Physiological down-regulation and positive emotion in marital interaction.

Yuan, Joyce W.; McCarthy, Megan; Holley, Sarah R.; Levenson, Robert W.

doi:10.1037/a0018699

Cited by 59 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…A far smaller number of studies have measured emotion regulation in interpersonal contexts (e.g., Butler et al, 2003; Yuan, McCarthy, Holley, & Levenson, 2010). Single subject paradigms using standardized emotional stimuli afford good experimental control, but they cannot capture the rich interpersonal dynamics that define the contexts in which most emotion regulation occurs (Aldao, 2013; Coan, 2008; Diamond & Aspinwall, 2003; Levenson et al, in press).…”

Section: Emotion Regulation Predicts Marital Satisfaction: More Than mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion regulation predicts marital satisfaction: More than a wives’ tale.

Bloch¹,

Haase²,

Levenson³

2014

Emotion

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Emotion regulation is generally thought to be a critical ingredient for successful interpersonal relationships. Ironically, few studies have investigated the link between how well spouses regulate emotion and how satisfied they are with their marriages. We utilized data from a 13-year, 3-wave longitudinal study of middle-aged (40–50 years old) and older (60–70 years old) long-term married couples, focusing on the associations between downregulation of negative emotion (measured during discussions of an area of marital conflict at Wave 1) and marital satisfaction (measured at all three waves). Downregulation of negative emotion was assessed by determining how quickly spouses reduced signs of negative emotion (in emotional experience, emotional behavior, and physiological arousal) after negative emotion events. Data were analyzed using actor-partner interdependence modeling. Findings showed that (a) greater downregulation of wives’ negative experience and behavior predicted greater marital satisfaction for wives and husbands concurrently and (b) greater downregulation of wives’ negative behavior predicted increases in wives’ marital satisfaction longitudinally. Wives’ use of constructive communication (measured between Waves 1 and 2) mediated the longitudinal associations. These results show the benefits of wives’ downregulation of negative emotion during conflict for marital satisfaction and point to wives’ constructive communication as a mediating pathway.

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Section: Emotion Regulation Predicts Marital Satisfaction: More Than mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion regulation predicts marital satisfaction: More than a wives’ tale.

Bloch¹,

Haase²,

Levenson³

2014

Emotion

Self Cite

211

204

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, Fredrickson and Levenson [10] showed that cardiovascular activity induced by watching a negative film returns to baseline more quickly after watching a cheerful film than after a sad or neutral film. The undoing effect has been observed for visual images that elicit contentment and amusement following a fear-eliciting film [11], for pleasant pictures following unpleasant pictures [12], for pleasant music following disgusting pictures [13], and during a dyadic marital interaction with positive emotional behaviors [14]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Power of an Infant's Smile: Maternal Physiological Responses to Infant Emotional Expressions

et al. 2015

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Infant emotional expressions, such as distress cries, evoke maternal physiological reactions. Most of which involve accelerated sympathetic nervous activity. Comparatively little is known about effects of positive infant expressions, such as happy smiles, on maternal physiological responses. This study investigated how physiological and psychological maternal states change in response to infants’ emotional expressions. Thirty first-time mothers viewed films of their own 6- to 7-month-old infants’ affective behavior. Each observed a video of a distress cry followed by a video showing one of two expressions (randomly assigned): a happy smiling face (smile condition) or a calm neutral face (neutral condition). Both before and after the session, participants completed a self-report inventory assessing their emotional states. The results of the self-report inventory revealed no effects of exposure to the infant videos. However, the mothers in the smile condition, but not in the neutral condition, showed deceleration of skin conductance. These findings demonstrate that the mothers who observed their infants smiling showed decreased sympathetic activity. We propose that an infant’s positive emotional expression may affect the branch of the maternal stress-response system that modulates the homeostatic balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

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“…We consider reward laughter to be rewarding to the producer and recipient. 2 Producing laughter is inherently enjoyable (Herring, Burleson, Roberts, & Devine, 2011;Mauss, Levenson, McCarter, Wilhelm, & Gross, 2005) and down-regulates negative emotions (Bloch, Haase, & Levenson, 2014;Keltner & Bonanno, 1997;Yuan, McCarthy, Holley, & Levenson, 2010). Laughing triggers the release of opioids in the brain, providing direct evidence of its rewarding value (Dunbar et al, 2012;Manninen et al, 2017).…”

Section: Reward Laughter: Reinforcing Behaviors and Social Bondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a social functional account of laughter

Wood

Niedenthal

2018

Social & Personality Psych

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Laughter is ubiquitous, universal, and variable. This article develops a social functional account to explain the many physical forms laughter takes and the many social contexts in which it occurs. In contrast to previous perspectives that emphasize the internal state of the producer or the eliciting context, the current social functional account distinguishes laughter according to the behavioral intentions it conveys and the behavioral response it elicits in the recipient. The general function of human and nonhuman laughter is to signal harmless intentions, and within this function, we identify 3 distinct social tasks accomplished by human laughter.We propose that the first social function of laughter, both evolutionarily and developmentally, is to reward the behavior of others and reinforce the ongoing interaction. The second task accomplished by laughter is the easing of social tension and signaling of affiliation and nonthreat. A third form of laughter nonconfrontationally enforces social norms, negotiates status, and corrects undesirable behavior in others by conveying dominance or superiority. We propose that the acoustic modulations that communicate these social intentions follow principles common to human and nonhuman vocal signaling.

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Physiological down-regulation and positive emotion in marital interaction.

Cited by 59 publications

References 59 publications

Emotion regulation predicts marital satisfaction: More than a wives’ tale.

Emotion regulation predicts marital satisfaction: More than a wives’ tale.

The Power of an Infant's Smile: Maternal Physiological Responses to Infant Emotional Expressions

Developing a social functional account of laughter

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