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The aims of the study were to identify naturally occurring competitive emotional profiles and examine whether participants from several profiles significantly differed on burnout and coping. A sample of 424 competitive athletes ( Mage = 32.38; SD = 13.16) completed a series of self-report questionnaires. Comparing the sample as a whole, cluster analyses revealed two emotional profiles: (a) High unpleasant emotions and low pleasant emotions; and (b) moderately high pleasant emotions and low unpleasant emotions. Results of MANOVAs showed significant differences across emotional profiles on burnout (emotional/physical exhaustion, reduced accomplishment, sport devaluation) and coping (resignation, distancing, venting emotions and mental distraction). Therefore, results suggested that an emotion profile approach offered a robust heuristic for examining emotions in a more holistic method to unpack their complex associations with key outcomes (coping, burnout) and they have implications for intervention.

Cognitive reappraisal is a common form of emotion regulation that often centers on reframing how one thinks about an emotional situation so that one feels better. Given its demonstrated widespread benefits, two conclusions have been drawn about reappraisal: People can use it easily, and people should use it frequently. We critically examine these conclusions and highlight two fundamental drawbacks of reappraisal: First, people are often unable to use reappraisal successfully, and second, even when successful, using reappraisal to feel better is not always functional. To synthesize current research and inspire future research, we present a conceptual framework that systematically considers these drawbacks and how they may be influenced by individual-centered factors (e.g., the individual’s skill) and situation-centered factors (e.g., a stressor’s intensity) to shape outcomes across time. We then summarize the current literature and highlight the importance of considering reappraisal’s costs and benefits in future research.

Women may be disproportionately vulnerable to acute pain, potentially due to their social landscape. We examined whether positive and negative social processes (social support and social undermining) are associated with acute pain and if the processes are linked to pain via negative cognitive appraisal and emotion (pain catastrophizing, hyperarousal, anger). Psychosocial variables were assessed in inner-city women ( N = 375) presenting to an Emergency Department with acute pain. The latent cognitive-emotion variable fully mediated social undermining and support effects on pain, with undermining showing greater impact. Pain may be alleviated by limiting negative social interactions, mitigating risks of alternative pharmacological interventions.

The current study aimed to test competing hypotheses about the role of appraisals of family stressor severity in long-term relationship outcomes. Traditional cognitive models of stress predict that those who appraise stress as most serious are at greatest risk of poor outcomes. However, social contextual and dyadic models of stress and coping argue that a belief that one’s spouse shares in this appraisal might play a protective role in marital outcomes. We examined the associations between appraisals of family stressor severity and subsequent marital dissolution in a sample of 170 couples in stepfamilies. Stepfamilies are an at-risk group, given they have been found to experience a greater number and variety of stressors as compared to traditional families, and have an increased risk of marital instability. As predicted by traditional cognitive models of stress, participants who reported family problems that they appraised as more serious were found to be at greater risk of marital dissolution over time. However, the risk of separation or divorce was lower when participants reported that their spouse also considered the problem as serious. In addition, comparing data from both spouses indicated that when both reported the same problem as their most serious, the risk of marital dissolution was also decreased. Our findings support social contextual and dyadic coping models in which shared appraisals of stress, and even the perception of such, can serve a protective function. Understanding how couples appraise the stressors they encounter may help identify useful targets for preventive marital interventions.

People with mental illness and their family caregivers often perceive public stigma, which may lead to stigma-related stress (or stigma stress). However, no instruments have been developed to measure this stress for family caregivers of people with mental illness. We modified an instrument that measures the stigma stress of people with mental illness (i.e., the cognitive appraisal of stigma as a stressor) and examined the psychometric properties of the scores of the newly developed instrument: the Family Stigma Stress Scale (FSSS). Primary family caregivers of people with mental illness in Southern Taiwan ( n = 300; mean age = 53.08 ± 13.80; 136 males) completed the FSSS. An exploratory factor analysis showed that the FSSS score had two factors; both factor scores had excellent internal consistency (α = .913 and .814) and adequate test–retest reliability ( r = .627 and .533; n = 197). Significant correlations between FSSS factor scores and other instruments supported its concurrent validity and the ability of the FSSS to differentiate between clinical characteristics, for example, having been previously hospitalized or not. The FSSS is a brief and effective measure of the stigma stress of family caregivers of people with mental illness.

