Browsing by Author "Henttonen, Pentti"

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Empathy, challenge, and psychophysiological activation in therapist-client interaction
(2018-04-11) Voutilainen, Liisa; Henttonen, Pentti; Kahri, Mikko; Ravaja, Niklas; Sams, Mikko; Peräkylä, Anssi
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Two central dimensions in psychotherapeutic work are a therapist's empathy with clients and challenging their judgments. We investigated how they influence psychophysiological responses in the participants. Data were from psychodynamic therapy sessions, 24 sessions from 5 dyads, from which 694 therapist's interventions were coded. Heart rate and electrodermal activity (EDA) of the participants were used to index emotional arousal. Facial muscle activity (electromyography) was used to index positive and negative emotional facial expressions. Electrophysiological data were analyzed in two time frames: (a) during the therapists' interventions and (b) across the whole psychotherapy session. Both empathy and challenge had an effect on psychophysiological responses in the participants. Therapists' empathy decreased clients' and increased their own EDA across the session. Therapists' challenge increased their own EDA in response to the interventions, but not across the sessions. Clients, on the other hand, did not respond to challenges during interventions, but challenges tended to increase EDA across a session. Furthermore, there was an interaction effect between empathy and challenge. Heart rate decreased and positive facial expressions increased in sessions where empathy and challenge were coupled, i.e., the amount of both empathy and challenge was either high or low. This suggests that these two variables work together. The results highlight the therapeutic functions and interrelation of empathy and challenge, and in line with the dyadic system theory by Beebe and Lachmann (2002), the systemic linkage between interactional expression and individual regulation of emotion.
Grandiosity, vulnerability, and narcissistic fluctuation: Examining reliability, measurement invariance, and construct validity of four brief narcissism measures
(2022-10-10) Henttonen, Pentti; Salmi, Juha; Peräkylä, Anssi; Krusemark, Elizabeth A.
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Continued interest in the distinction between grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism and the fluctuation between grandiose and vulnerable states has expanded the repertoire of self-report instruments. The present study examined the psychometric properties of four brief narcissism measures [the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-13 (NPI-13), Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS), Super-Brief Pathological Narcissism Inventory (SB-PNI), and the g-FLUX] in a Finnish sample of university students. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the reliability of the NPI-13, g-FLUX, SB-PNI Vulnerability, and two HSNS subfactors (Oversensitivity and Egocentrism). Tests of measurement invariance indicated the NPI-13, SB-PNI Vulnerability, HSNS Oversensitivity, and the g-FLUX perform similarly between males and females and are generally similar between individuals in younger and older age groups. Construct and predictive validity were evaluated by examining relations between narcissism measures and relevant criteria including psychopathology symptoms, self-esteem, well-being, five factor traits, and empathy. Results supported the construct validity of all four measures, while correlational profiles highlighted the convergence between the g-FLUX and measures of both grandiosity and vulnerability. The NPI-13 was most predictive of NPD symptoms, whereas vulnerable narcissism measures were most predictive of psychopathology. Results further establish the psychometric properties of the NPI-13, SB-PNI Vulnerability, HSNS Oversensitivity, Egocentrism, and provide new validation of the g-FLUX.
Intragroup Emotions: Physiological Linkage and Social Presence
(2016-02-09) Järvelä, Simo; Kätsyri, Jari; Ravaja, Niklas; Chanel, Guillaume; Henttonen, Pentti
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
We investigated how technologically mediating two different components of emotion communicative expression and physiological state to group members affects physiological linkage and self-reported feelings in a small group during video viewing. In different conditions the availability of second screen text chat (communicative expression) and visualization of group level physiological heart rates and their dyadic linkage (physiology) was varied. Within this four person group two participants formed a physically co-located dyad and the other two were individually situated in two separate rooms. We found that text chat always increased heart rate synchrony but HR visualization only with non-co-located dyads. We also found that physiological linkage was strongly connected to self-reported social presence. The results encourage further exploration of the possibilities of sharing group member's physiological components of emotion by technological means to enhance mediated communication and strengthen social presence.
A measure for assessment of beneficial and harmful fortitude: development and initial validation of the Sisu Scale
(2022-11) Henttonen, Pentti; Määttänen, Ilmari; Makkonen, Emilia; Honka, Anita; Seppälä, Vilja; Närväinen, Johanna; García-Velázquez, Regina; Airaksinen, Jaakko; Jokela, Markus; Lahti, Emilia Elisabet
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Sisu is a Finnish cultural concept that denotes determination and resoluteness in the face of adversity. We propose that sisu will supplement the English-language based research on mental fortitude traits. Sisu has not been the focus of systematic research until very recently. We created a new questionnaire measuring sisu (the Sisu Scale), sought to validate the sisu construct and its sub-factor structure as postulated in a recent qualitative study. We investigated associations of sisu with other measures of mental fortitude and well-being. More generally we aimed to enrichen the cross-cultural understanding of human experience of overcoming adversity across life's challenges. We describe and validate a questionnaire that effectively measures both beneficial and harmful sisu, each comprising three sub-factors. Beneficial sisu was associated with other measures of fortitude, but less with personality dimensions. We also confirmed the existence of an independent harmful sisu factor. Beneficial sisu was associated with higher well-being and lower depressive symptoms, and harmful sisu with lower well-being and higher levels of general stress, work stress and depressive symptoms. Together the two factors were superior compared to pre-existing measures when predicting well-being-related variables. Results suggest that the new Sisu Scale we developed may provide a valuable addition to research on mental fortitude, resilience and their consequences for well-being.
