scholarly journals Empathic emotion regulation in prosocial behavior and altruism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin M. Brethel-Haurwitz ◽  
Maria Stoianova ◽  
Abigail Marsh

The emotions evoked in response to others’ distress are important for motivating concerned prosocial responses. But how various forms of emotional regulation shape prosocial responding is not yet well understood. When does regulation of empathy lead to prosocial motivation versus personal distress or apathy? We tested the role of empathic emotion regulation in promoting prosocial motivation and costly donations across two studies, first in a community sample and then in a sample of altruistic kidney donors and a matched comparison sample. Participants engaged in hopeful and distancing reappraisals while viewing images of others in distress, then decided whether to help by donating a portion of a monetary endowment to charity. Whereas hope was expected to evoke approach-based motivation indexed by increased donations, distance was expected to evoke avoidance-based motivation indexed by decreased donations. It was hypothesized that varying effects of the two reappraisals on positive and negative affect would influence donation decisions. Across both studies, both reappraisals decreased negative affect. Hopeful reappraisal also increased positive affect. Instructed reappraisal also altered donation behavior in the community sample: here, hopeful reappraisal resulted in higher donations than distancing reappraisal. Altruists were more prosocial overall, but the associations between affect and donation behavior in this group mirrored that of the hopeful reappraisal in the larger community sample, suggesting that altruists might adopt a more hopeful and compassionate appraisal by default. These findings further clarify the role of empathic emotion regulation in prosocial behavior and also independent effects of positive and negative affect.

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Leipold ◽  
Tim Loepthien

In a cross-sectional study, associations of global affect with two ways of listening to music – attentive-analytical listening (AL) and emotional listening (EL) – were examined. Based on a two-dimensional model of general affect, we focused on the degrees to which AL and EL are differentially correlated with positive and negative affect. In addition to bivariate relationships, the interactions between different states of general affect were tested. In Study 1, a sample of 1,291 individuals responded to questionnaires on listening to music, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA). We used the PANAS, which measures PA and NA as high arousal dimensions. AL was positively correlated with PA, EL with NA. Moderation analyses showed stronger associations between PA and AL when NA was low. Study 2 (N = 499 participants) differentiated between three facets of affect and focused, in addition to PA and NA, on the role of relaxation. Similar to the findings of Study 1, AL was correlated with PA, EL with NA and PA. Moderation analyses indicated that the degree to which PA was associated with an individual´s tendency to listen to music attentively depended on their degree of relaxation. In addition, the correlation between PA and EL was stronger for individuals who were more relaxed; for individuals who were less relaxed, the correlation between NA and EL was stronger. In sum, the results demonstrate not only simple bivariate correlations, but also that the expected associations vary, depending on the different affective states. We argue that the results reflect a dual function of listening to music, which includes emotional regulation and information processing.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa Bohlmann ◽  
Cort Rudolph ◽  
Hannes Zacher

Only recently has research started to examine relationships between proactive behavior and employee well-being. Investigating these relationships is important for understanding the effects of proactivity at work, and whether proactivity leads to an increase or a decrease in well-being. In this study, we investigated day-level effects of proactive behavior on four indicators of occupational well-being (i.e., activated positive and negative affect, emotional work engagement and fatigue). Moreover, based on theorizing on “wise proactivity,” we examined organizational tenure and emotion regulation as moderators of these effects. In total, N = 71 employees participated in a daily diary study with two measurements per day for ten consecutive working days. Results revealed that emotion regulation interacted with daily proactive behavior to predict daily emotional work fatigue, such that the effect of proactive behavior on emotional work fatigue was only positive for employees with low (vs. high) emotion regulation. Supplementary analyses examining reverse effects of occupational well-being on proactive behavior showed that organizational tenure interacted with daily activated positive and negative affect in predicting proactive behavior. For employees with lower (vs. higher) organizational tenure only, both activated positive and negative affect were negatively associated with proactive behavior. Overall, our findings contribute to the growing body of research on proactive behavior and well-being by demonstrating reciprocal and conditional day-level relationships among these variables.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Egon Dejonckheere

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (11) ◽  
pp. 2181-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam A. Rogers ◽  
Kimberly A. Updegraff ◽  
Masumi Iida ◽  
Thomas J. Dishion ◽  
Leah D. Doane ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Francesca Favieri ◽  
Andrea Marini ◽  
Maria Casagrande