In this study, we investigate the response intentions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the recent economic crisis initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw on the cognitive appraisal theory and investigate how an SME’s level of proactivity triggers top managers’ emotional reactions, which in the end shapes an SME’s response strategies (investment vs divestment). To test our assumptions, we use survey data from 155 top managers of Croatian SMEs operating in business-to-business industries. We find that an SME’s proactivity positively (negatively) influences the emergence of positive (negative) emotions. Also, we find that top managers charged with positive (negative) emotions are more prone to engage in investment (divestment) as a response to economic crisis. Furthermore, through the broaden-and-build perspective we reveal the mediating effect of emotions on the relationship between proactivity and response intentions as well as the mediating effect of performance expectations on the link between emotions and response intentions. JEL CLASSIFICATION M10; M19

In the current study we explored whether training individuals to recruit cognitive control prior to exposure to negative pictures can facilitate the propensity to use reappraisal and reappraisal success. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. In the training group, negative pictures were typically preceded by a stimulus that recruits cognitive control, whereas in the control group, negative pictures were typically preceded by a stimulus that does not recruit cognitive control. Participants were subsequently asked to reflect on a negative personal event and to later reappraise the event. As predicted, compared to participants in the control group, those in the training group were more likely to use reappraisal spontaneously, and when instructed to reappraise, were more successful in doing so. We argue that the ability to employ cognitive control has a causal role in reappraisal use and success.

The human amygdala is sensitive to stimulus characteristics, and growing evidence suggests that it is also responsive to cognitive framing in the form of evaluative goals. To examine whether different evaluations of stimulus characteristics shape amygdala activation, we conducted a preregistered replication of Cunningham, Van Bavel, and Johnsen’s (2008) study demonstrating flexible mapping of amygdala activation to stimulus characteristics, depending on evaluative goals. Participants underwent functional MRI scanning while viewing famous names under three conditions: They were asked to report their overall attitude toward each name, their positive associations only, or their negative associations only. We observed an interaction between condition and rating type, identified as the effect of interest in Cunningham et al. (2008). Specifically, postscan positivity, but not negativity, ratings predicted left amygdala activation when participants were asked to evaluate positive, but not negative, associations with the names. These results provide convergent evidence that cognitive framing, in the form of evaluative goals, can significantly alter whether amygdala activation indexes positivity or negativity.

This study analyzes the mediating role of the appraisal of environmental stressors in the relationship between physical characteristics in the offices and health symptoms. It also studies the moderating role of positive emotions in the relationship between physical characteristics and the appraisal of environmental stressors using a diary study on 59 office workers ( n = 432 time points) and sensor data. The results show that the appraisal of environmental stressors mediates the relationship between physical office characteristics and health symptoms, emphasizing the important link of stress appraisal in the stressors–strain relationship. The results also show that positive emotions moderate the relationship between the sound level and the appraisal of noise, supporting the fact that emotions can have an impact on people’s appraisals. The contributions of this study are the objective measurement of physical stressors in offices, along with their appraisals by the office users, using the diary study design.

Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a key trans-diagnostic personality construct strongly associated with anxiety symptoms. Traditionally, IU is measured through self-report measures that are prone to bias effects due to impression management concerns and introspective difficulties. Moreover, self-report scales are not able to intercept the automatic associations that are assumed to be main determinants of several spontaneous responses (e.g., emotional reactions). In order to overcome these limitations, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) was applied to measure IU, with a particular focus on reliability and criterion validity issues. The IU-IAT and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Inventory (IUI) were administered to an undergraduate student sample (54 females and 10 males) with a mean age of 23 years ( SD = 1.7). Successively, participants were asked to provide an individually chosen uncertain event from their own lives that may occur in the future and were requested to identify a number of potential negative consequences of it. Participants’ responses in terms of cognitive thoughts (i.e., cognitive appraisal) and worry reactions toward these events were assessed using the two subscales of the Worry and Intolerance of Uncertainty Beliefs Questionnaire. The IU-IAT showed an adequate level of internal consistency and a not significant correlation with the IUI. A path analysis model, accounting for 35% of event-related worry, revealed that IUI had a significant indirect effect on the dependent variable through event-related IU thoughts. By contrast, as expected, IU-IAT predicted event-related worry independently from IU thoughts. In accordance with dual models of social cognition, these findings suggest that IU can influence event-related worry through two different processing pathways (automatic vs. deliberative), supporting the criterion and construct validity of the IU-IAT. The potential role of the IU-IAT for clinical applications was discussed.

