The Benefits of Blowing Your Top

Sang-froid has its place, especially during a crisis; but so does Sigmund Freud, who described the potential downside of suppressed passions. Those exhortations being directed at the president could be just as easily be turned on countless co-workers, spouses, friends (or oneself):

Lose it. Just once. See what happens.

“One reason we’re so attuned to others’ emotions is that, when it’s a real emotion, it tells us something important about what matters to that person,” said James J. Gross, a psychologist at Stanford University. When it’s suppressed or toned down, he added, “people think, damn it, you’re not like us, you don’t care about the same things we do.”

Yet social functioning is a different matter. Research in the past few years has found that people develop a variety of psychological tools to manage what they express in social situations, and those techniques often become subconscious, affecting interactions in unintended ways. The better that people understand their own patterns, the more likely they are to see why some emotionally charged interactions go awry — whether from too little control or, in the president’s case, perhaps too much.

Psychologists divide regulation strategies into two broad categories: pre-emptive, occurring before an emotion is fully felt; and responsive, coming afterward. The best known of the latter category, and one of the first learned, is simple suppression. First-graders will cover a smile with their hand when a classmate does something embarrassing; in time, many become far more adept, reflexively masking surprise, alarm, even rage with a poker face.

Suppression, while clearly valuable in some situations (no laughing at funerals, please), has social costs that are all too familiar to those who know its cold touch. In one 2003 Stanford study, researchers found that people instructed to wear a poker face while discussing a documentary about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made especially stressful conversation partners.

In another, published last year, psychologists followed 278 men and women as they entered college, giving questionnaires and conducting interviews. Those who scored highest on measures of emotion suppression had the hardest time making friends.

“An individual who responds to the college transition by becoming emotionally guarded in the first few days,” the authors wrote, will most likely miss opportunities for friendships.

Pre-emptive techniques can work in more subtle ways. One of these is simple diversion, reflexively focusing on the good and ignoring the bad — rereading the praise in an evaluation and ignoring or dismissing any criticism. A 2009 study led by Derek Isaacowitz of Brandeis University found that people over 55 were much more likely than those aged 25 and under to focus on positive images when in a bad mood — thereby buoying their spirits. The younger group was more likely to focus on negative images when feeling angry or down.

More striking, Dr. Isaacowitz found in another study that older people were twice as likely as younger ones to be “rapid regulators” — people whose mood bounced back quickly, sometimes within minutes, after ruminating on depressing memories.

“We have found in general that older people tend to regulate their emotions faster, and are not as motivated to explore negative information, to engage negative images, as younger people are,” Dr. Isaacowitz said. “And it makes some sense, that younger adults would explore the negative side of things, that they need to and maybe want to experience them — to experience life — as they develop their own strategies to regulate.”

Socially speaking, in short, the ability to shrug off feelings of disgust or outrage may suit an older group but strike younger people as inauthentic, even callous.

Finally, people may choose the emotions they feel far more often than they are aware — and those choices, too, can trip up social interactions. A series of recent experiments led by Maya Tamir, a psychologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at Boston College, has found that people subconsciously prime themselves to feel emotions they believe will be most useful to them in an anticipated situation. The researchers call these instrumental emotions.

The most socially skilled among us — those who project the emotions they intend, when they intend to — are not wedded to any one strategy, Dr. Hofmann argues. In a paper published last month with Todd Kashdan of George Mason University, he proposed that emotion researchers adopt a questionnaire to measure three components of regulation: concealing (i.e., suppression), adjusting (quickly calming anger, for instance) and tolerating (openly expressing emotion).

“These are each valuable strategies, in different situations,” Dr. Hofmann said. “The people who get into trouble socially, I believe, are the ones who are inflexible — who stick to just one.”

Talk Deeply, Be Happy(?)

Deep conversations made people happier than small talk, one study found.

By RONI CARYN RABIN

Would you be happier if you spent more time discussing the state of the world and the meaning of life — and less time talking about the weather?

It may sound counterintuitive, but people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier, said Matthias Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona who published a study on the subject.

“We found this so interesting, because it could have gone the other way — it could have been, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’ — as long as you surf on the shallow level of life you’re happy, and if you go into the existential depths you’ll be unhappy,” Dr. Mehl said.

But, he proposed, substantive conversation seemed to hold the key to happiness for two main reasons: both because human beings are driven to find and create meaning in their lives, and because we are social animals who want and need to connect with other people.

