Mid Sweden University

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Biography [eng]

I did my Ph.D. thesis on the processing of emotional facial expressions, particularly regarding automatic (non-conscious) autonomic physiological responses. In general, I can consider my main area of research to be in the field of psychology of emotions, principally in the relationship between basic cognitive processes (attention, memory, and learning) and affective reactions. A central topic has been the study of attentional biases to emotionally relevant stimuli, both threatening (angry faces, snakes and spiders) and with positive valence (e.g., food).

Biography [swe]

Min avhandling handlade om kognitiv bearbetning av emotionella ansiktsuttryck, särskilt när det gäller automatiska (icke-medvetna) autonoma fysiologiska responsen. Allmänt kan jag betrakta mitt forskningshuvudområde inom emotionspsykologi, främst i studie av sambandet mellan grundläggande kognitiva processer (uppmärksamhet, minne och inlärning) och affektiva reaktioner. Ett centralt tema har varit studie av uppmärksamhetsbias till emotionella relevanta stimuli, både hotande (arga ansikten, ormar och spindlar) och med positiv valens (t ex mat).

Publications (10 of 104) Show all publications
Almeida, T., Ramalho, N. & Esteves, F. (2023). Coproducing leadership: a reason to resist destructive leaders. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 44(2), 189-204
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Coproducing leadership: a reason to resist destructive leaders
2023 (English)In: Leadership & Organization Development Journal, ISSN 0143-7739, E-ISSN 1472-5347, Vol. 44, no 2, p. 189-204Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose: Follower's individual differences have been receiving increased attention in studying destructive leadership because followers may enable or disable it. One of these yet under-researched features is the role of followers' leadership coproduction beliefs (a role construal) in explaining their resistance to destructive leaders. Departing from the proactive motivation theory, this paper explores the robustness of coproduction beliefs by testing its ability to predict followers' resistance to destructive leaders across four situations – abusive supervision, exploitative leadership, organization directed behaviors and laissez-faire. Design/methodology/approach: With a sample of 359 participants that answered a scenario-based survey, the present study tests the relationship between coproduction beliefs and resistance behaviors in the four mentioned groups, while controlling for alternative explanations. A multigroup analysis was conducted with PLS-SEM. Findings: Constructive resistance is always favored by coproduction beliefs independently of the leader's type of destructive behavior. Dysfunctional resistance, however, is sensitive to the leader's type of destructive behavior. Originality/value: This paper extends knowledge on the role of coproduction beliefs as an individual-based resource against destructive leaders. 

Keywords
Coproduction, Destructive leadership, Followership, Resistance, Role construal
National Category
Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-47919 (URN)10.1108/LODJ-09-2021-0427 (DOI)000940064800001 ()2-s2.0-85149302406 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2023-03-21 Created: 2023-03-21 Last updated: 2023-04-19Bibliographically approved
Izountouemoi, A. & Esteves, F. (2023). Does Dance Expertise Enhance Sensitivity?: A Comparative Study. Empirical Studies of the Arts
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Does Dance Expertise Enhance Sensitivity?: A Comparative Study
2023 (English)In: Empirical Studies of the Arts, ISSN 0276-2374, E-ISSN 1541-4493Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

The overall aim was to study the impact of dance expertise in relation to emotional expressivity and emotional sensitivity, by comparing dance experts and nonexperts. The results are based on a survey answered by 120 individuals, consisting of the Berkeley Emotional Expressivity Questionnaire (BEQ) and the Emotional Sensitivity Questionnaire (ESS). Dance experts in comparison to nonexperts scored higher on ESS, more specifically, other-directed sensitivity, that is, the positive interpersonal sensitivity subscale. No significant differences were obtained on negative egocentric sensitivity, the other subscale of ESS, and neither regarding emotional expressivity. However, it was found that those with more frequent dance habits scored higher on the Impulse Strength subscale of the BEQ. Our findings point out the relationship between dance and our ability to perceive emotions, which could have interesting educational and clinical implications. Lastly, we discuss current and future perspectives on the topic.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
SAGE Publications, 2023
Keywords
emotional sensitivity, emotional expressivity, emotion, dance expertise
National Category
Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-49791 (URN)10.1177/02762374231206720 (DOI)001091279000001 ()2-s2.0-85175327490 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2023-11-08 Created: 2023-11-08 Last updated: 2023-11-16Bibliographically approved
Rondung, E., Oliveira, S. & Esteves, F. (2023). Validity and reliability of the WHOQOL-BREF in a pregnant population. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 21(1), Article ID 96.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Validity and reliability of the WHOQOL-BREF in a pregnant population
2023 (English)In: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, ISSN 1477-7525, E-ISSN 1477-7525, Vol. 21, no 1, article id 96Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