The worldwide prevalence of obesity has dramatically increased, mostly in children and adolescents. The Emotional Eating theoretical model has proposed that the failure in emotional regulation could represent a risk factor for establishing maladaptive overeating behavior that represents an inadequate response to negative emotions and allows increasing body-weight. This systematic review investigates the relationship between overeating and both emotional regulation and emotional intelligence in childhood and adolescence, considering both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Moreover, another goal of the review is evaluating whether emotional regulation and emotional intelligence can cause overeating behaviors. The systematic search was conducted according to the PRISMA-statement in the databases Medline, PsychArtcles, PsychInfo, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Sciences, and allows 484 records to be extracted. Twenty-six studies were selected according to inclusion (e.g., studies focused on children and adolescents without clinical conditions; groups of participants overweight or with obesity) and exclusion (e.g., studies that adopted qualitative assessment or cognitive-affective tasks to measure emotional variables; reviews, commentary, or brief reports) criteria detailed in the methods. Cross-sectional studies showed a negative association between emotional regulation and overeating behavior that was confirmed by longitudinal studies. These findings highlighted the role of maladaptive emotion regulation on overeating and being overweight. The relationship between these constructs in children and adolescents was consistent. The results indicated the complexity of this association, which would be influenced by many physiological, psychological, and social factors. These findings underline the need for further studies focused on emotion regulation in the development of overeating. They should analyze the mediation role of other variables (e.g., attachment style, peer pressure) and identify interventions to prevent and reduce worldwide overweight prevalence.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliana Silva ◽  
Teresa Freire ◽  
Susana Faria

AbstractA better understanding of emotion regulation (ER) within daily life is a growing focus of research. This study evaluated the average use of two ER strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and concurrent and lagged relationships between these two ER strategies and affect (positive and negative affect) in the daily lives of adolescents. We also investigated the role of the same strategies at the trait level on these within-person relationships. Thirty-three adolescents provided 1,258 reports of their daily life by using the Experience Sampling Method for one week. Regarding the relative use of ER strategies, cognitive reappraisal (M = 2.87, SD = 1.58) was used more often than expressive suppression (M = 2.42, SD = 1.21). While the use of both strategies was positively correlated when evaluated in daily life (p = .01), the same did not occur at the trait level (p = .37). Multilevel analysis found that ER strategies were concurrently related to affect (p < .01), with the exception of cognitive reappraisal-positive affect relationship (p = .11). However, cognitive reappraisal predicted higher positive affect at the subsequent sampling moment ( β = 0.07, p = .03). The concurrent associations between cognitive reappraisal and negative affect vary as function of the use of this strategy at the trait level (β = 0.05, p = .02). Our findings highlighted the complex associations between daily ER strategies and affect of a normative sample of adolescents.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 1399-1412
Author(s):  
Edward C. Chang ◽  
Elizabeth A. Yu ◽  
Emma R. Kahle ◽  
Yifeng Du ◽  
Olivia D. Chang ◽  
...  

We examined an additive and interactive model involving domestic partner violence (DPV) and hope in accounting for suicidal behaviors in a sample of 98 community adults. Results showed that DPV accounted for a significant amount of variance in suicidal behaviors. Hope further augmented the prediction model and accounted for suicidal behaviors beyond DPV. Finally, we found that DPV significantly interacted with both dimensions of hope to further account for additional variance in suicidal behaviors above and beyond the independent effects of DPV and hope. Implications for the role of hope in the relationship between DPV and suicidal behaviors are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Clare Louise Rhoden ◽  
Julia West ◽  
Andrew Renfree ◽  
Mark Corbett ◽  
Alan St Clair Gibson

Background. By incorporating pre-performance or retrospective recall measurement methods, research has shown positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) to operate as both a precursor to, and as a consequence of performance in line with goal achievement. The extent of this affective change within sport is unclear, as measurement of affect within acute settings has yet to be adopted fully.Objective. To conduct exploratory research examining affect and goal achievement during self-paced cycling to understand further their role during performance.Methods. The positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS), Worcester affect scale (WAS) and ratings of goal achievement were completed by seven trained cyclists prior to two separate 20 km laboratory time trials. The WAS and ratings of goal achievement were also rated during each trial.Results. Micro-oscillations in affect occurred throughout time trials and to a greater degree where participants were unsuccessful in reaching their goals. Successful trials were characterised by higher PA (p=0.000) and lower NA (p=0.000), with higher goal expectations from the start (p=0.008).Conclusion. In unsuccessful trials, an overly aggressive start, perhaps due to inaccurate goal setting, led to an inability to maintain performance, with reductions in power output. Further clarification of the catalyst to the performance demise requires a parallel analysis of psychological and physiological parameters. In so doing, a greater understanding of the combined role of affect and goal expectation in pacing and performance will ensue; a benefit to both cyclist and coach alike.


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