No research drawing from Self-Determination Theory has investigated the bereavement experience of individuals or how motivation can help facilitate posttraumatic growth (PTG) following the death of a loved one. In two cross-sectional studies, university students completed an online survey. Study 1 investigated the contribution of global autonomous and controlled motivation in statistically predicting PTG above and beyond previously researched correlates. Study 2 explored the mediating role of cognitive appraisals and coping in explaining the relationship between global motivation orientations and PTG. Results indicated that in comparison to controlled motivation, autonomous motivation was positively related PTG, even after controlling for previously researched correlates. Mediation results indicated an indirect effect of global autonomous motivation on PTG through task-oriented coping. Collectively, these findings suggest the importance of incorporating motivation into models of PTG. Clinical implications of these findings are also discussed.

In today's high-pressure work environment, project managers are often forced to “do more with less.” We argue that this imperative can lead project managers to engage in either high-performance or abusive supervision behaviors. To understand this process, we develop a model and associated propositions linking a project manager's cognitive appraisal of project-related demands to high-performance work practices versus abusive supervision behaviors—both of which impact three project outcomes: stakeholder relationships, people-related project success factors, and employee well-being. We propose that the choice between high-performance work practices and abusive supervision behaviors is moderated by a project manager's personal resources (psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and dark triad personality).

How do increasing temporal and spatial distance affect the emotions people feel and express in response to tragic events? Standard views suggest that emotional intensity should decrease but are silent on changes in emotional quality. Using a large Twitter data set, we identified temporal and spatial patterns in use of emotional and cognitive words in tweets about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Although use of sadness words decreased with time and spatial distance, use of anxiety words showed the opposite pattern and was associated with concurrent increases in language reflecting causal thinking. In a follow-up experiment, we found that thinking about abstract causes (as opposed to concrete details) of this event similarly evoked decreased sadness but increased anxiety, which was associated with perceptions that a similar event might occur in the future. These data challenge current theories of emotional reactivity and identify time, space, and abstract causal thinking as factors that elicit categorical shifts in emotional responses to tragedy.

Cognitive appraisal has been shown to mediate the relationship between stressors and internalizing symptoms, but not among newcomer immigrant youth facing ambiguous discrimination. Using a mixed-methods design with a sample of newcomer adolescents from African, Arab, Asian, Caribbean, European, and Latin American countries, this study measured the perceived occurrence of discrimination (attribution to discrimination) and its perceived degree of severity (cognitive appraisal) in relation to internalizing symptoms and academic achievement. Attribution to discrimination predicted greater internalizing symptoms, and appraisal mediated this relationship. The mediation effect was found for younger, but not older adolescents. Quantitative results suggest that perceiving discrimination to be threatening, not just that it occurred, relates to psychological health. Qualitative results suggest that for newcomer adolescents, discrimination is a highly prevalent and complex stressor with multiple psychosocial ramifications.

One of the innovations that information technology has presented within information organizations is the phenomenon of e-books. This study seeks to explore information professionals’ attitudes towards e-books adoption. The current study uses the Technology Acceptance Model, a well-known theory for explaining individuals’ technology behaviors (Davis, 1989; Venkatesh and Morris, 2000), as well as personal characteristics such as motivation and cognitive appraisal as theoretical bases from which we can predict factors that may influence information professionals adopting e-books within their organizations. An empirical study was conducted in which 169 participants took part. Using structural equation modeling, we confirm that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, personal innovativeness and other personal characteristics, are predictors of behavioral intention to use e-books. Results highlight the importance of individual characteristics when considering technology acceptance. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Demographic changes have had a catalytic effect on the number of people participating in multiple roles and juggling them as they go through various life functions. Two of the major domains where these roles are based are work and family. This study draws on Person-environment fit theory to understand to what extent congruence between an individual and her⁄his environment affects her⁄his experience of work-family interface. Through this, the study seeks to capture the cognitive appraisal process by which work and family experiences can exacerbate work-family conflict (WFC) and enhance work-family enrichment (WFE). This study is an attempt to respond to calls by researchers to look at the process of cognitive appraisal and congruence which have largely been ignored in work-family literature. These processes could help understand why given the same situation and environmental contexts, individuals might differ in their work-family experiences. Congruence, measured at two levels — congruence and incongruence — has been taken as the independent variable in the study. The different measures of work-family conflict and work-family enrichment have been taken as the dependent variables. Responses in the study were drawn from software professionals working in IT organizations. It was found that the incongruent individuals reported significantly higher levels of work-family conflict on all the dimensions of conflict as compared to the congruent individuals. In contrast, when it came to work-family enrichment, congruent individuals reported significantly higher levels of enrichment on all the dimensions as compared to incongruent individuals. By capturing the role of cognitive appraisal on work-family interface, the study contributes theoretically and empirically to the extant literature on work and family. As organizations across sectors are taking steps to promote work-life harmony, the finding that congruence leads to greater work-family enrichment and incongruence leads to greater work-family conflict has important practical implications for the formulation of work-family policies.

