Negative Correlation ◽

Vitamin D Supplementation ◽

Complex Relationship ◽

Moderation Effect ◽

Mediation Analyses

Depression and vitamin D deficiency are major public health problems. The existing literature indicates the complex relationship between depression and vitamin D. The purpose of this study was to examine whether this relationship is moderated or mediated by inflammation. A community sample (n = 7162) from the LIFE-Adult-Study was investigated, for whom depressive symptoms were assessed via the German version of CES-D scale and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and inflammatory markers (IL-6 and CRP levels, WBC count) were quantified. Mediation analyses were performed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro and regression analyses were conducted to test moderation effects. There was a significant negative correlation between CES-D and 25(OH)D, and positive associations between inflammatory markers and CES-D scores. Only WBC partially mediated the association between 25(OH)D levels and depressive symptoms both in a simple mediation model (ab: −0.0042) and a model including covariates (ab: −0.0011). None of the inflammatory markers showed a moderation effect on the association between 25(OH)D levels and depressive symptoms. This present work highlighted the complex relationship between vitamin D, depressive symptoms and inflammation. Future studies are needed to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on inflammation and depressive symptomatology for causality assessment.

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