A boy who could not be comforted

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a rare disorder occurring in young children who have experienced extremely insufficient care and have been deprived of the opportunity to form a secure attachment with a reliable caregiver. Children with RAD exhibit inhibited, emotionally withdrawn behavior toward caregivers, rarely seeking and responding to comfort when distressed. They may also have minimal social and emotional responsiveness to others, limited positive affect, and episodes of unexplained irritability, sadness, or fearfulness. Symptoms must begin prior to the age of five years. There are no medication treatments for RAD; however, psychiatric comorbidities may benefit from psychopharmacology. The single effective treatment for RAD is placing the child in an environment where they have the opportunity to form a selective attachment to a caregiver. Symptoms of RAD may completely resolve if this occurs.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE: AN IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR IMPROVING TEACHERS' EMOTIONAL RESPONSIVENESS IN LIFELONG EDUCATION

The quality of a teacher's professional activity is closely tied to personal growth. Personal growth, however, is influenced by self-knowledge (K. G. Jung 1994, 2001; Wilber 2010, 2013; Plotkin, 2020; Dispenza, 2015, 2016). Nowadays, there is a shift in the approaches of upbringing and educational work – from a child-focused approach to a child-centered one (OECD, 2019). Therefore, one of the currently relevant skills is getting to know oneself in order to cooperate more successfully with others and be able to accept real-life situations. The results obtained confirm that through the self-knowledge process, teachers get to experience their own personality growth. Categories such as empathy, attitude, and daringness are identified in personal growth.The research shows that by experiencing the procedural activities of self-knowledge with the help of “Get to know yourself!” method and methodological tool developed by the author, teachers improve their emotional responsiveness.The results of the study show that through the experiences gained in the self-knowledge process, teachers learn to integrate new models of action into their pedagogical activities. The aim of the study was to show the importance of self-knowledge in improving teachers' emotional responsiveness in lifelong education, by using the method "Get to know yourself!" developed by the author of the study.The objectives of the study were literature examination and evaluation and work with the target audience by using the author's method and methodological tool "Get to know yourself!".Methods: Literature studies, survey, observation.

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF RESPONSIVENESS IN PRE-SERVICE PRESCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE COVID-19 EMERGENCY SITUATION (2018-2020)

The global pandemic of Civid-19 has led to significant changes in the transformation of the system of education and teacher training. Regarding the training of prospective preschool teachers at the institutions of higher education, there is a growing need to develop multiple competencies so that a teacher can create an emotionally safe and supervised learning environment. Our study highlights the importance of the responsiveness of preschool teachers in providing supportive responses, responsibility, and guidance regulating children’s emotions in the pedagogical activity. The aim of the study is to analyze and compare the perceptions of students, pre-service preschool teachers, on teachers’ emotional responsiveness before the global pandemic and during the Covid-19 emergency. The materials and methods used in the study include the theoretical method – the analysis of literature - and the empirical method – a survey of 600 part-time students working in pre-school educational institutions in 2018 and in 2020. The survey was conducted online. The data were processed using the software SPSS. The results of the study demonstrate that, generally, the Covid-19 emergency has increased the willingness of prospective preschool teachers to undertake responsibility and leadership in regulating children’s emotions. The students have become more responsible and determined; their understanding of the importance of emotional responsiveness in teacher’s work is higher than before the pandemic

Dance to the Music: The Effects of Moving on Emotional Responsiveness

In the current study I examined whether interpretive movement to music enhances emotional experience of the music, in dancers and non-dancers. Participants interacted with a series of musical excerpts, varying in valence and arousal, by either sitting still (still condition), moving arms up and down to the beat of the music (constrained condition), or gesturing their arms freely to the music (free condition), allowing for creative interpretation. Physiological and self-reported emotional responses to these songs were compared post-interaction. I found that after free gesturing, experienced dancers had polarized valence and arousal ratings towards happy vs. sad excerpts as opposed to after still and constrained conditions. Similar results were obtained of skin conductance (sweat) and zygomaticus major (smiling) responses. Non-dancers showed no difference in ratings or physiological responses between interaction conditions. This suggests that the effects of movement on emotional responsiveness to music are mediated by dance training.

Dance to the Music: The Effects of Moving on Emotional Responsiveness

In the current study I examined whether interpretive movement to music enhances emotional experience of the music, in dancers and non-dancers. Participants interacted with a series of musical excerpts, varying in valence and arousal, by either sitting still (still condition), moving arms up and down to the beat of the music (constrained condition), or gesturing their arms freely to the music (free condition), allowing for creative interpretation. Physiological and self-reported emotional responses to these songs were compared post-interaction. I found that after free gesturing, experienced dancers had polarized valence and arousal ratings towards happy vs. sad excerpts as opposed to after still and constrained conditions. Similar results were obtained of skin conductance (sweat) and zygomaticus major (smiling) responses. Non-dancers showed no difference in ratings or physiological responses between interaction conditions. This suggests that the effects of movement on emotional responsiveness to music are mediated by dance training.