This study tested the mediating role of primary (e.g., threat and challenge perceptions) and secondary (e.g., coping potential and control perception) cognitive appraisal in the relationship between occupational stress and psychological health. This mediation was tested using a cross-sectional study based on self-reported measures. The total sample consisted of 2,302 nurses, 1,895 females (82.3%) and 407 males (17.7%), who completed an evaluation protocol with measures of occupational stress, cognitive appraisal, and psychological health. To test the mediating role of cognitive appraisal in the relationship between cognitive appraisal and psychological health, we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results confirmed that primary and secondary cognitive appraisals partially mediated the relationship between occupational stress and psychological health; however, the direct effects of stress on psychological health cannot be ignored. The findings indicated that cognitive appraisal is an important underlying mechanism in explaining adaptation at work., This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of MInho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653).

Emotions can be understood as a coherent, integrated system of general-purpose coping strategies, guided by appraisal, for responding to situations of crisis and opportunity (when specific-purpose motivational systems may be less effective). This perspective offers functional explanations for the presence of particular emotions in the emotion repertoire, and their elicitation by particular appraisal combinations. Implications of the Emotion System model for debated issues, such as the dimensional vs. discrete nature of appraisals and emotions, are also discussed.

Appraisal theories have described elaborate mechanisms underlying the elicitation of emotion at the psychological-cognitive level, but typically do not integrate neuroscientific concepts and findings. At the same time, theoretical developments in appraisal theory have been pretty much ignored by researchers studying the neuroscience of emotion. We feel that a stronger integration of these two literatures would be highly profitable for both sides. Here we outline a blueprint of the “appraising brain.” To this end, we review neuroimaging research investigating the processing of major appraisal variables, and sketch a neuro-cognitive process model of appraisal with a special emphasis on the chronometry and the recursive aspect of emotional evaluation. We hope that this contribution will stimulate more hypothesis-driven research on the neuroscience of appraisal.

I describe my current thinking on two old questions—the causal role of appraisals and the relationship of appraisal theories to basic emotions theories and constructivist theories, and three (sort of) new questions—the completeness of appraisals, the role of language, and the development of automaticity in emotional responses.

Utilizing data from two large samples, cognitive variables were evaluated as potential mediators of the past crime–future crime relationship. In the first study, the reconstructed General Criminal Thinking (GCTrc) score of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) was found to mediate the relationship between past adult convictions/juvenile adjudications and future recidivism in 1,101 male federal prisoners. In the second study, a cognitive appraisal of one’s future chances of arrest was found to mediate the relationship between self-reported delinquency between the ages of 13 and 15 and self-reported delinquency between the ages of 17 and 19 in 1,414 male and female members of the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) cohort. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the mediating effects in both studies were reasonably robust to violations of the sequential ignorability assumption. These findings suggest that cognitive factors may play a role in encouraging continuity from the early to the later stages of criminal involvement.

School psychology in Singapore gained greater prominence with the development of the National Mental Health Blueprint in 2007 that included a focus on children and adolescents. A partnership between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education was formed to develop a community mental health pilot program called ‘Response, Early Intervention and Assessment in Community Mental Health for Students’ (REACH). Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) are among the most common disorders seen in schools and child psychiatric clinics in Singapore. Children with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) often exhibit deficits in social cognition and behavior, thereby influencing their cognitive appraisal processes and interpersonal problem-solving skills. This in turn affects their processing and interpretation of social cues in ambiguous situations, and mars subsequent production of socially competent behavior. This article describes a potential framework based on the cognitive-behavioral approach for working with children with disruptive behaviors and aggression in the school system. By combining REACH, a national collaborative framework, and evidence-based treatment programs, we provide a promising model of care to support children and their families in Singapore.

Acknowledging that there is diversity in the nature of work arrangements among the ranks of the self-employed, the authors sought to achieve a better understanding of work–family conflict among self-employed workers by using cognitive appraisal theory as a framework (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) to consider the roles that both situation (work arrangement and number of hours worked) and person (preferred number of hours worked) factors play in predicting work-to-family conflict. Empirical data drawn from the 1997 and 2002 versions of the National Study of the Changing Workforce was used to test hypotheses. Results from both datasets indicated that small business owners (SBOs) were found to work significantly more hours than self-employed independents (SEIs) and that increased work hours were related to an increase in reported work-to-family conflict. In addition, preferred number of hours worked moderated the negative affect that number of work hours had on work-to-family conflict, although the form of the moderation differed between datasets. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed in light of the clear differences that were found amongst members of the self-employed workforce.

