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A Neurobehavioral Model of Affiliative Bonding: Implications for Conceptualizing a Human Trait of Affiliation
Abstract
Because little is known about the human trait of affiliation, we provide a novel neurobehavioral model of affiliative bonding. Discussion is organized around processes of reward and memory formation that occur during approach and consummatory phases of affiliation. Appetitive and consummatory reward processes are mediated independently by the activity of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA)-nucleus accumbens shell (NAS) pathway and the central corticolimbic projections of the u-opiate system of the medial basal arcuate nucleus, respectively, although these two projection systems functionally interact across time. We next explicate the manner in which DA and glutamate interact in both the VTA and NAS to form incentive-encoded contextual memory ensembles that are predictive of reward derived from affiliative objects. Affiliative stimuli, in particular, are incorporated within contextual ensembles predictive of affiliative reward via: (a) the binding of affiliative stimuli in the rostral circuit of the medial extended amygdala and subsequent transmission to the NAS shell; (b) affiliative stimulus-induced opiate potentiation of DA processes in the VTA and NAS; and (c) permissive or facilitatory effects of gonadal steroids, oxytocin (in interaction with DA), and vasopressin on (i) sensory, perceptual, and attentional processing of affiliative stimuli and (ii) formation of social memories. Among these various processes, we propose that the capacity to experience affiliative reward via opiate functioning has a disproportionate weight in determining individual differences in affiliation. We delineate sources of these individual differences, and provide the first human data that support an association between opiate functioning and variation in trait affiliation.
... Thus, in addition to the attachment behavioral system, there exist, caregiving, dominance and sexual systems that can be understood using the same ethological framework (Goodson & Kabelik, 2009;Johnson, Leedom, & Muhtadie, 2012;Kenrick, 2006;MacDonald, 1995;O'Connell & Hofmann, 2011a, 2011bShaver & Mikulincer, 2011). These four behavioral systems explain and organize all of human social behavior both normative and pathological; they mediate four adaptive social goals: safety through affiliation (attachment behavioral system) (Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005), care of others (care-giving behavioral system) (Preston, 2013), competition (dominance behavioral system) Weisfeld & Dillon, 2012) and mating (sexual behavioral system) (Aron et al., 2005). ...
... Because of its central role in reinforcement, the mesolimbic reward circuit, together with the social behavioral network (paralimbic system) (Kiehl, 2006;Nishimura, Yoshii, Watanabe, & Ishiuchi, 2009;O'Connell & Hofmann, 2011b), functions as the "comparator" for social behavioral systems as these integrate sensory input and motor output (Depue & Collins, 1999). Dopamine (DA) has the general function of facilitating neural processes subserving motivation (Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005). Dopamine increases desire (motivation) to obtain rewards and, therefore, the number of attempted behavioral strategies and the acquisition and maintenance of approach behavior (Schultheiss & Wirth, 2008). ...
... The attachment behavioral system in primates and other social mammals functions adaptively to insure safety from threat and provision of necessities such as milk, warmth, hygiene, and sensory stimulation through motivating individuals to remain in close proximity (Bowlby, 1988). The contention that the attachment and affiliation systems are one (Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005) is also supported by the observation that the incentive stimuli, rewards (safety and intimacy) and output behaviors related to "general affiliation" are not qualitatively different from those related to "attachment. " ...
Drive theories of motivation proposed by Lorenz and Tinbergen did not survive experimental scrutiny; however these were replaced by the behavioral systems framework. Unfortunately, political forces within science including the rise of sociobiology and comparative psychology, caused neglect of this important framework. This review revives the concept of behavioral systems and demonstrates its utility in the development of a unified theory of human social behavior and social bonding. Although the term “attachment” has been used to indicate social bonds which motivate affiliation, four differentiable social reward systems mediate social proximity and bond formation: the affiliation (attachment), caregiving, dominance and sexual behavioral systems. Ethology is dedicated to integrating inborn capacities with experiential learning as well as the proximal and ultimate causes of behavior. Hence, the behavioral systems framework developed by ethologists nearly 50 years ago, enables discussion of a unified theory of human social behavior.
... For example, internal self-berating and fear of rejection draw them into depression and anxiety [38]. Only if threats are resolved and resources are sufficient, will they become content [40]. Contentment is also linked to peacefulness and well-being. ...
... He took care of her and comforted her by making toys and dolls [1]. Since caring behaviours can better develop the soothing system, the personal experience of these behaviours within his own family can be an explanation for his positive calmness [40,43]. Furthermore, most Daimyos usually had many concubines but Yozan only had one despite his personal circumstances. ...
Yozan Uesugi was a Daimyo (feudal lord) who governed an area called Yonezawa in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan from 1767 to 1823. Yonezawa was originally an impoverished provincial government which under his leadership regained a healthy financial status. His leadership style was unique among Daimyos, yet respected and regarded as an ideal by many including President John F. Kennedy. One of the characteristics of Yozan’s leadership was he demonstrated what he expected his people to do, instead of just telling them what to do. Despite the power and status as a Daimyo, he lived a thrifty life as he expected his people to do. In this perspective paper, we discuss Yozan’s leadership from Organisational and Emotional Psychological perspectives. More specifically, we introduce servant leadership, intrinsically motivated leadership, the Emotional Regulatory Systems of Compassion-Focused Therapy, and Zen philosophy. Lastly, we discuss his leadership from a beyond WEIRD perspective, relating to a Japanese well-being concept, ikigai, roughly translated as reason for living. By discussing Yozan’s leadership through those lenses, we offer possible relationships among those seemingly different theoretical domains.
... Il est conceptualisé, dans le modèle théorique de la TFC, que la manière dont on pense et ce qu'on ressent vis-à-vis de soi et des autres est en lien avec trois systèmes de régulation des émotions, qui ont été mis en évidence par la recherche neuroscientifique [3]. La compréhension de ces trois systèmes de régulation émotionnelle est au coeur de la thérapie. ...
... C'est le système qui donne la possibilité de se détendre, de se reposer. Le système est associé au bien être, à une sensation de sérénité et semble être particulièrement associé au système d'attachement [3,19,23]. Il est régulé par l'ocytocine et les endorphines [2,16]. ...
La Thérapie Fondée sur la Compassion est une approche psychothérapeutique émergente en France ces dernières années. Cette forme de psychothérapie a été fondée par Paul Gilbert dans les années 2000. Elle s’inscrit dans le champ des Thérapies Cognitives et Comportementales avec une emphase particulière sur le développement explicite d’un mode de relation, à soi et aux autres, empreint de compassion. La TFC vise à aider les personnes accompagnées à être compréhensives, soutenantes et chaleureuses envers-elles même face aux difficultés rencontrées plutôt que d’y répondre par l’auto-critique, la honte, la colère tournée vers soi ou encore le mépris de soi. La compassion implique de développer la sensibilité à la souffrance et l’engagement profond de faire de son mieux pour apaiser et prévenir cette souffrance. La thérapie s’appuie sur des ingrédients thérapeutiques variés tels que la méditation de pleine conscience, l’imagerie mentale, les jeux de rôles ou encore le travail des chaises. Ce chapitre illustre comment le.a thérapeute peut intégrer ces différentes stratégies thérapeutiques avec créativité pour s’adapter aux besoins et particularités des personnes accompagnées dans le contexte de la médecine physique et de réadaptation. Pour cela, certains éléments psychoéducatifs centraux en TFC ainsi que des pratiques d’imagerie centrées sur la compassion seront présentés à l’aide de vignettes cliniques et d’extraits de dialogues thérapeutiques.