Physiological responses to affiliation during conversation: Comparing neurotypical males and males with Asperger syndrome
(2019-01-01) Stevanovic, Melisa; Henttonen, Pentti; Koskinen, Emmi; Peräkylä, Anssi; von-Wendt, Taina Nieminen; Sihvola, Elina; Tani, Pekka; Ravaja, Niklas; Sams, Mikko
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
We examined the emotional and psychophysiological underpinnings of social interaction in the context of autism spectrum disorder, more specifically, involving participants diagnosed with Asperger syndrome (AS). We recorded participants’ autonomic nervous system (ANS) activation (electrodermal activity, heart rate, and heart rate variability) and facial muscle activation during conversations in two different types of male dyads: (1) ten dyads where one participant has been diagnosed with AS (AS/NT dyads) and (2) nine dyads where both participants are neurotypical (NT/NT dyads). Afterwards, three independent raters assessed continuously each participant’s affiliative and dominant behaviors during the first and last 10 minutes of the conversations. The relationship between the assessed data and ANS responses was examined. We found that, in the NT/NT dyads, a high level of affiliation displayed by the conversational partner calms down the participant when they are actively dominating the interaction. In contrast, when the participants themselves expressed affiliation, their psychophysiological responses indicated increase in arousal, which suggests that the giving of affiliation is physiologically “hard work.” The affiliation-related ANS responses were similar in those NT participants whose conversational partner had AS, while some differences in facial muscle activation did occur in comparison to NT/NT dyads. In the AS participants, in contrast, a high level of affiliation provided by the conversational partner was associated with increase in arousal, suggesting heightened alertness and stress. As for their own affiliative behavior, the AS participants exhibited similar indicators of alertness and stress as the NT participants, but only when their own level of dominance was low. Our results increase understanding of how individuals with AS experience social interaction at the physiological level, and how this experience differs from that in NT individuals. Moreover, our results confirm and further specify our earlier results, where we proposed that affiliation involves the type of “sharing of the burden” that also reverberates in the participants’ bodies.
Putting self at stake by telling a story : Storyteller’s narcissistic traits modulate physiological emotional reactions to recipient’s disengagement
(2024-08-01) Koskinen, Emmi; Henttonen, Pentti; Harjunen, Ville; Krusemark, Elizabeth; Piispanen, Matias; Voutilainen, Liisa; Wuolio, Mariel; Peräkylä, Anssi
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Telling a story to a disengaged recipient induces stress and threatens positive self-image. In this study, we investigated whether storytellers with overly positive and fragile self-images (e.g., individuals with grandiose and vulnerable narcissism) would show heightened behavioral, emotional, and psychophysiological reactivity to recipient disengagement.Building on Bavelas, Coates, and Johnson [1] we conducted a conversational experiment instructing the participants to tell about a “close call” experience to a previously unknown co-participant. We modified the co-participant’s level of interactional engagement by asking them either to listen to the story carefully or to simultaneously carry out a counting task that distracted them from the content of the story. We found that the distraction condition was unrelated to the storytellers’ narration performance, but a significant positive association was found between the story-recipients’ observed lack of affiliation and the tellers’ narration performance. The distraction of recipients was also associated with increased self-reported arousal in the tellers, indicating disengagement-induced stress in the tellers. Moreover, tellers higher in grandiose narcissism reacted with higher skin conductance response to disengagement, and vulnerable narcissism was associated with higher heart rate during narration in general. Our experiment thus showed that grandiose narcissists are emotionally sensitive to their co-participants’ disengagement.
Shame in social interaction : Descriptions of experiences of shame by participants with high or low levels of narcissistic traits
(2024-07) Koskinen, Emmi; Henttonen, Pentti; Kettunen, Sanna Kie; Pesonen, Sanna; Piispanen, Matias; Voutilainen, Liisa; Wuolio, Mariel; Peräkylä, Anssi
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
In this study, we investigate how personal experiences about shameful events are described in face-to-face social interaction, and how these stories differ between participants who have either high or low levels of narcissistic personality traits. The dataset consists of 22 dyadic conversations where the participants describe events where they felt ashamed of themselves. We found the narratives to vary in terms of five dimensions. With narcissistic individuals, the default narrative tended to exhibit a cluster of characteristics that gather at one end of these dimensions: (1) weak expressions of shame; (2) located in the story-world; (3) low level of reflexivity as well as; (4) responsibility of the described event; and (5) a general level of description. We discuss the findings in relation to sociological and psychological theories of shame and suggest that individuals with narcissistic personality traits are more inclined to use suppressive conversational practices in their treatment of shame, thus providing a “window” to these interactional practices.