The Protective Role of Curiosity Behaviors in Coping with Existential Vacuum.

An existential vacuum is experienced as a kind of crisis that one can cope with using his/her strengths. The related literature suggests that the important determinants of coping with existential emptiness include positive emotional and personality resources, and among these-Curiosity Behaviors. The purpose of this study is to describe the role of curiosity as an important factor in relation to emotional resources in individuals experiencing an existential vacuum. A survey was conducted using online tools (n = 484). The hypotheses about the direct and indirect relationships between Curiosity Behaviors and existential vacuum were tested using multiple regression analyses and mediations. The study involved a sample of adult participants representing the general population. The participants completed five questionnaires, the first one focusing on Curiosity Behaviors, such as seeking out novel and challenging experiences and engagement in activities that capture one's attention (The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory), and the other tools being the Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale, the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire, the Flourishing Scale, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. The results indicate that Curiosity Behaviors characteristically negatively predict existential vacuum. In addition, other variables, such as Flourishing, seem to be useful in explaining the relationships between these factors. Flourishing along with Curiosity increases a sense of Meaning in Life. Our results present evidence showing the importance of Curiosity Behaviors in coping with the existential vacuum.

The novel narrative technique uncovers emotional scripts in individuals with psychopathy and high trait anxiety.

Mental representations are of great importance for understanding human behaviour. The aim of this article is to present an innovative way to assess emotional scripts, which are a form of mental representations of emotional events, based on an analysis of narratives and their contents. Theoretical background on emotional schemas and scripts is provided along with information about types of related measures. Then, a rationale is presented for introducing an assessment of scripts related to specific emotions such as love, hate, and anxiety in a psychopathological context. This is followed by a perspective explaining the procedure of the relevant technique based on narrative data analysis. The technique has been successfully applied in two studies [I study (n- 200), II study (n- 280)]. A total of 1440 narratives about specific emotions have been analyzed to identify the indicators of scripts. The psychometric properties of the proposed technique have been established such as reliability, inter-rater agreement, and accuracy. The results show the value of the assessment of emotional script in individuals, particularly with high psychopathy and high trait anxiety. The contents of love and hate scripts are an illustration of cognitive distortions and deficits in the emotional information processing in individuals with psychopathy. The method enables the collection of informative data on romantic love, hate, and anxiety scripts which provides insight into how people may perceive and experience emotions and how they behave emotionally. Future research should focus on verification of the technique in other types of psychopathology and on the improvement of computer software dedicated to the narrative technique described in this paper.

The Differentiation of Narrative Styles in Individuals with High Psychopathic Deviate.

The current study was designed to show the differentiation of narrative styles in individuals with high scores in Psychopathic deviate (Pd) scale and develop a method enabling identification of psychopathic personality traits based on linguistic indicators. 600 spontaneous narrations related to emotional topics have been examined for grammar, syntactic, and lexical indicators. The indicators have been selected based on a review related to language of psychopaths. The narrations were written by 200 persons who were also tested for psychopathic deviate and intelligence level, including prisoners diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Independent judges identified the linguistic indicators which were then counted for each person with the use of computer software. The configuration profiles of the linguistic indicators/narrative styles were established using k-mean clustering method. Then, ANOVA was performed to show which clusters differentiate the levels of psychopathic deviate. The findings show there are two configurations of language features (important: single features were not examined) associated with high levels of psychopathic deviate patterns. Two narrative styles were identified, labelled demonstrative-digressive-egocentric-emotional-dogmatic and reserved-focused on the topic-repetitive, which indicate high psychopathic deviate traits. The ROC curves were applied to establish the prediction of the narrative styles for high psychopathic deviate scores.

The computational analyses of handwriting in individuals with psychopathic personality disorder.

The main aim of the present study was to examine several parameters of handwriting in order to identify the putative specific patterns of writing associated with psychopathic personality disorder. The hypothesis-generating study was carried out with the use of Mann-Whitney U test to compare two groups of prisoners, without p-value, effect size, and confidence intervals for effect size. The handwriting samples were obtained from two groups of individuals: prisoners diagnosed with psychopathic personality (n = 50), prisoners without psychopathic personality disorder (n = 30). Two groups were matched in terms of intellectual level, age, and education. The examined handwriting samples were identical. To examine graphical parameters such as structure, proportions, density, inter-spaces, and impulse, the computer programs GlobalGraf were used. This software is employed by Polish Forensic Association. The inter-group comparisons of graphical parameters have shown there is no significant difference (95% confidence intervals for the effect sizes included 0, or negative numbers) in handwriting between prisoners with psychopathic personality disorder and prisoners without this disorder. Logistic regression has been calculated to show whether any handwriting patterns allow to predict psychopathic personality disorder. Results indicate that participants with psychopathic personality disorder do not exhibit significant motor impairments manifesting in structural, density, topographic, proportions, letter spacing, and impulse features of handwriting. This suggests, contrary to many beliefs related to graphology, that psychopathic personality cannot be identified on the basis of computational forensic examination of handwriting.