... The Drive System can cover a multitude of processes, some of which can be helpful such as experiencing joy or pride in making progress in therapy, but others can be detrimental especially when the client is responding to monitor and address criticism or approval from the therapist for its own sake. In this way, we intentionally promote self-compassion (being attuned and supportive to one's needs) rather than self-esteem (which is related to achievement and dominance) [37]. While it is important to promote and support increased agency in the client when they are making active efforts and relishing progress to attain their goals, therapists might mistakenly overlook occasions where clients are responding to bids for approval from the therapist instead of following their (the client's) own agenda. ...
... Whereas the threat and drive systems are associated with activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the soothing system is associated with activation of the ventral vagal branch of the parasympathetic nervous system [37,38]. Whilst the soothing system can be activated outside of affiliative and interpersonal contexts, for example, in relaxation training [39], it is associated, in mammals, with the attachment system and involves affective experiences related to affiliation and care. ...
This paper reviews key theories underlying the interpersonal process in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and links these to purported mechanisms of action in CFT. The paper goes on to provide a concrete practice example of an exampled dialogue between a clinician and client and narrates the interpersonal processes and mechanisms of action in an attempt to elucidate how interpersonal processes can be leveraged to facilitate therapeutic change. In so doing, this paper seeks to advance scholarship on precise mechanisms of change in psychotherapy, especially interpersonal processes in psychotherapy. Furthermore this paper seeks to provide a useful account of how interpersonal theory can be enacted in a clinical interaction
... Recent studies in psychology report a correlation between higher levels of serenity and lower stress and anxiety, resulting in better mental wellbeing (Soysa et al., 2021;Stanton et al., 2016). Serenity has been linked to various benefits, such as connecting with the present and self (Ellsworth & Smith,1988), savoring achievements (Frederickson, 1988;Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005), and serving as a 'breathing' moment between challenging times in life (Lazarus et al., 1980), allowing individuals to develop a sense of peace and calmness over time (Smith & Kirby, 2010), ultimately reducing stress and anxiety (Boyd-Wilson et al., 2004). ...
... While these fronto-mesolimbic networks play a critical role in prosocial behaviors, the interaction of the specific neurotransmitters that mediate these functions is still not well understood 29,30 . Animal studies show a critical role of dopamine (DA) in prosocial behaviors 1 . ...
Understanding the neural, metabolic, and psychological mechanisms underlying human altruism and decision-making is a complex and important topic both for science and society. Here, we investigated whether transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) applied to two prefrontal cortex regions, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC, anode) and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, cathode) can induce changes in self-reported emotions and to modulate local metabolite concentrations. We employed in vivo quantitative MR Spectroscopy in healthy adult participants and quantified changes in GABA and Glx (glutamate + glutamine) before and after five sessions of tDCS delivered at 2 mA for 20 min (active group) and 1 min (sham group) while participants were engaged in a charitable donation task. In the active group, we observed increased levels of GABA in vmPFC. Glx levels decreased in both prefrontal regions and self-reported happiness increased significantly over time in the active group. Self-reported guiltiness in both active and sham groups tended to decrease. The results indicate that self-reported happiness can be modulated, possibly due to changes in Glx concentrations following repeated stimulation. Therefore, local changes may induce remote changes in the reward network through interactions with other metabolites, previously thought to be unreachable with noninvasive stimulation techniques.
... Social support is found to have an important role in protecting against stress generally (Hostinar & Gunnar, 2015) and against psychosis symptoms more specifically (Norman et al., 2005). According to Gilbert's model of social mentalities (Gilbert, 2009(Gilbert, , 2014 and neuroscientific models of emotion systems (Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005), social safeness and threat are linked to different systems, with distinct functions and physiologies (in the same way that para-sympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems are functionally and physiologically distinct). Hence, in this study, these two social mechanismsexternal shame (a threat to social self) and social safenessare explored as distinct, each with potentially different influences on dissociative and psychotic processes. ...
Background
Shame is experienced as a threat to social self, and so activates threat-protective responses. There is evidence that shame has trauma-like characteristics, suggesting it can be understood within the same conceptual framework as trauma and dissociation. Evidence for causal links among trauma, dissociation, and psychosis thus warrant the investigation of how shame may influence causal mechanisms for psychosis symptoms.
Methods
This study tested the interaction between dissociation and shame, specifically external shame (feeling shamed by others), in predicting psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) six months later in a general population sample ( N = 314). It also tested if social safeness moderates these effects. A longitudinal, online questionnaire design tested a moderation model (dissociation-shame) and a moderated moderation model (adding social safeness), using multiple regressions with bootstrap procedures.
Results
Although there was no direct effect of dissociation on PLEs six months later, there was a significant interaction effect with shame, controlling for PLEs at baseline. There were complex patterns in the directions of effects: For high-shame-scorers, higher dissociation predicted higher PLE scores, but for low-shame-scorers, higher dissociation predicted lower PLE scores. Social safeness was found to significantly moderate these interaction effects, which were unexpectedly more pronounced in the context of higher social safeness.
Conclusions
The results demonstrate evidence for an interaction between dissociation and shame on its impact on PLEs, which manifests particularly for those experiencing higher social safeness. This suggests a potential role of social mechanisms in both the etiology and treatment of psychosis, which warrants further testing in clinical populations.
... BMC Public Health (2024) 24:1250 [48][49][50]. As a highly social species, humans have inherited cognitive architecture that makes affiliation, or even the promise of it, rewarding [51]. ...
Background
Being socially excluded has detrimental effects, with prolonged exclusion linked to loneliness and social isolation. Social disconnection interventions that do not require direct support actions (e.g., “how can I help?”) offer promise in mitigating the affective and cognitive consequences of social exclusion. We examine how various social disconnection interventions involving friends and unknown peers might mitigate social exclusion by buffering (intervening before) and by promoting recovery (intervening after).
Methods
We present an integrative data analysis (IDA) of five studies (N = 664) that systematically exposed participants to exclusion (vs. inclusion) social dynamics. Using a well-validated paradigm, participants had a virtual interaction with two other people. Unbeknownst to participants, the other people’s behavior was programmed to either behave inclusively toward the participant or for one to behave exclusively. Critically, our social disconnection interventions experimentally manipulated whether a friend was present (vs. an unknown peer vs. being alone), the nature of interpersonal engagement (having a face-to-face conversation vs. a reminder of an upcoming interaction vs. mere presence), and the timing of the intervention in relation to the social dynamic (before vs. during vs. after). We then assessed participants’ in-the-moment affective and cognitive responses, which included mood, feelings of belonging, sense of control, and social comfort.
Results
Experiencing exclusion (vs. inclusion) led to negative affective and cognitive consequences. However, engaging in a face-to-face conversation with a friend before the exclusion lessened its impact (p < .001). Moreover, a face-to-face conversation with a friend after exclusion, and even a reminder of an upcoming interaction with a friend, sped-up recovery (ps < .001). There was less conclusive evidence that a face-to-face conversation with an unknown peer, or that the mere presence of a friend or unknown peer, conferred protective benefits.