This article discusses work on implementing emotional and cultural models into synthetic graphical characters. An architecture, FAtiMA, implemented first in the antibullying application FearNot! and then extended as FAtiMA-PSI in the cultural-sensitivity application ORIENT, is discussed. We discuss the modelling relationships between culture, social interaction, and cognitive appraisal. Integrating a lower level homeostatically based model is also considered as a means of handling some of the limitations of a purely symbolic approach. Evaluation to date is summarised and future directions discussed.

The social environment requires people to quickly form contextually appropriate social evaluations. Models of social cognition suggest that this ability depends on the interaction of automatic and controlled evaluative systems. However, controlled processes, such as reappraisal of an initial response, have rarely been studied in the context of social evaluation. In the two studies reported here, participants reappraised or simply observed angry or neutral faces. In Study 1, reappraisal modulated evaluations of angry faces on explicit as well as implicit behavioral levels. In Study 2, reappraisal altered both early and late phases of evaluative electrocortical processing. These studies suggest that controlled processes, such as reappraisal, can quickly and substantially modulate early evaluative processes in the context of biologically significant social stimuli.

This study examined the relationships among adolescents’ emotion regulation strategies (suppression and cognitive reappraisal), self-concept, and internalizing problems using structural equation modeling. The sample consisted of 438 early adolescents (13 to 15 years old) in Taiwan, including 215 boys and 223 girls. For both boys and girls, suppression was negatively associated, and cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with self-concept. Self-concept negatively predicted adolescents’ internalizing problems. The findings support the hypothesis that self-concept mediates the relationship between emotion regulation and internalizing problems. These findings support generalization of one part of Cicchetti’s and Toth’s model of the development of internalizing problems to an Asian culture.

Vocal expressions are thought to convey information about speakers' emotional states but may also reflect the antecedent cognitive appraisal processes that produced the emotions. We investigated the perception of emotion-eliciting situations on the basis of vocal expressions. Professional actors vocally portrayed different emotions by enacting emotion-eliciting situations. Judges then rated these expressions with respect to the emotion-eliciting situation described in terms of appraisal dimensions (i.e., novelty, intrinsic pleasantness, goal conduciveness, urgency, power, self- and other responsibility, and norm compatibility), achieving good agreement. The perceived appraisal profiles for the different emotions were generally in accord with predictions based on appraisal theory. The appraisal ratings also correlated with a variety of acoustic measures related to pitch, intensity, voice quality, and temporal characteristics. Results suggest that several aspects of emotion-eliciting situations can be inferred reliably and validly from vocal expressions which, thus, may carry information about the cognitive representation of events.

Many rape victims are unacknowledged rape victims—they report an experience meeting researchers’ operational definitions of rape but do not label their experience as rape. The purpose of this study was to investigate women’s decisions about whether to label their experiences as rape. Participants were 77 college women (predominantly White; mean age = 19.23) who had experienced rape according to the study’s operational definition. The researchers used open-ended questionnaires and interviews to explore participants’ explanations for labeling or not labeling their experience as rape. Explanations were related to match—whether the incident matched their rape script (e.g., whether the man fit their image of a rapist; whether they fought back)—and to motivation—the perceived consequences of using the label (e.g., discomfort with thinking of the perpetrator as a rapist; feeling less self-blame vs. feeling less control or more traumatized). Over time, participants were more likely to label their experience as rape. Results suggested that individuals differ in the meanings that they ascribe to the label rape. For some individuals, labeling their experience as rape may be adaptive; for others, it may be unhelpful or even harmful. Researchers, clinicians, and advocates should use caution in imposing their own preferred labels on other women’s experiences.

Cervical cancer is preventable, in part, by routine Papanicolaou (Pap) testing, but some women avoid routine screening. African American women have the greatest mortality among all groups of women in the United States. Personal reasons have been found to contribute to screening avoidance behavior, such as a history of sexual abuse and intimate partner violence. Fifteen African American women with a trauma history participated in personal interviews. The Interaction Model of Client Behavior was employed for exploring the women’s social influence, previous health care experience, cognitive appraisal, affective response, and motivation associated with routine Pap testing. Study findings suggest that providers need to assess and provide accurate information about Pap testing and cervical cancer to increase patients’ knowledge. Personally reflecting on one’s approach to conducting a woman’s gynecologic exam (and how it is performed) might prevent triggering unwanted memories, making that visit a positive experience and facilitating repeat screening behavior.

