emotion and language Flashcards
processing emotional words
Kousta et al., 2009
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
concreteness effect
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
concreteness effect
dual coding theory
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
concreteness effect
context availability model
concrete words have stronger and denser interconnections with other concepts in semantic memory than abstract words
Vigliocco et al., 2009
embodied theories of cognition
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.
prosody
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
Schimer et al., 2004
prosody and sex differences
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
why are there differences between men and women
- women need to know differences in child cries (biological)
- socialisation as women are brought up to be more emotionally in tune
emotional granularity
emotional differentiation
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
EG and psychosocial functioning
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
Emotional Granularity and Major Depressive Disorder
Demiralp (2012)
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
Emotional Granularity and Alcohol
Kashdan et al (2010)
relationship between negative emotion and alcohol consumption was weaker for those with high EG. indicates high EG may have more effective coping skills.
EG and Anger
Pond et al (2012)
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
emodiversity
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
Emodiversiy and the emotional ecosystem
Quoidbach et al (2014)
- 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.
- 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
benefits of teaching kids emotional literacy
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
denotation
literal meaning of a word
‘dictionary definition’
connotation
associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word
built up through experiences
how are emotion words represented by bilinguals
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
using language switching to create distance
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.
how are emotion words represented by bilinguals
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
psychoanalytic perspective
- 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.
psychoanalytic perspective Greenson (1950) and his work on a 35-year old bilingual woman
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
Krapf (1955) - polygon patients and language use
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
Aragno & Schlacht (1996)
effect of talking in second language about experiences
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
Malgady and Costantino (1998)
hispanic patients interviewed
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
problems with diagnostic process
Marcos (1994) 4 major categories susceptible to distortion
clinicians need to be made aware of possible mistakes in diagnostic process that may occur if patients are interviewed in second language.
- patients general attitude - those struggling with a language barrier may behave self-effacingly = appear reluctant to communicate
- 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
- affect and emotional tone - may appear flat
- 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
Language switching as a treatment strategy
Altarriba & Santiago-Rivera, 1994
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.
Therapist language switching
Santiago-Rivera et al., 2009
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.
counting words
text analysis methods allow the processing of extremely large amounts of data very quickly - spot linguistic features when discussing different topics
absolutist thinking
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
in an absolute state (Al-Mosaiwi & Johnstone, 2018)
text analysis of 63 forums
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
Depression and self (Nolan-Hoeksema, 1991)
rumination is a pattern of responses to distress where individuals passively and persistently focus on themselves, their symptoms and possible causes and consequences.
language of depression (Rude et al., 2004)
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
predictive power of language on depression outcome
Zimmerman et al., 2017
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
meta analysis of depression and first person singular use pronouns (Holtzman, 2017)
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