BACKGROUND: Physical end emotional changes during pregnancy may not only affect pregnant womens' quality of life, but also how instruments assessing quality of life perform in such populations. To date, there is insufficient evidence on psychometric properties for both generic and condition-specific instruments measuring quality of life during pregnancy. The aim of this study was thus to examine the structural validity, internal consistency, and construct validity of the WHOQOL-BREF in a sample of pregnant women. METHODS: A convenience sample of 1015 pregnant women in Sweden completed the WHOQOL-BREF online. We examined the psychometric properties of the instrument using principal component analysis (PCA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach's alpha, item-domain correlations, correlations with overall QOL and general health, and multiple linear regression with items on overall QOL and general health as outcomes. RESULTS: Principal Component Analysis in a random subsample (n = 502) supported a four-factor model, encompassing the domains physical, psychological, social and environmental quality of life, but with four of the items originally in the environmental domain relocated to the other domains. The proposed domain structure showed good fit in confirmatory factor analysis in the other random subsample (n = 513). The physical and psychological domains showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.885 and 0.826 respectively), while the social and environmental domains were weaker in this regard. All domains showed significant positive correlations with items on overall QOL and general health. The physical and psychological domains were the most evident predictors in the regression models. CONCLUSIONS: We find the Swedish version of the WHOQOL-BREF to have good psychometric properties to be used in samples of pregnant women, and propose an alternative domain structure that might be even more useful for assessing quality of life during pregnancy. The physical and psychological domains showed good internal consistency and construct validity. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2023
Keywords
Confirmatory factor analysis, Pregnancy, Quality of life, Validity, WHOQOL-BREF, Women
National Category
Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-49187 (URN)10.1186/s12955-023-02166-2 (DOI)001052947600003 ()37605225 (PubMedID)2-s2.0-85168527800 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2023-08-29 Created: 2023-08-29 Last updated: 2023-09-08Bibliographically approved
Gaspar, A. & Esteves, F. (2022). Empathy development from adolescence to adulthood and its consistency across targets. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article ID 936053.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Empathy development from adolescence to adulthood and its consistency across targets
2022 (English)In: Frontiers in Psychology, E-ISSN 1664-1078, Vol. 13, article id 936053Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This research was conducted with two main goals—to contribute to knowledge on the development of empathy from early adolescence to adulthood, including its contribution to decoding emotion expression, and to improve the understanding of the nature of empathy by simultaneously assessing empathy toward two different targets—humans and animals. It unfolded into two cross-sectional studies: One (S1) obtaining measures of empathy toward humans and animals as targets across five age groups (from pre-adolescents to adults); and another (S2) where a subset of the adolescents who participated in S1 were assessed in emotion expression decoding and subjective and physiological responses to emotional video clips. The results of S1 showed that empathy toward animals and most dimensions of empathy toward humans increase toward adulthood, with important gender differences in empathy to animals and humans, and empathy levels in girls starting off in the age trajectory at higher levels, A moderate correlation between empathy toward human and toward animal targets was also found. S2 showed that the expression of positive emotion is better recognized than that of negative emotion, surprise, or neutral expression, and that the measure of human-directed empathy predicts successful decoding of negative emotion, whereas skin conductance responses (SCRs) and subjective valence ratings predicted successful identification of positive emotion. Gender differences emerged but not across all age groups nor all subscales. Results yield keys to the developmental “pace” and trajectory of the various dimensions of empathy and to how empathy relates to emotion decoding. 