A coherent body of research recognizes the role of emotion in various aspects of consumer behavior. However, while a number of studies exist on the consequences of emotion, empirical investigations into its determinants in tourism have received lesser attention. Building on well-established cognitive appraisal theories of emotion, this study investigates the antecedents of tourists’ emotional responses toward destinations. Canonical correlation analysis supports an appraisal model of emotion in the context of tourist destinations. Results indicate that appraisals of pleasantness, goal congruence, and internal self-compatibility are the main determinants of joy, love, and positive surprise. Overall, the findings offer strategic marketing implications for tourist destinations.

This experiment examined the effects of alcohol on women’s sexual decision making during a laboratory social interaction with a potential dating partner. Participants completed an assessment of sex-related alcohol expectancies, were randomly assigned to consume alcohol, no alcohol, or a placebo, and then interacted with a male confederate. Stronger sex-related alcohol expectancies and actual alcohol consumption significantly increased women’s sexual relationship interest in their interaction partner, which in turn was associated with lower ratings of partner sexual risk. Lower ratings of partner sexual risk predicted increased intention to engage in unprotected sex. These findings demonstrate alcohol consumption’s causal effects on sexual risk judgments made during analogue social interactions, delineate the indirect effects of alcohol expectancies and alcohol consumption on sexual risk decisions, and provide support for a Cognitive Mediation Model of women’s sexual decision making. These findings can inform empirically based intervention programs designed to reduce the sexual risk taking of women.

The aim of this study was to examine the role of cognitive appraisal in predicting psychosocial adjustment during the postradiation treatment transition. A predictive correlational design was used in a convenience sample of 80 patients with breast, lung, and prostate cancer who were receiving radiation therapy. Two weeks prior to completion of treatment, participants completed instruments to measure symptom distress, uncertainty, cognitive appraisal, social support, and self-efficacy for coping. The Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale was administered 1 month after therapy. Adjustment was significantly correlated with all independent variables, age, and comorbidity. Young age and high amounts of threat appraisal, harm/loss appraisal, uncertainty, and symptom distress were significantly associated with poor adjustment. The model predicted 52% of the variability in adjustment. Cognitive appraisal was not a significant explanatory variable for adjustment when controlling for uncertainty, cancer stage, age, and symptom distress. Symptom distress was the only significant predictor of adjustment.

People often encounter one emotion-triggering event after another. To examine how an emotion experience affects those that follow, the current article draws on the appraisal-tendency framework and cognitive appraisal theories of emotion. The emotional blunting hypothesis predicts that a specific emotion can carry over to blunt the experience of a subsequent emotion when defined by contrasting appraisal tendencies. Results support the hypothesis: Inducing sadness blunted subsequent anger (Studies 1 and 2), and inducing anger blunted subsequent sadness (Study 2). Situational (human) agency appraisals mediated the effect of anger (sadness) on subsequent sadness (anger) elicitation (Study 2). Priming agency appraisals (Study 3) also moderated results. Finally, the effect of emotional blunting carried over to cognitive outcomes in each of the three studies. Together, the results reveal the importance of examining the sequence of emotional experiences. Implications for emotion and judgment in applied settings (e.g., the courtroom) are discussed.

In studying observed work-to-family conflict in 139 couples, the authors integrate theory from cognitive appraisal and indirect crossover processes to explain how partner reactions may affect a focal employee’s work attitudes. The focal employee’s work-interfering-with-family behaviors were positively associated with the partner’s reports of observed work-to-family conflict, resulting in more partner blame attributions and negative emotional displays when discussing work. The partner’s negative emotional displays were related to less career resilience and more turnover exploration by the focal employee. Theoretical and practical implications of the dynamic reactive consequences of appraisal and crossover of observed work-to-family conflict are discussed.

The information world in which library and information science (LIS) students study and are being educated is in a state of constant change. As Web 2.0 is becoming an important and central topic in our information world, the research reported here explores whether LIS students are familiar with technological changes and innovations, and whether they make use of the different Web 2.0 applications. The research examined whether personality characteristics (learning strategies, resistance to change and cognitive appraisal), as well as learning facilitators such as motivation, capacity and importance of studying and integrating different applications of Web 2.0 in the future, influenced LIS students’ perceptions towards Web 2.0 use. Different questionnaires were distributed to 160 randomly selected Israeli students from three different LIS programmes. The research revealed a moderate tendency of LIS students to use Web 2.0 applications. It was found that personality characteristics as well as learning facilitators influenced LIS students’ perceptions towards Web 2.0 use.

