Personal and Interpersonal Factors Moderate the Relation Between Human-Made Trauma and Hypertension: A Path Analysis Approach.

BACKGROUND: Although the link between trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and hypertension is established, its underlying mechanisms remain underexplored. OBJECTIVE: This study tested a theoretical model exploring the moderating influence of psychological (emotion regulation) and interpersonal (social support) factors on the mediation between trauma and hypertension, through PTSD. METHODS: We measured these variables through self-reported questionnaire on 212 patients, recruited from internal medicine in a general hospital of Bukavu, a region affected by more than 25 years of armed conflicts. We first evaluated the PTSD mediation in the absence of moderators, before testing each moderator using moderated path analysis. RESULTS: Results showed that PTSD partially mediates the relationship between human-made trauma and hypertension, whereas social support and maladaptive emotion regulation moderate the relationship between human-made trauma and PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between human-made trauma, PTSD, and hypertension might be modulated by psychological and interpersonal factors, which paves the way for new interventions targeting emotion regulation and social support to reduce PTSD and hypertension in populations exposed to human-made violence.

Why We Gather: A New Look, Empirically Documented, at Émile Durkheim's Theory of Collective Assemblies and Collective Effervescence.

For Durkheim, individuals' survival and well-being rest on cultural resources and social belonging that must be revived periodically in collective assemblies. Durkheim's concern was to clarify how these assemblies achieve this revitalization. An intensive examination of primitive religions led him to identify successive levels of engagement experienced by participants and to develop explanatory principles relevant to all types of collective gatherings. Durkheim's conception is widely referred to nowadays. However, the question of its empirical status remains open. We extracted from his text his main statements and translated them into research questions. We then examined each question in relation to current theories and findings. In particular, we relied on the plethora of recent cognitive and social-psychology studies that document conditions of reduced self-other differentiation. Abundant data support that each successive moment of collective assemblies contributes to blurring this differentiation. Ample support also exists that because shared emotions are increasingly amplified in collective context, they can fuel high-intensity experiences. Moreover, recent studies of self-transcendent emotions can account for the self-transformative effects described by Durkheim at the climax of collective assemblies. In conclusion, this century-old model is remarkably supported by recent results, mostly collected in experimental settings.

Quality of social sharing of emotions alleviates job burnout: The role of meaning of work.

Past research has demonstrated that finding meaning in work is a dynamic process during interactions with colleagues and supervisors and protects against job burnout. At the same time, past studies have shown that the need to achieve meaning motivates people to share their emotions. Building on this, we hypothesized that workers who have more experience of quality social sharing of emotions about their work with relatives, colleagues, and supervisors are less at risk of job burnout. A cross-sectional survey of 611 working-aged adults in Belgium (mean age 39.25 years) supported this primary hypothesis. In addition, the hypothesis that meaning of work mediates the relationships between experience of quality social sharing of emotions and job burnout was also supported. The study provides evidence that social sharing of emotions reduces job burnout by helping to make sense of work situations and reinforcing relationships with others.

Collective emotions during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the world's population to unprecedented health threats and changes to social life. High uncertainty about the novel disease and its social and economic consequences, together with increasingly stringent governmental measures against the spread of the virus, likely elicited strong emotional responses. We analyzed the digital traces of emotional expressions in tweets during 5 weeks after the start of outbreaks in 18 countries and six different languages. We observed an early strong upsurge of anxiety-related terms in all countries, which was related to the growth in cases and increases in the stringency of governmental measures. Anxiety expression gradually relaxed once stringent measures were in place, possibly indicating that people were reassured. Sadness terms rose and anger terms decreased with or after an increase in the stringency of measures and remained stable as long as measures were in place. Positive emotion words only decreased slightly and briefly in a few countries. Our results reveal some of the most enduring changes in emotional expression observed in long periods of social media data. Such sustained emotional expression could indicate that interactions between users led to the emergence of collective emotions. Words that frequently occurred in tweets suggest a shift in topics of conversation across all emotions, from political ones in 2019, to pandemic related issues during the outbreak, including everyday life changes, other people, and health. This kind of time-sensitive analyses of large-scale samples of emotional expression have the potential to inform risk communication. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional processes, collective behavior, and social movements: A meta-analytic review of collective effervescence outcomes during collective gatherings and demonstrations.