Keywords
adolescent development, animal-directed empathy, dynamic facial expression stimuli, emotional development, empathy, empathy across targets, empathy development, facial expression decoding
National Category
Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-46362 (URN)10.3389/fpsyg.2022.936053 (DOI)000874592800001 ()2-s2.0-85140373411 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2022-11-01 Created: 2022-11-01 Last updated: 2022-11-10Bibliographically approved
Petisca, S., Leite, I., Paiva, A. & Esteves, F. (2022). Human Dishonesty in the Presence of a Robot: The Effects of Situation Awareness. International Journal of Social Robotics, 14(5), 1211-1222
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Human Dishonesty in the Presence of a Robot: The Effects of Situation Awareness
2022 (English)In: International Journal of Social Robotics, ISSN 1875-4791, E-ISSN 1875-4805, Vol. 14, no 5, p. 1211-1222Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Cheating has been extensively studied in Psychology and Economics, showing a variety of factors that can increase or decrease this behavior. Considering future human–robot interactions, where robots are being thought to be integrated in a variety of contexts, it is important to test which characteristics robots can have to prevent people from cheating. In this study (N = 123), we investigated whether people will cheat if an autonomous robot showed situationally aware behaviors towards the participant’s performance (i.e., intervened when they cheated). Our results showed that being in the presence of an aware robot is better at decreasing cheating behavior than being alone, and that there are no differences in cheating behavior between a non-aware robot or being alone. This study brings implications for the development of autonomous robots in roles where cheating might happen. 

Keywords
Autonomous robots, Cheating behavior, Dishonesty, Human–robot interaction
National Category
Human Computer Interaction
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-44249 (URN)10.1007/s12369-022-00864-3 (DOI)000748302200001 ()2-s2.0-85123832854 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2022-02-08 Created: 2022-02-08 Last updated: 2022-08-01Bibliographically approved
Weimer, K., Ahlström, R. & Esteves, F. (2022). The effect of nudging in promoting the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article ID 720606.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The effect of nudging in promoting the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables
2022 (English)In: Frontiers in Psychology, E-ISSN 1664-1078, Vol. 13, article id 720606Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

A field study collecting behavioral data was conducted to investigate effects of behavioral interventions, commonly known as nudges, in promoting the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables. Consumption, both organically and conventionally produced fruits and vegetables, was measured in a grocery store during 4 days (1 day every other week) where consumers were exposed to informational messages in combination with either emotional images or social norm messages. Measurements of daily consumption without exposure to nudges were carried out during four other days (1 day every other week, alternated with the nudging days). The results showed no effect of the nudging strategy; instead, it pointed to the importance of the price as a determinant of buying decisions. Buying ecological alternatives was associated with lower price differences between the ecological and non-ecological alternatives. We conclude that combined nudges and collected psychological data from participants may contribute to more successful nudging interventions. Some political measures in balancing the price difference between organically and conventionally produced products might also be interesting strategies in order to promote the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables.

Keywords
consumer choices, ecological food, field study, nudging, organically and conventionally produced fruits and vegetables
National Category
Social Sciences Food Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-35913 (URN)10.3389/fpsyg.2022.720606 (DOI)000808894800001 ()2-s2.0-85128616701 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2019-04-01 Created: 2019-04-01 Last updated: 2022-06-23Bibliographically approved
Almeida, T., Ramalho, N. C. & Esteves, F. (2021). Can you be a follower even when you do not follow the leader?: Yes, you can. Leadership, 17(3), 336-364
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Can you be a follower even when you do not follow the leader?: Yes, you can
2021 (English)In: Leadership, ISSN 1742-7150, E-ISSN 1742-7169, Vol. 17, no 3, p. 336-364Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In the ongoing debate in the area of critical leadership studies, the nature of leader–follower relationships is a thorny issue. The nature of followership has been questioned, especially whether followers can display resistance behaviours while maintaining their follower position. Addressing this issue requires a dialectical approach in which followers and leaders alike are primary elements in leadership co-production. Followers who face destructive leaders are of special interest when leadership is studied as a co-creational process. This context favours the emergence of a full range of behavioural profiles in which passives and colluders will illustrate the destructive leadership co-production process, and those who resist demonstrate that followers may not follow the leader and still keep a followership purpose. A two-step data analysis procedure was conducted based on the behaviour descriptions of 123 followers having a destructive leader. A qualitative analysis (i.e. content analysis) showed a set of behaviours and their antecedents that suggest three main groups of followers: resisters, obedient and mixed behaviour. Treating these data quantitatively (i.e. latent class analysis), six followers’ profiles emerged: active resistance, passive resistance, passive obedience, conflict avoidance, support and mixed. Our findings provide evidence that followers who resist may do it for the sake of the organisation. We discuss our findings in light of followership theory, whereby joining role-based and constructionist approaches allows us to argue that followers may still be followers even when they do not invariably follow their leader. 

