This short report presents preliminary data on the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in moderating the relationship between psychopathy and aggression in a nonforensic sample. A sample of 109 volunteer men was administered the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R), the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso emotional intelligence Test in individual sessions. Correlation and moderation analyzes showed that, at low levels of EI (in terms of strategic ability to understand and manage one's own and others' emotions), people scoring high on the total PPI-R and impulsivity dimension seemed to be both reactively and proactively aggressive. By contrast, at high levels of strategic ability, the relationships between psychopathy and aggression were no longer significant. These preliminary results encourage further investigation into the role of EI ability in mitigating aggressive outcomes in psychopathic subjects.

We present preliminary data on the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in mediating the relationship between psychopathy and detention term of authors of property crimes. We assumed that the detention term is an approximation of the severity of criminal behavior. A sample of 24 property offenders were individually administered a brief anamnestic interview, the Psychopathic Personality InventoryRevised (PPI-R), and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Information concerning the detention term was obtained from prison records. A mediation model was applied to the data showing that offenders high in psychopathic traits (i.e., total PPI-R score and Self-centered dimension of PPI-R) have a low level of ability EI and this is in turn negatively associated with the duration of their prison sentence. Results encourage the investigation of ability EI as a protective factor against the antisocial outcomes of psychopathic disorder.

This study aims to investigate the role of ability emotional intelligence (EI) in predicting criminal behavior from a life-span perspective, over and above psychopathy. Psychopathic individuals are characterized by a deviant lifestyle and an inability to regulate emotion. A sample of 29 male inmates was administered the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R), the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and five dichotomous items that are converged into the Criminal Behavior Index (CBI). Correlation analysis showed a complex pattern of relationships among the variables. The MSCEIT Experiential area of EI together with CISS Emotion-oriented Coping and PCL-R Social Deviance are found to significantly predict the CBI. The results offer promising findings for the assessment of the relationship between personality traits, emotional abilities and criminal behavior across the life span. Furthermore, the results suggest that EI is an important feature for implementing prevention programs of criminal behavior and recidivism.

The human ability of identifying, processing and regulating emotions from social stimuli is generally referred as Emotional Intelligence (EI). Within EI, Ability EI identifies a performance measure assessing individual skills at perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions. Previous models suggest that a brain “somatic marker circuitry” (SMC) sustains emotional sub-processes included in EI. Three primary brain regions are included: the amygdala, the insula and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Here, our aim was to investigate the relationship between Ability EI scores and SMC activity during social judgment of emotional faces. Sixty-three healthy subjects completed a test measuring Ability EI and underwent fMRI during a social decision task (i.e. approach or avoid) about emotional faces with different facial expressions. Imaging data revealed that EI scores are associated with left insula activity during social judgment of emotional faces as a function of facial expression. Specifically, higher EI scores are associated with greater left insula activity during social judgment of fearful faces but also with lower activity of this region during social judgment of angry faces. These findings indicate that the association between Ability EI and the SMC activity during social behavior is region- and emotion-specific.

The movie Fifty Shades of Grey has created a great deal of controversy which has reignited the debate on unusual and alternative sexual practices such as bondage. Erotophobic individuals have negative affect towards the type of sexual libertinism conveyed by the movie, while erotophilic persons have a positive attitude and emotional feelings towards this kind of sexual emancipation. Using the Implicit Association Test, this study aimed to explore the extent to which there is a difference in women's attitudes towards sexual morality on an explicit and implicit level. Our findings found that erotophobic and erotophilic women differed only on an explicit level of sex guilt and moral evaluation, while no difference in the implicit measure was found.

People often discuss events they have seen and these discussions can influence later recollections. We investigated the effects of factual, emotional, and free retelling discussion on memory recollections of individuals who have witnessed an event. Participants were shown a video, made an initial individual recall, participated in one of the three retelling conditions (emotional versus factual versus free) or a control condition, and then recalled the event individually again. Participants in the factual and free retelling conditions reported more items not previously recalled than participants in the control condition did, while the emotional condition did not show the same advantage. Participants in all three retelling conditions failed to report more previously recalled items as compared with the control condition. Finally, a memory conformity effect was observed for all three retelling conditions. These findings suggest that eyewitnesses' discussions may influence the accuracy of subsequent memory reports, especially when these discussions are focused on emotional details and thoughts.

