Zbigniew Zaleski

The Colors of Anger, Envy, Fear, and Jealousy A Cross-Cultural Study

Word associations or verbal synesthesia between concepts of color and emotions were studied in Gersnany, Mexico, Poland, Russia, and the United States. With emotion words as the between-subjects variable, 661 undergraduates indicated on 6-point scales to what extent anger, envy, fear, and jealousy reminded them of 12 terms of color. In all nations, the colors of anger were black and red, fear was black, and jealousy was red. Cross-cultural differences were (a) Poles connected anger, envy, and jealousy also with purple; (b) Germans associated envy and jealousy with yellow; and (c) Americans associated envy with black, green, and red, but for the Russians it was black, purple, and yellow. The findings suggest that cross-modal associations originate in universal human experiences and in culture-specific variables, such as language, mythology, and literature.

Future Anxiety: concept, measurement, and preliminary research

Abstract The author introduces the concept of Future Anxiety (FA) as a personality characteristic. Within the cognitive approach, the subjective future time perspective is described as the basis of FA. In reference to other propositions and anxiety concepts the common features with other types of anxiety and its specificity are discussed. The 29-item measurement scale (FAS) is presented with reliability indices for the English and Polish versions. Also some preliminary results are reported. High FA appeared to be more related to manipulative treatment of others in order to assure ones own future. More specifically, high FA scorers tend to use harder power strategies to influence others in the superior-subordinate situation. Also, high FA scorers express greater pessimism in predicting future solution to global problems faced by humanity. Other FA relationships are under investigation.

Sensation-seeking and preference for emotional visual stimuli

Abstract The Zuckerman Sensation-seeking Scale (SSS) was administered to 190 men and 197 women, who were also asked to choose 5 pictures out of a group of 21. Seven of these pictures had been rated as emotionally positive, 7 as emotionally neutral and 7 as emotionally negative. Choices of the high and low sensation-seeking groups were compared, and it was found that the high sensation-seekers had a stronger preference for the hegative stimuli than the lows, and the low sensation-seekers had a stronger preference for the positive stimuli than the highs. The results are discussed in terms of optimum level of arousal.

BEHAVIORAL EFFECTS OF SELF-SET GOALS FOR DIFFERENT TIME RANGES

Abstract The effects of self-set goals on self-reported goal-directed activity in different time ranges were investigated. The relationship between goal specificity, future time perspective and goal-directed activity were also examined. Subjects wrote down goals they had set for times ranges from 1 week to life span and then completed the Goal Questionnaire in reference to one goal, randomly selected by the experimenter. By means of factor analyses three goal-properties scales, importance, expectancy, conflict, and three action scales, effort, persistence, and satisfaction were created. Analyses revealed that with increasing time range there is an increase in level of importance, effort, persistence, and satisfaction, and a decrease in conflict. Goal expectancy appeared relatively stable. More specific analyses revealed that high importance leads to higher effort and satisfaction but to lower persistence. All action indices were positively related to expectancy of success and subjectively expected goal va...

Neuroticism and marital satisfaction.

Abstract Thirty happily married and thirty unhappily married couples were examined by means of the MPI questionnaire to test the hypothesis that emotional instability impaired satisfaction in marriage. Unhappily married partners were very significantly higher on neuroticism than happily married partners, but there were no differences in extraversion/introversion. The data suggest that the high neuroticism of the unhappily married partners antedates their marriage.

Anger, Envy, Fear, and Jealousy as Felt in the Body: A Five-Nation Study:

An ongoing debate is centered on the question of whether emotions have their own pattern of autonomic nervous system activation. To determine whether individuals do perceive subjective physiological changes for different emotions, 514 university students in Germany, Mexico, Poland, Russia, and the United States indicated on a 6-point scale to what extent they felt anger, envy, fear, and jealousy in particular parts of the body and body processes. In agreement with recent studies, the pattern of sites where emotions were re ported to be felt varied for different emotions. Cross-cultural commonalities and differences were also found. The findings were

Personality and attitudes towards marginal social groups

Abstract The authors tested the hypothesis that high scorers on the EPQ extraversion scale express more tolerant and humanitarian attitudes towards marginal social groups whereas the high scorers on psychoticism take a more repressive position. The data collected among 249 Polish subjects by means of Eysenck and Eysencks ( Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire , 1975) EPQ questionnaire and the scale measuring attitudes towards different marginal groups confirmed the assumption. The results are discussed in reference to the role of personality of people responsible for social policy in terms of support or repression aimed at various marginal groups.

Romantic Jealousy and Romantic Envy in Germany, Poland, and the United States

Cross-cultural commonalities and differences for romantic jealousy and romantic envy were found with factor analyses and Procrustes rotations of the responses of 276 females and 179 males in three nations to a 69-item questionnaire. The evidence for cross-cultural invariance was stronger for the factor analyses than it was for the mean ratings of the questionnaire items. We interpreted this finding as an indication that the issues of concern in jealousy and envy situations are similar across our sample of industrialized nations, but that the particular events arousing those issues of concern differ across nations.