Conclusions
The findings provide support for the effectiveness of social disconnection interventions that involve actual (i.e., face-to-face) or symbolic (i.e., reminders) interactions with friends. These interventions target momentary vulnerabilities that arise from social exclusion by addressing negative affect and cognitions before or after they emerge. As such, they offer a promising approach to primary prevention prior to the onset of loneliness and social isolation.
... These results generally corresponded with observations at the group level but offer additional insights into specificity, and hint at system-level alterations. Lastly, from a mechanistic viewpoint, we hypothesize that Affect training stimulates emotion-motivational (reward) systems associated with positive affect (79,80), and regulated by oxytocin and opiates (110,111). Since these neuropeptides are also involved in stress regulation (112,113), they could be considered to provide a double hit, and prime candidates to mediate hippocampal volume increase and stress reduction in particular following compassion-based practice, yet also present following other practices. ...
The hippocampus is a central modulator of the HPA-axis, impacting the regulation of stress on brain structure, function, and behavior. The current study assessed whether three different types of 3-months mental Training Modules geared towards nurturing a) attention-based mindfulness, b) socio-affective or c) socio-cognitive skills may impact hippocampal organization by reducing stress. We evaluated mental training-induced changes in hippocampal subfield volume and intrinsic functional connectivity, by combining longitudinal structural and resting-state fMRI connectivity analysis in 332 healthy adults. We related these changes to changes in diurnal and chronic cortisol levels. We observed increases in bilateral cornu ammonis volume (CA1-3) following the 3-months compassion-based module targeting socio-affective skills ( Affect module), as compared to socio-cognitive skills ( Perspective module) or a waitlist cohort with no training intervention. Structural changes were paralleled by relative increases in functional connectivity of CA1-3 when fostering socio-affective as compared to socio-cognitive skills. Furthermore, training-induced changes in CA1-3 structure and function consistently correlated with reductions in cortisol output. Notably, using a multivariate approach, we found that other subfields that did not show group-level changes also contributed to changes in cortisol levels, suggesting that circuit-level changes within the hippocampal formation are linked to diurnal stress markers. Overall, we provide a link between a socio-emotional behavioural intervention, changes in hippocampal subfield structure and function, and reductions in cortisol in healthy adults.
... Another central feature of CFT is the three systems model of emotion [12]. CFT combines an evolutionary functional analysis of emotion with affective neuroscience to cluster emotions based on their underlying evolved function [3,13]. Three interdependent systems are identified, corresponding to threat detection and avoidance, drive-based resource seeking and acquisition, and rest and soothing [12]. ...
Compassion-focused chairwork has become a recent focus of empirical investigation. This study extended this area of research by exploring how participants with depression experienced the 'compassionate other' imagery exercise enacted via chairwork methods. Eight individuals from primary care NHS mental health services were interviewed about their experience of the practice. The resultant data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three group experiential themes were identified: care that feels real, chairwork processes and encountering challenges on the road to discovery. The findings indicate that the intervention has therapeutic utility both as an intervention for cultivating compassion and as means of assessing for and identifying blocks to compassion. The results also suggest that there is potential value in enacting compassion-focused imagery techniques through chairwork methods, especially for those who have difficulty accessing mental imagery practices. The findings are contextualised within broader theory and literature, and clinical and research implications are discussed.
... In addition to examining the μ-opioid system in interaction with other neurochemical systems believed to play an important role in attachment processes (e.g., oxytocin, dopamine [61]), future research in this area would also benefit from consideration of epigenetic processes and genetic-epigenetic interactions in relation to differences in attachment experiences. To this point, the new CpG methylation site introduced by the A118G nucleotide exchange has been found to affect methylation patterns and, consequently, structural changes in the μ-opioid system in response to prolonged opioid use [62], and similar genetic-epigenetic interactions have been found to shape stress reactivity in response to maternal deprivation in non-human animals [63]. ...
The endogenous opioid system is thought to play an important role in mother-infant attachment. In infant rhesus macaques, variation in the μ-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) is related to differences in attachment behavior that emerges following repeated separation from the mother; specifically, infants carrying at least one copy of the minor G allele of the OPRM1 C77G polymorphism show heightened and more persistent separation distress, as well as a pattern of increased contact-seeking behavior directed towards the mother during reunions (at the expense of affiliation with other group members). Research in adult humans has also linked the minor G allele of the analogous OPRM1 A118G polymorphism with greater interpersonal sensitivity. Adopting an interactionist approach, we examined whether OPRM1 A118G genotype and maternal (in)sensitivity are associated with child attachment style, predicting that children carrying the G allele may be more likely to develop an ambivalent attachment pattern in response to less sensitive maternal care. The sample consisted of 191 mothers participating with their children (n = 223) in the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment (MAVAN) project, a community-based, birth cohort study of Canadian mothers and their children assessed longitudinally across the child’s development. Maternal sensitivity was coded from at-home mother-child interactions videotaped when the child was 18 months of age. Child attachment was assessed at 36 months using the Strange Situation paradigm. As predicted, G allele carriers, but not AA homozygotes, showed increasing odds of being classified as ambivalently attached with decreasing levels of maternal sensitivity. Paralleling earlier non-human animal research, this work provides support for the theory that endogenous opioids contribute to the expression of attachment behaviors in humans.
... Another central feature of CFT is the three systems model of emotion [12]. CFT combines an evolutionary functional analysis of emotion with affective neuroscience to cluster emotions based on their underlying evolved function [3,13]. Three interdependent systems are identified, corresponding to threat detection and avoidance, drive-based resource seeking and acquisition, and rest and soothing [12]. ...
Compassion-focused chairwork has become a recent focus of empirical investigation. This study extended this area of research by exploring how participants with depression experienced the ‘compassionate other’ imagery exercise enacted via chairwork methods. Eight individuals from primary care NHS mental health services were interviewed about their experience of the practice. The resultant data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three group experiential themes were identified: care that feels real, chairwork processes and encountering challenges on the road to discovery. The findings indicate that the intervention has therapeutic utility both as an intervention for cultivating compassion and as means of assessing for and identifying blocks to compassion. The results also suggest that there is potential value in enacting compassion-focused imagery techniques through chairwork methods, especially for those who have difficulty accessing mental imagery practices. The findings are contextualised within broader theory and literature, and clinical and research implications are discussed.
... Opioid activity within the nucleus accumbens modulates the hedonic properties of rewards such as food, and may indirectly enhance motivation in the ventral tegmental area by stimulating mesolimbic dopaminergic signaling (Barbano and Cador, 2007;Berridge and Kringelbach, 2008). Evidence for the role of the endogenous opioid system in mediating the hedonic components of reinforcement is evidenced by opioid involvement in many affective social behaviors including parenting, sexual behavior, and play (Depue and Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005). ...
... Affiliation is characterized as the motivation for and maintenance of social relationships, stemming from reward gained through closeness with others. This definition draws on studies investigating the biological basis of social bonding (Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005;Feldman, 2012), interpersonal behavior and personality (Hill, 1987;Wiggins, 1996), and the neurobehavioral dimensions underlying psychopathy (Patrick & Drislane, 2015;Viding & McCrory, 2019). Low affiliation is thought to increase risk for CU traits by disrupting children's initiation and enjoyment of positive physical and emotional connections with others, which would otherwise promote adaptive social bonding (Viding & McCrory, 2019;Waller & Wagner, 2019). ...
