Emotional Responses to Disfigured Faces: The Influences of Perceived Anonymity, Empathy, and Disgust Sensitivity

Two experiments investigated self-reported emotional reactions to photographs of people with attractive, unattractive or structurally disfigured faces. In Experiment 1 participants viewing disfigured faces reported raised levels of sorrow and curiosity but not raised levels of negative emotions. In Experiment 2 there was more negative emotion and less positive emotion reported under conditions of relatively high anonymity, compared to low anonymity, specific to disfigured faces, suggesting that self-reports are influenced by social desirability. Trait empathy was associated with sorrow and negative emotions when viewing disfigured faces. Disgust sensitivity was associated with negative emotions and inversely associated with positive emotions.

Projective Identification and the Fear of Failing: Making Sense of Practice Educators' Experiences of Failing Social Work Students in Practice Learning Settings

The paper focuses on emotions and processes that may arise for practice educators when working with a struggling or failing student in a practice learning setting.1 The paper firstly documents a previously undertaken thematic review of the literature, which explored why practice educators appeared to find it difficult to fail students in practice learning settings. Secondly, the paper draws on two UK qualitative studies that highlighted the emotional distress experienced by practice educators when working with a marginal or failing student. The paper documents key findings using a case study approach from both studies. We argue that the concept of projective identification offers a plausible and illuminating account of the states of mind experienced by practice educators and in making explicit, unconscious states of mind, our aim is that practice educators will feel confident to make appropriate assessment decisions when required.

Flourishing as a dialectical balance: emerging insights from second-wave positive psychology

Positive psychology, an emergent branch of scholarship concerned with wellbeing and flourishing, initially defined itself by a focus on “positive” emotions and qualities. However, critics soon pointed out that this binary logic—classifying phenomena as either positive or negative, and valorising the former while disparaging the latter—could be problematic. For example, apparently positive qualities can be harmful to wellbeing in certain circumstances, while ostensibly dysphoric emotional states may on occasion promote flourishing. Responding to these criticisms, over recent years a more nuanced “second wave” of positive psychology has been developing, in which wellbeing is recognized as involving a dialectical balance of light and dark aspects of life. This article introduces this emergent second wave, arguing that it is characterized by four dialectical principles. First, the principle of appraisal states that it is difficult to categorically identify phenomena as either positive or negative, since such appraisals are fundamentally contextually dependent. Second, the principle of co-valence holds that many states and qualities at the heart of flourishing, such as love, are actually a complex blend of light and dark elements. Third, the principle of complementarity posits that not only are such phenomena co-valenced, but that their dichotomous elements are in fact co-creating, two intertwined sides of the same coin. Finally, the principle of evolution allows us to understand second-wave positive psychology as itself being an example of a dialectical process. This article is published as part of a collection entitled “On balance: lifestyle, mental health and wellbeing”.

The Multi-Faceted Experience of Empathy in Intellectual Disability Settings: An IPA Study

This research thesis explored the concept of empathy. The specific purpose was to further understand the idea of empathy in relation to the experience of male support workers who provide residential care to adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) and challenging behaviour. The thesis aimed to provide some insights into how support workers develop and extract meaning from their experiences of relationships with clients and the impact of this on their own self-care, namely, self-compassion. Since personal accounts of experience were required, a qualitative methodology was employed, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2004). This methodology was selected as it allows for the exploration and interpretation of idiographic lived experience and meaning making. 8 experienced support workers were interviewed using a semi structured interview. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data. These included: 1. Making sense of the others inner world; 2. Processes that enhance empathic practice; 3. Tensions and conflicts, and 4. Management of distressing feelings. Differing accounts of interpreting the needs of clients were identified which helped participants understand, make sense of their interpersonal experience and participate in their role. These included utilising academic knowledge and senses, particularly sight and hearing, which were seemingly complemented by a level of reflective practice. Additionally, to make sense of the experience of a client, they appeared to put themselves in their position, suggesting a form of empathy. Participants appeared to engage in a process of reflection on their relationships with clients, which helped them think about what they had learned about the person’s needs, moreover, this process enabled them to identify some of their own responses and feelings. However, participants seemed to struggle to recognise the occurrence or impact of distressing emotional experience and to express their feelings, possibly in response to a deep sense of responsibility and fear of transferring emotional distress to others. This dilemma of holding two potentially conflicting views of experience seemed to inhibit self-compassion. Although not specifically testing theories of empathy, from the overall findings, it could be suggested that empathy may be a dynamic, transient process that is influenced by reflexivity, values and context. The context in which participants discussed their practice, and situated within their accounts, suggested a sense of confusion and uncertainty. Consequently, it is suggested this impacted on how participants understood and related to clients, and to themselves. There were some specific implications for Counselling Psychology practice, mostly concerning training and supervision. These included recommendations for staff training and supervision, systemic organisational intervention, policy development, recommendations for revisions to models of specialist care frameworks and clinical training.

Spirituality and Basketball Fanship: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Synthesis

The world of competitive sport affords an individual the opportunity to enter a spiritual community adding meaning that transcends one’s current understanding of life (Parry et al. 2007). Previously established dimensions of sports fanship (group affiliation, psychological commitment and team identification) share characteristics commonly associated with religious or spiritual affiliation indicating that fans may generate substantial life meaning from observing sporting encounters. In the present study, 12 male basketball fans (M=32.42; SD=7.97) completed semi-structured interviews immediately prior to viewing a competitive match at the 2011 European Basketball Championships (Vilnius, Lithuania). Interviews were structured under four headings; 1) the most memorable moment as a basketball fan, 2) thoughts, feelings and emotions attached to their team, 3) affiliation to the team in the context of the fan’s meaning of life, 4) connection with members of the fan’s sporting community. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to analyse interview transcripts. Raw data clustered into four dimensions; 1) devotion, 2) obscure emotions, 3) connectedness, and 4) universal values. The results indicate that sports fanship is characterised by, and synonymous with, an established understanding of spirituality derived from membership of wider spiritual and/or religious communities. The findings hold implications for the marketing and membership of local, amateur and professional sports clubs and brands, as well as community development, health and welfare.