The Structure of the Concepts Related to Love Spectrum: Emotional Verbal Fluency Technique Application, Initial Psychometrics, and Its Validation.

Love has been thoroughly studied and a variety of definitions as well as types of love have been described in the literature. Given the data presenting natural language of love concept, the aim of the two present studies is to demonstrate a new technique which enables description of the structure of emotion concepts within love spectrum. This technique is based on emotional verbal fluency tasks. The procedure and the coding system used are reported in the article along with the data on reliability and standardization of the emotional verbal fluency technique. Construct validity is demonstrated by correlations of the emotional verbal fluency tasks with semantic and letter verbal fluency tasks, while discriminant validity is shown by correlations with other measures, such as the Triangular Love Scale, the Love Attitudes Scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The article also presents how the emotional verbal fluency technique can be used in exploring the structure of emotion concepts within love spectrum. This is based on a hierarchical cluster analysis. An examination of connections between semantic clusters identified in the emotional verbal fluency tasks allows describing a structure of the concepts within love spectrum, such as liking, infatuation, love, and show of its differentiation. The presented technique taking into account natural language is of value in assessments of the structure of emotion concepts.

Prevalence of Personality Disorders in a General Population Among Men and Women.

The aim of the present study is to establish the prevalence of personality disorders (PDs) in a healthy (nonclinical) Polish population, to examine sex difference in PDs, and to show the structure of clusters which PDs form with regard to men and women. A large sample of 1460 individuals of age between 18 and 65 years was examined. The Structured Clinical Interview for Axis II was used to obtain information on PDs, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview to obtain information on other disorders, and an interview to record demographic data. Results show that approximately 9% of the sample had at least one PD (the overall rate is 8.9%) and rates on sex differences in PDs are similar to other European and North American countries. The most prevalent PDs are obsessive-compulsive (9.6%), narcissistic (7%), and borderline (7%). Results show the considerable comorbidity of PDs which means that about 9% of the adult population have at least one PD and in fact they display features of many specific PDs. A factor analysis revealed that 12 PDs form different clusters in men and women.

Valence of Affective Verbal Fluency: fMRI Studies on Neural Organization of Emotional Concepts Joy and Fear.

The present study was designed to examine the underlying brain mechanisms of positive and negative emotional verbal fluency. Three verbal fluency tasks (one non-emotional phonemic task, two emotional tasks: Joy and Fear) were used in this study. The results were analyzed for 35 healthy, Polish-speaking, right-handed adults aged 20-35. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (3T) was used to show brain activity during active participation in emotional verbal fluency tasks. The results reported for emotional fluency confirmed activation of different brain regions for the negative and positive emotional verbal fluency: in positive emotional verbal fluency Joy elicits greater activation in the frontal regions and the cingulate cortex, while in negative verbal fluency Fear is reflected in activation of parietal and temporal areas. The study provides an evidence for differentiation in neural mechanisms between positive and negative emotional verbal fluency and/or positive and negative retrieving processes, and differentiation in brain-related determinants of the emotional concepts organization.

Dysfluent Handwriting in Schizophrenic Outpatients.

Taking into account findings in the literature, the author aimed to test whether specific graphical characteristics of handwriting can distinguish patients diagnosed with schizophrenic disorders from healthy controls. Handwriting samples (one sample from each person) from 60 outpatients (29 women, 31 men; age M = 28.5, SD = 5.4) with paranoid schizophrenia were analyzed by three documents examiners and were compared to samples from 60 controls (30 men, 30 women, age M = 28.0, SD = 3.0) without psychiatric disorders. Document examiners assessed 32 graphical features potentially related to schizophrenia. The comparisons between groups revealed that only 7 out of 32 handwriting properties were significantly different in the handwriting of schizophrenic outpatients from controls: the calligraphic forms of letters, loops in ovals, lacking of dots, tremor, sinusoidal baseline, and irregularities size of lower zone. These findings are discussed in terms of motor disturbances in schizophrenia and in relation to the previous research on handwriting of other mental disorders. Similarities between the graphical patterns of handwriting of schizophrenic patients and those of other mental disorders and/or other mental states have been demonstrated.

