Introduction
The role of emotional arousal in emotion processing
Emotional arousal: influential variables
Age
Gender
Intensity
Difficulties in emotion regulation
Aim of the study
Research questions
Method
Participants
Procedures and materials
Emotional faces: arousal and intensity rating task
Emotional words: arousal rating task
Difficulties in emotion regulation
HADS-D
Statistics

Results
Research question 1: predictors of arousal elicited by multiple facial expressions and words
Research question 2: predictors of arousal elicited by negative facial expressions
Additional calculations: research question 2
Research question 3: predictors of arousal elicited by neutral facial expressions
Additional calculations: research question 3
Research question 4: predictors of arousal elicited by positive facial expressions
Additional calculations: research question 4
Research question 5: predictors of arousal elicited by negative words
Research question 6: predictors of arousal elicited by neutral words
Additional calculations: research question 6
Research question 7: arousal profiles
Group I | Group II | Group III | |
---|---|---|---|
“Emotional difficulties disposition group” | “Low emotional difficulties group” | “Low emotional awareness group” | |
Sociodemographic variables | |||
N | 43 | 57 | 70 |
Females (frequency) | 36 | 57 | 0 |
Males (frequency) | 7 | 0 | 70 |
Age (years) | 43.3 (18.0) | 46.1 (15.5) | 43 (17.0) |
Arousal ratings | |||
Arousal faces—total | 284.6 (111.3)t | 231 (116)t | 275.7 (111.3)t |
Arousal words—total | 852.7 (271.2)t | 717.2 (263.1)t | 789.2 (259.4)t |
Intensity ratings | |||
Intensity faces—total | 431.8 (80.4) | 428.2 (78.3) | 427.4 (87.2) |
DERS | |||
Clarity | 9.4 (2.7) | 7.1 (1.6) | 7.7 (1.7) |
Impulse | 13.2 (4.5) | 7.7 (1.7) | 8.7 (2.3) |
Goals | 15.9 (4.7) | 10.0 (2.9) | 11.2 (3.5) |
Awareness | 14.5 (4.5) | 12.5 (3.2) | 14.8 (3.7) |
Nonacceptance | 14.0 (4.7) | 9.6 (2.6) | 10.6 (3.0) |
Strategies | 17.9 (4.9) | 11.3 (1.9) | 12.0 (2.6) |
HADS-D | |||
Depression | 3.9 (2.8) | 1.4 (1.3) | 2.6 (2.0) |
Anxiety | 6.0 (2.1) | 3.5 (2.0) | 4.1 (2.4) |
Comparison group | Group I | Group II | Group III | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
“Emotional difficulties disposition group” | “Low emotional difficulties group” | “Low emotional awareness group” | ||||
Group II | Group III | Group I | Group III | Group I | Group II | |
Arousal ratings | ||||||
Arousal faces—total | .059t | .999 | .059t | .083t | .999 | .083t |
Arousal words—total | .036t | .648 | .036t | .382 | .648 | .382 |
DERS | ||||||
Clarity | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | .391 | ≤ .0001 | .391 |
Impulse | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | .165 | ≤ .0001 | .165 |
Goals | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | .269 | ≤ .0001 | .269 |
Awareness | .034 | .999 | .034 | .003 | .999 | .003 |
Nonacceptance | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | .334 | ≤ .0001 | .334 |
Strategies | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | .605 | ≤ .0001 | .605 |
HADS-D | ||||||
Depression | ≤ .0001 | .004 | ≤ .0001 | .004 | .004 | .004 |
Anxiety | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | ≤ .0001 | .376 | ≤ .0001 | .376 |