Keywords
critical leadership studies, destructive leader(ship), follower(ship), followers’ profiles, followers’ resistance, Leader(ship)
National Category
Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-41645 (URN)10.1177/1742715020987740 (DOI)000619998100001 ()2-s2.0-85101071269 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2021-03-15 Created: 2021-03-15 Last updated: 2021-05-17Bibliographically approved
Fernandes, S., Louceiro, A., Lopes, L., Esteves, F. & Arriaga, P. (2021). Children’s Attitudes and Behaviors about Oral Health and Dental Practices. Healthcare, 9(4), Article ID 416.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Children’s Attitudes and Behaviors about Oral Health and Dental Practices
Show others...
2021 (English)In: Healthcare, E-ISSN 2227-9032, Vol. 9, no 4, article id 416Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The present study sought to contribute to a better understanding of children’s attitudes and behaviors regarding oral health and dental practices. The sample was composed of 101 children (8–10 years), collected from several schools in the Lisbon metropolitan area. Our main goals were to collect a survey of information about the beliefs, attitudes, habits and knowledge of children about oral and dental issues in order to not only have an overview of them but also to serve as a basis and a starting point for the development of intervention programs to increase positive attitudes and behaviors related to oral health and promote greater knowledge about these subjects. In general, children reported positive behaviors regarding dental habits and oral hygiene practices. Children’s opinions and beliefs about dentists were also globally positive; however, the results suggested that younger children reported more positive attitudes, emotions and previous experiences. Regarding children’s knowledge about these dental issues, the results were quite negative and worrying, ruled by ignorance and incorrect beliefs and behaviors. In sum, all the results and conclusions of this study may contribute to the development of educational programs within the scope of the promotion of oral health and hygiene practices—“An Adventure about Oral Health.”

Keywords
oral health, dental practices, oral health promotion
National Category
Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-41868 (URN)10.3390/healthcare9040416 (DOI)000643090800001 ()2-s2.0-85104478534 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2021-04-15 Created: 2021-04-15 Last updated: 2021-05-17Bibliographically approved
Arriaga, P., Esteves, F., Pavlova, M. A. & Piçarra, N. (2021). Editorial: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): The Impact and Role of Mass Media During the Pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article ID 729238.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Editorial: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): The Impact and Role of Mass Media During the Pandemic
2021 (English)In: Frontiers in Psychology, E-ISSN 1664-1078, Vol. 12, article id 729238Article in journal, Editorial material (Refereed) Published
Keywords
coronavirus disease, COVID-19, health communication, intervention, mass media, prevention, social behavioral changes
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-43020 (URN)10.3389/fpsyg.2021.729238 (DOI)000692722000001 ()2-s2.0-85114300158 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2021-09-14 Created: 2021-09-14 Last updated: 2022-02-10
Champoux-Larsson, M.-F., Dylman, A. & Esteves, F. (2021). Empirical investigation of the relationship between bilingualism and social flexibility. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 5(1), 65-80
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Empirical investigation of the relationship between bilingualism and social flexibility
2021 (English)In: Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, ISSN 2520-100X, Vol. 5, no 1, p. 65-80Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Recently, a relationship between bilingualism and enhanced social flexibility has been suggested. However, research on the subject is scarce and what little exists is limited by several conceptual and methodological concerns. In the current study, we attempted to (a) replicate the findings from a study by Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza (Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 21:957–969, 2018) by using the scales that the authors developed, and (b) test the concept of social flexibility experimentally with a switch-task using socially relevant stimuli. In the first part, participants (n = 194) filled out the scales developed by Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza. We could not find that bilingualism leads to enhanced social flexibility. We did, however, find that higher level of education led to higher scores on the social flexibility scale. In the second part, a subsample (n = 74) from Part 1 completed a task where they were asked to identify the congruency between a face and a voice based on either gender or emotion, and to switch between these two tasks. The experimental task did not show an advantage for the bilingual participants. On the contrary, higher proficiency in a second language led to lower accuracy in the congruent emotion condition, while level of education led to higher accuracy in that same condition. We suggest that factors other than bilingualism, such as level of education and biculturalism, most likely drove the effect found both in the current study and originally by Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza.

Keywords
Social flexibility, Bilingualism, Switch-task, Emotion
National Category
Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-41625 (URN)10.1007/s41809-021-00076-7 (DOI)000671266900005 ()2-s2.0-85103154869 (Scopus ID)
Note

Supplementary Information innehållade forskningsdata finns inlagd i bifogad fil.

Available from: 2021-03-15 Created: 2021-03-15 Last updated: 2021-08-10Bibliographically approved
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ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-5403-0091

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