In this article, we review the conceptions of Collective Effervescence (CE) -a state of intense shared emotional activation and sense of unison that emerges during instances of collective behavior, like demonstrations, rituals, ceremonies, celebrations, and others- and empirical approaches oriented at measuring it. The first section starts examining Émile Durkheim's classical conception on CE, and then, the integrative one proposed by the sociologist Randall Collins, leading to a multi-faceted experience of synchronization. Then, we analyze the construct as a process emerging in collective encounters when individuals contact with social ideal and values, referring to the classical work of Serge Moscovici as well as those more recent empirical approaches. Third, we consider CE as a set of intense positive emotions linked to processes of group identification, as proposed by authors of the Social Identity Theory tradition. Finally, we describe CE from the perspective of self-transcendence (e.g., emotions, experiences), and propose a unified description of this construct. The second section shows the results of a meta-analytical integration (k = 50, N = 182,738) aimed at analyzing CE's proximal effects or construct validity (i.e., Individual Emotions and Communal Sharing) as well as its association with more distal variables, such as Collective Emotions, Social Integration, Social Values and Beliefs and Empowerment. Results indicate that CE strongly associates with Individual Emotions -in particular, Self-Transcendent Emotions- and Communal Sharing constructs (e.g., Group Identity, Fusion of Identity), providing construct validity. Among the distal effects of CE, it is associated with Collective Positive Emotions, long-term Social Integration (e.g., Ingroup Commitment), Social Values and Beliefs and Empowerment-related variables (e.g., Wellbeing, Collective Efficacy, Collective Self-Esteem). Among the moderation analyses carried out (e.g., study design, CE scale, type of collective gathering), the effects of CE in demonstrations are noticeable, where this variable is a factor that favors other variables that make collective action possible, such as Group Identity (r pooled = 0.52), Collective Efficacy (r pooled = 0.37), Negative and Self-Transcendent Emotions (r pooled = 0.14 and 0.58), and Morality-related beliefs (r pooled = 0.43).

Don't put all social network sites in one basket: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and their relations with well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior studies indicated that actively using social network sites (SNSs) is positively associated with well-being by enhancing social support and feelings of connectedness. Conversely, passively using SNSs is negatively associated with well-being by fostering upward social comparison and envy. However, the majority of these studies has focused on Facebook. The present research examined the relationships between well-being-satisfaction with life, negative affect, positive affect-and using actively or passively various SNSs-Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok-during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, two mediators were tested: social support and upward social comparison. One thousand four persons completed an online survey during the quarantine measures; the analyses employed structural equation modeling. Results showed that passive usage of Facebook is negatively related to well-being through upward social comparison, whereas active usage of Instagram is positively related to satisfaction with life and negative affect through social support. Furthermore, active usage of Twitter was positively related to satisfaction with life through social support; while passive usage was negatively related to upward social comparison, which, in turn, was associated with more negative affect. Finally, TikTok use was not associated with well-being. Results are discussed in line with SNSs' architectures and users' motivations. Future research is required to go beyond methodological and statistical limitations and allow generalization. This study concludes that SNSs must be differentiated to truly understand how they shape human interactions.

Perceived Emotional Synchrony in Collective Gatherings: Validation of a Short Scale and Proposition of an Integrative Measure.

Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in the relationship between participation in collective gatherings and rituals and different important psychosocial variables and processes, such as social sharing of emotions, group cohesion, identity fusion, prosocial tendencies and behaviors, and well-being (e.g., Rimé, 2009; Xygalatas et al., 2013; Khan et al., 2015; Páez et al., 2015). These studies, coming from different lines of research, have proposed diverse explanatory mechanisms to explain the positive social and psychological effects of collective gatherings. In the present article, we focus on one of these mechanisms, known as collective effervescence, emotional communion, emotional entrainment, or perceived emotional synchrony (PES). First, we briefly discuss current conceptions of the emotional states and experience during collective gatherings and what they bring to the definition of PES. We close this point by proposing an integrative definition of PES. Second, structural validity of the original PES scale is examined. Third, incremental validity of PES is examined in two longitudinal studies, particularly with respect to well-being. Finally, we propose an integrative short form of the PES Scale, which measures antecedents and behavioral effects of collective effervescence.

Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and social outcomes of the social sharing of emotion.

Emotional experiences trigger the social sharing of emotion. This disclosure of emotional facts and feelings to the social surrounding was generally considered as a simple process of emotional release. The empirical data reviewed in this article invalidate this simplistic view. They show that the social sharing of emotions is a complex process that results not only in intrapersonal effects for the source person, but also in important interpersonal and social outcomes. The intrapersonal effects of the social sharing of emotions are varied, they do not necessarily go together, and they respond to specific conditions. At the interpersonal level, both the sharing of positive and negative emotional episodes affects relationships with the audience. Finally, the research highlights broader social effects relating to social structure, social norms, group action, beliefs, collective resilience, and intergroup relations.

Collective Emotions and Social Resilience in the Digital Traces After a Terrorist Attack.

After collective traumas such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks, members of concerned communities experience intense emotions and talk profusely about them. Although these exchanges resemble simple emotional venting, Durkheim's theory of collective effervescence postulates that these collective emotions lead to higher levels of solidarity in the affected community. We present the first large-scale test of this theory through the analysis of digital traces of 62,114 Twitter users after the Paris terrorist attacks of November 2015. We found a collective negative emotional response followed by a marked long-term increase in the use of lexical indicators related to solidarity. Expressions of social processes, prosocial behavior, and positive affect were higher in the months after the attacks for the individuals who participated to a higher degree in the collective emotion. Our findings support the conclusion that collective emotions after a disaster are associated with higher solidarity, revealing the social resilience of a community.

Predictors of Support toward Transitional Justice Process in Chilean General Population Sample / Predictores de apoyo hacia los procesos de justicia transicional en una muestra de población general chilena

Abstract The objective of the present study was to evaluate the predictors of attitudes toward transitional justice process (1991, National Truth and Reconciliation Commission). No studies that report on the variables that could predict a positive evaluation of TRC in the Chilean context are currently available. A logistic regression analysis based on original survey data from Chile (N = 1267) was carried out to evaluate the work of truth commissions as the dependent variable (in terms of "approval" and "disapproval"). Results reveal that predictors of favorable attitudes towards truth and reconciliation commissions (TRC) include emotions such as sadness and hope, TRC contribution to truth and to the construction of an inclusive history (and to a lesser extent to justice), high social sharing, perception of a positive social climate, high institutional trust, and positive perception of official apologies. People supporting TRC also agree with complementary reparation, suggesting that a positive attitude towards TRC and less prone to denial of the traumatic past.

Resumen El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar un conjunto de variables predictoras del apoyo de los procesos de justicia transicional (Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación, CNVR, 1991). Actualmente no disponemos de estudios que reporten las variables que predicen una valoración positiva de las dichas comisiones en Chile. Un análisis de regresión logística fue realizado con datos de una muestra de población general (N=1267) para evaluar el trabajo realizado por la Comisión (en términos de aprobación o rechazo). Los resultados indican que las emociones de tristeza y esperanza son buenas predictoras de actitudes favorables hacia el trabajo de la CNVR, así como el logro de los objetivos referidos a verdad, justicia y construcción de una historia integradora. Del mismo modo, altos niveles de compartición social de las experiencias, percepción del clima social como positivo, confianza institucional y una percepción positiva de las disculpas institucionales resultan buenos predictores de una positiva evaluación del trabajo de la CNVR. Las personas que a que valoran positivamente el trabajo de la comisión están más de acuerdo a su vez con las medidas de reparación y menos dispuestas a negar el pasado traumático.

Perception of emotional climate in a revolution: Test of a multistage theory of revolution in the Tunisian context.