In the present paper we aimed to show that competition for resources between post-emotional processes and the execution of a cognitive task will result in two possible effects: (1) an impairment of the cognitive task in the short run and (2) an elongation of intrusions and rumination in the long run. The outcome of this competition is influenced by the interaction of the modality (verbal vs. visuospatial) of cognitive tasks run in the aftermath of an emotional experience and the nature (verbal vs. visuospatial) of the same experience. Non-clinical participants were given a working memory task (OSPAN vs. an analog Visual task) before and after the presentation of negative vs. neutral material (a novel excerpt in Experiment 1 and a video clip in Experiment 2). Intrusions and rumination were measured after a 24-h delay. Rumination was also assessed immediately after the experimental induction. Results showed that exposure to verbal negative material impaired verbal performance (Experiment 1); by contrast, exposure to visual negative material impaired both verbal and visuospatial performance (Experiment 2). Intrusions were only affected by the emotional valence of the original experience, while performing a visuospatial task resulted in enhanced rumination only after exposure to verbal emotional material. The findings of both experiments suggest that emotional processing spreads over time in balance with ongoing cognitive activities, and, in such a balance, the visuospatial processing mode tends to prevail over verbal engagements.

School days can be a difficult time, especially when students are faced with subjects that require motivational investment along with cognitive effort, such as mathematics and sciences. In the present study, we investigated the effects of teachers' emotional intelligence (El) ability, self-efficacy, and emotional states and students' self-esteem, perceptions of ability, and meta-cognitive beliefs in predicting school achievement. We hypothesized that the level of teacher El ability would moderate the impact of students' self-perceptions and beliefs about their achievements in mathematics and sciences. Students from Italian junior high schools (N = 338) and their math teachers (N = 12) were involved in the study, and a multilevel approach was used. Findings showed that teachers' El has a positive role in promoting students' achievement, by enhancing the effects of students' self-perceptions of ability and self-esteem. These results have implications for the implementation of intervention programs on the emotional, motivational, and metacognitive correlates of studying and learning behavior.

Flashbulb memory (FBM) has been defined as a vivid and detailed memory for the circumstances under which one first learned of a consequential and emotionally involving event. The present study aimed to assess a FBM for expected events, i.e., the death of Pope John Paul II, across four different religious groups (i.e., Catholic, Orthodox, No Religion, and Other Religion). Furthermore, the study addressed to test the extent to which the FBM features and the emotional and social FBM determinants vary as a function of the importance given to the event within each religious group. Results showed that all participants, regardless of their religious affiliation, exhibited a consistent memory of the details related to the reception context of the expected news. Additionally, the results emphasized the effect of the religious affiliation on the FBM features, and on the variables traditionally associated with FBM. Compared to the other religious groups, Catholic participants exhibited the highest FBM Consistency for the Pope's death, and they were the most emotionally and socially involved in the event. Implications for the FBM debate are discussed.

In 2 studies, we assessed the construct validity of the Italian version of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) version 2.0. In Study 1, we administered the MSCEIT together with measures of crystallized and fluid intelligence, personality, and affect. In Study 2, we administered the MSCEIT together with indexes of dispositional coping, emotion regulation strategies, alexithymia, state-trait anxiety, depression, and depressive rumination. We evaluated the factorial structure of the MSCEIT with a confirmatory factor analysis model using data combined from Study 1 and 2. The results confirm that the MSCEIT Italian version satisfactorily discriminates emotional intelligence ability from crystallized and fluid intelligence, personality, and affect, and exhibits significant correlations with various psychological well-being criteria. Furthermore, data from both studies confirm that the factorial structure of MSCEIT is consistent with the theory on which it is based, although it was difficult to rule out alternative structures.

