Olivier Luminet

Social Sharing of Emotion: New Evidence and New Questions

Rime et af. (1992) showed that most emotional experiences are shared with others shortly after they occurred. They proposed that social sharing represents an integral part of emotional experiences. The present chapter examines the generalizability of the phenomenon across various research procedures that overcome the limits of previous studies. Existing findings are extended to chil- dren and older populations, and individual and cultural differences are consid- ered. Furthermore, the role of the intensity of the emotion and its relation with extent of social sharing is investigated. The chapter then addresses the contribu- tion of social sharing to emotional recovery. Given that findings were generally not consistent with the view that sharing alleviates the memory of the shared emotional experience, the chapter discusses alternative potential effects and functions of social sharing.

Psychometric properties of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire: factor structure, reliability, construct, and incremental validity in a French-speaking population.

In this research, we investigated the psychometrical properties of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue, Petrides & Furnham, 2003) in a French-speaking population. In summary, we found that (a) TEIQue scores were globally normally distributed and reliable; (b) the United Kingdom four-factor structure (well-being, self-control, emotionality, sociability) replicated in our data; (c) TEIQue scores were dependent on gender but relatively independent of age; (d) there was preliminary evidence of convergent/discriminant validity, with TEIQue scores being independent of nonverbal reasoning (Ravens [1976] matrices) but positively related to some personality dimensions (optimism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness) as well as inversely related to others (alexithymia, neuroticism); (e) there was also preliminary evidence of criterion validity, with TEIQue scores predicting depression, anxiety, and social support as well as future state affectivity and emotional reactivity in neutral and stressful situations; (f) TEIQue scores were susceptible to socially desirable responding; however, (g) TEIQue scores had incremental validity to predict emotional reactivity over and above social desirability, alexithymia, and the Five-factor model of personality. Such results constitute encouraging preliminary findings in favor of the use of the TEIQue.

An evaluation of the absolute and relative stability of alexithymia in patients with major depression.

Background: Previous studies demonstrating an association between alexithymia and depression have led to the proposal that alexithymia may be a state-dependent phenomenon rather than a stable and enduring personality trait. Several longitudinal studies have provided support for a trait view of alexithymia, but most of these studies evaluated absolute stability only (i.e., the extent to which alexithymia scores change over time) and did not examine the relative stability of alexithymia (i.e., the extent to which relative differences among individuals remain the same over time) in the context of changes in illness symptomatology. The present study evaluated both absolute stability and relative stability of alexithymia in depressed patients who experienced a marked reduction in the severity of depressive symptoms. Methods: Forty-six psychiatric outpatients with major depression were assessed for alexithymia and depression with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression at the start of treatment (baseline) and after 14 weeks of treatment (follow-up) with antidepressant medication. Paired t tests and correlational analyses were performed to evaluate absolute stability and relative stability in alexithymia. Hierarchical regression analyses were then used to assess the degree to which the relative stability in alexithymia scores was related to the severity of depressive symptoms, and the degree to which changes in alexithymia scores could be attributed to changes in depression scores. Results: Alexithymia scores changed significantly from baseline to follow-up, indicating a general lack of absolute stability. There was, however, strong evidence of relative stability, as alexithymia scores at baseline correlated significantly with alexithymia scores at follow-up and were also a significant predictor of follow-up alexithymia scores, after partialling the effects of depression severity. Conclusions: Although alexithymia scores may change in the presence of large changes in the severity of depressive symptoms, the finding of relative stability of alexithymia supports the view that this construct is a stable personality trait rather a state-dependent phenomenon.

The moderating impact of emotional intelligence on free cortisol responses to stress.

The construct of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) refers to the individual differences in the perception, processing, regulation and utilization of emotional information. Several studies have found that trait EI was a significant moderator of subjective responses (e.g., mood deterioration, emotional intensity, action tendencies, bodily sensations) to both natural and laboratory stressors. The present study aims at extending these findings by examining whether trait EI also moderates the biological (i.e., cortisol) response to stress. To this end, 56 participants were assigned to either a neutral or a stressful condition (public speech task) and psychological and cortisol reactivity were examined. Results revealed that higher trait EI scores were associated with significantly lower reactivity to stress at both psychological (i.e., mood deterioration) and biological (i.e., salivary cortisol) levels. Additional analyses revealed that trait EI had incremental validity to predict stress reactivity over and above social desirability, alexithymia and the five-factor model of personality.

Relation between alexithymia and the five-factor model of personality : a facet-level analysis

The relation between alexithymia and both the domain and the facet level of the five-factor model (FFM) of personality was examined in a sample of 101 university students by using the Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20; Bagby, Taylor, & Parker, 1994) and the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992c). Consistent with the alexithymia construct, the TAS-20 was positively correlated with Neuroticism (N) and negatively correlated with Extraversion (E) and Openness (O), whereas no significant relations were found with Agreeableness (A) and Conscientiousness (C). Analysis of the lower order traits (i.e., facets) of the FFM revealed that depression for N; positive emotions and assertiveness for E; feelings and actions for O; altruism, tender-mindedness, and modesty for A; and competence for C predicted alexithymia. These results support the uniqueness of the alexithymia construct, which is represented by a cluster of traits across the dimensions and facets of the FFM.