Type D Personality Associated With Health and Mental Health Problems: A Comment on Lussier and Loas (2015).

Lussier and Loas examined relationship between anhedonia, depression, and type D personality. The aim of this commentary is to extend the discussion to four aspects not considered in the original article: association of type D personality with problems other than those of cardiovascular health, inconsistent findings in these associations, data on association between type D personality and mental problems, and an attempt to interpret their main findings. The proposed interpretation refers to trait anxiety as is partially incorporated into the type D personality.

Trait Anxiety Modulates Brain Activity during Performance of Verbal Fluency Tasks.

Trait anxiety is thought to be associated with pathological anxiety, and a risk factor for psychiatric disorders. The present study examines the brain mechanisms associated with trait anxiety during the performing of verbal fluency tasks. The aim is to show how trait anxiety modulates executive functions as measured by verbal fluency, and to explore the link between verbal fluency and anxiety due to the putative negative biases in high-anxious individuals. Seven tasks of verbal fluency were used: letter "k," "f," verbs, "animals," "vehicles," "joy," and "fear." The results of 35 subjects (whole sample), and 17 subjects (nine men, eight women) selected from the whole sample for the low/high-anxious groups on the basis of Trait Anxiety scores were analyzed. The subjects were healthy, Polish speaking, right-handed and aged from 20 to 35 years old. fMRI (whole-brain analysis with FWE corrections) was used to show the neural signals under active participation in verbal fluency tasks. The results confirm that trait anxiety slightly modulates neural activation during the performance of verbal fluency tasks, especially in the more difficult tasks. Significant differences were found in brain activation during the performance of more complex tasks between individuals with low anxiety and those with high anxiety. Greater activation in the right hemisphere, frontal gyri, and cerebellum was found in people with low anxiety. The results reflect better integration of cognitive and affective capacities in individuals with low anxiety.

Semantic and affective verbal fluency: sex differences.

Sex may have an important influence on verbal fluency. The aim of this study is to examine possible sex differences in different types of verbal fluency. Four tasks of verbal fluency were used in this study: two tasks of semantic verbal fluency (Animals, Fruits) and two tasks of affective verbal fluency (Pleasant, Unpleasant). The results were analysed for 200 adults aged 18 to 70 years. The number of correctly enumerated words, the number of phonemic clusters, the number of semantic clusters, and the number of phonemic and semantic switches were recorded. The results confirmed data about sex differences in verbal fluency performance. Statistically significant differences in verbal fluency between men and women were found only in affective tasks. Sex is not a strong predictor of semantic verbal fluency performance, but a statistically significant predictor for negative affective verbal fluency.

The emotional lexicon of individuals diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder.

This study investigated the specific emotional lexicons in narratives created by persons diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) to test the hypothesis that individuals with ASPD exhibit deficiencies in emotional language. Study participants consisted of 60 prison inmates with ASPD, 40 prison inmates without ASPD, and 60 men without antisocial tendencies who described situations involving love, hate and anxiety depicted by photographs. The lexical choices made in the narratives were analyzed, and a comparison of the three groups revealed differences between the emotional narratives of inmates with ASPD, inmates without ASPD, and the control group. Although the narratives of the individuals with ASPD included more words describing emotions and higher levels of emotional intensity, the valence of these words was inappropriate. The linguistic characteristics of these narratives were associated with high levels of psychopathy and low emotional reactivity.

Little evidence for the graphical markers of depression.

The purpose was to test whether specific characteristics of handwriting can distinguish patients diagnosed with major depression from healthy controls and patients with bipolar disorder. Handwriting samples from 30 patients with major depressive disorder and 30 patients in the bipolar depressive phase were compared to samples from 30 patients in the bipolar manic phase and 60 healthy controls. Forensic document experts examined all 150 written samples of the same text and empirically measured graphical aspects potentially related to depression, such as direction of the baseline, pen pressure, tremor, forms of the letters 'm', 'n', 'a', and 'o', sizes of the letters and writing zones, the initial and final shapes of letters, slant, and impulse. Three handwriting parameters of 32 examined differed significantly between controls and patients with depression (major depression or depressed bipolar patients). However, there were no statistically significant differences in these parameters between depressed patients and bipolar patients in the manic phase, indicating that these handwriting characteristics cannot distinguish depressed patients from manic patients. The main hypothesis, that psychomotor slowing is visible in handwriting, was not confirmed.

