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Consolation, i.e., postconflict affiliative interaction directed from a third party to the recipient of aggression, is assumed to have a stress-alleviating function. This function, however, has never been demonstrated. This study shows that consolation in chimpanzees reduces behavioral measures of stress in recipients of aggression. Furthermore, consolation was more likely to occur in the absence of reconciliation, i.e., postconflict affiliative interaction between former opponents. Consolation therefore may act as an alternative to reconciliation when the latter does not occur. In the debate about empathy in great apes, evidence for the stress-alleviating function of consolation in chimpanzees provides support for the argument that consolation could be critical behavior. Consistent with the argument that relationship quality affects their empathic responses, we found that consolation was more likely between individuals with more valuable relationships. Chimpanzees may thus respond to distressed valuable partners by consoling them, thereby reducing their stress levels, especially in the absence of reconciliation. empathy | Pan troglodytes | postconflict behavior | social relationships

The work of former teacher and musician Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, namely Liber confortatorius, is discussed. Goscelin speaks about his deep personal grief of a young English nun Eva's departure from her religious commitment to become a recluse.

Burleson and Goldsmith's (1998) comforting model suggests an appraisal-based mechanism through which comforting messages can bring about a positive change in emotional states. This study is a first empirical test of three causal linkages implied by the appraisal-based comforting model. Participants (N = 258) talked about an upsetting event with a confederate trained to display low, moderate, or high levels of person centeredness and nonverbal immediacy. After the conversation, participants completed several scales. Latent composite structural equation modeling was used to examine the model, which showed that person-centered and immediate emotional support exerted a direct effect on emotional improvement. Above and beyond this direct effect, person-centered comfort also encouraged people to verbalize their thoughts and emotions. These verbalizations facilitated cognitive appraisals, which in turn exerted a strong direct effect on emotional improvement. Mediation analyses further suggested that verbalizations of positive emotion words in conjunction with reappraisals partially mediated the influence of person-centered comfort on emotional improvement. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2006.00274.x

1. Introduction Seneca addressed two consolations to women: the Consolatio ad Marciam, addressed to a mother whose adult son has died, and the Consolatio ad Helviam, to Seneca's own mother [...]

Byline: Christopher K. Hsee (1), Howard C. Kunreuther (2) Keywords: affect; insurance; consolation Abstract: We use insurance behavior as a context to study affective influences in seemingly purely monetary decisions. We report two related findings. First, people are more willing to purchase insurance for an object at stake, the more affection they have for the object, holding the amount of compensation constant. Second, if the object is damaged, people are also more willing to go through the trouble of claiming a fixed amount of compensation, the more affection they have for the object. These effects are not predicted by standard decision theories. We explain these findings by a 'consolation hypothesis,' according to which, people perceive insurance compensation as a token of consolation, and we discuss its implications for affective influences in other types of decisions. Author Affiliation: (1) Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, USA (2) The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA Article History: Registration Date: 16/10/2004

Despite the fact that Phil 4:6-7 and 4:8-9 both conclude with similar promises of divine peace and thus appear to be part of the same line of reasoning, modem scholarship [...]

The article explains that reading Philippians as a letter of consolation helps understand the place of Paul's promise to send Timothy in Phil 2.19-24 in the overall context of the letter. Specifically, it suggests that the imprisoned Paul offers Timothy as a replacement or 'alius Paulus' as per the topos 'consolation by means of a replacement'.