Is there any relationship between obesity and mental flexibility in children

Cognitive profiles of 12 schoolboys with obesity were compared with their peers with normal weight. For the cognitive assessment five clinical tasks were selected: digit span memory, Ravens progressive matrices (intelligence), semantic verbal fluency, D2 attention endurance and Wisconsin card sorting test. We found no differences in memory, intelligence and verbal fluency between the two groups. Children with obesity performed worse on D2 and Wisconsin tests. Correlations confirmed relationships between body weight, body mass index, attention and Wisconsin measured perseveration in set-shifting. This suggests that childhood obesity involves cognitive deficits in shifting and attention abilities.

Oxytocin Makes People Trusting, Not Gullible

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) plays such a key role in social behavior that it has been referred to as “the love hormone” and “liquid trust” (e.g., Domes, Heinrichs, Michel, Berger, & Herpertz, 2007; Ferguson, Young, & Insel, 2002; Guastella, Mitchell, & Mathews, 2008; Morhenn, Park, Piper, & Zak, 2008; Taylor, 2006; Unkelbach, Guastella, & Forgas, 2008). These nicknames have an element of truth: When OT levels are increased, people do in fact seem to become more altruistic, trusting, and generous (Barraza & Zak, 2009; Baumgartner, Heinrichs, Vonlanthen, Fischbacher, & Fehr, 2008; Kosfeld, Heinrichs, Zak, Fischbacher, & Fehr, 2005; Pedersen, Ascher, Monroe, & Prange, 1982; Theodoridou, Rowe, Penton-Voak, & Rogers, 2009; Zak, Stanton, & Ahmadi, 2007). The effect of OT on prosocial behavior—and on trust in particular—is so strong that it has been suggested that OT may make people indiscriminately prosocial (e.g., trusting to a fault). While the press (e.g., Szalavitz, 2008) and researchers (e.g., Damasio, 2005) alike have worried about its potential misuse by politicians, the armed forces, and marketers, OT retailers have flourished by convincing clients that they can close deals with a few whiffs of OT. But does OT really increase people’s trust in anybody, or can contextual cues of unreliability override the effects of OT? Animal studies suggest that OT’s social effects may be context dependent (Campbell, 2008). In rodents, a female’s OT release after giving birth decreases her aggressiveness toward her offspring but increases her hostility toward potentially aggressive female intruders (Debiec, 2005; Pedersen, 2004). It is not known, however, whether OT’s effects are context dependent in humans. To examine this issue, we used a customized version of the trust game (Berg, Dickhaut, & McCabe, 1995; Cesarini et al., 2008; see the Supplemental Material available online). In this game, we manipulated partners’ trustworthiness and measured participants’ investment in each partner. We predicted higher investment by participants who received a nasal OT spray than by control participants, unless there were cues that a partner might not be trustworthy. Method

Flashbulb memories and the underlying mechanisms of their formation : toward an emotional-integrative model

Flashbulb memories (FBMs) are detailed recollections of the context in which people first heard about important events. The present study investigates three models of the formation and maintenance of FBM. Two models have previously been proposed in the literature (Brown & Kulik, 1977; Conway et al., 1994). A third model of FBM that integrates theories of FBM and recent developments in the field of emotions is proposed. The present study compares these three competing models by investigating the FBMs that Belgian citizens developed upon learning of the unexpected death of their king Baudouin. Structural equation modeling revealed that, as compared to the two previously proposed models, the third model, which takes into account emotional processes, better explains FBM.

The Perspective of Patients on Their Experience of Powerlessness

Although self-determination is a key issue in empowerment, the perspective of patients on their experience of empowerment has been poorly investigated. The authors have attempted to understand better what the process of empowerment means to patients by investigating the situations and feelings of powerlessness from which a process of empowerment might evolve. They conducted 40 interviews of patients with various chronic conditions and looked for the commonalities in their experiences of powerlessness. Their findings show that powerlessness extends well beyond strictly medical and treatment-related issues, as the study participants all expressed or demonstrated to have at some point or another experienced a distressing feeling of insecurity and a threat to their social and personal identities. The authors therefore suggest that an empowering provider-patient interaction should address these issues by providing for reassurance and opportunities for self-exploration as a prerequisite to participation and self-determination in treatment-related decisions.

Alexithymia and its measurement: confirmatory factor analyses of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Bermond–Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire

Alexithymia refers to the difficulties an individual has in experiencing and expressing feelings. The 20‐item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS‐20) and the Bermond–Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ) with two parallel versions of 20 items have been constructed to measure it. The present study compared the psychometric properties of these two self‐report questionnaires in English (N=290) and French (N=322) language versions. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the fit between the hypothesized factors and the data. Results revealed a better fit to the data for the second version of the BVAQ (BVAQ‐20B) for both language versions as compared to the TAS‐20, the whole BVAQ, or the first version of the BVAQ (BVAQ‐20A). Additionally, the factor comparison of both language versions indicated that only the factorial structure of the BVAQ‐20B was replicable across languages. Concurrent validity of the questionnaires is discussed. Copyright