Articles in Scholarly Journals, peer-reviewed

Misiak, M., Behnke, M. Peters, B., Dziekan, M., Kosakowski, M., Kaczmarek. Ł. D. (2022). Evil joy is hard to share: Negative affect attenuates interpersonal capitalizing on immoral deeds. Emotion. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001045

Behnke, M., Buchwald, M., Bykowski, A., Kupiński, Sz., Kaczmarek, L.D. (2022). Psychophysiology of Positive and Negative Emotions - Dataset of 1157 Participants and 8 Biosignals. Scientific Data, 9, 10.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-01117-0

Kaczmarek, L.D., Kelso, K.C., Behnke, M., Kashdan, T.B., Dziekan, M., Matuła, Kosakowski, M., E., Enko, J., Guzik, P., (2021). Give and Take:
The Role of Reciprocity in Capitalization. Journal of Positive Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2021.1885054

Kaczmarek, L.D., Kashdan, T.B., Behnke, M.,  Matuła, E., Dziekan, M., Enko, J., Kosakowski, M., Guzik, P., (2021). Positive emotions boost enthusiastic responsiveness to capitalization attempts. Dissecting self-report, physiology, and behavior. Journal of Happiness Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00389-y  

Behnke, M., Hase, A., Kaczmarek, L. D., Freeman, P., (2021) Blunted Cardiovascular Reactivity May Serve as an Index of Psychological Task Disengagement in the Motivated Performance Situations. Scientific Reports, 11, 18083 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97670-0

Behnke, M., Overbye, H., Pietruch, M., Kaczmarek, L. D., (2021). How seasons and weather conditions influence baseline affective valence in laboratory research participants. PLOS One 16(8): e0256430, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256430  

Behnke, M., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., Kaczmarek, L. D., (2021). Head movement differs for positive and negative emotions in video recordings of sitting individuals, Scientific Reports, 11, 7405 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86841-8

Drążkowski, D., Behnke, M., Kaczmarek, L. D., (2021). I am afraid, so I buy it! The effects of anxiety on consumer assimilation and differentiation needs amongst individuals primed with independent and interdependent self-construal. PLOS One, 16: e0256483 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256483

Behnke M., Gross, J.J., Kaczmarek, L.D., (2020). The Role of Emotions in Esports Performance. Emotion.

Behnke, M., Chwiłkowska, P., Kaczmarek, L.D., (2020). What makes gamers amused, enthusiastic, angry, and sad while playing violent video games? Entertainment Computing, 100397.
Enko, J., Behnke, M., Dziekan, M., Kosakowski, M., Kaczmarek, L. D. (2020). Gratitude texting touches the heart: challenge/threat cardiovascular responses to gratitude expression predict self-initiation of gratitude interventions in daily life. Journal of Happiness Studies.
What was this study about?
We asked participants to send "thank you" SMS to their friends or family. We monitored how their hearts responded to this gratitude trial. Next, we invited them to continue gratitude expression training on their own at home for three weeks and contacted them again to see who exercised their gratitude and who did not. We found that gratitude expression was particularly threatening to depressed individuals and this effect manifested in their cardiovascular responses. Observing how heart and arteries respond to gratitude expression, was one way to see who will fail to exercise their gratitude later. This study seems a great novel physiology-based approach to testing the person-activity fit.

 
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Behnke, M., Kosakowski, M., Kaczmarek, L. D. (2019). Social challenge and threat predict performance and cardiovascular responses during competitive video gaming. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 46, e101584
  • Participants played Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
  • Gamers who thought that their skills were better than skills of others had higher heart rates and achieved higher scores.
  • Relationship between self-evaluation of skills and successful performance was mediated by heart rate.
  • Informing gamers whether they were better or worse than other players did not influence their scores.

        Read an interview about this study on dotesports.com

Kaczmarek,. L. D., Behnke, M., Kosakowski, M., Enko, J., Dziekan, M., Piskorski, J., Hughes, B. M., Guzik, P. (2019). High-approach and low-approach positive affect influence physiological responses to threat and anger. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 138, 27-37.
  • Motivational intensity had no effect on recovery from and reactivity to stress
  • Positive affect produced stronger recovery from and lower reactivity to stress
  • Less consistent effects for high-approach than low-approach positive affect
  • Reactivity to anger did not differ from reactivity to threat
  • Positive affect did not influence cardiac output and total peripheral resistance
Which positive emotions are better in buffering stress response? Desire or happiness?
We had insanely large sample sizes for this type of study and covered several biosignals. Yet we found little evidence that desire and enthusiasm have different effect on reacitivy to or recovery from stress compared to happiness. However, we observed that positive emotions of both types buffered reactivity and accelerated recovery from stress.
Kaczmarek, L. D., Behnke, M., Kosakowski, M, Enko, J., Hughes, B. Piskorski, J., Guzik, P. (2019). Effects of emotions on Heart Rate Asymmetry. Psychophysiology.
  • Heart rate asymmetry (HRA) represents the contribution of decelerations to HRV
  • The contribution of decelerations to short-term variability (C1d) was higher for positive emotions than negative emotions
  • Individuals who reported more positive affect also exhibited higher levels of C1d
  • The contribution of decelerations to the long-term variability (C2d) was not related to emotions
What is heart rate asymmetry and why should we care?
Heart rate asymmetry (HRA) indexes an uneven contribution of decelerations and accelerations to heart rate variability (HRV). The causal link between emotions and HRA contributes to a comprehensive understanding of heart action and emotional processing. Researchers might use HRA indexes to advance psychophysiological studies on the cardiovascular system.
Qin, Y., Lü, W., Hughes, B. M., & Kaczmarek, L. D. (2019). Trait and state approach-motivated positive affects interactively influence stress cardiovascular recovery. International Journal of Psychophysiology.
Kaczmarek, L. D., Behnke, M., Enko, J., Kosakowski, M., Guzik, P., & Hughes, B. M. (2019). Splitting the affective atom: Divergence of valence and approach-avoidance motivation during a dynamic emotional experience. Current Psychology, 1-12.
  • We established a significant relationship between valence and approach-avoidance motivation in a dynamic material
  • High-approach emotions produced a stronger link between valence and approach-avoidance motivation compared to neutral states and low-approach emotions.
  • Individuals exhibited an avoidance response during anger elicitation.
  • Awe was a distinct positive emotion where approach motivation dominated over valence. Findings are relevant to the theory and research on diverging processes within the core structure of affect.
Why awe and amusement are unique emotions?
We found that awe was the only emotion where the motivation to approach was stronger than feeling pleasure. We also found that amuesment was an emotion where approach movivation was much lower than might have been expected from the ratings of valence.

