Individual Differences in Need for Affect and Reactivity

People are different with respect to their emotional propensities, including emotional abilities/skills and emotional style. Regarding emotional abilities/skills, alexithymia (i.e., difficulties identifying and describing emotions; Bagby et al., 1994) and emotional intelligence (Mayer et al., 1999) have been among the more widely studied constructs. Regarding emotional style, research has examined the intensity of emotion (Larsen et al., 1986) and individual differences in general positive/negative affectivity (Watson et al., 1988) or specific emotions (e.g., anxiety; Spielberger, 1985). Notably, very little work has examined people’s motivation to pursue experiences that should give rise to strong emotion. To fill this gap, Maio and Esses (2001) constructed the Need for Affect (NFA) scale, which captures individual differences in the tendency to embrace emotion. Maio and Esses (2001) demonstrated that NFA is empirically related to, but distinct from, other emotion-related individual differences. Their results also showed that individual differences in NFA predict important emotion-related outcomes. These advances notwithstanding, additional work is needed to more fully illuminate the causes, correlates, and implications of NFA. For example, is a greater need for affect accompanied by stronger reactivity to emotional challenge? The purpose of the present research was to interrogate this question using a variety of emotional reactivity measures. METHOD 56 undergraduates participated in the study. After completing the NFA scale, participants viewed a series of 64 emotion-laden pictures obtained from the International Affective Picture System (Lang et al., 2005). Pictures were grouped into three categories: pleasant (e.g., babies), neutral (e.g., household objects), and unpleasant (e.g., attack). Pictures were shown for 6 s, followed by an intertrial interval that varied between 7 and 10 s. During picture viewing, the size of participants’ eyeblinks in response to startling noises was evaluated using electromyographic recording. Eyeblink startle is a widely used psychophysiological technique for evaluating responses to emotion-laden stimuli (see Blumenthal et al., 2005). After the first round of picture viewing, during which eyeblink startle data were collected, participants viewed the same pictures a second time. Three additional measures were administered during this phase: (1) the amount of time spent viewing each picture during a free viewing period, (2) self-reported pleasantness, and (3) self-reported arousal. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION For eyeblink startle, free viewing time, and self-reported arousal, NFA did not interact with Picture Type, Fs \u3c 1.31, ps \u3e .27. Thus, patterns of reactivity to the three categories of pictures were similar regardless of NFA scores. For self-reported valence, there was a significant NFA by Picture Type interaction (F[2,102] = 9.98, p \u3c .001). High NFA participants reported greater pleasantness while viewing pleasant pictures (t = -3.35, p \u3c .01), and greater unpleasantness while viewing unpleasant pictures (t = 2.33, p \u3c .03), compared to low NFA participants. The self-reported valence results, together with the nonsignificant findings for eyeblink startle, are especially revealing. Although NFA appears to predict self-reports of the pleasantness of emotion-laden stimuli, it does not appear to predict emotional reactivity at the level of the underlying physiological systems responsible for marshaling responses to pleasant and unpleasant stimuli

Deep Chandra Observations of the Compact Starburst Galaxy Henize 2-10: X-rays from the Massive Black Hole

We present follow-up X-ray observations of the candidate massive black hole (BH) in the nucleus of the low-mass, compact starburst galaxy Henize 2-10. Using new high-resolution observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory totaling 200 ks in duration, as well as archival Chandra observations from 2001, we demonstrate the presence of a previously unidentified X-ray point source that is spatially coincident with the known nuclear radio source in Henize 2-10 (i.e., the massive BH). We show that the hard X-ray emission previously identified in the 2001 observation is dominated by a source that is distinct from the nucleus, with the properties expected for a high-mass X-ray binary. The X-ray luminosity of the nuclear source suggests the massive BH is radiating significantly below its Eddington limit (~10^-6 L_Edd), and the soft spectrum resembles other weakly accreting massive BHs including Sagittarius A*. Analysis of the X-ray light curve of the nucleus reveals the tentative detection of a ~9-hour periodicity, although additional observations are required to confirm this result. Our study highlights the need for sensitive high-resolution X-ray observations to probe low-level accretion, which is the dominant mode of BH activity throughout the Universe.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. 7 pages, 4 figure

Antecedents of support for social media content moderation and platform regulation: the role of presumed effects on self and others

This study examines support for regulation of and by platforms and provides insights into public perceptions of platform governance. While much of the public discourse surrounding platforms evolves at a policy level between think tanks, journalists, academics and political actors, little attention is paid to how people think about regulation of and by platforms. Through a representative survey study of US internet users (N = 1,022), we explore antecedents of support for social media content moderation by platforms, as well as for regulation of social media platforms by the government. We connect these findings to presumed effects on self (PME1) and others (PME3), concepts that lie at the core of third-person effect (TPE) and influence of presumed influence (IPI) scholarship. We identify third-person perceptions for social media content: Perceived negative effects are stronger for others than for oneself. A first-person perception operates on the platform level: The beneficial effects of social media platforms are perceived to be stronger for the self than for society. At the behavioral level, we identify age, education, opposition to censorship, and perceived negative effects of social media content on others (PME3) as significant predictors of support for content moderation. Concerning support for regulation of platforms by the government, we find significant effects of opposition to censorship, perceived intentional censorship, frequency of social media use, and trust in platforms. We argue that stakeholders involved in platform governance must take more seriously the attitudes of their constituents

