Storied Lessons: Learning from Anger in Childhood by Narrating.

We evaluated whether narrating anger-provoking events promoted learning from those events, as compared with other responses to anger, and whether the effectiveness of narrative depended on age. In addition, we tested relations between anger-reduction and learning and in a subset of participants, between narrative quality and learning. 248 youth (8 to 17 years old) recalled an anger-provoking experience, and were randomly assigned to one of four activities: recalling the event a second time, narrating the event, and distraction (via video game play or conversation). Youth then recalled the event one last time, and rated the extent to which they had learned from that event. Younger children reported more learning when they had narrated their experience. Older youth reported more learning when they had narrated the event more frequently prior to participation. Stronger reductions in anger following regulation were associated with greater self-reported learning. Finally, more elaborative and less resolved narratives were associated with greater self-reported learning.

Memory, Emotion, and Intersubjectivity: beyond the Information Given, and beyond the Individual Mind.

This commentary reflects on papers assembled for a special issue about the impact of Bruner's idea of "beyond the information given." The assembled papers are examined in relation to three cross-cutting issues that they illustrate: 1) processes of reflection in autobiographical recollection; 2) links between meaning and emotion; and 3) the idea of going beyond the individual mind as well as beyond the given information.

Self-preserving personal care products.

OBJECTIVE: As questions on the safety of some popular preservatives are on the rise, there is a growing interest in developing 'self-preserving' personal care products. Use of multifunctional ingredients/actives with antimicrobial properties has been explored as replacements for conventional preservatives. This study explores the use of combinations of multifunctional actives (MFA) and other cosmetic ingredients in various personal care formulations, to deliver microbiologically safe self-preserving products. Products studied in this study include face wash, gel-based leave-on skin care product and face mask. METHODS: Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of several cosmetic ingredients was determined to identify multifunctional actives with antimicrobial activity. Personal care formulations made with multifunctional actives and other cosmetic ingredients were studied for preservative efficacy by challenging the product with six multiple cycles of microbial challenge. RESULTS: Formulations with combinations of multifunctional actives with antioxidant (AO) and chelators (CHL) were found to work synergistically and were highly efficacious in controlling multiple microbial challenges as observed in the preservative efficacy test (PET) studies. The effective combinations were able to withstand up to six multiple microbial challenges without product degradation. The preservative efficacy profile was similar to control formula containing preservatives. CONCLUSION: Self-preserving personal care/cosmetic products can be developed which are as efficacious as preserved products by a prudent selection of multifunctional actives, antioxidants and chelators as a part of the formulation.

Identity: commentary. Identity development: dialogue between normative and pathological developmental approaches.

This commentary places the article by Feenstra and colleagues (in press) within the frameworks and findings of normative identity development research. Points of overlap between the way identity is conceptualized by Feenstra and colleagues and the way identity is conceptualized in normative work are outlined. In addition, areas where juxtaposing psychopathology and normative developmental findings could yield new insights for researchers working in both areas are briefly highlighted.

Telling and the remembered self: linguistic differences in memories for previously disclosed and previously undisclosed events.

Prior work suggests that disclosing experiences may provide people with more distance, more positive emotion, greater cognitive elaboration, and greater certainty regarding those experiences. Two studies (n=58 undergraduates and n=123 community-living adults) examined linguistic indicators of such differences between previously disclosed and previously undisclosed memories elicited on subsequent, solitary occasions using the LIWC text analysis program (Pennebaker & Francis, 1999). Disclosure was associated with differences in the linguistic features of subsequent memories. Potential mechanisms and implications of those differences are discussed.

Emotion regulation during social remembering: differences between emotions elicited during an event and emotions elicited when talking about it.

This paper examines emotion regulation as a function of autobiographical remembering in social contexts. Two studies (n = 38 and 123, respectively) are presented that provide evidence that autobiographical remembering in social settings can result in changes in the emotions associated with an experience. However, the results also suggest that whether changes occur depends on features of the recall context, including the gender of participants, and the responses of their listeners. Across both studies, men showed greater emotional benefits from talking about events than women. Moreover, greater listener agreement was associated with greater benefits for emotion. The results are discussed in terms of functions of autobiographical remembering, gender, social support, and emotion regulation.

The social construction of the personal past and its implications for adult development.