“By engaging in meaningful conversations, we manage to impose meaning on an otherwise pretty chaotic world,” Dr. Mehl said. “And interpersonally, as you find this meaning, you bond with your interactive partner, and we know that interpersonal connection and integration is a core fundamental foundation of happiness.”

Dr. Mehl’s study was small and doesn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship between the kind of conversations one has and one’s happiness. But that’s the planned next step, when he will ask people to increase the number of substantive conversations they have each day and cut back on small talk, and vice versa.

“It’s not that easy, like taking a pill once a day,” Dr. Mehl said. “But this has always intrigued me. Can we make people happier by asking them, for the next five days, to have one extra substantive conversation every day?”

New (Dis)Order(s)

DSM-5: Hoarding, binge-eating and hypersexuality



Adding Asperger's syndrome to the autism spectrum, eliminating the terms "substance abuse" and "dependence" in favor of "addiction and related disorders," introducing the condition "hypersexual disorder" and introducing an assessment of mental illness based on severity are among the proposed changes for the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-5). The newest version of the psychiatric bible isn't scheduled for official release until May 2013, but today the American Psychiatric Association (APA) offered a sneak peek of the manual that will change the way we diagnose and treat mental disorders—and potentially what psychiatric care will be covered by insurance plans—in the years ahead. In a press release (PDF), Dr. Alan Schaltzberg, president of the APA, emphasized that the manual is still very much a work-in-progress, and that they are opening the draft for public commentary that will influence how the manual is refined and edited. Some of the proposed changes:

* The term "mental retardation" would be dropped, in favor of "intellectual disability"—to reflect terminology already in use by many mental health organizations.

* In addition to changing the terminology of addiction, from "substance abuse" and "dependence" to "addiction and related disorders," the new DSM would also introduce a category of "behavioral addictions," which currently is likely to include only gambling. Internet addiction was considered for inclusion in this new category too, but the DSM task force ultimately concluded that research doesn't justify adding the condition. As Dr. Charles O'Brien, chair of the DSM-5 Substance-Related Disorders work group, told TIME last year, "At this point I think it's appropriate that it's not considered an official disease. We are probably going to mention it in the appendix."

* Asperger's syndrome, which is categorized as a stand-alone condition in DSM-4, would be added to the broader category of conditions included as Autism Spectrum Disorders. Childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder would also be included on the autism spectrum.

* Hypersexual disorder would be added to the new version of the DSM, as a diagnosis for people who, for a period of six months or longer, meet at least four of five criteria, including engaging in sexual fantasies and behavior as a response to depression and anxiety, or repeatedly indulging sexual desires without regard for the emotional repercussions—for themselves or others.

* Binge-eating disorder would be added to the category of eating disorders, which currently includes anorexia and bulimia, as well as "eating disorder not otherwise specified," which could serve as an umbrella diagnosis for conditions such as "night eating syndrome," or recurrent purging in the absence of binge eating, which are being considered for inclusion in the DSM-5 appendix.

* Classified as "dimensional assessments," the new DSM would include methods for physicians to incorporate the severity of symptoms into a diagnosis, as well as examine how certain symptoms—such as insomnia—may "cross-cut" several disorders. According to Dr. David Kupfer, chair of the DSM-5 task force, these new assessment techniques would better enable physicians to chart progress and tailor treatments to individual patients.

* Hoarding disorder is currently being considered for inclusion in DSM-5, but task force members haven't yet determined whether it will be in the main manual or in the appendix. According to the proposed inclusion, symptoms of hoarding disorder would include: struggling to part with personal possessions; accumulating objects to the point that they clutter living space, preventing normal use; and suffering social, work or other distress as a result of hoarding behaviors.

"That Looks Good!"

"Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners"
By SARAH KERSHAW

In the “Ten Commandments for Menu Success,” an article published in Restaurant Hospitality magazine in 1994, Allen H. Kelson, a restaurant consultant, wrote, “If admen had souls, many would probably trade them for an opportunity every restaurateur already has: the ability to place an advertisement in every customer’s hand before they part with their money.”

And like advertisements, menus contain plenty of subliminal messages.

Some restaurants use what researchers call decoys. For example, they may place a really expensive item at the top of the menu, so that other dishes look more reasonably priced; research shows that diners tend to order neither the most nor least expensive items, drifting toward the middle. Or restaurants might play up a profitable dish by using more appetizing adjectives and placing it next to a less profitable dish with less description so the contrast entices the diner to order the profitable dish.