Background
The Sensitivity to Threat and Affiliative Reward (STAR) model proposes low threat sensitivity and low affiliation as risk factors for callous‐unemotional (CU) traits. Preliminary evidence for the STAR model comes from work in early childhood. However, studies are needed that explore the STAR dimensions in late childhood and adolescence when severe conduct problems (CP) emerge. Moreover, it is unclear how variability across the full spectrum of threat sensitivity and affiliation gives rise to different forms of psychopathology beyond CU traits.
Methods
The current study addressed these gaps using parent‐ and child‐reported data from three waves and a sub‐study of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study® of 11,878 youth (48% female; ages 9–12).
Results
Consistent with the STAR model, low threat sensitivity and low affiliation were independently related to CU traits across informants and time. Moreover, there was significant interaction between the STAR dimensions, such that children with lower sensitivity to threat and lower affiliation had higher parent‐reported CU traits. Unlike CU traits, children with higher threat sensitivity had higher parent‐reported CP and anxiety. Finally, children with lower affiliation had higher parent‐reported CP, anxiety, and depression. Results largely replicated across informants and time, and sensitivity analysis revealed similar findings in children with and without DSM‐5 defined CP.
Conclusions
Results support the STAR model hypotheses as they pertain to CU traits and delineate threat sensitivity and affiliation as independent transdiagnostic risk factors for different types of psychopathology. Future research is needed to develop fuller and more reliable and valid measures of affiliation and threat sensitivity across multiple assessment modalities.
... Subsequent studies have suggested that oxytocin increases desire for social contact in response to stress, especially in women. Others have focused on oxytocin's role in motivating social bonding by interacting with dopaminergic and endogenous opioid systems [64], or reorienting attention towards informative social cues through mesocorticolimbic dopamine in the brain [65]. These recent biopsychosocial findings highlight how some aspects of our mammalian behaviors continue to be overlooked or considered less important because of their less dominant or valued narratives. ...
Scientific inquiry and methodology are based on third person objectivity. Yet, as humans we experience everything through our first-person lens and second-person relational learning. The purpose of this review is to share the journey of discoveries about science and oxytocin from this author's unique and diverse perspective. Hormones are signaling molecules and long distant messengers required to regulate an organism's physiology and behavior. Oxytocin has taken the lead as the most investigated neurohormone that modulates social cognition, influences parenting behaviors, facilitates within or across-species bonding, and even biologically buffers against stressors such as isolation. Our increasing understanding that social connection, community belonging, and trust in others influence both physical and mental health outcomes, has led to numerous intervention and treatment oxytocin studies across a myriad of conditions. No longer just a way to facilitate female reproduction and lactation, oxytocin is now viewed as the “social influencer” that affects not just women but also men along with its closely related neurohormone, vasopressin. This review uses the narrative lens to illustrate how scientific lineage shapes what we study and how investigating oxytocin has been a microcosm to macrocosm metaphor for our collective social learning as a scientific community.
... This link may help to explain the strong association we observed between VEs and depressive symptoms in our study. These systems play a role in the regulation of positive emotions and involve the pursuit of survival-related needs, rewards and resources, such as material wealth, financial security and social status [22,34]. VEs therefore interfere with motivational behavior and prevent the activation of these resources. ...
... This is a positive affect state, related to sensations of calmness, rest, contentment -and therefore, behaviors such as sleeping, resting, and relaxing. Depue and Morrone-Strupinsky have demonstrated the existence of a peculiar positive affect system linked to calming, resting, and contentment -a state of quiescence where one is neither under threat nor in a seeking or achieving state of mind, i.e., both the drive and the threat response systems are characterized by calmness (54). Once a goal has been achieved and the animal is not under threat, drive systems need to be "turned off " to rest, produce quiescence, and balance energy expenditure. ...
Several theories have been proposed to explain the complex diagnostic aspects related to addiction disorders and their development. Recent frameworks tend to focus on dimensional perspectives of symptoms rather than categorical systems, since substance use disorders are frequently comorbid with other psychiatric and especially personality disorders. However, useful transdiagnostic models that could integrate clinical evaluation derived from neuroscientific theories are lacking. In the present manuscript, the authors propose a model based on a new paradigm, in an attempt to better explain this complex, multifaceted phenomenon. The new paradigm presupposes that emotions and behavior are a response to risk prediction. Individuals make choices and engage in actions to manage potential risks/rewards in order to seek or maintain homeostasis in their internal and external environments – a mechanism that the authors call predostatic (predictive mechanism with homeostatic purpose). The model considers three main modes of the predostatic mind: (1) Alarm Mode, activated by high and/or imminent risk prediction; (2) Seek Mode, activated by long-term risk or reward prediction; and (3) Balance Mode, a self-regulating state of mind related to low risk prediction, a soothing system and a calm state. Addiction is seen as a chronic dysregulation of organism systems leading to internalizing or externalizing phenomena mainly related to the Seek and Alarm Modes, which are persistently activated by reward and risk prediction, respectively, thus hindering Balance. Addiction neuroscience research has shown that chronic drug use or engagement in addictive behaviors can lead to neuroadaptations in the brain reward circuitry, disrupting normal balance and the regulation of reward processes. This dysregulation can contribute to persistent drug-seeking/addictive behaviors despite negative consequences. This newly proposed dynamic and integrative model, named dysregulation based on externalizing and internalizing phenomena of the three main modes of the predostatic mind (DREXI3), proposes six dysregulation dimensions with basic emotional and behavioral symptoms, such as neurophysiological alterations, impulsivity, compulsion, cognitive impairment/psychosis, mood, and anxiety/anger. In this paper, the authors explain the rationale behind DREXI3 and present some hypothetical clinical examples to better illustrate the use of the model in clinical practice. The development of this innovative model could possibly guide tailored treatment interventions in the addiction field.
... Gilbert, 2010). CFT then evolved by integrating a mounting body of evidence from affective neuroscience, psychophysiology, and evolutionary psychology on the impact that affiliative motives and emotions have on affect regulation, self-concept, and cognitive and metacognitive processes (Cozolino, 2002;Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005). ...
Objectives: Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) is an integrative, evolution-informed approach to mental health difficulties that has been growing rapidly in the last 30 years. This series of meta-analyses examined the overall efficacy of CFT on positive and negative mental health outcomes, in both clinical and nonclinical populations, compared to active and passive control conditions. Method: A systematic search of six databases was conducted, focusing on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled pilot/feasibility studies of CFT only. All non-English articles and studies focusing on other compassion-based approaches were excluded. Forty-seven controlled trials from the last 14 years were included, with data from 7,875 participants from 17 countries. Results: Even after the exclusion of extreme outliers, CFT was effective in reducing overall negative mental health outcomes (k = 32, g = 0.72, p < .0001), depression (k = 23, g = 0.49, p < .0001), self-criticism (k = 17, g = 0.40, p < .0001) and in improving compassion for self and others (k = 24, g = 0.51, p < .0001). Heterogeneity was high and only partially reduced by moderation analysis, which highlighted larger effects in specific subgroups. Publication bias was present in the meta-analyses conducted on negative outcomes and depressive symptoms. Discussion: Although the long-term effects of CFT are yet to be established and larger-scale, higher-quality RCTs are required, the current state of evidence highlights the benefits of CFT on a range of outcomes in both clinical and nonclinical samples.
