A Temporal Analysis of Emotions in Girls' Secondary School Physical Education Games and Fitness Classes

Female enthusiasm towards engaging in physical education (PE) significantly decreases with age as it provides females with positive and negative emotional experiences. This study examined emotions within four grade nine female PE soccer and fitness classes (N = 67). Emotional patterns were studied over time and across two units of instruction and in relation to student grades. A mixed-method approach was utilized assessing the state emotions of shame, enjoyment, anxiety, and social physique anxiety (SPA). Results revealed unsatisfactory internal consistency for shame and thus it was removed. Statistical analysis revealed no significant changes in emotions over time, whereas qualitative analysis found that state emotions were inconsistent. Statistical analysis indicated that students in the fitness classes reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and SPA on the final class (p < .01). Qualitative analysis signaled different origins and themes of students‟ emotions. No predictive relationship between emotion and students‟ grade was found.

Death and football: An analysis of men's talk about emotions

This study is concerned with men's talk about emotions and with how emotion discourses function in the construction and negotiation of masculine ways of doing emotions and of consonant masculine subject positions. A sample group of 16 men, who were recruited from two social contexts in England, participated in focus groups on 'men and emotions'. Group discussions were transcribed and analysed using discourse analysis. Participants drew upon a range of discursive resources in constructing masculine emotional behaviour and negotiating masculine subject positions. They constructed men as emotional beings, but only within specific, rule-governed contexts, and cited death, a football match and a nightclub scenario as prototypical contexts for the permissible/understandable expression of grief, joy and anger, respectively. However, in the nightclub scenario, the men distanced themselves from the expression of anger as violence, whilst maintaining a masculine subject position. These discursive practices are discussed in terms of the possibilities for effecting change in men's emotional lives.

A processual analysis of basic emotions and sources of concerns as they are lived before and after a competition

Objectives: To examine the natural flow of (a) pre- and post-competition temporal patterns of intensity, frequency and daily mean level (a Composite measure of frequency and intensity) of basic emotions and (b) frequency of reports of competition-related and competition-extraneous concerns across time. Method: The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) was used, which permits the monitoring of the spontaneous flow of daily affective and cognitive experiences in the athletes' habitual environment. Thirty-nine male elite martial artists were assessed on 12 basic emotions and concerns at five random times a day across 1 week before and 3 days after a competition. On the competition day, the participants were assessed 1 h before and immediately after the contest. Results: Different patterns of change were observed for intensity and frequency of emotions and frequency of competition-related and competition-extraneous concerns. Frequency of fear was the most reactive affective component to competition vicinity. Increased frequency of some outcome-contingent negative emotions persisted for three days post-competition. The presence of negative emotions was the lowest in the post-competition days. Conclusions: This study confirms that, for a better understanding of the process of competitive stress, monitoring of both intensity and frequency of a wide range of emotions is needed. This research area may also benefit from analysing possible psychological spill-over between sport, competition and other life domains. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An explorative analysis of the socialization of positive emotions: Insights from the consulting field

Common accounts on socialization are predominantly slanted towards cognitive conceptions. When emotions are considered, most of the time emphasis lays upon negative emotions. Against this background, this study refines prior research in two ways. First, we offer an emotion-oriented perspective of socialization processes. Second, we concentrate on the socialization of positive emotions. We confirm these assumptions by means of an explorative case study in the field of consulting firms. Results suggest that positive emotions play a crucial role throughout the different socialization phases, and can manifest themselves over time in a virtuous cycle. In addition, conventional notions on socialization agents are refined by this research, while arguing that clients ought to be taken similarly into consideration. The article concludes by offering managerial implications, as well as suggestions for future research activities with regard to the socialization of positive emotions.

Coming to belong : a narrative analysis of international students’ experiences in an Australian university

This thesis reports on an interview study with 17 international students about their experiences of coming to belong in an Australian university. All used English as an additional language (EAL). The students’ narratives of ‘coming to belong’ are conceptualised through the theory of Bourdieu, in particular the concepts of field, capital, habitus and legitimation; and the methodological premises of critical realism’s layered ontology. The literature review argues that access to and accrual of a range of capital is critical to successful adaptation to a new educational system. This, and processes of legitimation by others in the fields, affects the senses of belonging for students of various linguistic backgrounds, of different countries of origin, studying from primary to higher education in diverse parts of the world. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews and email dialogues at three points during the students’ first year of study in Australia. The analysis shows how the students’ empirical experiences were ordered in terms of narrative structure—orientation, complication, evaluation, resolution and coda—and highlight the emotions generated by the sequence of events. The findings show that EAL international students sought new field positions through legitimation in multiple senses across (sub-)fields. They also show that academic, social and linguistic legitimacy granted by others produced a spectrum of belonging: in the centre, at the margin, and/or to meaningful intercultural encounters. This study makes a contribution to the growing literature around the experience of international students in higher education, and to empirical literature using Bourdieu to understand educational relations.