In sum, these findings indicate that despite strong relationship between pleasure and the urge to move closer, there are instances where this link can be impaired.
Behnke, M., Tomczak, M., Kaczmarek, L. D., Komar, M., Gracz, J. (2019). The Sport Mental Training Questionnaire: development and validation. Current Psychology, 38, 504-516.
Behnke, M., Kaczmarek, L. D. (2018). Successful performance and cardiovascular markers of challenge and threat: a meta-analysis. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 130, 73-79.
  • Small effects of challenge and threat cardiovascular patterns in the prediction of successful performance
  • The general validity of the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat
  • Significant publication bias in the biopsychosocial model literature
Kaczmarek, L. D., Misiak, M., Behnke, M., Dziekan, M., Guzik, P. (2017). The Pikachu Effect: Social and Health Gaming Motivations Lead to Greater Benefits of Pokémon GO Use. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 356-363.
  • Pokémon GO is the unique type of video game where you reap more health benefits, when you play more. Pokémon GO gaming contributes to the overall levels of daily physical activity and outdoor time; two robust precursors to health. Social motives and health motives boost these effects.
  • Pictures: Our research team hunting Pokémon. My son, Max (aged 6), served as a creative consultant on the project.
  • Download the Pokémon GO Gaming Motivation Scale here.
What are the benefits of Pokemon GO gaming?
People who play Pokemon GO move more and spend more time outdoors. This is important because it increases physical activity as well as exposure to sun which helps produce vitamin D and, in turn, prevents several serious diseases. We found that health motivation and social motivation boost Pokemon GO gaming time. It means that people who want to stay healthier use Pokemon GO to assist them in their pursuit of a healthier lifestyle. And it is even easier with a little help from their friends.
Kaczmarek, L. D., Behnke, M., Kashdan, T. B., Kusiak, A., Marzec., K., Mistrzak, M., Włodarczyk, M. (2018). Smile intensity in social networking profile photographs is related to greater scientific achievements. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13, 435-439.
  • We present how public data from ResearchGate users can contribute to the diversity of evidence in affective science.
Would you become a more successful researcher if you changed your profile picture for a happier one?
We do not know. However, it seems that positive emotionality and the quality of your academic work go together.
Drążkowski, D., Kaczmarek, Ł. D., Kashdan, T. B. (2017). Gratitude pays: A weekly gratitude intervention influences monetary decisions, physiological responses, and emotional experiences during a trust-related social interaction. Personality & Individual Differences, 110, 148-153.
  • One of few publications that has evidenced health effects and behavioral social benefits of counting blessings (positive interventions)
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Kaczmarek, L. D. (2017). Eudaimonic motivation. In: V. Zeigler-Hill, T. K. Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. New York: Springer.
  • "Eudaimonic motivation is the willingness to initiate actions towards personal excellence. Eudaimonic pursuits are oriented towards the realization of a) individual potentials specific for a particular person (e.g., pursuing athletic career) and b) best universal human potentials shared by each human being (e.g., cultivating wisdom, kindness, or gratitude). While hedonists primarily seek to feel in a particular way, eudaimonists seek to be a particular type of a person."

Kaczmarek, L. D. (2017). Hedonic motivation. In: V. Zeigler-Hill, T. K. Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. New York: Springer.
  • "Hedonic motivation is the willingness to initiate behaviors that enhance positive experience (pleasant or good) and behaviors that decrease negative experience."

Kaczmarek, L. D. (2017). Happiness. In: V. Zeigler-Hill, T. K. Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. New York: Springer.
  • "Happiness in psychology is an umbrella term for several theories of well-being. These theories cover intrinsically rewarding and valued experience, positive beliefs about self and the world, or positive psychological functioning."
Kaczmarek, L. D. (2016). Positive psychological interventions. Intentional activity and well-being. Poznan: Zysk i Ska. [in Polish]
  • First prize for the best positive psychology book  in 2016 awarded by the Polish Positive Psychology Society.
Stańko-Kaczmarek, M., Kaczmarek, L. D. (2016). The effects of tactile sensations during finger painting on mindfulness, emotions, and the scope of attention. Creativity Research Journal, 28, 283-288.
  • You can refer to this publication as an evidence for the validity of Noldus FaceReader in facial expression analysis for psychological research.
Kaczmarek, L. D., Enko, J., Awdziejczyk, M., Hoffmann, N., Białobrzeska, N., Mielniczuk, P., Dombrowski, S. (2016). Would you be happier if you looked better? A focusing illusion. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17, 357-365.

Misiak, M., Kaczmarek, L. D., Kashdan, T. B., Zimny, M., Urbański, M., Zasiński, A., Disabato, D. (2015). Prenatal exposure to sex hormones predicts gratitude intervention use. Examination of digit ratio, motivational beliefs, and online activities. Personality and Individual Differences, 77, 68-73.
  • Note: This paper can be used as a reference that indicates that for digit ratio studies (2D:4D) self-measurements of fingers length in online studies yield the same results as digital pictures analysis.

Kaczmarek, L.D., Kashdan, T., B., Drążkowski, D., Enko, J., Kosakowski, M., Szaefer, A. Bujacz, A. (2015). Why do people prefer gratitude journaling over gratitude letters? The influence of individual differences in motivation and personality on web-based interventions. Personality and Individual Differences, 75, 1-6.

Bujacz, A., Vittersø, J., Huta, V., & Kaczmarek, L. D. (2014). Measuring hedonia and eudaimonia as motives for activities: cross-national investigation through traditional and Bayesian structural equation modeling. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 984.
  • Note: This analysis documents that hedonism has two components: seeking pleasure and seeking comfort.