... A central heuristic model of affect regulation in CFT is widely known as the 'three circles' [29]. The model proposes that humans have three major emotional regulation systems, each of which is associated with different neuroanatomy and neurochemistry [31], and which govern an individual's motivational states. These three key systems are the 'Threat system' (where the motivation is protection from danger), the 'Drive system' (where the motivation is incentive-and reward-focused), and the 'Soothing system' (where the motivations are affiliative and connection-focused). ...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often involves feeling-states of shame and self-loathing. Traditional exposure-based treatments, which are effective for fear-based PTSD, are sometimes limited in effectiveness when working with these emotional experiences: clients with high levels of shame, guilt, or disgust may experience ‘blocks’ in processing when attempting eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Developed to help people who suffer from pervasive shame and self-attack, compassion focused therapy (CFT) is based upon an evolutionary framework, and draws on research from human neurobiology and attachment theory to understand how humans respond to different types of threat. This paper describes a protocol for integrating compassion focused techniques into EMDR therapy with the aim of facilitating adaptive information processing. Two case examples outline the use of the protocol and describe clients’ reflections on the process. We suggest that CFT approaches can be successfully integrated with EMDR when working with experiences of shame and self-blame.
... -178 Though adverse experiences have been the typical focus of studies examining the DA system, modulation through increased social complexity in early life may also be evident. Neonatal handling has been found to induce increases in DA D1 receptor levels in the caudate putamen and NAc, which likely contributes to increased activation of dopaminergic neurons and increased incentive learning within social relationships.[179][180][181] Density of dopaminergic neurons within the ventral tegmental area are increased among female rats that experience high LG during postnatal development, and expression of DA receptors (D1, D2, and D3) are increased within the NAc in adolescence following this early life experience.182 ...
Early life experiences can have an enduring impact on the brain and behavior, with implications for stress reactivity, cognition, and social behavior. In particular, the neural systems that contribute to the expression of social behavior are altered by early life social environments. However, paradigms that have been used to alter the social environment during development have typically focused on exposure to stress, adversity, and deprivation of species‐typical social stimulation. Here, we explore whether complex social environments can shape the development of complex social behavior. We describe lab‐based paradigms for studying early life social complexity in rodents that are generally focused on enriching the social and sensory experiences of the neonatal and juvenile periods of development. The impact of these experiences on social behavior and neuroplasticity is highlighted. Finally, we discuss the degree to which our current approaches for studying social behavior outcomes give insight into “complex” social behavior and how social complexity can be better integrated into lab‐based methodologies.
... Gilbert (2009) operationalized the definition of compassion, including attributes from an evolutionary perspective rooted in humans' biological capacity of sensitivity, sympathy, empathy, motivation/caring, distress tolerance, and nonjudgment. From this perspective, compassion is an evolved motivational system designed to regulate negative affect through attuning to the feelings of self and others and expressing and communicating feelings of warmth and safeness (Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005;Liotti & Gilbert, 2011;Spikins et al., 2010). ...
In today's fast-paced world of online education, faculty are under immense pressure to achieve high levels of academic success in their classrooms. However, in the pursuit of academic achievement, the psychological well-being of faculty and students is often overlooked. Compassion-focused social-emotional learning (CFSEL) can support online teaching faculty in cultivating and transmitting a compassionate mindset, which can help them create a supportive, relational, and nurturing learning environment. This chapter provides educators with a comprehensive guide to implementing CFSEL strategies in the milieu of online education with a focus on compassion-based practices and strategies. This chapter explores the benefits of CFSEL for students and educators. The chapter provides practical strategies for (a) integrating CFSEL practices into the classroom, (b) creating a more dynamic and relational online learning environment, and (c) addressing common challenges within this medium.
... Such people doubt the genuineness of interpersonal warmth and friendliness, which thus provoke an avoidance or fear response (Gilbert and Mascaro, 2017). This tendency has been conceptualized as a maladaptive strategy aimed at defending people from a social world perceived as threating and unsafe (Depue and Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005;Gilbert, 2020;Gilbert et al., 2011;Schore, 2021). At the extremes, the failure to accurately apprehend social dynamics may lead to paranoid distortions of others' benign behavior and the perception of interpersonal threat that triggers or precipitates severe distress and other symptoms (Arieti, 1974;Harrop and Trower, 2001;Lysaker et al., 2005;Pinto-Gouveia et al., 2013). ...
Psychoticism is a multidimensional personality construct involving odd or eccentric behavior, quasi-psychotic experiences, mistrust, interpersonal detachment, and liability for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, as well as significant distress. Recent advances suggest it can be understood as a dimension that is continuously distributed in the population, leading to questions about factors that contribute to distress and dysfunction among people with a schizotypal liability. We investigated in a large nonclinical sample of young adults whether associations between psychoticism and psychological distress would increase in the presence of threatening beliefs. In our study ( N = 2127), we found that the association between psychoticism and psychological distress is moderated by threatening beliefs including self-criticism, fear of compassion, and socially prescribed perfectionism. These results suggest that distress increases among people with schizotypal traits in the context of negative beliefs about self and others. We discuss implications for clinical practice and directions for further research.
... Indeed, adolescence is marked by multiple pivotal points, both with regard to the development of the prefrontal cortex and limbic system that is known to underpin CU traits (e.g. Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005a;Waller & Wagner, 2019), but also with regard to the development of social-and self-cognitions, including selfawareness, self-agency, self-continuity, self-appraisals and selfesteem (e.g. Harter, 2012). ...
In explaining the “parenting – callous-unemotional traits – antisocial behavior” axis, recent theoretical advances postulate a critical role for affiliative reward. Existing empirical studies focus on early childhood and the appetitive phase of the reward process (i.e. affiliation-seeking behavior) rather than the consummatory phase (i.e. affective rewards). This study focuses on experienced affiliative reward (i.e. companionship, intimacy, affection, and worth) in relation to parents and best friends in early adolescence. The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire, Network of Relationships Inventory, Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits, and Youth Self Report were completed by 1132 12-year-olds and analyzed via structural equation models. In this cross-sectional sample, parent-related affiliative reward mediated the path from perceived parenting practices to callousness and further to aggression and rule-breaking. Parent-related affiliative reward was also related to uncaring traits and further to aggression and rule-breaking. In contrast, friend-related affiliative reward was not a mediator in this theoretical causal chain and largely not related to perceived parenting practices or CU traits. Low parent-related experienced affiliative reward is a mechanism through which corporal punishment, poor monitoring, and low involvement translate into callousness, and therefore to aggression and rule-breaking. Friend-related affiliative reward does not yet play a role in early adolescence.
... Social interactions are assumed to be strongly influenced by individual traits, such as social motivation, perspective-taking or empathy (Geen, 1991;Depue and Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005;Frith and Frith, 2006;Blanke and Riediger, 2019). Empirical findings reveal modest links between social cognitive traits and outcomes such as relationship quality and maintenance (Gleason et al., 2009;Lecce et al., 2017;Nilsen and Bacso, 2017;Sened et al., 2017). ...