Participation in social movements and collective action depends upon people's capacity to perceive their societal context. We examined this question in the context of Arab Spring revolutions. In a classic theory of revolution highlighting the role of collective emotions, Brinton (1938) claimed that revolutions, far from chaos, proceed in an orderly sequence involving four stages: euphoria, degradation, terror, and restoration. The emotional climate (EC) as perceived by ordinary Tunisian citizens (2,699 women and 3,816 men) was measured during the 4 years of the Tunisian revolution. A quadratic pattern of perceived EC measures over time provided strong support to Brinton's model. In addition, three different analyses suggested the presence of four distinct stages in the evolution of perceived EC. Third, the socio-political developments in Tunisia during the four stages proved entirely consistent with both Brinton's theoretical model and the perceived EC indicators. Finally, social identification proved closely related to the temporal evolution of positive EC scores. In sum, data from this study not only lend support to the views put forth in an heretofore untested classic theory of revolution but also demonstrate that psychosocial measurements can validly monitor a major process of socio-political transformation.

Institutional apologies and socio-emotional climate in the South American context.

This study examined perceptions of institutional apologies related to past political violence and socio-emotional climate among victims and non-victims in Argentina (n = 518), Chile (n = 1,278), and Paraguay (n = 1,172) based on quasi-representative samples. The perceptions of apology as sincere and efficient in improving intergroup relations were associated with a positive socio-emotional climate across the three nations. Victims evaluated apologies more positively and perceived a more positive socio-emotional climate compared to non-victims in Paraguay and Argentina, whereas the opposite was true in Chile where the government opposed the victims' leftist political orientation. The evaluations of apologies also mediated the effects of exposure to violence on the perception of socio-emotional climate, but these effects were moderated by the context. Together, these findings suggest that apologies reinforce positive sociopolitical climate, and that, personal experience of victimization is an important factor determining these effects.

Balancing emotional processing with ongoing cognitive activity: the effects of task modality on intrusions and rumination.

In the present paper we aimed to show that competition for resources between post-emotional processes and the execution of a cognitive task will result in two possible effects: (1) an impairment of the cognitive task in the short run and (2) an elongation of intrusions and rumination in the long run. The outcome of this competition is influenced by the interaction of the modality (verbal vs. visuospatial) of cognitive tasks run in the aftermath of an emotional experience and the nature (verbal vs. visuospatial) of the same experience. Non-clinical participants were given a working memory task (OSPAN vs. an analog Visual task) before and after the presentation of negative vs. neutral material (a novel excerpt in Experiment 1 and a video clip in Experiment 2). Intrusions and rumination were measured after a 24-h delay. Rumination was also assessed immediately after the experimental induction. Results showed that exposure to verbal negative material impaired verbal performance (Experiment 1); by contrast, exposure to visual negative material impaired both verbal and visuospatial performance (Experiment 2). Intrusions were only affected by the emotional valence of the original experience, while performing a visuospatial task resulted in enhanced rumination only after exposure to verbal emotional material. The findings of both experiments suggest that emotional processing spreads over time in balance with ongoing cognitive activities, and, in such a balance, the visuospatial processing mode tends to prevail over verbal engagements.

Psychosocial effects of perceived emotional synchrony in collective gatherings.

In a classic theory, Durkheim (1912) predicted that because of the social sharing of emotion they generate, collective gatherings bring participants to a stage of collective effervescence in which they experience a sense of union with others and a feeling of empowerment accompanied by positive affect. This would lead them to leave the collective situation with a renewed sense of confidence in life and in social institutions. A century after Durkheim's predictions of these effects, though, they remained untested as a whole. This article reports 4 studies, 2 correlational, 1 semilongitudinal, and 1 experimental, assessing the positive effects of participation in either positively valenced (folkloric marches) or negatively valenced (protest demonstrations) collective gatherings. Results confirmed that collective gatherings consistently strengthened collective identity, identity fusion, and social integration, as well as enhancing personal and collective self-esteem and efficacy, positive affect, and positive social beliefs among participants. In line with a central tenet of the theory, emotional communion, or perceived emotional synchrony with others mediated these effects. Higher perceived emotional synchrony was associated with stronger emotional reactions, stronger social support, and higher endorsement of social beliefs and values. Participation in symbolic collective gatherings also particularly reinforced identity fusion when perceived emotional synchrony was high. The respective contributions of perceived emotional synchrony and flow, or optimal experience, were also assessed. Whereas perceived emotional synchrony emerged as strongly related to the various social outcomes, flow was observed to be related first to collective efficacy and self-esteem, and thus, to encompass mainly empowerment effects.

