Are People Motivated to Experience Emotions for their Cognitive Impacts? The Motivational Implications of Cognitive Appraisal Theories of Emotion

I propose a novel framework for understanding why people want to feel different emotions. I argue that people may be motivated to experience emotions for the cognitive appraisals they are associated with. In an effort to lay the foundation for an appraisal-based model of emotional preferences, I drew upon research on cognitive appraisal theories of emotion, emotional preferences, and basic human motivation. I tested my proposed model by either measuring (Study 1) or manipulating (Studies 2-7) appraisals and measuring emotional preferences, using anger (Studies 1-6) and guilt (Study 7) as specific test cases. I predicted that uncertainty appraisals would lead participants to prefer to feel anger, an emotion associated with appraisals of certainty. I also predicted that low control appraisals would lead participants to prefer to feel guilt, an emotion associated with appraisals of personal control. First, using large surveys, I demonstrated that people who tend to be uncertain also tend to experience greater levels of anger (Study 1). I then found that experimental inductions of uncertainty led to stronger preferences for and experiences of anger (Study 4), particularly among those motivated to reduce uncertainty (Study 2) and who are aware of the association between anger and certainty (Study 3). Inducing a mindset of uncertainty tolerance, on the other hand, reduced anger experience (Study 5). Finally, people lacking a sense of control expressed a stronger preference for guilt (Study 7). These findings suggest that people are motivated to experience negative emotions when they can provide for their appraisal needs. I discuss the implications of these findings for research on cognitive appraisal theories of emotion and emotional preferences. In doing so, I aim to more fully integrate the affect-cognition and emotion regulation literatures

Better Memory for a Negative Event Associated with Better Emotion Regulation

Cognitive resources in older adults may promote psychological well-being. Our data add a novel dimension to this work by demonstrating that superior memory for negative mood induction stimuli is associated with better emotion recovery over time. Older (n = 11) and younger (n = 14) participants were shown film clips depicting themes of loss to induce negative emotions and reduce positive emotions. Self-report emotions were assessed prior to the videos, immediately after the videos, and after 10-minutes of emotion recovery. Results indicated that Positive Affect, Joviality, and Attentiveness significantly (ps \u3c .05) decreased and Negative Affect, Sadness, and Hostility significantly (ps \u3c .05) increased from pre- to post-video. Changes in Guilt were significantly (p \u3c .05) different by age group; scores for younger adults decreased whereas scores for older adults increased. Free recall and recognition memory for the film stimuli were tested. There was a trend for younger adults to have better recognition memory for the negative film stimuli than older adults (p \u3c 0.10). Poorer recognition memory was associated with less efficient emotion recovery for several negative emotions. Specifically, poorer recognition memory was associated with less efficient recovery as a trend for Fear (r = -.35, p \u3c .10) and Sadness (r = -.36, p \u3c .10) and significantly for Guilt (r = -.66, p \u3c .05). Better memory for an event that causes negative emotions may facilitate emotion regulation and emotion recovery. Implications for emotion dysregulation in memory disorders are discussed

Intergroup Conflict Self-Perpetuates via Meaning: Exposure to Intergroup Conflict Increases Meaning and Fuels a Desire for Further Conflict

We investigated whether violent conflict provides individuals with a sense of meaning that they are hesitant to let go of, thus contributing to the perpetuation of intergroup conflict. Across a wide variety of contexts, we found that making intergroup conflict salient increased the meaning people found in conflict and, in turn, increased support for conflict-perpetuating beliefs, ideologies, policies, and behaviors. These effects were detected among participants exposed to reminders of intergroup conflict (the American Revolutionary War and the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS; Studies 1A and 1B), participants living through actual intergroup conflict (the 2014 Israel-Gaza war; Study 2), and participants who perceived actual intergroup conflicts to be larger versus smaller in scope (the November 2015 Paris attacks; Studies 3 and 4). We also found that directly manipulating the perceived meaning in conflict (in the context of the 2014 NYC "hatchet attack"; Study 5) led to greater perceived meaning in life in general and thereby greater support for conflict escalation. Together, these findings suggest that intergroup conflict can serve as a source of meaning that people are motivated to hold on to. We discuss our findings in the context of the meaning making and threat compensation literatures, and consider their implications for perspectives on conflict escalation and resolution

How is Existential Threat Related to Intergroup Conflict? Introducing the Multidimensional Existential Threat (MET) Model

Existential threat lies at the heart of intergroup conflict, but the literature on existential concerns lacks clear conceptualization and integration. To address this problem, we offer a new conceptualization and measurement of existential threat. We establish the reliability and validity of our measure, and to illustrate its utility, we examine whether different existential threats underlie the association between political ideology and support for specific political policies. Study 1 (N = 798) established the construct validity of the scale, and revealed four distinct existential threats: personal death (PD), physical collective annihilation (PA), symbolic collective annihilation (SA), and past victimization (PV). Study 2 (N = 424) confirmed the 4-factor structure, and the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. Study 3 (N = 170) revealed that the association between a hawkish political ideology and support for hardline policies was mediated by PV, whereas the association between a dovish political ideology and conciliatory policies was mediated by concerns over collective symbolic annihilation. Study 4 (N = 503) conceptually replicated the pattern of findings found in Study 3, and showed that at times of conflict, PA concerns also mediate the relationship between hawkish ideologies and support for hardline policies. In both Studies 3 and 4, when controlling for other threats, PD did not play a significant role. These results underscore the need to consider the multidimensional nature of existential threat, especially in the context of political conflict