Social interactions are a ubiquitous part of engaging in the world around us, and determining what makes an interaction successful is necessary for social well-being. This study examined the separate contributions of individual social cognitive ability and partner similarity toward social interaction success among strangers, measured by a cooperative communication task and self-reported interaction quality. Sixty participants engaged in a one-hour virtual social interaction with an unfamiliar partner (a lab confederate) including a 30-minute cooperative “mind-reading” game, and then completed several individual tasks and surveys. They then underwent a separate fMRI session in which they passively viewed video clips that varied in content. The neural responses to these videos were correlated with those of their confederate interaction partners to yield a measure of pairwise neural similarity. We found that trait empathy (assessed by the interpersonal reactivity index) and neural similarity to partner both predicted communication success in the mind-reading game. In contrast, perceived similarity to partner and (to a much lesser extent) trait mind-reading motivation predicted self-reported interaction quality. These results highlight the importance of sharing perspectives in successful communication, as well as differences between neurobiological similarity and perceived similarity in supporting different types of interaction success.
Pleasant emotions take a variety of forms and are a key part of the human experience. Although negative emotions have often been a focus of research, positive emotions, e.g., joy, pleasure, and love, have recently gained more attention. Each of these emotions is rich and complex in its own right. However, positive emotions appear to serve key evolutionary functions, which are mediated by complex biological substrates. This chapter summarizes key research and explores the biological underpinnings of positive emotions, with an emphasis on the roles that endogenous opioids play in the experience, expression, and development of positive emotions. The necessity of emphasizing positive emotions in research is also discussed.
The process of aging seems inevitable. Humans face a process called aging through a biological process. Life expectancy at birth represents the average number of years a newborn baby may live, provided that his death probability for future years of life equals to the probability today. Various treatments have been used to increase life expectancy including compassion-focused therapy. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of compassion-focused treatment on elderly life expectancy. It was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test, and control group design. The statistical population of the study included all elderly living in Karaj nursing homes in 2018. The samples of this study consisted of 30 elderlies (15 experimental and 15 control groups) who were selected through available sampling and according to inclusion criteria. The experimental group received compassion focused therapy in 8 sessions, while the control group did not receive the therapy. Data were analyzed using a univariate analysis of covariance, and the results showed that compassion-focused treatment was effective in increasing life expectancy (P<0.001). According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that compassion-focused therapy can have a positive effect on increasing the life expectancy of the elderly. Finally, based on the results of the research and the researcher's experiences while working with the elderly, it is suggested to investigate the impact of compassion-focused therapy on other disorders of the elderly, especially depression and anxiety, in future studies.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan sebuah buku bantuan diri sebagai referensi dalam mengurangi tingkat kritik diri pada mahasiswa. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode Penelitian berbasis Desain atau Design Based Research (DBR) yang dikembangkan oleh McKenney & Reeves. Tahapan dalam penelitian ini meliputi, analisis dan eksplorasi, desain dan konstruksi, serta evaluasi dan refleksi. Pada tahap analisis, peneliti melakukan studi pendahuluan pada 329 mahasiswa Universitas Negeri Jakarta yang meliputi Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Ekonomi, Fakultas Ilmu Pendidikan, Fakultas Ilmu Olahraga, Fakultas Ilmu Sosial, Fakultas Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam, Fakultas Pendidikan Psikologi, dan Fakultas Teknik. Hasil rata-rata kritik diri yaitu, sebesar 38. Selanjutnya pada tahap evaluasi, produk divalidasi oleh dua validator ahli yaitu, validator ahli media dan ahli materi. Penelitian ini menghasilkan sebuah buku bantuan diri yang berjudul “Berdamai dengan Jejak Kritik Diri”. Hasil persentase kelayakan buku dari masing-masing validator yaitu, validator ahli media menilai sebesar 75% (Layak) dan validator ahli materi menilai sebesar 95% (Sangat Layak). Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini yaitu, buku bantuan diri ini dapat dikategorikan Sangat Layak dengan rata-rata persentase sebesar 85%. Diharapkan buku bantuan diri untuk mengurangi tingkat kritik diri dapat diujicoba sehingga semakin efektif saat digunakan.
Objective
Resilience is a complex process of adaptation to new conditions that would permit a positive outcome after adversities, traumas or other sources of stress. However, despite the growing interest in this topic, there is no universally accepted definition and no comprehensive bio-behavioural model. This systematic review aims to provide an overview of the main biological models that have been theorized to date, with a focus on new alternative theories to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the development and strengthening of resilience, with potential implications for the prevention of some psychopathological disorders.
Method
This review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines and includes 185 studies published in English in PubMed and Embase up to December 2023.
Results
Most studies use the stress-related model, which conceptualizes resilience as the absence of symptoms after the stressful event and mainly deal with the differences between stress-prone and resilient phenotypes in animals exposed to stress. However, the results of this search seem to suggest that resilience might be an independent construct with biological bases rooted in the stress system and the social brain, and widely sculptured by individual and environmental factors, especially early life events and affiliation.
Conclusions
This work contributes to ongoing efforts to understand the intricate mechanisms of resilience, while highlighting the potential of improving social relationships since our birth to promote coping strategies towards stress and traumas, and even a peaceful world.
Neuroscientific research on emotion has developed dramatically over the past decade. The cognitive neuroscience of human emotion, which has emerged as the new and thriving area of 'affective neuroscience', is rapidly rendering existing overviews of the field obsolete. This handbook provides a comprehensive, up-to-date and authoritative survey of knowledge and topics investigated in this cutting-edge field. It covers a range of topics, from face and voice perception to pain and music, as well as social behaviors and decision making. The book considers and interrogates multiple research methods, among them brain imaging and physiology measurements, as well as methods used to evaluate behavior and genetics. Editors Jorge Armony and Patrik Vuilleumier have enlisted well-known and active researchers from more than twenty institutions across three continents, bringing geographic as well as methodological breadth to the collection. This timely volume will become a key reference work for researchers and students in the growing field of neuroscience.
Neuroscientific research on emotion has developed dramatically over the past decade. The cognitive neuroscience of human emotion, which has emerged as the new and thriving area of 'affective neuroscience', is rapidly rendering existing overviews of the field obsolete. This handbook provides a comprehensive, up-to-date and authoritative survey of knowledge and topics investigated in this cutting-edge field. It covers a range of topics, from face and voice perception to pain and music, as well as social behaviors and decision making. The book considers and interrogates multiple research methods, among them brain imaging and physiology measurements, as well as methods used to evaluate behavior and genetics. Editors Jorge Armony and Patrik Vuilleumier have enlisted well-known and active researchers from more than twenty institutions across three continents, bringing geographic as well as methodological breadth to the collection. This timely volume will become a key reference work for researchers and students in the growing field of neuroscience.
Neuroscientific research on emotion has developed dramatically over the past decade. The cognitive neuroscience of human emotion, which has emerged as the new and thriving area of 'affective neuroscience', is rapidly rendering existing overviews of the field obsolete. This handbook provides a comprehensive, up-to-date and authoritative survey of knowledge and topics investigated in this cutting-edge field. It covers a range of topics, from face and voice perception to pain and music, as well as social behaviors and decision making. The book considers and interrogates multiple research methods, among them brain imaging and physiology measurements, as well as methods used to evaluate behavior and genetics. Editors Jorge Armony and Patrik Vuilleumier have enlisted well-known and active researchers from more than twenty institutions across three continents, bringing geographic as well as methodological breadth to the collection. This timely volume will become a key reference work for researchers and students in the growing field of neuroscience.
