Viewing Loved Faces Inhibits Defense Reactions: A Health-Promotion Mechanism?

We have known for decades that social support is associated with positive health outcomes. And yet, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this association remain poorly understood. The link between social support and positive health outcomes is likely to depend on the neurophysiological regulatory mechanisms underlying reward and defensive reactions. The present study examines the hypothesis that emotional social support (love) provides safety cues that activate the appetitive reward system and simultaneously inhibit defense reactions. Using the startle probe paradigm, 54 undergraduate students (24 men) viewed black and white photographs of loved (romantic partner, father, mother, and best friend), neutral (unknown), and unpleasant (mutilated) faces. Eye–blink startle, zygomatic major activity, heart rate, and skin conductance responses to the faces, together with subjective ratings of valence, arousal, and dominance, were obtained. Viewing loved faces induced a marked inhibition of the eye-blink startle response accompanied by a pattern of zygomatic, heart rate, skin conductance, and subjective changes indicative of an intense positive emotional response. Effects were similar for men and women, but the startle inhibition and the zygomatic response were larger in female participants. A comparison between the faces of the romantic partner and the parent who shares the partner’s gender further suggests that this effect is not attributable to familiarity or arousal. We conclude that this inhibitory capacity may contribute to the health benefits associated with social support.This research was funded by grant P07-SEJ-02964 from Junta de Andalucía (Spain)

Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity

Many of us "see red," "feel blue," or "turn green with envy." Are such color-emotion associations fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural creations learned through our languages and traditions? To answer these questions, we tested emotional associations of colors in 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts with 12 color terms. Pattern-similarity analyses revealed universal color-emotion associations (average similarity coefficientr= .88). However, local differences were also apparent. A machine-learning algorithm revealed that nation predicted color-emotion associations above and beyond those observed universally. Similarity was greater when nations were linguistically or geographically close. This study highlights robust universal color-emotion associations, further modulated by linguistic and geographic factors. These results pose further theoretical and empirical questions about the affective properties of color and may inform practice in applied domains, such as well-being and design.Peer reviewe

Sympathy and Tenderness as Components of Dispositional Empathic Concern: Predicting Helping and Caring Behaviors

Recently, empathic concern was separated into the components of sympathy and tenderness (Lishner, Batson, & Huss, 2011). So far, these two emotional experiences have been assessed as episodic emotional responses, as the existent dispositional measures remain blind to such distinction. The aim of the present research is to develop and validate a dispositional measure that captures the personal disposition to feel sympathy, tenderness, and personal distress. This new scale is called Sympathy, Tenderness and Distress Dispositional Scale (SyTeD). In Study 1, we developed and tested the internal consistency and factor structure of the English version of the scale in the United States. In Study 2, we translated the scale into Spanish and tested its content and criterion validity in Spain. In Study 3, we tested the predictive validity of the sympathy-tenderness distinction within a helping vs. a care-based scenario in the United Kingdom (SyTeD-English version). In Study 4, we tested the predictive validity of the sympathy-tenderness distinction in a real helping situation in Spain (SyTeD-Spanish version). The results across these four studies suggest that the SyTeD is a useful measure of dispositional sympathy and tenderness that allows studying further different types of prosocial behavior (i.e., help vs. care)

Bullying, defending, and outsider behaviors: The moderating role of social status and gender in their relationship with empathy

The aim of the present study was to examine whether the effect of empathy on the role children play in bullying situations, as either bullies, defenders or outsiders, was moderated by children's social status within their classroom, and whether this moderation was gender dependent. For this purpose, we used a representative sample of 2,050 Spanish primary school children (50.80% girls) from grades 3-6 (Mage = 9.80 years; SD = 1.24), recruited from 27 primary schools. Results showed that the effect of empathy on bullying behavior was moderated by the sociometric rating only in girls. Both empathy and social rating had an effect on defending behavior. However, neither the children's sociometric rating nor their gender moderated the relationship between empathy and defending and outsider behaviors. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions designed to prevent bullying in school settings. © 2018 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations

Trispyrazolylborate Ligands Supported on Vinyl Addition Polynorbornenes and Their Copper Derivatives as Recyclable Catalysts

Polynorbornenes prepared by vinyl addition polymerization and bearing pendant alkenyl groups serve as skeletons to support trispyrazolylborate ligands (Tp(x)) built at those alkenyl sites. Reaction with CuI in acetonitrile led to VA-PNB-Tp(x)Cu(NCMe) (VA-PBN=vinyl addition polynorbornene) with a 0.8-1.4 mmol incorporation of Cu per gram of polymer. The presence of tetracoordinated copper(I) ions was been assessed by FTIR studies on the corresponding VA-PNB-Tp(x)Cu(CO) adducts, in agreement with those on discrete Tp(x)Cu(CO). The new materials were employed as heterogeneous catalysts in several carbene- and nitrene-transfer reactions, showing a behavior similar to that of the homogeneous counterparts but also being recycled several times maintaining a high degree of activity and selectivity. This is the first example of supported Tp(x) ligands onto polymeric supports with catalytic applications.The authors would like to thank the financial support of the MINECO (CTQ2017-82893-C2-1-R, CTQ2016-80913-P and Red Intecat CTQ2016-81923-REDC), the JCyL (VA051P17, VA062G18) and the EU (CHAOS COST ACTION CA-15106)