The importance of quality over in quantity in the social sharing of emotions (SSE) in people living with HIV/AIDS.

Research shows that chronic illness patients encounter difficulties in the social sharing of emotions (SSE). Since most SSE studies focus on quantitative aspects, the present study, aimed, among others, to study the associations between the quality of SSE in people living with HIV/AIDS and patients' psychological and physical well-being. A total of 101 HIV/AIDS patients answered a questionnaire (Likert scale items) which assessed: shame, guilt, perceived stigma, reasons for non-disclosure of serostatus, physical health, mental health, SSE and quality of SSE. While no associations were found between quantitative aspects of SSE, physical health and mental health, the quality of SSE was negatively correlated to shame and guilt, and positively correlated to physical and mental health. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed the mediating role of the quality of SSE in the relationship between, on the one hand, shame and guilt; and on the other hand, physical and mental health. Findings suggest the importance of qualitative aspects of SSE in the emergence of positive outcomes linked to emotional expression in people living with HIV/AIDS.

To share, or not to share? Examining the emotional consequences of social sharing in the case of anger and sadness.

Previous research has shown the relation between social sharing and emotional processing to be notoriously complex. In the present study, we unraveled this complexity by, for the first time, taking 3 key aspects of this relation into account simultaneously: the nature of the emotion, the timing of possible sharing effects, and the multicomponential character of emotions. Using the day reconstruction method, we first identified an intense anger or sadness target episode for each participant. In a second phase, participants repeatedly reported their sharing behavior and intensity of different emotion components over 5 days. Growth curve analyses revealed that sharing anger leads to several immediate and delayed beneficial effects, whereas sharing sadness leads to limited positive effects that emerge later on. This implies that all 3 aspects under study, as well as their interplay, are of critical importance in the relation between sharing and emotional processing.

The Social Sharing of Emotions (SSE) in the Dominican Republic's Cultural Context: Autobiographical Descriptive Data / El Compartir Social de las Emociones (SSE) en el contexto cultural de República Dominicana: datos autobiográficos descriptivos

The propensity to speak and share emotional experiences, denoted as the social sharing of emotions (SSE), has been thoroughly investigated, showing in different cultural settings that 80% to 95% of emotional experiences, negative or positive, are object of SSE. The present study's main objective was to obtain descriptive data concerning SSE in the Dominican culture. A total of306 Dominican laypersons responded to a questionnaire which recollected autobiographical data aiming: to establish main SSE descriptive indicators (rate, recurrence and delay) and to identify social sharing targets in this cultural context. Findings corroborate previous studies concerning SSE global indicators. First, this Dominican sample is at comparable levels regarding sharing rates 92.48% of emotional episodes were socially shared. Secondly, 68.62% of participants reported having shared the emotional episode the same day it took place. Third, findings revealed that 72.55% of participants talked about the emotion-eliciting event several times. To conclude, the study's findings show that Dominican laypersons are at comparable levels as other populations when it comes to SSE indicators and that Dominicans' choice in social sharing targets, intimates, is compatible with numerous SSE studies (Rimé, 2009).

La propensión a hablar y compartir experiencias emocionales, denominados como el reparto social de las emociones (SSE), se ha investigado a fondo mostrando en diferentes entornos culturales que el 80% y el 95% de las experiencias emocionales, negativas o positivas, son objeto de la ESS. El objetivo principal de este trabajo fue obtener datos descriptivos relativos SSE en la cultura dominicana. Un total de 306 laicos dominicanos respondieron a un cuestionario autobiográficos que pretendía establecer principales indicadores descriptivos de la ESS (tasa, recurrencia y retardo) y para identificar objetivos sociales para compartir en este contexto cultural. Los hallazgos corroboran los estudios anteriores sobre indicadores globales de SSE . En primer lugar, esta muestra Dominicana se encuentra en niveles comparables con respecto a las tasas de participación en el 92,48% de los episodios emocionales fueron socialmente compartidos. En segundo lugar, 68.62% de los participantes informaron haber compartido el episodio emocional el mismo día en que tuvo lugar. En tercer lugar, los resultados revelaron que 72,55% de los participantes hablaron de la emoción que desencadenaban un evento varias veces. En conclusión, los resultados del estudio muestran que los laicos dominicanos se encuentran en niveles comparables a otros grupos de población en lo que respecta a los indicadores de la ESS y que la elección de los dominicanos en objetivos de reparto sociales, íntimos, es compatible con numerosos estudios de la ESS (Rimé, 2009).