In 1993, the British Journal of Clinical Psychology published my paper titled ‘Defence and safety: Their function in social behaviour and psychopathology’. The paper highlights that to understand people's sensitivity to threat, we also need to understand their ability to identify what is safe. This paper offers an update on these concepts, highlighting distinctions that were implicit but not clearly defined at the time. Hence, the paper seeks to clarify distinctions between: (i) threat detection and response, (ii) safety and safety seeking, (iii) safeness and (iv) their social and non‐social functions and forms. Threat detection and response are to prevent or minimize harm (e.g., run from a predator or fire). Safety checking relates to monitoring for the absence and avoidance of threat, while safety seeking links to the destination of the defensive behaviour (e.g., running home). Safety seeking also relates to maintaining vigilance to the appearance of potential harms and doing things believed to avoid harm. Threat‐defending and safety checking and seeking are regulated primarily through evolved threat processing systems that monitor the nature, presence, controllability and/or absence of threat (e.g., amygdala and sympathetic nervous system). Safeness uses different monitoring systems via different psychophysiological systems (e.g., prefrontal cortex, parasympathetic system) for the presence of internal and external resources that support threat‐coping, risk‐taking, resource exploration. Creating brain states that recruit safeness processing can impact how standard evidence‐based therapies (e.g., exposure, distress tolerance and reappraisal) are experienced and produce long‐term change.
Introduction
Believing comprises multifaceted processes that integrate information from the outside world through meaning‐making processes with personal relevance.
Methods
Qualitative Review of the current literature in social cognitive neuroscience.
Results
Although believing develops rapidly outside an individual's conscious awareness, it results in the formation of beliefs that are stored in memory and play an important role in determining an individual's behavior. Primal beliefs reflect an individual's experience of objects and events, whereas conceptual beliefs are based on narratives that are held in social groups. Conceptual beliefs can be about autobiographical, political, religious, and other aspects of life and may be encouraged by participation in group rituals. We hypothesize that assertions of future gains and rewards that transcend but are inherent in these codices provide incentives to follow the norms and rules of social groups.
Conclusion
The power of conceptual beliefs to provide cultural orientation is likely to fade when circumstances and evidence make it clear that what was asserted no longer applies.
Like other animals, primates tend to live in social groups where they communicate with one another and interact in both agonistic and affiliative ways. Primates are capable of forming various social bonds that can impact the individual’s health and well-being. Social behavior is flexible and dynamic, and the social organization of primates is complex. Primates of different species form various types of bonds with conspecifics. These relationships include pair bonds, friendships, coalitions, and other bonds among kin. Social relationships are a critical component of group life, where affiliative or aggressive interactions can have fitness consequences on the individual. In mammals, these different types of social relationships are regulated by different hormonal systems such as the oxytocin and vasopressin systems. The goal of this chapter is to provide a deeper understanding of different types of adult social relationships in primates by reviewing the variation in primate social behaviors and the neurobiology underlying it.
Childhood callous-unemotional (CU) traits are characterized by low empathy, limited prosocial behavior, and restricted social affiliation. However, few studies have investigated whether CU traits are associated with different subtypes of prosocial and affiliative behavior or the specific motivational difficulties underlying these behaviors. We addressed these questions using data from 135 young children (M = 5.48 years old; 58% female) who viewed depictions of adults or children in instrumental need, emotional need, or neutral situations. We assessed recognition, suggested initiation of, and motivation for prosocial or affiliative behavior in response to each depiction. We distinguished between subtypes of prosocial (instrumental and emotional) and affiliative (parallel, cooperative, associative) behavior, as well as self- versus other-orientated motivations. Parents reported on child CU traits and conduct problems. Overall, children accurately recognized prosocial and neutral situations, offered help, and expressed other-orientated motivations for prosocial behavior and social motivations for affiliative behavior. Higher CU traits were related to lower overall recognition accuracy, which was more pronounced for emotional need. Higher CU traits were also related to fewer offers of help and more denial of prosocial behavior, particularly for instrumental need. Finally, CU traits were related to lower probability of initiating affiliative behavior. CU traits were not differentially related to self- versus other-orientated motivations for prosocial or affiliative behavior. Findings demonstrate difficulties of children with CU traits in recognizing need and offering help. Interventions for CU traits could include modules that explicitly scaffold and shape prosociality and social affiliation.
Research on the neuroscience of fear in both humans and non-humans has suggested that a lack of acquisition of safety cues might be a biological hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Danger perception, and in particular, feeling as one's own life is in danger, is thought to represent a major predictor of PTSD. Persistent danger perception is concurrently associated with a persistence of lack of safety. However, despite several research efforts, no validated psychometric tools exist regarding psychological safety as a unique core construct in the domain of a soothing-contentment system. By including social, compassionate, and bodily components, the Neuroception of Psychological Safety Scale (NPSS), neurophysiologically rooted in the polyvagal theory, aims to specifically assess psychological safety. Originally developed in English, we employed a rather large non clinical sample to validate our Italian translation of the NPSS (n = 338) and the scale was found to retain a three-factor structure. In light of its positive moderate correlations with the Unconditional Self-Kindness Scale (ρ = 0.376) and the Self-Compassion Scale-Short-Form (ρ = 0.481), good convergent validity and robust psychometric properties were shown by the NPSS. The Subjective Traumatic Outlook Questionnaire (ρ = −0.283) and the three subscales of the Body Perception Questionnaire-22—Body Awareness (ρ = −0.103), Supradiaphragmatic Reactivity (ρ = −0.234), and Body Awareness/Subdiaphragmatic Reactivity (ρ = −0.146)—were found to have weak negative correlations with the NPSS, which further demonstrated its good discriminant validity. Eventually, the NPSS was found to show good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.922; three-week time interval), and its usage is fostered in clinical and research contexts where the evaluation of psychological safety is of relevance.
Objectives
The research aimed to evaluate an exploratory Compassion Focused Group Psychotherapy Programme and the impact on participants' experiences of self‐criticism, usage of services and general wellbeing. Participants included patients with a history of complex attachment and relational trauma (A&RT), who might attract a diagnosis of personality disorder.
Design
This study utilised a quasi‐experimental non‐randomised within subject controlled design for the evaluation of the efficacy of the programme.
Methods
Participants were recruited from tertiary care services. The programme consisted of a 12‐week Preparation and Engagement intervention (PEG) which was Compassionate Mind Training and Psychoeducation, followed by a 40‐week Compassion Focused Trauma Group intervention. The cohort was then followed up after 12 months during which period they received treatment as usual. A comprehensive selection of self‐report measures was administered at various points during the therapeutic process and following completion of the group interventions.
Results
The results of the research showed that the provision of a long‐term, slow‐paced, Compassion Focused Group Psychotherapy intervention, resulted in significant changes across all measures which were maintained at 12‐month follow‐up. These significant results were maintained following intention to treat and reliable change analyses. These data were supported by a significant reduction in service usage and a significant increase in engagement in employment and education.
Conclusions
This study has identified that within Compassion Focused Group Psychotherapy, there is a therapeutic process of establishing group‐based safeness as a necessary precursor to cultivating compassion and reworking early shame‐based trauma memories.