Following an emotional experience, individuals are confronted with the persistence of ruminative thoughts that disturb the undertaking of other activities. In the present study, we experimentally tested the idea that experiencing a negative emotion triggers a ruminative process that drains working memory (WM) resources normally devoted to other tasks. Undergraduate participants of high versus low WM capacity were administered the operation-word memory span test (OSPAN) as a measure of availability of WM resources preceding and following the presentation of negative emotional versus neutral material. Rumination was assessed immediately after the second OSPAN session and at a 24-hr delay. Results showed that both the individual's WM capacity and the emotional valence of the material influenced WM performance and the persistence of ruminative thoughts. Following the experimental induction, rumination mediated the relationship between the negative emotional state and the concomitant WM performance. Based on these results, we argue that ruminative processes deplete WM resources, making them less available for concurrent tasks; in addition, rumination tends to persist over time. These findings have implications for the theoretical modeling of the long-term effects of emotions in both daily life and clinical contexts.

Eyewitnesses typically talk about the crimes they have seen. The different ways in which a witness talks can also influence later recollections. Indeed individuals can talk about crimes in order to cope with their negative emotions or to provide a detailed report. In the current study we investigated the role of factual vs. emotional retelling on memory accuracy of individuals who have eyewitnessed and discussed an emotional event. Participants were shown a video in which a quarrel between strangers was evident, then they were assigned to one out of three experimental conditions, i.e., (a) talking in group about emotional reactions to the video, (b) talking in group about factual details of the video; (c) completing an unrelated task. We employed a novel procedure in groups that ensured more ecological validity; retelling with other co-eyewitnesses in fact resembles real life situation. Eyewitnesses’ memory for details of the video was assessed immediately before the retelling session and after a short delay. Results showed that while factual retelling prevents memory impairment over time, emotional retelling determined less detailed memories. Implications for forensic assessments of eyewitness’ memory were discussed.

Questo contributo propone anzitutto alcune considerazioni di carattere generale sul rapporto tra psicologia e contesto giuridico per poi analizzare piu da vicino alcuni nodi critici della prassi clinica degli psicologi che lavorano interagendo con le Autorita Giudiziarie (AA.GG.) al fine di comprenderne affinita e possibili sinergie. Si propone quindi una riflessione sul setting e sul ruolo professionale degli psicologi, ipotizzando di ridefinirne la funzione come consulenza ai diversi soggetti coinvolti nel processo di tutela del minore, esplorandone potenzialita e limiti.

Gender and age are assumed to affect spatial performance. However, systematic attention to gender differences across life-span remains sparse. This paper provides an overview on behavioural changes in human reorientation as effect of gender and age. A total of 340 healthy participants, balanced by gender, were divided into three groups. (166 children, 72 young adults, 102 aged adults) and engaged in a virtual version of the Reorientation Paradigm. The task consisted of a learning phase, in which participants acquired spatial information about the position of a target, and of a testing phase, in which participants searched for the hidden target. Performances of the three groups have been compared in: (a) an environment with layout information only, (b) an environment with both layout and featural information, and (c) an environment with featural information only. Accuracy in testing phase (i.e. number of correct searches) and navigation style (i.e. measured as time spent and path lengths, in both learning and testing phase) were evaluated. Results showed an age related effect in all the measures provided. On average, children and aged adults spent more time and cover longer distance with respect to young adults, in both learning and testing phase. In addition, the ability to evaluate spatial information is not completely achieved in children and tends to decrease in aged adults. The interaction between gender and age showed that gender related differences are absent in childhood, but became considerable in adulthood and remain stable in old age. These results are in line with an explanation of gender-related differences in spatial cognition founded on the interaction between biological and environmental/cultural factors.

This pilot study longitudinally evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at preventing burnout syndrome through the improvement of interpersonal relationship management among Italian mental health workers employed in both public and private services. Indeed, previous findings and a large part of the target group stated that the interpersonal relationship was one of the most important sources of stress at work. The results showed positive effects (i.e. a reduction of the level of Depersonalization), both at the end of training activities and at the follow-up. Since we did not include any control group, the results of this study had to be considered with caution and should be confirmed by future research.