Emotion-Affective Psychology
Not Judging Your Own Thoughts as an Element of Happiness
There’s no formula for happiness, but something that apparently helps is not being too judgmental toward your own thoughts and feelings. A recent study from researchers in Spain highlights the role that this kind of acceptance plays in overall happiness. The study surveyed 589 participants, asking about several different personality traits and about their self-rated…
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When Is It “Manly” to Cry?
Our traditional ideas about how people are “supposed” express emotions are often tied up with gender stereotypes. Since managing emotions is a key part of mental health for anyone of any gender, viewing emotions in terms of gender has consequences for everyone, including men. As I’ve written about before, for example, traditional ideas about masculinity…
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Two Ways to Use Social Media
In my last post, I talked about how children in neighborhoods with faster internet apparently evaluate their lives more negatively. That study is one of several that has explored a possible link between internet use and mental health risk. One thing to keep in mind when we talk about “internet use,” however, is that there…
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In Neighborhoods With Faster Internet, Children Feel Worse About Their Lives
Who wouldn’t want a faster internet connection? Kids who want to feel good about their lives, maybe. A new analysis of data from 6,300 children carried about by researchers at University of Sheffield has come up with the finding that in neighborhoods with faster broadband speed, children and teenagers report feeling worse about their lives.…
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Sadness and Smoking
The idea that drugs can be an escape from negative emotions is well known. A recently published study from researchers at Harvard University gives us some more evidence for that idea, but adds a new twist. As it turns out, the emotion of sadness in particular, rather than negative emotions in general, may have an…
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What Socializing and Drinking Today Mean for Mood Tomorrow
Socializing and consuming alcohol are two activities that often go together. Both also have the potential to alter your mood – so it can be hard to untangle whether you’re feeling the effects of one or the other! For psychology researchers, this complicates the question of studying how socializing and drinking change people’s moods. Things…
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Testing Three Emotional Regulation Techniques
How do we manage difficult emotions and direct them in a positive direction? Psychologists have identified different strategies people use for emotional regulation, some of which seem to work better than others. Three of the strategies commonly mentioned are: Reappraisal: reframing a negative situation in a more positive way Acceptance: engaging with negative emotions and…
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When Does Comfort Food Really Comfort?
Of the different ways we might deal with negative emotions, eating isn’t necessarily the healthiest. Sure, we might want to reach for a candy bar when we’re feeling down, but eating too many candy bars can bring its own problems! Still, that doesn’t answer the question: does cheering ourselves up with food actually work? Or,…
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Self-Critical People Have Different Emotion Recognition Skills
Some people are much harder on themselves than they would ever be on other people. This tendency toward self-criticism can interfere with people’s ability to enjoy the many benefits of self-compassion. The reasons why some people are more self-critical are complex and not very well understood by psychology researchers. One question that might be worth…
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People Can Detect Envy, but Only in Other People They Know
Ever get the feeling that other people become jealous when something good happens to you? It’s exceptionally hard to know or sure, because most people aren’t open about being envious. As far as the seven deadly sins go, envy is one that can be very quiet. Most people conceal any feelings of envy that arise,…
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