In this paper, operators' cognitive appraisal of sensor-based alarm systems is examined. To date, researchers have followed an inductive approach to alarm reactions, proposing trust-based theories to account for variability in alarm reactions. Deductive reasoning has likewise led researchers to collect data in support of various theories. Existing theoretical frameworks assume a common precursor to operator belief systems: firsthand experience with alarm systems. However, humans are frequently exposed to signals with which they have limited knowledge. The construct of alarm “faith” is proposed to account for initial differences in alarm responding prior to experience. Implications of the constructual distinction between faith and trust are discussed with consideration given to task training applications.

This study experimentally tested whether a stressor characterized by social-evaluative threat (SET), a context in which the self can be judged negatively by others, would elicit increases in proinflammatory cytokine activity and alter the regulation of this response. This hypothesis was derived in part from research on immunological responses to social threat in nonhuman animals. Healthy female participants were assigned to perform a speech and a math task in the presence or absence of an evaluative audience (SET or non-SET, respectively). As hypothesized, stimulated production of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) increased from baseline to poststressor in the SET condition, but was unchanged in the non-SET condition. Further, the increases in TNF-α production correlated with participants' cognitive appraisals of being evaluated. Additionally, the ability of glucocorticoids to shut down the inflammatory response was decreased in the SET condition. These findings underscore the importance of social evaluation as a threat capable of eliciting proinflammatory cytokine activity and altering its regulation.

This study examined the mediation effect of cognitive appraisals and the moderation role of peer status in the association between interparental conflict and adolescents’ affective well-being based on a sample of 549 Chinese adolescents from 7th to 12th grades. Interparental conflict properties, adolescents’ cognitive appraisals of conflict, affective well-being, and peer status were measured through scales and peer nomination surveys. The results of structure equation modeling showed that: cognitive appraisals totally mediated the association between marital conflict and adolescents’ affective well-being; peer status moderated the effect of marital conflict on adolescents’ positive affect but not on negative affect; and the relationship between marital conflict and positive affect showed different patterns for adolescents of different social status. Therefore, to better understand affective well-being of adolescents from high marital conflict families, their cognitive appraisals of conflict and peer relations should be taken into account.

Objectives: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is genetically determined, progressive and incurable. Our study's primary objective was to describe the lived experience of hope among parents of a child with DMD.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 parents having a child with DMD. A qualitative/ phenomenological approach was utilized to analyse the essential aspects of this experience.Results: We show that the experience of parental hope emerges from the cognitive appraisal of DMD. The child's illness can be perceived in three ways: as a severe loss, a call to adapt or a way to rediscover the child. Each of these appraisals leads to different ways of hoping. Parents can hope for a cure, the child's well-being or to see their child becoming a whole person. Hope can help parents absorb the initial crisis, sustain their adaptation or prepare for the fatal outcome.Discussion: Previous research has demonstrated that cognitive appraisal plays a central role in psychosocial adaptation to illness. Our research indicates that perception can also shape the nature of hope and suggests that health professionals should pay particular attention to the nature of parental hope. The fabric of parental hope can give an indication of how parents are coping and adjusting.

Adherence studies have taken center stage due to the life-threatening risks associated with nonadherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens for people with HIV/AIDS. This study examines adherence through self-report of individuals on HAART regimens in a manner to account for demand characteristic bias, while still attempting to get an accurate portrayal of individuals' adherence to their medication. Results indicate that individuals who are more certain about their course of treatment, are more trusting of their medical provider, have family resources, and are more optimistic about life adhere better. The model predicts who will be adherent with 92% accuracy while accounting for 55% of the variance in adherence. Practice implications for increasing adherence and accurately assessing adherence are discussed.

This paper outlines cognitive approaches to understanding and treating positive psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations, delusions, and dissociations. Recent cognitive accounts of psychosis are reviewed along with the claim that it is not the symptoms themselves but cognitive and meta-cognitive appraisals (attributions and beliefs) about the significance of the symptoms that cause distress and dysfunction. Psychotic symptoms do lie on a continuum with normal experience. Cognitive appraisal dimensions may interact with reasoning styles such as inferential confusion, cognitive slippage, fantasy proneness, and perceptual immersion (styles also normally distributed in the population) and together persuade the person with psychosis to live in fictional narratives as if they were real. Recent clinical studies suggest that addressing beliefs about symptoms modifying inferential styles and normalizing experiences may help symptom management.