Negative emotional experiences arouse rumination and affect working memory capacity.

Following an emotional experience, individuals are confronted with the persistence of ruminative thoughts that disturb the undertaking of other activities. In the present study, we experimentally tested the idea that experiencing a negative emotion triggers a ruminative process that drains working memory (WM) resources normally devoted to other tasks. Undergraduate participants of high versus low WM capacity were administered the operation-word memory span test (OSPAN) as a measure of availability of WM resources preceding and following the presentation of negative emotional versus neutral material. Rumination was assessed immediately after the second OSPAN session and at a 24-hr delay. Results showed that both the individual's WM capacity and the emotional valence of the material influenced WM performance and the persistence of ruminative thoughts. Following the experimental induction, rumination mediated the relationship between the negative emotional state and the concomitant WM performance. Based on these results, we argue that ruminative processes deplete WM resources, making them less available for concurrent tasks; in addition, rumination tends to persist over time. These findings have implications for the theoretical modeling of the long-term effects of emotions in both daily life and clinical contexts.

The relation between social sharing and the duration of emotional experience.

People often socially share their emotions to regulate them. Two-mode theory of social sharing states that cognitive sharing will contribute to emotional recovery, whereas socio-affective sharing will only temporarily alleviate emotional distress. Previous studies supporting this theory, measured emotional recovery in terms of residual emotional intensity. Until now, another important time-dynamic aspect of emotions, emotion duration, has been largely ignored. In two experience sampling studies we addressed this gap. In Study 1, participants reported on the duration of anger, fear, and sadness episodes; additionally time-varying information on the occurrence and mode of sharing was collected. This study revealed that sharing led to a shortening in emotion duration, in particular when it was socio-affective in nature. In Study 2 we investigated whether this result could be interpreted in terms of our measure of duration primarily reflecting emotional relief rather than recovery. In this study, the same method as in Study 1 was used; additionally, residual emotional intensity was measured three days after emotion onset. Study 2 largely replicated the findings from Study 1. Furthermore, duration appeared to be empirically distinct from residual intensity. Finally, no relation between sharing and residual intensity was found, even when considering the sharing mode.

Oxytocin increases willingness to socially share one's emotions.

Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide that is attracting growing attention from researchers interested in human emotional and social behavior. There is indeed increasing evidence that OT has a calming effect and that it facilitates pair-bonding and social interactions. Some of OT's effects are thought to be direct, but it has been suggested that OT also may have indirect effects, mediated by changes in behavior. One potentially relevant behavioral change is an increased propensity for "emotional sharing" as this behavior, like OT, is known to have both calming and bonding effects. In this study, 60 healthy young adult men were randomly assigned to receive either intranasal placebo (PL; n = 30) or oxytocin (OT; n = 30). Participants were then instructed to retrieve a painful memory. Subsequently, OT and placebo participants' willingness to disclose to another person event-related facts (factual sharing) vs. event-related emotions (emotional sharing) was evaluated. Whereas the two groups were equally willing to disclose event-related facts, oxytocin was found to specifically increase the willingness to share event-related emotions. This study provides the first evidence that OT increases people's willingness to share their emotions. Importantly, OT did not make people more talkative (word counts were comparable across the two groups) but instead increased the willingness to share the specific component that is responsible for the calming and bonding effects of social sharing: emotions. Findings suggest that OT may shape the form of social sharing so as to maximize its benefits. This might help explain the calming and bonding effects of OT.