True happiness: The role of morality in the folk concept of happiness

Recent scientific research has settled on a purely descriptive definition of happiness that is focused solely on agents’ psychological states (high positive affect, low negative affect, high life satisfaction). In contrast to this understanding, recent research has suggested that the ordinary concept of happiness is also sensitive to the moral value of agents’ lives. Five studies systematically investigate and explain the impact of morality on ordinary assessments of happiness. Study 1 demonstrates that moral judgments influence assessments of happiness not only for untrained participants, but also for academic researchers and even in those who study happiness specifically. Studies 2 and 3 then respectively ask whether this effect may be explained by general motivational biases or beliefs in a just world. In both cases, we find evidence against these explanations. Study 4 shows that the impact of moral judgments cannot be explained by changes in the perception of descriptive psychological states. Finally, Study 5 compares the impact of moral and non-moral value, and provides evidence that unlike non-moral value, moral value is part of the criteria that govern the ordinary concept of happiness. Taken together, these studies provide a specific explanation of how and why the ordinary concept of happiness deviates from the definition used by researchers studying happiness

Beliefs about the automaticity of positive mood regulation: examination of the BAMR-Positive Emotion Downregulation Scale in relation to emotion regulation strategies and mood symptoms

Emotion regulation is a topic of great interest due to its relevance to navigating everyday life, as well as its relevance to psychopathology. Recent research indicates that beliefs about the automaticity of mood regulation are critical to psychological health. In the present study we assessed beliefs about the automaticity of positive mood regulation in relationship to self-reported mood symptoms and explicit emotion regulation strategies. Participants (n = 200) completed an online survey including a scale assessing beliefs about automatic downregulation of positive emotions (i.e. BAMR-PED), beliefs about automatic mood regulation for negative emotions, mood symptoms, and emotion regulation strategies. Results suggested that beliefs about automatic positive emotion regulation were associated with unhelpful emotion regulation strategies and reduced negative affect as well as fewer depressive, manic, and anxiety symptoms. Test-retest of the novel BAMR-PED measure was tested with a further sample (n = 46) and found to be acceptable. Future research should explore how these automatic beliefs have relevance to clinical disorders characterised by positive emotion disturbance, such as bipolar disorder

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N&thinsp;=&thinsp;49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19&nbsp;pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N&thinsp;=&thinsp;42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r&thinsp;=&thinsp;&minus;0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics. &nbsp;</p

Emodiversity and the Emotional Ecosystem

Bridging psychological research exploring emotional complexity and research in the natural sciences on the measurement of biodiversity, we introduce—and demonstrate the benefits of—emodiversity: the variety and relative abundance of the emotions that humans experience. Two cross-sectional studies across more than 37,000 respondents demonstrate that emodiversity is an independent predictor of mental and physical health—such as decreased depression and doctor's visits—over and above mean levels of positive and negative emotion. These results remained robust after controlling for gender, age, and the five main dimensions of personality. Emodiversity is a practically important and previously unidentified metric for assessing the health of the human emotional ecosystem

Evaluations of affective stimuli modulated by another person's presence and affiliative touch

Affiliative touch carries affective meaning and affects the receiver. Although research demonstrates that receiving touch modulates the neural processing of emotions, its effects on evaluations of affective stimuli remain unexplored. The current research examined the effects of affiliative touch on the evaluation of affective images across 3 studies and aimed to disentangle the effect of another person’s mere presence from the addition of affiliative touch. Participants thus underwent experimental conditions of social manipulation (presence, alone) and touch manipulations (receiving, self-providing, providing to experimenter) while viewing affective images (negative, neutral, and positive valence) and evaluated their valence. Study 1 included hand-squeezing (N = 39), and Study 2 included forearm-stroking (N = 40) in a within-subjects design. Study 3 included hand-squeezing (N = 109) in a between-subjects design. Across both studies, the results suggested that the receiving condition decreased the negativity of negative images, and the providing condition reduced the positivity of positive images. Furthermore, the other presence condition increased the positivity of positive images compared with the alone condition in Study 1 and to the receiving condition in Study 2. Hand-squeezing and forearm-stroking had differential effects on affective image evaluations depending on the image valence and who provided the touch. Overall, receiving touch seems to attenuate negative evaluations in negative contexts and the presence of others amplifies positive evaluations in positive situations. Discussion highlights the importance of affiliative touch within social interactions

