emotion and language

Question 1

processing emotional words

Kousta et al., 2009

Answer 1

high arousal = more memorable.

effect of valance even when arousal was constant

findings are inconclusive and debatable often due to stimuli not being precisely matched on factors influencing word recognition

Question 2

concreteness effect

Answer 2

concrete words exist in time-space and are independent of human minds/language = objects that can be experienced with senses but don’t need to have actually experienced them

such words have a cognitive advantage over abstract words
e.g. acquisition - first words are concrete

Question 3

concreteness effect

dual coding theory

Answer 3

concrete concepts are represented in two distinct but functionally related systems - verbal, linguistic and non-verbal, imagistic
also encoded using somatosensory experience

abstract concepts are primarily or exclusively verbal

Question 4

concreteness effect

context availability model

Answer 4

concrete words have stronger and denser interconnections with other concepts in semantic memory than abstract words

Question 5

Vigliocco et al., 2009

embodied theories of cognition

Answer 5

people asked to read words in MRI - linked to activities in life = also activate the brain part involved in the action.

the representation of both concrete and abstract concept is due to the contribution of experiential and linguistic information - differences between word meanings depends on the type and proportion of experiential/linguistic information.

more sensorimotor information underlies concrete words and statistically more affective and linguistic information underlies abstract words and meanings. however when considering the embodiment of emotions they become just as real as actions = sensorimotor information.

Question 6

prosody

Answer 6

sound of voice and how things are said

e.g. hiding feelings can be done by changing words but harder to change tone of voice. this is because out speech production system is modulated by the physiological parameters that change depending on the emotional arousal

Question 7

Schimer et al., 2004

prosody and sex differences

Answer 7

male and female ppts perform ERG experiment. certain components indicate different processes.

presented with utterances that were either congruent or incongruent with Prosody.
Asked to pay attention to the prosody - both sexes performed well

when asked to only pay attention to the meanings and prosody/meaning was incongruent = females were slower = brains stopped to think about how to integrate emotions and disengage the tone of voice, whereas males are more likely to only focus
women show an N400 effect in the left IFG (about processing meaning) - do this automatically

men and women differ in how automatically they access and integrate emotional-prosodic information into language processing

Question 8

why are there differences between men and women

Answer 8

• women need to know differences in child cries (biological)
• socialisation as women are brought up to be more emotionally in tune

Question 9

emotional granularity

emotional differentiation

Answer 9

ability to differentiate between the specificity of their emotions - high EG = discriminate between emotions that all fall within the same valence and arousal - rich emotional vocal

low EG = uses global terms

Question 10

EG and psychosocial functioning

Answer 10

experiential sampling: reporting on emotional state on several occasions throughout the day.

link between granularity and functioning - high EG = do better and cope with problems

low levels seem to be associated with affective issues e.g. BPD, Schz, MDD, addiction

Question 11

Emotional Granularity and Major Depressive Disorder

Demiralp (2012)

Answer 11

ppts rated mood 8x per day for a week using 7 negative and 4 positive emotions
those diagnosed with MDD experienced negative emotions less granularly
no difference to controls for positive

Question 12

Emotional Granularity and Alcohol

Kashdan et al (2010)

Answer 12

relationship between negative emotion and alcohol consumption was weaker for those with high EG. indicates high EG may have more effective coping skills.

Question 13

EG and Anger

Pond et al (2012)

Answer 13

high EG = less likely to act in an aggressive manner when angry compared to individuals exhibiting low EG.

ability to distinguish between similarly valences emotional states facilitates adaptive coping .

societal problem - boys shouldn’t cry/show weakness = not allowed to use full range of emotions and only allowed to show anger. every time something goes bad = cant recognise and deal with emotions

Question 14

emodiversity

Answer 14

the variety and relative abundance of the emotions in our experience.
experience a broad mix of emotions is better for you, including range of negative emotions. better to deal with is than repress

Question 15

Emodiversiy and the emotional ecosystem

Quoidbach et al (2014)

Answer 15

1. surveyed 35000
   high level = less likely to experience depression - the case for all types of emodiversity

high emodiversity = less likely to be depressed than people high in positive emotion alone.

2. 1300 people - high emodiversity linked to better health outcomes,. look after themselves, less medication use, fewer dr visits and days in the hospital. also better diet, exercise and smoking habits

Question 16

benefits of teaching kids emotional literacy

Answer 16

teach kids how to label emotions = identify and express a full range and regulate = less impulsive, more focussed and successful

identify emotions = understand ours and others’ needs

Question 17

denotation

Answer 17

literal meaning of a word

‘dictionary definition’

Question 18

connotation

Answer 18

associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word

built up through experiences

Question 19

how are emotion words represented by bilinguals

Answer 19

differential patterns of usage as a function of language dominance or proficiency that have direct implications for therapy.

Gonzalez-Reigosa (1976) - taboo words presented in native/dominant language elicit more anxiety than taboo words in the second language or neutral words in the native language

Question 20

using language switching to create distance

Answer 20

48 Chinese undergrads
interviewed eachother in cantonese (first language) and english.
4 topics were discussed- 2 embarrassing and 2 neutral

spoke for longer about embarrassing topics in english than cantonese - less embarrassing when switching to another language = creates distance and don’t experience the same emotions

can be used to address upsetting issues.