Associations between anxiety and love scripts.

Relations between trait anxiety and love scripts expressed in narratives were examined to assess how anxiety affects the perception of love. Stories about love (N = 160) written by 80 men and 80 women were analyzed. The content of the scripts was evaluated in terms of descriptions of actors, partners, expressed emotions of actor and of partner, importance of love, and the ending of the scenario. To test the differences between men and women on content of scripts and associations between trait anxiety level and frequencies of love script elements, a two-way analysis of variance was used. The main effect for sex was significant. There was an effect of trait anxiety on content of love scripts: high anxiety was associated with more frequent negative descriptions of the actor as well as more frequent negative descriptions of the partner's emotions, only in scripts written by women.

Syntax of emotional narratives of persons diagnosed with antisocial personality.

The aim of this study was to show some specificity of syntax of narratives created by persons diagnosed with antisocial personality. The author attempted to verify and supplement information that persons with antisocial personality have an incapacity for emotional language. Scores of 60 prisoners with high antisocial tendencies, 40 prisoners with low antisocial tendencies, and 100 men without the antisocial tendencies, were analyzed. The participants had to describe the situations of love, hate and anxiety inspired by the photographs. The narrative discourse was analyzed. The research was concentrated on syntactic elements. Comparisons between the three groups were conducted. The results show the differences between the antisocial inmates, non-antisocial inmates, and controls. In their emotional narratives, the antisocial individuals used more repetitions, pauses and negations. These linguistic characteristics are attributed to high activity, psychopathy and emotionality of persons diagnosed with antisocial personality.

Love scripts of persons with antisocial personality.

This study compared the scripts of love among 60 prison inmates diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder and those of 40 inmates without an Antisocial Personality Disorder diagnosis but low antisocial tendencies, and a control group of 100 adult students in extramural or evening secondary schools without Antisocial Personality Disorder traits. The study focused on emotional knowledge about love of the group with Antisocial Personality Disorder, as they present lack of capacity for love. The study was done to examine how they perceive love and how much knowledge they have about love. All described their reactions to a photograph of a couple hugging each other. The content of these scripts, analyzed in terms of description of actors, their actions and emotions, and length of description, was compared among the groups. The scripts of love by antisocial inmates contained more actors' feelings and strong emotions, as well as more descriptions of actors' traits, their actions, and presumptions. The inmates with Antisocial Personality Disorder showed more focus on themselves when they described love than the other inmates and the controls.

A graphical analysis of handwriting of prisoners diagnosed with antisocial personality.

Some researchers have claimed that important aspects of personality can be assessed using a person's handwriting. The aim of this research is to pull together systematically and extend data on the relationships between handwriting and antisocial personality. Specifically examined was whether there are specific identifiable characteristics of writing and, if so, are these useful in handwriting analysis to diagnose a personality disorder. The graphic handwriting characteristics of 50 inmates with a diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder was analyzed and compared with that of 40 inmates without such diagnosis and 50 nonprisoner controls, also without Antisocial Personality Disorder. Forensic experts examined the documents, concentrating on those aspects of handwriting which previous researchers had reported associated with Antisocial Personality Disorder, such as a sinusoidal line, heavy pressure, and an open-shaped "a". Analyses of variance comparing the frequencies of 13 handwriting parameters indicated no significant differences for characteristics in any of the groups on any parameter. The diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder was not significantly associated with any of the graphical measures; however, 5 of the 13 parameters were different between the Antisocial Personality Disorder and the non-Antisocial Personality Disorder groups in a direction opposite of expectations.

Neuroticism, extraversion, and paralinguistic expression.

The purpose of this study was to test the associations among neuroticism, extraversion, and paralinguistic expression. The relevant literature provides ample information on the association between personality traits and voice intensity, pitch, pace of speaking, frequency of pauses, slips of the tongue, and other speech impediments. The author attempted to verify and supplement work reported previously. Scores for 100 persons (56 women, 44 men; M age =21.5 yr., SD= 1.5) were analyzed with respect to two aspects of personality, neuroticism and introversion-extraversion. To analyze the paralinguistic properties of speech, elicited oral messages were examined, i.e., a fairy tale told by the examinees. While the analysis did not give unambiguous evidence that the assumptions were correct, it indicated singular and statistically significant relations of introversion and neuroticism with speech fluency impediments.