Caregivers’ Perceived Emotional and Feeding Responsiveness toward Preschool Children: Associations and Paths of Influence

Although there is a large body of research connecting emotion to eating behaviors, little is known about the role of caregivers’ responses to children’s emotions in the context of child feeding. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relation between caregivers’ emotional responsiveness and feeding responsiveness. The mothers of 137 children between 2 and 6 years of age reported on their responses to children’s negative emotions using the Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale and on their feeding practices using the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire. The results showed that mothers’ supportive emotion responses (e.g., problem-focused, emotion-focused, and expressive encouragement reactions) tend to be positively associated with responsive feeding practices (e.g., encouraging, modelling, and teaching healthy food-related behaviors). Instead, mothers’ unsupportive responses (e.g., distress, punitive and minimization reactions) tend to be positively associated with nonresponsive feeding practices (e.g., food as reward or to regulate emotions, and pressure to eat) and negatively associated with responsive feeding practices. Our results suggest that emotional and feeding responsiveness may be intertwined and that differences in parent’s emotional responsiveness may translate into differences in their feeding styles, setting the stage for parents’ use of positive vs. negative feeding practices.

Emotional Responsiveness in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Review of Self-Report and Physiological Measures.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental disorder characterized by emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and interpersonal problems, has historically been conceptualized by generalized heightened intensity and reactivity. However, findings regarding emotional responsiveness in adults with BPD are mixed. The current review aimed to critically assess and compare self-report and physiological research of emotional responsiveness in adults with BPD by electronic searching of relevant databases, with 6 articles meeting inclusion criteria. Specifically, results from self-report and physiological measures are compared in an attempt to synthesize similarities and differences. The results suggest a negativity bias in BPD, indicating that BPD patients exhibit heightened negative emotional reactivity, particularly in response to BPD-specific emotional stimuli. Additionally, limitations of individual studies and of the current review are discussed, with potential directions for future research.

Implementation of the McMaster Model in Family Therapy: Effects on Family Function in Married Couples

Objective: Family function is one of the main effective factors on stability of the family. Family therapy can promote family function and performances. This study aimed to assess the effects of family therapy on family function among couples in Yazd province (Iran) based on the McMaster model. Method: The research population was selected from volunteer couples in Yazd in 2017 who were invited by publicity announcement to participate in this research. Finally, 40 couples were selected and randomly divided into 2 intervention and control groups. Participants responded to the demographic and Family Assessment Device (FAD) questionnaires. The obtained information was investigated using inferential and descriptive statistics and SPSS 21 software. Results: The results showed significant differences between the intervention and control groups in problem-solving (p = 0.01), communication (p < 0.0001), emotional responsiveness (p = 0.01), emotional involvement (p < 0.0001), and general function (p = 0.04). The roles and behavior control domains were improved after the intervention in 2 groups, but the differences were not significant. Conclusion: Family therapy based on McMaster model can promote the skills of problem- solving, family communication, emotional responsiveness, emotional involvement, and general function in couples. Healthy family functioning is an important domain of interest for mental health professionals who provide family interventions. Our findings add substantially to family professionals’ knowledge about patterns of family function in Iranian families.

Empirical evidence for a three-level model of emotional contagion, empathy and emotional regulation

Background: Emotional contagion, empathy, and emotional regulation are hypothesized to be hierarchically organized functions. Aims: This study aimed to investigate associations between responses in tasks investigating these three functions using both neural representations and ratings. Methods: 86 healthy individuals performed tasks investigating emotional contagion, empathy for pain, and emotional regulation through cognitive reappraisal during functional magnetic resonance imaging.Results: Emotional contagion correlated positively to empathic responding in participants’ ratings. By contrast, rated emotional regulation success correlated negatively to both these measures. Models including brain imaging measures of emotion showed poor fit. Conclusions: Findings are consistent with a hierarchical model of emotional processing in terms of rated emotional contagion and empathy, and suggest that lower emotional regulation capacity is associated with an increased emotional responsiveness at lower (emotional contagion) and higher (empathy) processing levels.

Individual Differences in Autism Traits, Personality, and Emotional Responsiveness to Music in the General Population

Little is known about the relationship between the personality and the emotional experiences of people with broader autism phenotype (BAP) or autistic traits. Given that music is a powerful vehicle for conveying emotions and that several studies show that people with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically respond to music in similar ways, the present study examines the relationship between personality, autistic traits, and emotional experiences evoked by music. A total of 110 participants ( n = 74 females) aged 18 to 35 years ( M = 21.25, SD = 3.36) completed the NEO-Five Factor Inventory-3-S, Social Responsiveness Scale-2, Autism-Spectrum Quotient, and Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index self-report questionnaires. Path analyses revealed that the relationship between autistic traits and emotional responsiveness to music was fully mediated by extraversion, and to a lesser extent openness to experience. These results suggest that people in the general population who have fewer autistic traits and who tend to be extraverted and open to experience report greater emotional responsiveness to music than those who are less extraverted and less open to experience. These findings suggest that it is important to consider personality characteristics when considering the relationship between autistic traits and emotional experiences.