The metaphor of being touched by music is widespread and almost universal. The tactile experience, moreover, has received growing interest in recent years. There is, however, a need to go beyond a mere metaphorical use of the term, by positioning the tactile experience within the broader frame of embodied cognition and the experiential turn in cognitive science. This article explores the possible contribution of a science of touch by defining music as a vibrational phenomenon that affects the body and the senses. It takes as a starting point the clinical findings on the psychological and physiological value of tender touch with a special focus on the method of kangaroo mother care, which is a method for holding the baby against the chest of the mother, skin-to-skin. It is seen as one of the most basic affiliative bondings with stimuli that elicit reward. Via an extensive review of the research literature, it is questioned as to what extent this rationale can be translated to the realm of music. There are, in fact, many analogies, but a comprehensive theoretical framework is still lacking. This article aims at providing at least some preparatory groundwork to fuel more theorizing about listening and its relation to the sense of touch.
To advance the task of designing robots capable of performing collective tasks with humans, studies in human–robot interaction often turn to psychology, philosophy of mind and neuroscience for inspiration. In the same vein, this chapter explores how the notion of recognition and commitment can help confront some of the current problems in addressing robot-human interaction in joint tasks. First, we argue that joint actions require mutual recognition, which cannot be established without the attribution and maintenance of commitments. Second, we argue that commitments require affective states such as social motivations or shared emotions. Finally, we conclude by assessing three possible proposals for how social robotics could implement an architecture of commitments by taking such an affective components into consideration.KeywordsCommitmentsJoint action for human robot interactionRecognitionSocial motivationNormativity
Background
Affect is a crucial factor that influences both mental health and quality of life. The Types of Positive Affect Scale (TPAS) is an instrument for measuring positive affect. It is commonly used in studies of mindfulness, stress, quality of life, and self-compassion. This study translated the TPAS into Korean and validated it.
Methods
International Testing Commission (ITC) standards were followed during the translation procedure. The participants answered sociodemographic questions and completed the translated version of the TPAS, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Data were collected from 352 healthy Korean adults. Item responses analysis with rating scale model, confirmatory factor analysis, and correlation analysis were used for validation.
Result
Cronbach’s alpha was high for all measures (TPAS = .94, PANAS = .86, BDI = .92). A one-factor model for the TPAS showed a poor fit, a two-factor model showed a good fit, and a bifactor model showed the best fit (CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.081 [range: 0.072–0.09]). Item response analysis showed acceptable fits for all items except items 4 (infit = 1.51) and 7 (infit = 1.76).
Conclusions
The Korean version of the TPAS is suitable for use in the Korean cultural context. However, items 4 and 7 should be omitted or interpreted with caution.
We examine how various social disconnection interventions involving friends and unknown peers might mitigate social exclusion by either buffering (intervening before) and by promoting recovery (intervening after).
While meditation is commonly practiced by individuals on their own, several programmes have incorporated dyadic forms, too. However, the setting – meditating alone or in dyads – and its impact on the effects of meditation have not yet been examined. We expected that dyadic compassion meditation (CM) may improve perceived social closeness more compared to closely-matched individual CM. N = 50 couples were randomly assigned to do a brief 15-min CM induction either together with their partner or individually. Social closeness was rated by both partners. Secondary outcomes were positive and negative affect as well as parasympathetic response, indicated by heart rate variability (HRV). Due to the dyadic data structure, multilevel models were tested. We found no difference between dyadic and individual CM in self-report. After both forms social closeness and positive affect were improved, while negative affect decreased. Only HRV differed between the two conditions over time: while HRV significantly decreased in the individual condition, there was no such change in the dyadic condition. The accompanying physiological profile suggests that CM may involve effort at least in the individual CM. Done individually or with a partner, brief CM can foster social closeness and improve affect and can be employed to improve socio-emotional well-being.
Introduction
Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits are at high lifetime risk of antisocial behaviour. Low affiliation (ie, social bonding difficulties) and fearlessness (ie, low threat sensitivity) are proposed risk factors for CU traits. Parenting practices (eg, harshness and low warmth) also predict risk for CU traits. However, few studies in early childhood have identified attentional or physiological markers of low affiliation and fearlessness. Moreover, no studies have tested whether parenting practices are underpinned by low affiliation or fearlessness shared by parents, which could further shape parent–child interactions and exacerbate risk for CU traits. Addressing these questions will inform knowledge of how CU traits develop and isolate novel parent and child targets for future specialised treatments for CU traits.
Methods and analysis
The Promoting Empathy and Affiliation in Relationships (PEAR) study aims to establish risk factors for CU traits in children aged 3–6 years. The PEAR study will recruit 500 parent–child dyads from two metropolitan areas of the USA. Parents and children will complete questionnaires, computer tasks and observational assessments, alongside collection of eye-tracking and physiological data, when children are aged 3–4 (time 1) and 5–6 (time 2) years. The moderating roles of child sex, race and ethnicity, family and neighbourhood disadvantage, and parental psychopathology will also be assessed. Study aims will be addressed using structural equation modelling, which will allow for flexible characterisation of low affiliation, fearlessness and parenting practices as risk factors for CU traits across multiple domains.
Ethics and dissemination
Ethical approval was granted by Boston University (#6158E) and the University of Pennsylvania (#850638). Results will be disseminated through conferences and open-access publications. All study and task materials will be made freely available on lab websites and through the Open Science Framework (OSF).
Emotion recognition is the identification of emotions usually through verbal communication and facial expressions such as happy, angry, sad, etc. Not only on the basis of a wide spectrum of moods, but different emotions can also be recognized in order to track mental health of as many people as possible for societal well being. Inside positive it detects specific emotions like happiness, satisfaction, or excitement -depending on how it’s configured. The main principles involved in the implementation of our sentiment recognition system that identifies various emotions: anger, happiness, depression, neutral, etc. are audio content and identification of the emotion associated with it. The application developed takes audio input, applies Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) algorithm on it, compares them with those of the content of the existing audio file database depicting various human sentiments, and presents output in the text the emotion expressed by the user. The input from testing was gathered and meaningful spectral coefficients were extracted and stored in a database for comparison with future audio samples. The application extracts the coefficients of the external audio sample and matches it with those present in the database. MFCC algorithm is used to extract the spectral coefficients which are good and can be used for feature matching purposes discarding any static and background noise if present. We have done comparative analysis on our models for their performance evaluation, using four classification metrics and also presented the confusion matrix for better understanding.
Awareness of mental health has been increasing rapidly worldwide in recent years, and even more so since the outbreak of COVID-19. Depression is now regarded as one of the most debilitating diseases, and wellbeing is incorporated into the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In order for all of us to have a happy life, mental health cannot be ignored. As announced by the UK government, our health cannot be achieved without good mental health. Likewise, in Asia, the word ‘health (健康)’ in Chinese and Japanese encompasses both a healthy body and a calm mind. The Japanese government has implemented a work-style reform to protect employees’mental health. While these movements suggest the importance of mental health worldwide, a universal definition of mental health remains to be defined. This is partly attributed to a lack of understanding of mental health from different cultures. How an individual regards mental health can differ significantly according to their culture. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to address this problem by introducing alternative views to mental health through discussion of cross-cultural psychiatric matters.
Ten-day-old rats, for whom an orange scent predicted morphine injections at 5 days of age, exhibited a marked preference for orange that was fully naltrexone reversible. Moreover, such rats, when smelling orange during a heat-escape task, exhibited a higher pain threshold than control rats. Together, these findings suggest that the orange odor in conditioned rats caused a release of endogenous opioids that both sustained choice behavior and modulated pain systems.