Question 21

how are emotion words represented by bilinguals

Answer 21

represent emotion words differently in their two languages. words typically associate with a broader range of emotion in their first language. language mixing is typically not random and is not a language deficit and research has shown that switching is deliberate, predictable and influenced by context/situation

move to second language to make things more bearable

Question 22

psychoanalytic perspective

Answer 22

• first to highlight the importance of language in therapy with bilingual clients. - all the main methods focus on language and wouldn’t work using the second language. ==> can dip into subconscious using the language not spoken as a child as memories are formed in the language spoken when they occurred.

Question 23

psychoanalytic perspective Greenson (1950) and his work on a 35-year old bilingual woman

Answer 23

bilingual in german and english
immigrated to the US at the age of 18
she had sought treatment for a sleep disturbance

reported having dreams in german and consciously refused to speak the language for fear it would trigger repressed memories and also the language has become associated with a negative childhood identity.

would talk about them in english and eventually used german to deal with her dreams

Question 24

Krapf (1955) - polygon patients and language use

Answer 24

unconsciously choose a particular language to ward off anxiety when touch upon things that make them language

the choice of a language may serve to strengthen the ego = positive rather a negative defence

= can be used to deal with issues sooner rather than later in a language they can better manage emotions in

Question 25

Aragno & Schlacht (1996)

effect of talking in second language about experiences

Answer 25

talking in english as their second language, traumatic memories are recounted with little/no affective or emotional involvement - distancing themself. but patients were able to access intensely emotional connections and their encapsulated meanings when encouraged to recount such early experiences in their language of origin.

second language avoided associative triggers

Question 26

Malgady and Costantino (1998)

hispanic patients interviewed

Answer 26

148 hispanics with schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders were interviewed in english, spanish or both. hispanic clinicians rated symptoms as more severe than anglo clinicians due to shared background and better understanding

e.g. client looking excitable may be thought of as the fiery latino assumption whereas hispanic clinician will see something deeper.

easiest to understand what was going on in switching interview = allowed to use both languages.

ethnic similarity between patient and clinician enhances ability to identify cultural modes of symptom expression and enhance clinical judgement

Question 27

problems with diagnostic process

Marcos (1994) 4 major categories susceptible to distortion

Answer 27

clinicians need to be made aware of possible mistakes in diagnostic process that may occur if patients are interviewed in second language.

1. patients general attitude - those struggling with a language barrier may behave self-effacingly = appear reluctant to communicate
2. motor activity, speech and stream of talk - quality and quantity of motor activity can be an issue when distinguishing between what is language induced and which reflects tension and anxiety
3. affect and emotional tone - may appear flat
4. sense of self - speech disturbances and language mixing occurs due to emotionally changed questions and in high stress situations may lead to inference that the flow of thought is less logical.

language switching may be an effective treatment - e.g. verbalising experience without accompanying emotions to gain distance and objectify different issues but therapist needs to be fluent in both

Question 28

Language switching as a treatment strategy

Altarriba & Santiago-Rivera, 1994

Answer 28

dominant language - use a broader language, language and speech is easier but trigger difficult emotions.

non dominant language - can discuss painful events but vocab/language may be limited

both languages - use a broader vocab/speech/language easily communicated - language mixing = discuss painful events –> when they switch will be very telling.

Question 29

Therapist language switching

Santiago-Rivera et al., 2009

Answer 29

interviewed 9 spanish-english bilingual therapists. reported language switching helped

• clients with limited proficiency
• establish trust and bond using cultural idioms and proverbs
• work through resistance, redirect attention and facilitate disclosure/expression.

language match is more important for therapeutic alliance than ethnic match.

Question 30

counting words

Answer 30

text analysis methods allow the processing of extremely large amounts of data very quickly - spot linguistic features when discussing different topics

Question 31

absolutist thinking

Answer 31

linked to various MH disorders
refers to describing feeling and circumstances in absolute terms - all/nothing, black/white thinking

can be seen in what and how people write

Question 32

in an absolute state (Al-Mosaiwi & Johnstone, 2018)

text analysis of 63 forums

Answer 32

looked at different types of forums - e.g. neutral vs support.

prevalence of absolutist words is approx. 50% greater in anxiety and depression forums and 80% greater for suicide ideation forums - tracked the severity of the affective disorder forums better than negative emotion words.
found elevated levels of absolutist words in depression recovery forums = vulnerability factor

Question 33

Depression and self (Nolan-Hoeksema, 1991)

Answer 33

rumination is a pattern of responses to distress where individuals passively and persistently focus on themselves, their symptoms and possible causes and consequences.

Question 34

language of depression (Rude et al., 2004)

Answer 34

examined the language of never/formally and currently depressed students, asked to write about deepest thoughts/feelings about coming to collage –> feel vulnerable

the use of the I pronoun was increased in depressed and also in formally depressed but only in the final third of their essay once they’d been absorbed by their narratives

Question 35

predictive power of language on depression outcome

Zimmerman et al., 2017

Answer 35

use of first person singular pronouns used when admitted to psych hospital significantly predicted depressive symptoms approximately 8 months later.

no correlation at admittance, starts to occur at discharge

Question 36

meta analysis of depression and first person singular use pronouns (Holtzman, 2017)

Answer 36

small positive correlation
- robust across different demographic characteristics
but does not support the idea that rumination-depression link is significantly greater for woman than men

first person singular pronouns are a modest linguistic marker of depression