Regulating the high: Cognitive and neural processes underlying positive emotion regulation in Bipolar I Disorder

Although it is well established that Bipolar Disorder (BD) is characterized by excessive positive emotionality, the cognitive and neural processes that underlie such responses are unclear. We addressed this issue by examining the role that an emotion regulatory process called self-distancing plays in two potentially different BD phenotypes—BD with vs. without a history of psychosis—and healthy individuals. Participants reflected on a positive autobiographical memory and then rated their level of spontaneous self-distancing. Neurophysiological activity was continuously monitored using electroencephalogram. As predicted, participants with BD who have a history of psychosis spontaneously self-distanced less and displayed greater neurophysiological signs of positive emotional reactivity compared to the other two groups. These findings shed light on the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying excessive positive emotionality in BD. They also suggest that individuals with BD who have a history of psychosis may represent a distinct clinical phenotype characterized by dysfunctional emotion regulation

A pilot investigation of emotional regulation difficulties and mindfulness-based strategies in manic and remitted bipolar I disorder and major depressive disorder

Background: Both bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder are characterized by difficulties in emotion regulation. Little is known about which specific emotion regulatory patterns may be transdiagnostic versus disorder specific, and how such patterns change as a function of current mood states. Methods: This preliminary investigation examined specific patterns of self-reported trait emotion regulation difficulties and mindfulness-based regulations strategies across four groups: remitted adults with bipolar I disorder (BD-remitted; n = 32), currently manic adults with bipolar I disorder (BD-manic; n = 19), remitted adults with major depressive disorder (MDD-remitted; n = 32), and healthy controls (CTL; n = 30). Results: All three clinical groups reported significantly greater difficulties with emotion regulation and decreased overall mindfulness-based strategies. Conclusions: These results suggest that increased emotion regulation difficulties, decreased mindfulness, and increased emotion-driven impulsivity may be transdiagnostic across mood disorders and states, and that impulsivity may be particularly impaired during periods of mania. Keywords: Bipolar disorder; Emotion regulation; Emotional awareness; Impulsivity; Major depressive disorder; Mindfulness.</p

Reward Dysregulation and Mood Symptoms in an Adolescent Outpatient Sample

Research on bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSD) in adolescence has burgeoned in the last decade, but continued work is needed to identify endophenotypic markers associated with illness onset and course. The present study examined reward dysregulation – measured via the behavioral activation system (BAS) – as one putative marker of BPSD in adolescence. A diverse group of 425 outpatient adolescents between 11–17 years of age (52% male) completed the Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Scale (BIS-BAS) scale to measure reward dysregulation. Semi-structured interviews determined diagnoses and severity of mood symptoms. Parent-reported BAS was associated with increased symptoms of mania, and parent and adolescent-reported BAS were associated with symptoms of depression. Parent-reported BIS scores were associated with increased symptoms of mania. Results held independent of diagnostic status. Furthermore, parent BIS/BAS reports were stronger predictors for manic symptoms compared to adolescent-reports. Results extend work in adults with BPSD, suggesting a transdiagnostic association between reward dysregulation and mood symptom severity in adolescence

Best practices in research mentoring in clinical science.

The growth of clinical science as a field depends on the work of engaged mentors nurturing future generations of scientists. Effective research mentoring has been shown to predict positive outcomes, including greater scholarly productivity, reduced attrition, and increased satisfaction with training and/or employment, which ultimately may enhance the quality of the clinical-science research enterprise. Barriers to effective research mentoring, however, pose significant challenges for both mentees and mentors, as well as for labs, training programs, and/or departments. We discuss some key issues as they apply to clinical-science mentoring and note how they are affected across different developmental levels (undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, doctoral, internship, postdoctoral associates, and early career faculty). Although we do not proclaim expertise on these issues-and have struggled with them in our own careers-we believe an open discussion around best mentoring practices will enhance our collective effectiveness and help mentees and our field to flourish. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics