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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

Physiological responses induced by emotion-eliciting films.

Cristina Fernández¹, Juan C Pascual, Joaquim Soler

¹Department of Psychiatry, Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital, Barcelona, Spain.

Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback

|February 8, 2012

Summary

Emotion-eliciting films can cause measurable physiological responses like skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate (HR). These objective measures align with subjective feelings, particularly for intense emotions such as anger and fear.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Neuroscience
Physiology

Background:

Emotion-eliciting films are standard tools for studying subjective emotional experiences.
Objective physiological responses to these films are not always well-established.
Investigating the link between subjective feelings and objective physiological reactions is crucial for understanding emotional processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine if discrete emotion-eliciting film clips can evoke measurable physiological responses.
To assess the convergence between subjective emotional reports and objective physiological data.
To explore potential gender differences in emotional and physiological reactions.

Main Methods:

123 participants viewed film clips designed to elicit seven distinct emotions (anger, fear, sadness, disgust, amusement, tenderness, neutral).
Objective measures included skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate (HR).
Subjective emotional responses were self-reported for each clip.

Main Results:

Skin conductance level (SCL) significantly increased after viewing fear films compared to neutral films.
Heart rate (HR) significantly increased for both anger and fear films.
Physiological changes correlated with subjective arousal, indicating convergence between objective and subjective measures.
Women showed significantly greater SCL and HR responses to sadness-inducing films.

Conclusions:

Emotion-eliciting films can reliably induce objective physiological changes (SCL, HR).
Higher subjective arousal emotions like anger and fear are more likely to elicit measurable physiological activation.
Findings support the use of film clips for studying emotion, with potential gender-specific responses observed.