“Brunch So Hard:“ Liquid Bonding and Unspoken Rules of Feminine Hegemony Through Alcohol Use Among National Panhellenic Conference Sorority Women

This qualitative study used a descriptive psychological phenomenological method with a poststructural feminist lens to better understand experiences of National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) sorority women with fraternity men and alcohol use. Findings suggest that members were unapologetic about their purveyance of alcohol-related behaviors. They used empowering feminist discourses to describe the ways in which they bonded through alcohol use and to differentiate themselves as sorority women. Chapter leadership often used alcohol to construct a system of gendered hegemony which heavily indoctrinated new members. These experiences are nuanced for NPC women who differently experienced alcohol use as a gendered instrument to transmit feminine norms and expectations. Salient study findings offer implications for practice about alcohol misuse and wellness related to supporting identity development and power relationships with fraternity men

Food Insecurity and Nutrition in Franklinton

In this report, Fit For Franklinton documents the problem of food insecurity in Franklinton, suggests ways to alleviate the problem, and calls for people to get involved in implementing those solutions

Variable Hard X-ray Emission from the Candidate Accreting Black Hole in Dwarf Galaxy Henize 2-10

We present an analysis of the X-ray spectrum and long-term variability of the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10. Recent observations suggest that this galaxy hosts an actively accreting black hole with mass ~10^6 M_sun. The presence of an AGN in a low-mass starburst galaxy marks a new environment for active galactic nuclei (AGNs), with implications for the processes by which "seed" black holes may form in the early Universe. In this paper, we analyze four epochs of X-ray observations of Henize 2-10, to characterize the long-term behavior of its hard nuclear emission. We analyze observations with Chandra from 2001 and XMM-Newton from 2004 and 2011, as well as an earlier, less sensitive observation with ASCA from 1997. Based on detailed analysis of the source and background, we find that the hard (2-10 keV) flux of the putative AGN has decreased by approximately an order of magnitude between the 2001 Chandra observation and exposures with XMM-Newton in 2004 and 2011. The observed variability confirms that the emission is due to a single source. It is unlikely that the variable flux is due to a supernova or ultraluminous X-ray source, based on the observed long-term behavior of the X-ray and radio emission, while the observed X-ray variability is consistent with the behavior of well-studied AGNs.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in Ap

Short and long-term carbon balance of bioenergy electricity production fueled by forest treatments

Background: Forests store large amounts of carbon in forest biomass, and this carbon can be released to the atmosphere following forest disturbance or management. In the western US, forest fuel reduction treatments designed to reduce the risk of high severity wildfire can change forest carbon balance by removing carbon in the form of biomass, and by altering future potential wildfire behavior in the treated stand. Forest treatment carbon balance is further affected by the fate of this biomass removed from the forest, and the occurrence and intensity of a future wildfire in this stand. In this study we investigate the carbon balance of a forest treatment with varying fates of harvested biomass, including use for bioenergy electricity production, and under varying scenarios of future disturbance and regeneration. Results: Bioenergy is a carbon intensive energy source; in our study we find that carbon emissions from bioenergy electricity production are nearly twice that of coal for the same amount of electricity. However, some emissions from bioenergy electricity production are offset by avoided fossil fuel electricity emissions. The carbon benefit achieved by using harvested biomass for bioenergy electricity production may be increased through avoided pyrogenic emissions if the forest treatment can effectively reduce severity. Conclusion: Forest treatments with the use of harvested biomass for electricity generation can reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere by offsetting fossil fuel electricity generation emissions, and potentially by avoided pyrogenic emissions due to reduced intensity and severity of a future wildfire in the treated stand. However, changes in future wildfire and regeneration regimes may affect forest carbon balance and these climate-induced changes may influence forest carbon balance as much, or more, than bioenergy production

On the Progenitor System of the Type Iax Supernova 2014dt in M61

We present pre-explosion and post-explosion Hubble Space Telescope images of the Type Iax supernova (SN Iax) 2014dt in M61. After astrometrically aligning these images, we do not detect any stellar sources at the position of the SN in the pre-explosion images to relatively deep limits (3 sigma limits of M_F438W > -5.0 mag and M_F814W > -5.9 mag). These limits are similar to the luminosity of SN 2012Z's progenitor system (M_F435W = -5.43 +/- 0.15 and M_F814W = -5.24 +/- 0.16 mag), the only probable detected progenitor system in pre-explosion images of a SN Iax, and indeed, of any white dwarf supernova. SN 2014dt is consistent with having a C/O white-dwarf primary/helium-star companion progenitor system, as was suggested for SN 2012Z, although perhaps with a slightly smaller or hotter donor. The data are also consistent with SN 2014dt having a low-mass red giant or main-sequence star companion. The data rule out main-sequence stars with M_init > 16 M_sun and most evolved stars with M_init > 8 M_sun as being the progenitor of SN 2014dt. Hot Wolf-Rayet stars are also allowed, but the lack of nearby bright sources makes this scenario unlikely. Because of its proximity (D = 12 Mpc), SN 2014dt is ideal for long-term monitoring, where images in ~2 years may detect the companion star or the luminous bound remnant of the progenitor white dwarf.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJