Although previous studies of emotional responding have found that women are more emotionally expressive than men, it remains unclear whether men and women differ in other domains of emotional response. We assessed the expressive, experiential, and physiological emotional responses of men and women in 2 studies. In Study 1, undergraduates viewed emotional films. Compared with men, women were more expressive, did not differ in reports of experienced emotion, and demonstrated different patterns of skin conductance responding. In Study 2, undergraduate men and women viewed emotional films and completed self-report scales of expressivity, gender role characteristics, and family expressiveness. Results replicated those from Study 1, and gender role characteristics and family expressiveness moderated the relationship between sex and expressivity.Conventional wisdom suggests that women are more "emotional" than men. Does this mean that women express their emotions more than men? Or, do women experience more or stronger emotion than men? Do women have stronger physiological responses than men in emotional situations? A fairly substantial body of research has demonstrated that women are more emotionally expressive than men; however, it remains somewhat unclear whether women also experience more emotion than men and whether they show greater physiological changes associated with emotion. The present study addressed two questions. First, we examined the expressive, experiential, and physiological domains of emotion in men and women to determine whether women are indeed "more emotional" or whether they are just more emotionally expressive. Second, we examined family expressivity and personality characteristics typically associated with masculinity and femininity to determine whether these characteristics could help account for expressive differences between men and women.We conceptualize emotion as having multiple components, including a behavioral or expressive component, an experiential or verbal component, and a physiological component, which is consistent with a number of emotion theorists and researchers

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One of the most important goals and outcomes of social life is to attain status in the groups to which we belong. Such face-to-face status is defined by the amount of respect, influence, and prominence each member enjoys in the eyes of the others. Three studies investigated personological determinants of status in social groups (fraternity, sorority, and dormitory), relating the Big Five personality traits and physical attractiveness to peer ratings of status. High Extraversion substantially predicted elevated status for both sexes. High Neuroticism, incompatible with male gender norms, predicted lower status in men. None of the other Big Five traits predicted status. These effects were independent of attractiveness, which predicted higher status only in men. Contrary to previous claims, women's status ordering was just as stable as men's but emerged later. Discussion focuses on personological pathways to attaining status and on potential mediators.

This review integrates Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions with advances in affective neuroscience regarding plasticity in the neural circuitry of emotions to inform the treatment of emotion deficits within psychopathology. We first present a body of research showing that positive emotions broaden cognition and behavioral repertoires, and in so doing, build durable biopsychosocial resources that support coping and flourishing mental health. Next, by explicating the processes through which momentary experiences of emotions may accrue into self-perpetuating emotional systems, the current review proposes an underlying architecture of state-trait interactions that engenders lasting affective dispositions. This theoretical framework is then used to elucidate the cognitive-emotional mechanisms underpinning three disorders of affect regulation, depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. In turn, two mind training interventions, mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation, are highlighted as means of generating positive emotions that may counter the negative affective processes implicated in these disorders. We conclude with the proposition that positive emotions may exert a countervailing force on the dysphoric, fearful, or anhedonic states characteristic of persons with psychopathology typified by emotional dysfunctions.

Research on anhedonia in schizophrenia has revealed mixed results, with patients reporting greater anhedonia than healthy controls on self-report measures and semi-structured interviews, but also reporting comparable experiences of positive emotions in response to pleasurable stimuli. Basic science points to the importance of distinguishing between anticipatory and consummatory (or in-the-moment) pleasure experiences, and this distinction may help to reconcile the mixed findings on anhedonia in schizophrenia. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that anhedonia in schizophrenia reflects a deficit in anticipatory pleasure but not consummatory pleasure. In Study 1, we used experience sampling methodology to assess reported experiences of consummatory and anticipated pleasure among schizophrenia patients and controls. In Study 2, schizophrenia patients and controls completed a self-report trait measure of anticipatory and consummatory pleasure and interviews that assessed negative symptoms, including anhedonia, and community functioning. In both studies, we found evidence for an anticipatory but not a consummatory pleasure deficit in schizophrenia. In addition, anticipatory pleasure was related to clinical ratings of anhedonia and functional outcome. Clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed.

Social cognition has become a high priority area for the study of schizophrenia. However, despite developments in this area, progress remains limited by inconsistent terminology and differences in the way social cognition is measured. To address these obstacles, a consensus-building meeting on social cognition in schizophrenia was held at the National Institute of Mental Health in March 2006. Agreement was reached on several points, including definitions of terms, the significance of social cognition for schizophrenia research, and suggestions for future research directions. The importance of translational interdisciplinary research teams was emphasized. The current article presents a summary of these discussions.

Objective: A major barrier to developing treatments for negative symptoms has been measurement concerns with existing assessment tools. Fulfilling the top recommendation of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Consensus Development Conference on Negative Symptoms, the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS) was developed using an iterative, empirical approach, and includes items assessing motivation, pleasure, and emotion expression. The authors employed multiple analytic techniques to develop the CAINS and here provide final development and validation results. Method: The CAINS structure, interrater agreement, test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity were assessed in a large and diverse sample of 162 outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder recruited from four sites. Results: Three items with poor psychometric properties were removed, resulting in a 13-item CAINS. The CAINS factor structure was replicated, demonstrating two modestly correlated scales: expression (four items) and motivation/pleasure (nine items). The scales demonstrated good internal consistency, test-retest stability, and interrater agreement. Strong convergent validity was demonstrated by linkages with other negative symptom measures, self-report scales of sociality, pleasure, and motivation, and coded facial expressions. Discriminant validity was shown by independence from depression, medication side effects, and cognition. Notably, the CAINS scales were related to real-world vocational, independent living, and social/familial functioning. Conclusions: The CAINS is an empirically developed and evaluated measure of negative symptoms. Findings indicate that the CAINS is brief yet comprehensive and employable across a wide range of research and clinical contexts.

The studies of emotion function and emotional disorders complement one another. In this article, the authors outline relations between the social functions of emotion and four psychological disorders. The authors first present a social-functional account of emotion and argue that emotions help coordinate social interactions through their informative, evocative, and incentive functions. They then review evidence concerning the emotional and social problems related to depression, schizophrenia, social anxiety, and borderline personality disorder and consider how the emotional disturbances related to these disorders disrupt interactions and relationships, thus contributing further to the maintenance of the disorder. They conclude by discussing research strategies relevant to the study of emotion, social interaction, and psychopathology.