Gilles Kirouac

Emotional expressivity in men and women: Stereotypes and self-perceptions

Three studies were conducted to assess prevalent stereotypes regarding mens and womens emotional expressivity as well as self-perceptions of their emotional behaviour. Emotion profiles were employed to assess both modal emotional reactions and secondary emotional reactions to hypothetical events and personal experiences. In Study 1 we asked how men and women in general would react to a series of hypothetical emotional events. In Study 2 we asked how participants themselves expected to react to these same situations and in Study 3 we asked participants to report a personal emotional event in narrative form. Two gender differences emerged across all three studies. Specifically, women were expected to be more likely to react with sadness to negative emotion-eliciting events in general. They also expected themselves to be more likely to react with sadness as well as to cry and to withdraw more when experiencing negative emotional events. Finally, women report more sadness when describing personal events. In contrast, men were expected to react with more happiness/serenity during negative emotional situations. Also, they expect themselves to react more frequently this way as well as to laugh and smile more and to be more relaxed in negative situations. Finally, men tend to report more happiness when describing negative personal events. In sum, the present study gives a more detailed portrayal of how men and women are expected and expect themselves to react to specific emotional situations and presents some evidence that these expectations may influence the way they reconstruct emotional events from their past.

Accuracy of the judgment of facial expression of emotions as a function of sex and level of education

The purpose of this study is to examine the recognition of facial expressions of six emotions as a function of sex and level of education (high school, college, university) of the subjects. Three hundred French-speaking citizens of Quebec had to judge which emotion was expressed in various facial stimuli presented on slides. Results show that overall, the recognition of emotions was very good. However, there were significant and strong differences between emotions and sex and levels of education did not have strong effects on the results.

Judgment of Facial Expressions of Emotion as a Function of Exposure Time

The purpose of this experiment was to study the accuracy of judgment of facial expressions of emotions that were displayed for very brief exposure times. Twenty university students were shown facial stimuli that were presented for durations ranging from 10 to 50 msec. The data showed that accuracy of judgment reached a fairly high level even at very brief exposure times and that human observers are especially competent to process very rapid changes in facial appearance.

Effects of Unavoidable Electric Shocks on Voluntary Alcohol Consumption in the Rat

The purpose of this experiment was to study the effects of electric shocks on voluntary alcohol intake in rats. Alcohol intake was measured using individually determined alcohol concentrations. Contrary to many previous studies, alcohol intake was reduced during the stressful treatment. It is concluded that accounting for individual differences in alcohol intake is important when studying the effect of stress on alcohol consumption.

Prenatal effects of ethanol on the behavioral development of the rat

Pregnant female rats received daily intravenous ethanol infusions from Day 5 to Day 18 of pregnancy. Other females received saline infusions or no treatments. At birth, the offspring were fostered to nontreated mothers, and their behavioral development was studied until they were 21 days old. Fourteen tests of neuromotor development were administered to the subjects in the three groups in order to compare their speed of behavioral maturation. The results indicated that the animals born to mothers that received ethanol during pregnancy tended to have a slow behavioral development: in 8 out of 14 tests, they reached the performance criterion significantly later.

Facial Expressions of Emotions and Ethological Behavioral Categories

The purpose of this study was to measure the capacity of human subjects to match facial expressions of emotions and behavioral categories that represented the motivational states they are supposed to illustrate. 100 university students were shown facial stimuli they had to classify using ethological behavioral categories. The results showed that accuracy of judgment was over-all lower than what was usually found when fundamental emotional categories were used. The data also indicated that the relation between emotional expressions and behavioral tendencies was more complex than expected.

Stress et immunité: recension en psychoneuroimmunologie.

The thesis of a systemic link between stress and health has been around for a long time. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNl) is a new interdisciplinary field offering promising avenues for major developments in stress research. PNl focuses on the relationships between the nervous, endocrine and immune systems. It aims, among other objectives, at providing an explanation for the role of psychosocial factors in individual resistance to illnesses. Classic contributors to PNl have put forward four major propositions about the link between stress and immunity. They stated that (1) psychosocial stressors caused an immunosuppressive response, (2) this immunosuppressive response was observable under intense and enduring stress, (3) the immunosuppressive response led to increased vulnerability to illnesses, and (4) an improvement on stress state yielded to an increase in immune response. Recent studies either in the laboratory or in the field have provided empirical evidence for diese hypotheses in humans. The objective of this paper is to review empirical work relating immunity and stress as measured in terms of state, stressors or cognitive appraisal. Following a brief definition of psychological stress in a transactional perspective, a presentation of the immune system and its physiological interconnections, fifty studies in human PNl published since 1985 are introduced according to the type of contributions their design provided. Then a critical analysis is suggested along with identification of common findings and finally a discussion of the four propositions. Hypothesis 1 is supported in terms of immunomodulation while Hypothesis 2 is contradicted by the observation that short term laboratory stressors are sufficient to induce immunomodulation. Not much evidence exist as yet to establish increased vulnerability to illnesses, as stated by Hypothesis 3. 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The effects of formaldehyde on voluntary ethanol consumption in the laboratory rat: a comparison of two methods of determination of a single test solution.

The effect of formaldehyde on voluntary alcohol intake in rats was examined. Alcohol intake was measured using individually determined alcohol concentrations. The results did not support the tension reduction hypothesis: Stress induction did not enhance alcohol intake. It is concluded that a revision of the tension reduction hypothesis should be formulated.