Heart rate variability is associated with amygdala functional connectivity with MPFC across younger and older adults

The ability to regulate emotion is crucial to promote well-being. Evidence suggests that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and adjacent anterior cingulate (ACC) modulate amygdala activity during emotion regulation. Yet less is known about whether the amygdala-mPFC circuit is linked with regulation of the autonomic nervous system and whether the relationship differs across the adult lifespan. The current study tested the hypothesis that heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the strength of mPFC-amygdala interaction across younger and older adults. We recorded participants’ heart rates at baseline and examined whether baseline HRV was associated with amygdala-mPFC functional connectivity during rest. We found that higher HRV was associated with stronger functional connectivity between the amygdala and the mPFC during rest across younger and older adults. In addition to this age-invariant pattern, there was an age-related change, such that greater HRV was linked with stronger functional connectivity between amygdala and ventrolateral PFC (vlPFC) in younger than in older adults. These results are in line with past evidence that vlPFC is involved in emotion regulation especially in younger adults. Taken together, our results support the neurovisceral integration model and suggest that higher heart rate variability is associated with neural mechanisms that support successful emotional regulation across the adult lifespan

“We built it” in the past, but “let's build it together” in the future: The roles of temporal framing and social justice orientation in shaping attributions for personal success

Political debates over how to address economic inequality are often rooted in rhetoric about whether or not success is self-made. Attributions for personal successes invoke self-relevant motivational processes and may pose barriers to ideological consensus on economic policy. This research examined the relationship between attributions for personal successes and social justice orientation (an ideological orientation toward providing for the economic welfare of others) as well as the impact of two contextual factors: past/future-framing and thinking about political discourse about inequality. Temporal framing was expected to shift the motivational incentives available for acknowledging the role of external factors; although it may feel good to take personal credit for past successes already achieved, there may be stronger incentives to acknowledge the situational factors that shape uncertain future successes. Studies 1–4 found that individuals low in social justice orientation were reluctant to make external attributions for their past achievements, but that thinking about poverty and successes they hoped to achieve in the future increased their external attributions to levels observed among people high in social justice orientation. The willingness to make greater external attributions for future successes appeared to be motivationally-driven: it yielded affective benefits (Study 5), was seen as desirable (Study 6), and emerged when personal financial vulnerability was primed (Study 7). Attributional shifts were in turn associated with greater support for social justice. These findings suggest that thinking about successes not yet attained may establish a sort of Rawlsian “veil of ignorance” that can encourage individuals to recognize the power of situations and the needs of others

Do Control Beliefs Help People Approach or Avoid Negative Stimuli? Context-Dependent Effects of Control Beliefs

Control beliefs are widely acknowledged to play a critical role in self-regulation and well-being, but their impact on decisions to approach or avoid emotionally valenced stimuli is not clear. Two contradictory predictions for this impact can be derived from extant theorizing on the functions of control beliefs. On the one hand, control beliefs may provide individuals with the incentive to proactively regulate their emotions and avoid negative situations. On the other hand, control beliefs might help individuals to confidently approach negative situations. The current study examined whether goal orientations help to determine the conditions under which control beliefs promote negativity engagement versus negativity avoidance. Specifically, I experimentally manipulated emotional control beliefs (high versus low) and motivation (emotional goal versus no goal), asked participants to interact with a website containing a variety of stimuli varying in emotional valence, and recorded participants’ choice behavior. I predicted that stronger control beliefs would promote negativity engagement under typical motivational conditions, but would promote negativity avoidance when emotional goals were activated. Results supported these predictions, suggesting that the effect of control beliefs on the decision to approach or avoid negative stimuli depends on the goal activated at the time. Implications for research on control beliefs, emotion regulation, and motivational theories are discussed

Study 4

Data and cod

Do emotional control beliefs lead people to approach positive or negative situations? Two competing effects of control beliefs on emotional situation selection

Control beliefs are widely acknowledged to play a critical role in self-regulation and well-being, but their impact on decisions to approach or avoid situations that vary in emotional valence remains unclear. We propose that two contradictory, yet equally intuitive, predictions can be made about the impact of control beliefs on emotional situation selection. On the one hand, control beliefs might encourage individuals to initiate proactive emotion regulatory efforts, helping people select positive situations. On the other hand, control beliefs might promote a sense of confidence in one’s ability to manage emotions once they arise, helping people select negative situations. We propose that both effects occur via different mechanisms and suppress one another: control beliefs facilitate (1) positivity engagement by enhancing awareness of opportunities to regulate emotions, and (2) negativity engagement by enhancing confidence in one’s ability to handle negative situations. We found support for this framework in four studies. Consistent with our hypotheses, control beliefs (measured in Studies 1–3 and manipulated in Study 4) exerted two simultaneous and competing effects on emotional situation selection (assessed via self-report measures in Studies 1 and 2 and behaviorally in Studies 3 and 4) via the proposed mechanisms, and evidence of suppression was found. New opportunities for research on control beliefs, emotion regulation, and motivation are discussed