For the operators of most high-end restaurants, the menu psychology is usually drawn from instinct and experience. Mr. Meyer, for example, said he had developed most of his theories through trial and error.


“We thought long and hard about the psychology because this is a complete relaunch of a restaurant entirely through its menu and through the psychology of the menu,” Mr. Meyer said. “The chefs write the music and the menu becomes the lyrics, and sometimes the music is gorgeous and it’s got the wrong lyrics and the lyrics can torpedo the music.”

The use of menu engineers and consultants is exploding in the casual dining arena and among national chains, a sector of the business that has been especially pinched by the economy. In response, they are tapping into a growing body of research into the science of menu pricing and writing, hoping the way to a diner’s heart is not only through the stomach, but through the unconscious.

Susan Franck, vice president of marketing for the chain, said she was intrigued about the four types of diners Mr. Rapp had identified. The customers he calls “Entrees” do not want a lot of description, just the bottom line on what the dish is and how much it is going to cost. “Recipes,” on the other hand, ask many questions and want to know as much as they can about the ingredients. “Barbecues” share food and like chatty servers who wear name tags. “Desserts” are trendy people who want to order trendy things.

(I think I'm an "Entree". What are you?)

A study published in the spring by Dr. Kimes and other researchers at Cornell found that when the prices were given with dollar signs, customers — the research subjects dined at St. Andrew’s Cafe at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. — spent less than when no dollar signs appeared. The study, published in the Cornell Hospitality Report, also found that customers spent significantly more when the price was listed in numerals without dollar signs, as in “14.00” or “14,” than when it included the word “dollar,” as in “Fourteen dollars.” Apparently even the word “dollar” can trigger what is known as “the pain of paying.”

Mr. Rapp, of Palm Springs, Calif., also says that if a restaurant wants to use prices that include cents, like $9.99 or $9.95 (without the dollar sign, of course), he strongly recommends .95, which he said “is a friendlier price,” whereas .99 is “cornier.” On the other hand, 10, or “10 dollars,” has attitude, which is what restaurants using those price formats are selling.


Other research by Dr. Wansink found that descriptive menu labels increased sales by as much as 27 percent. He has divided descriptions into four categories: geographic labels like “Southwestern Tex-Mex salad,” nostalgia labels like “ye old potato bread,” sensory labels like “buttery plump pasta” and brand names. Finding that brand names help sales, chains are increasingly using what is known as co-branding on their menus, like the Jack Daniel’s sauce at T.G.I. Friday’s and the Minute Maid orange juice on the Huddle House menu, Dr. Wansink said.

Dr. Wansink said that vivid adjectives can not only sway a customer’s choice but can also leave them more satisfied at the end of the meal than if they had eaten the same item without the descriptive labeling.

Indeed, restaurants like Huddle House and Applebee’s are adding language that suggests a rush of intense satisfaction. At Applebee’s, dishes are described as “handcrafted,” “triple-basted,” “slow-cooked,” “grilled” and “slammed with flavor.”

BUT many higher-end restaurateurs say they are paring the menu by using cleaner and simpler copy. In those cases, many of the items are inherently descriptive, like the Roasted and Braised Suckling Pig at Craft in Manhattan. There, the left side of the menu lists the farms and other sources of its ingredients. Those names were removed from the individual item descriptions in a streamlining effort, and the serving staff is required to explain many of the accompanying ingredients, including sauces, so the copy is spare.


Tabla experimented with several different fonts and colors before settling on the final version. At one point, the cost of the liver and other prices were shaded navy blue, and some menu headings were orange. While the final version is in black and white, Mr. Meyer said he was thinking about adding orange and red. He remembers, from a hospitality management class he took years ago, what he learned about the gospel on color: red and blue stimulate appetite, while gray and purple stimulate satiation. You will not find a shade of gray or purple on any of the menus at his 11 restaurants, he said.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/dining/23menus.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&adxnnl=1&hpw&adxnnlx=1262120444-0FPgxBXEpfadlyDmSAkiBw]

Say Cheese (or Get Divorced?)

Matthew Hertenstein, a psychology professor at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. and three colleagues recruited more than 600 people for a review of their college yearbook photos. The researchers rated the yearbook smiles by coding muscle movements around the mouth and the eyes.

The researchers found a surprising correlation: the less people smiled, the more likely they were to later divorce. The effect was statistically significant, though not huge. But when Hertenstein compared the top 10 percent of brightest smilers with the bottom 10 percent of weakest smilers, the "lowest were five times more likely to be divorced than the top."

[http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#p-1]