Assessment of Affect Integration: Validation of the Affect Consciousness Construct

Abstract

Affect integration, or the capacity to utilize the motivational and signal properties of affect for personal adjustment, is assumed to be an important aspect of psychological health and functioning. Affect integration has been operationalized through the affect consciousness (AC) construct as degrees of awareness, tolerance, nonverbal expression, and conceptual expression of nine discrete affects. A semistructured Affect Consciousness Interview (ACI) and separate Affect Consciousness Scales (ACSs) have been developed to specifically assess these aspects of affect integration. This study explored the construct validity of AC in a Norwegian clinical sample including estimates of reliability and assessment of structure by factor analyses. External validity issues were addressed by examining the relationships between scores on the ACSs and self-rated symptom- and interpersonal problem measures as well as independent, observer-based ratings of personality disorder criteria and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994).

Affect Consciousness in children with internalizing problems: Assessment of affect integration

“…The estimates are in line with previous findings from studies of adult samples (Gude et al, 2001;Monsen et al, 1996;Monsen & Monsen, 2000;Solbakken, Hansen, Havik, & Monsen, 2011;Waller & Scheidt, 2004).…”

Relationship Between Affect Consciousness and Personality Functioning in Patients With Personality Disorders: A Prospective Study

“…Previous studies on this topic refer mainly to interpersonal problems as assessed by IIP (Lech et al, 2008;Nicolò et al, 2011;Normann-Eide et al, 2013;Solbakken, Hansen, Havik, & Monsen, 2011). The present study extends these results by applying the outcome measure SIPP-118, which uses a different conceptualization of relational functioning, comprising central PD aspects such as capacity for intimacy, enduring relationships, and ability to feel recognition from others.…”

“…In a mixed clinical/nonclinical sample, lower levels of AC were associated with more self-reported self-image disturbances and interpersonal problems as assessed by the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB; Benjamin, 1987) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex (IIP-C; Horowitz, Rosenberg, Baer, Ureno, & Villasenor, 1988), respectively (Lech, Andersson, & Holmqvist, 2008). Correspondingly, in a previous study based on the present PD sample (Normann-Eide, Johansen, Normann-Eide, Egeland, & Wilberg, 2013), we found that low AC strongly related to poor self-esteem, measured by the Index of Self-Esteem (ISE; Hudson, 1982), as well as to interpersonal problems, as assessed by the IIP-C. An association between low AC and more severe self-related and interpersonal problems, as measured by self-report on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; Havik, 1993), observer-rated quality of relationships, and the IIP, has also previously been described (Monsen, Eilertsen, Melgård, & Ødegård, 1996;Solbakken, Hansen, Havik, & Monsen, 2011).…”

“…Theoretically, the AC concept refers to the functional and fluent integration of affect, cognition, and behavior, and is assumed to be an important aspect of psychological health. The capacity to utilize one's affects for adaptive purposes at both deliberate reflective and implicit unreflective levels is believed to protect against the development of psychopathology by ensuring appropriate responses to the ever-changing circumstances surrounding the individual in the world (Monsen & Monsen, 1999;Solbakken, Hansen, Havik, & Monsen, 2011;. Following Tomkins (1995Tomkins ( , 2008 and inspired by Stolorow, Brandchaft, and Atwood (1995), Solbakken, Hansen, Havik, & Monsen, (2011) define the organization of affect processes in the terms of script theory, labeling the underlying organizing principles of experience scripts.…”

Facial Reanimation Surgery Restores Affect Display

“…Among the most significant findings are that affect expression is a primary channel of communication, and core affects and emotions are universal (6). It has been suggested that transactions of affect displays among humans are denser in information than any verbal communication (7). Additionally, it has been shown that facial paralysis decreases one's ability to engage in emotional contagionVthe perception and mimicking of emotions expressed by individuals in one's social environment (8,9).…”