Factor analysis of the Self Report Version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in a sample of children with intellectual disability

The rate of emotional and behavioral disturbance in children with intellectual disability (ID) is up to four times higher than that of their typically developing peers. It is important to identify these difficulties in children with ID as early as possible to prevent the chronic co-morbidity of ID and psychopathology. Children with ID have traditionally been assessed via proxy reporting, but appropriate and psychometrically rigorous instruments are needed so that children can report on their own emotions and behaviors. In this study, the factor structure of the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was examined in a population of 128 children with ID (mean age = 12 years). Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed a three factor model (comprising Positive Relationships, Negative Behavior and Emotional Competence) to be a better measure than the original five factor SDQ model in this population.

The emergence of emotions and religious sentiments during the September 11 disaster

Analyzing emotional states under duress or during heightened, life-and-death situations is extremely difficult, especially given the inability of laboratory experiments to replicate the environment and given the inherent biases of post event surveys. This is where natural experiments, such as the pager communications from September 11th can provide the kind of natural experiment emotion researchers have been seeking. We demonstrate that positive and pro-social communications are the first to emerge followed by the slower and lower negative communications. Religious sentiment is the last to emerge, as individual attempt to make sense of event. Additionally we provide a methodological discussion about the preparation and analysis of such natural experiments (the pager message content) and show the importance of using multiple methods to extract the broadest possible understanding.

Authoritarianism, threat, and prejudice: An analysis of mediation and moderation

Right-wing authoritarianism is a central construct in individual differences approaches to prejudice. Its power to predict prejudice is often attributed to perceived threat. However, the exact moderating and mediating processes involved are little understood. In two studies (Ns=53, 84), exposure to threatening versus nonthreatening information about an ethnic out-group had reliable indirect effects on prejudice in authoritarians, but not in nonauthoritarians, largely because authoritarians were more likely to perceive actual threat when they interpreted the information received to represent a threatening argument. Additionally, in Study 2, authoritarians reacted more strongly with negative emotions when they perceived actual threat.

Risk Acceptance in the Furniture Sector: Analysis of Acceptance Level and Relevant Influence Factors

Risk acceptance has been broadly discussed in relation to hazardous risk activities and/or technologies. A better understanding of risk acceptance in occupational settings is also important; however, studies on this topic are scarce. It seems important to understand the level of risk that stakeholders consider sufficiently low, how stakeholders form their opinion about risk, and why they adopt a certain attitude toward risk. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine risk acceptance in regard to occupational accidents in furniture industries. The safety climate analysis was conducted through the application of the Safety Climate in Wood Industries questionnaire. Judgments about risk acceptance, trust, risk perception, benefit perception, emotions, and moral values were measured. Several models were tested to explain occupational risk acceptance. The results showed that the level of risk acceptance decreased as the risk level increased. High-risk and death scenarios were assessed as unacceptable. Risk perception, emotions, and trust had an important influence on risk acceptance. Safety climate was correlated with risk acceptance and other variables that influence risk acceptance. These results are important for the risk assessment process in terms of defining risk acceptance criteria and strategies to reduce risks.

A multidimensional measurement approach and analysis of children's motivation for reading, attributional style, and reading achievement

The present study investigates the usefulness of a multi-method approach to the measurement of reading motivation and achievement. A sample of 127 elementary and middle-school children aged 10 to 14 responded to measures of motivation, attributions, and achievement both longitudinally and in a challenging reading context. Novel measures of motivation and attributions were constructed, validated, and utilized to examine the relationship between ~ motivation, attributions, and achievement over a one-year period (Study I). The impact of classroom contexts and instructional practices was also explored through a study of the influence of topic interest and challenge on motivation, attributions, and persistence (Study II), as well as through interviews with children regarding motivation and reading in the classroom (Study III). Creation and validation of novel measures of motivation and attributions supported the use of a self-report measure of motivation in situation-specific contexts, and confirmed a three-factor structure of attributions for reading performance in both hypothetical and situation-specific contexts. A one-year follow up study of children's motivation and reading achievement demonstrated declines in all components of motivation beginning at age 10 through 12, and particularly strong decreases in motivation with the transition to middle school. Past perceived competence for reading predicted current achievement after controlling for past achievement, and showed the strongest relationships with reading-related skills in both elementary and middle school. Motivation and attributions were strongly related, and children with higher motivation Fulmer III displayed more adaptive attributions for reading success and failure. In the context of a developmentally inappropriate challenging reading task, children's motivation for reading, especially in terms of perceived competence, was threatened. However, interest in the story buffered some ofthe negative impacts of challenge, sustaining children's motivation, adaptive attributions, and reading persistence. Finally, children's responses during interviews outlined several emotions, perceptions, and aspects of reading tasks and contexts that influence reading motivation and achievement. Findings revealed that children with comparable motivation and achievement profiles respond in a similar way to particular reading situations, such as excessive challenge, but also that motivation is dynamic and individualistic and can change over time and across contexts. Overall, the present study outlines the importance of motivation and adaptive attributions for reading success, and the necessity of integrating various methodologies to study the dynamic construct of achievement motivation.