This article examines conversational recounting about experiences as a potential mechanism by which people socially construct themselves and their worlds over the life span and the resulting implications for understanding adult development. Two principles governing conversational recounting of past events are proposed: coconstruction (the joint influences of speakers and contexts on conversational reconstructions of past events) and consistency (the influence of a conversational reconstruction on subsequent memory). Operating together, the principles provide an account for how autobiographical memory is socially constructed. In addition, the principles may illuminate how conversations about the past can influence the development of identity in adulthood.

Seeds of wisdom: adolescents' knowledge and judgment about difficult life problems.

The present study examined adolescents' wisdom-related knowledge and judgment with a heterogeneous sample of 146 adolescents (ages 14-20 years) and a comparison sample of 58 young adults (ages 21-37 years). Participants responded to difficult and ill-defined life dilemmas; expert raters evaluated these responses along 5 wisdom criteria. Our findings confirmed that in contrast to adulthood, adolescence is a major period for normative age-graded development in knowledge about difficult life problems. Adolescents performed at lower levels than young adults but also demonstrated substantial age increments in performance. As expected, adolescents' performance varied as a function of criterion and gender. These results hold implications for research on adolescent development and for the development of wisdom-related knowledge and judgment.

Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span.

Age differences in emotional experience over the adult life span were explored, focusing on the frequency, intensity, complexity, and consistency of emotional experience in everyday life. One hundred eighty-four people, age 18 to 94 years, participated in an experience-sampling procedure in which emotions were recorded across a 1-week period. Age was unrelated to frequency of positive emotional experience. A curvilinear relationship best characterized negative emotional experience. Negative emotions declined in frequency until approximately age 60, at which point the decline ceased. Individual factor analyses computed for each participant revealed that age was associated with more differentiated emotional experience. In addition, periods of highly positive emotional experience were more likely to endure among older people and periods of highly negative emotional experience were less stable. Findings are interpreted within the theoretical framework of socioemotional selectivity theory.

Age differences in response to conformity pressure for emotional and nonemotional material.

Most theories of social influence do not consider adult development. Theoretical and empirical work in life span developmental psychology, however, suggests that age may reduce susceptibility to social influence. The present study examined age differences in social conformity for 2 classes of stimuli: judgments of geometric shapes and emotional facial expressions. As predicted, older people, compared with their younger counterparts, displayed lower rates of social conformity, and this age difference was most evident when judging emotional facial expressions.

Emotion and aging: experience, expression, and control.

Age differences in emotional experience, expression, and control were investigated in 4 studies. A community sample of 127 African Americans and European Americans (ages 19-96 years) was used in Study 1; a community sample of 82 Chinese Americans and European Americans (ages 20-85 years) was used in Study 2; a community sample of 49 Norwegians drawn from 2 age groups (ages 20-35 years and 70+ years) was used in Study 3; and a sample of 1,080 American nuns (ages 24-101 years) was used in Study 4. Across studies, a consistent pattern of age differences emerged. Compared with younger participants, older participants reported fewer negative emotional experiences and greater emotional control. Findings regarding emotional expressivity were less consistent, but when there were age differences, older participants reported lesser expressivity. Results are interpreted in terms of increasingly competent emotion regulation across the life span.

Primary caregivers' descriptions of Alzheimer patients' personality traits: temporal stability and sensitivity to change.

Caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients provided characterizations of the patients' premorbid personality traits and current personality traits on two occasions nearly 1 year apart. Characterizations of pre-illness personality traits did not differ between the two assessments. Changes in personality over the year were found for neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness. The findings support the reliability of observer's descriptions of premorbid personality using the NEO-PI and the sensitivity of the instrument to personality change in dementia.

Concordance between observers in descriptions of personality change in Alzheimer's disease.

To evaluate observer bias and to estimate observer concordance for descriptions of personality changes in dementia, the authors examined the personality descriptions of dementia patients provided by 2 informants. Twenty-two patients with Alzheimer's disease were rated on the NEO-PI by each of 2 informants, the primary caregiver and another relative or friend. Each informant completed the NEO-PI to describe current behavior and premorbid behavior. Significant differences between premorbid and current descriptions were found for 4 of the 5 personality dimensions measured. There was substantial agreement between independent raters, as indicated by significant correlations between raters for 4 dimensions and the absence of significant differences between rater averages. These results suggest that both primary caregivers and others who know a patient well may serve as informants for studies of personality in dementia.