Monfort*, S. S., Kaczmarek*, L. D., Kashdan, T. B., Drążkowski, D., Kosakowski, M., Guzik, P., Krauze, T., Gracanin, A. (2014). Capitalizing on the success of romantic partners: A laboratory investigation on subjective, facial, and physiological emotional processing. Personality and Individual Differences, 68, 149-153.
  • Note: You can refer to this publication as an evidence for the validity of Noldus FaceReader in facial expression analysis for psychological research.

Kaczmarek, L. D., Kashdan, T., Drążkowski, D., Bujacz, A., & Goodman, F. (2014). Why do greater curiosity and fewer depressive symptoms predict gratitude intervention use? Utility beliefs, social norm beliefs, and perceived self-control. Personality and Individual Differences, 66, 165-170.
  • Note: This paper presents how to integrate positive interventions with the theory of planned behavior by I. Ajzen.

Kaczmarek, L. D., Bujacz, A, Eid, M.. (2014). Comparative latent state-trait analysis of satisfaction with life measures: The Steen Happiness Index and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Happiness Studies.

Mojs., E., Bartkowska, W., Kaczmarek, L. D., Ziarko, M., Bujacz, A., Warchoł-Biedermann, K (in press). Psychometric properties of the Polish version of the brief version of Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale - assessment of depression among students. Psychiatria Polska.

Kaczmarek, L. D., Drążkowski, D. (2014). MMORPG escapism predicts decreased well-being: Examination of gaming time, game realism beliefs, and online social support for offline problems. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17, 298-302.
  • Note: This publication introduces the concept of online social support for offline problems.

Kaczmarek, L.D., Goodman, F.R. Drążkowski, D., Kashdan, T.B., Połatyńska, K., & Komorek, J. (2014). Instructional support decreases desirability and initiation of a gratitude intervention. Personality and Individual Differences, 64, 89-93.

Kaczmarek, L. D., Bączkowski, B., Enko, J., Baran, B., Thuens, P. (2014). Subjective well-being as a mediator between curiosity and depression. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 45, 200-204.

Kaczmarek, L. D., Kashdan, T. B., Kleiman, E., Baczkowski, B., Enko, B., Siebers, A., Szäefer, A., Król, M., Baran, B. (2013). Who self-initiates gratitude interventions in daily life? An examination of intentions, curiosity, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 55, 805-810. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.06.013

Ziarko, M., Kaczmarek, Ł. D., Haładziński, P. (2013). Polish version of Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D): Results of a preliminary study on the psychometric properties of the scale. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 1, 51-61.

Kaczmarek, L. D., Haładziński, P., Kaczmarek, L., Baczkowski, B., Ziarko, M., Dombrowski, S. U. (2012). Validation of the Voluntary Participation in Online Surveys Scale. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 42, 210-214.

Kaczmarek, Ł., Sęk, H., Ziarko. M., Marzec, M. (2012). Mechanisms of psychological resiliency in women after mastectomy. Contemporary Oncology, 16, 341–344.

Ziarko, M., Kaczmarek, L. D., Mojs, E. (2012). Mediating role of coping styles in the relationship between anxiety and health behaviours of obese adolescents. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 43, 145-150.

Schröder, H., Reschke, K., Gärtner, A., Kaczmarek, L. D., Sek, H., Ziarko, M., Pasikowski, T. (2011). Psychosocial coping resources and health among Germans and Poles. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 42, 114-122.

Ziarko, M., Kaczmarek, L. D. (2011). Resources in coping with a chronic illness: the example of recovery from myocardial infarction. In: K. M. Gow, M. J. Celinski (eds.), Continuity versus creative response to challenge: the primacy of resilience and resourcefulness in life and therapy. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Kaczmarek, L. D., Stanko-Kaczmarek, M., Dombrowski, S. (2010). Adaptation and Validation of the Steen Happiness Index into Polish. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 41, 98-104.

Kaczmarek, Ł. (2009). Resiliency, stress appraisal, positive affect and cardiovascular activity. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 40, 46-53.


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