We examined the interplay between three explanatory hypotheses for why older adults appear to rate their problems as less stressful than do younger adults: age-related differences in personality, in types of problems, and in the appraisal process—specifically, the number of primary stress appraisals. A sample of 1,054 men from the Normative Aging Study (mean age = 65.02; range = 45 to 92) were interviewed about a problem in the past week. Personality did not mediate the effect of age on stress ratings. While general hassles and health problems both increased with age, they had opposite influences on stress ratings. Accounting for covariates, older men reported fewer appraisals, and the number of appraisals mediated the association between age and stress ratings. We found no moderating effects of problem type on these processes. Thus, lower stress ratings for everyday problems in later life may result from developmental changes in primary appraisal processes.

This study investigated 2 questions: (1) do children show consistent styles of appraisal across a range of moderately stressful events?, and (2) what are the adjustment and parenting correlates of individual differences in children's appraisal style? Ninety-nine 3rd though 5th grade children and their mothers participated. For each of 6 vignettes involving moderately stressful situations, children responded to 10 items assessing children's appraisal of these events. Mothers completed a self-report measure of parenting practices and children reported on their psychological adjustment. Participants showed moderate levels of consistency in their appraisal of the events across situations, and 6 appraisal styles were identified that reflected the nature of appraisal aggregated across situations. These styles showed meaningful patterns of association with child psychological symptoms and parenting practices. Children showing the victim appraisal style reported the highest levels of anxiety and school dislike, whereas children showing the inconvenience and take responsibility styles reported the lowest level of conduct problems. Parenting style was associated with the appraisal style of boys but not girls. Specifically, boys of authoritative mothers were more likely than other boys to show the inconvenience and take responsibility appraisal styles and less likely to show the victim style.

Beauty has received sparse attention from emotion theorists, some of whom have argued that aesthetic pleasure is cognitive in nature and too “disinterested” to be emotional. This view is supported by research suggesting that aesthetic pleasure is based on processing fluency. The authors review recent findings in the psychology of aesthetics and present two arguments. First, processing fluency explains the mild pleasure associated with simple or familiar objects, but it cannot account for the more intense pleasure associated with complex or novel objects. Immediately recognizing an object tends to be mildly pleasant, whereas sensing the prospect of successfully representing a complex object can be exhilarating. Second, to explain how these forms of aesthetic pleasures differ, a theory must go beyond cognitive dynamics. The authors’ affect-based model of emotion differentiates aesthetic pleasures in terms of epistemic goals. Pretty, fluently processed stimuli implicate prevention goals that maintain and protect knowledge. Beautiful, novel stimuli implicate promotion goals that reshape and expand knowledge. The emotional nature of interest and awe are also discussed.

When everyone in a group shares a common social identity except one individual, the one who is different from the majority has solo status. Solo status increases one's visibility and performance pressure, which may result in stress. Stress has divergent effects on performance, and individuals' response to stressful situations is predicted by their cognitive appraisal (challenge or threat) of the situation. Two experiments test the hypothesis that cognitive appraisal moderates the effect of solo status on performance. Experiment 1 finds that at relatively high appraisal levels (resources exceed demands), solo status improves men's and women's performance; at relatively low appraisal levels, solo status hurts performance. Experiment 2 replicates this effect for solo status based on minimal group assignment. Results suggest that for individuals who feel challenged and not threatened by their work, it may help to be a solo.

Existing research shows that loyalty is a function of customer perceptions of trust following service recovery. The authors propose a cognitive appraisal model that portrays trust and emotions as key mediators in the relationship between perceived justice and customer loyalty. A structural equation model was used to test the conceptual model. The findings support the conjecture that emotions and trust have important mediating roles during the service recovery process. Furthermore, while existing research has focused primarily on negative emotion, the authors' model adopts a two-dimensional view of emotion (positive and negative emotions), and the results support the inclusion of both dimensions. Overall, the empirical support for the proposed model has important managerial implications for effective relationship management. By understanding the important mediating roles of trust and emotion, service employees can deliver more effective service recovery strategies and thereby enhance customer loyalty.

Rossiter and Bellman (2005) define two types of emotions, and this article describes how they should be measured. Type 1 emotions (e1) are automatically elicited “basal” emotions that do not require cognitive appraisal—pleasure, arousal, and possibly dominance—which should be measured on a continuous scale. Self-reports are valid although arousal is more reliably measured by skin conductance (GSR). Type 2 emotions (e2) consist of complex, differentiated emotions that do require cognitive appraisal (e.g. love, anger, contempt, empathy, nostalgia, and desire). Since cognitive labelling can show considerable variation, cross-culturally, and individually, type 2 emotions should be measured as binary (present: yes, no), using self-report ratings. A new study by Rossiter and Bellman (2007) demonstrates that binary type 2 emotions reflecting steps of attachment to the brand are important predictors of brand buying and brand loyalty.