Nationalism and Sporting Culture: A Media Analysis of Croatia’s Participation in the 1998 World Cup

The past two centuries have witnessed the rise of nationalist movements and widespread nationalism. As these movements gained strength in Europe, sport played a role in their development. Media representations of sport recount events in a way that reinforces cultural values and this research investigates media representations of Croatian nationalism in the weeks surrounding the country’s third place victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Sociological theories alongside more contemporary theories of sport and nation construction are considered. Croatian newspapers were analyzed for elements of national identity construction. The study concludes that the 1998 World Cup played an important role in Croatia’s on-going construction of nationhood and invention of nationalist traditions. This research further demonstrates sport’s ability to evoke strong emotions that are difficult to witness in other areas of social life and the direct role of sport in garnering nationalism.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen” : making sense of emotions in the face of expectation breach

Des recherches antérieures sur les émotions en contexte organisationnel, notamment autour des notions de travail émotionnel, de contrat psychologique et d'équité, ont souvent soulevé la question de la rationalité et du caractère approprié ou non des manifestations émotionnelles, ainsi que sur les mécanismes utilisés pour contrôler et modérer celles-ci. Cependant, peu de recherche empirique a été effectuée sur la façon dont les employés eux-mêmes font sens de leurs émotions au travail et le processus par lequel ils parviennent à rendre celle-ci compréhensibles et légitimes, à la fois pour eux-mêmes et pour autrui. Au cours des dernières années, un courant de recherche émergent tend toutefois à mettre de côté la perspective normative / rationaliste pour soulever ce type de questions. Ainsi, au lieu d'être considérées comme des expériences strictement subjectives, privées, voire inaccessibles, les émotions y sont envisagées à travers les discours et les mises en récits dont elles font l’objet. Les émotions apparaissent ainsi non seulement exprimées dans le langage et la communication, mais construites et négociées à travers eux. La recherche présente développe empiriquement cette perspective émergente, notamment en faisant appel aux théories du sensemaking et de la narration, à travers l’analyse détaillée des récits de quatre employés chargés du soutien à la vente pour un revendeur de produits informatiques. En demandant à mes sujets de parler de leurs expériences émotionnelles et en analysant leurs réponses selon une méthodologie d’analyse narrative, cette recherche explore ainsi la façon dont les employés parviennent à construire le sens et la légitimité de leurs expériences émotionnelles. Les résultats suggèrent entre autres que ces processus de construction de sens sont très étroitement liés aux enjeux d’identité et de rôle.

An Analysis of Laypeople’s Beliefs Regarding the Origins of Their Worst Nightmare

Essai présenté à la Faculté des Arts et des Sciences en vue de l’obtention du grade de Doctorat en Psychologie Clinique (D. Psy.)

A socio friendly approach to the analysis of emotive speech

This paper describes certain findings of intonation and intensity study of emotive speech with the minimal use of signal processing algorithms. This study was based on six basic emotions and the neutral, elicited from 1660 English utterances obtained from the speech recordings of six Indian women. The correctness of the emotional content was verified through perceptual listening tests. Marked similarity was noted among pitch contours of like-worded, positive valence emotions, though no such similarity was observed among the four negative valence emotional expressions. The intensity patterns were also studied. The results of the study were validated using arbitrary television recordings for four emotions. The findings are useful to technical researchers, social psychologists and to the common man interested in the dynamics of vocal expression of emotions

Is there a Rhythm Of The Rain? An analysis of weather in popular music

Weather is frequently used in music to frame events and emotions, yet quantitative analyses are rare. From a collated base set of 759 weather-related songs, 419 were analysed based on listings from a karaoke database. This article analyses the 20 weather types described, frequency of occurrence, genre, keys, mimicry, lyrics and songwriters. Vocals were the principal means of communicating weather: sunshine was the most common, followed by rain, with weather depictions linked to the emotions of the song. Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the most weather-related songs, partly following their experiences at the time of writing.