Emotion

Introduction• What is Emotion?

• What is the purpose of emotion?

• Would you like to never feel sad again? Why or why not?

• Will the ultimate lie detector test be a blessing or a curse?

Introduction

• Emotion– Physiological arousal

– Expressive behavior

– Conscious experience

• Common sense theory

Theories of Emotions

Theories of Emotion

• James-Lange Theory of Emotion.• We feel emotion because of

biological changes caused by stress.

• The body changes and our mind recognizes the feeling.

Theories of Emotions

• James-Lange theory

Theories of Emotions

• James-Lange theory

Theories of Emotions

• James-Lange theory

Theories of Emotion

Cannon-Bard Theory• Say James-Lange theory is

full of crap.• How can that be true if similar

physiological changes correspond with drastically different emotional states.

• The physiological change and cognitive awareness must occur simultaneously.

• They believed it was the thalamus that helped this happen.

Theories of Emotions

• Cannon-Bard theory

Theories of Emotions

• Cannon-Bard theory

Theories of Emotions

Schachter-Singer Two Factor Theory• Factor 1 = physical arousal• Factor 2 = cognitive label for the arousal• Emotional Experience Requires:

– Conscious interpretation of the arousal

Theories of Emotions

• Two-factor theory–Schachter-Singer

Theories of Emotions• Two-factor theory - Schachter-Singer

Theories of Emotions• Two-factor theory - Schachter-Singer

Theories of Emotions

• Applying the Theories– How would each of the theories explain the

emotion of fear in response to seeing a spider?– Demo

Embodied Emotion

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

• Autonomic nervous system– Fight or Flight (Physiological Response)

– Sympathetic nervous system• arousing

– Parasympathetic nervous system• Calming

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

• Opponent-Process Theory– How would it explain people’s motivation to sky-

dive?

Physiological Similarities Among Specific Emotions

• Which emotions have similar physiological bases?

• Different movie experiment

How can your experience on a roller coaster demonstrate the similarities between emotions?

Physiological Differences Among Specific Emotions

• Differences in brain activity– Amygdala (Fear vs. Anger)

• S.M. – No Fear & Can’t See it

– Frontal lobes • Negative = more activity in right• Positive = more activity in left (dopamine

receptors)

– WWII Research (Spinal Cord Injuries)• Paralyzed only in legs = no loss of emotion• Paralyzed neck down = loss of intensity

Cognition and EmotionCognition Can Define Emotion

• Spill over effect– Schachter-Singer experiment– Examples?

• Basic Idea = Arousal fuels emotions, cognition channels it

Cognition and EmotionCognition Does Not Always Precede Emotion

• Influence of the amygdala– Low vs. High Road– Fearful vs. Happy Eyes

• Subliminal Effects – 4 letter word, face with drinks– Voting like vs. similar views– E Demo

Cognition and EmotionCognition Does Not Always Precede Emotion

Expressed Emotion

Detecting Emotions – Nonverbal Cues

Detecting Emotion• Nonverbal Cues – How did you use them in the previous activity?• How else do we detect people’s emotions?• Real vs. Fake Smiles – Can you tell the difference?

Gender, Emotion, and Nonverbal Behavior

• Acceptable Behavior or not?• In one minute, write a description of how

you feel today.• Women’s Reactions to Films• Which side (R/L) appears more masculine?

More feminine?

Culture and Emotional ExpressionCan you correctly identify the emotions on these faces?

Does the knowledge that emotional expression is universal change your attitude about people from other cultures and the opposite gender? Why or why not?

Why is it important to study how and why emotions are expressed?

The Effects of Facial Expressions• Emotional Contagion

– Unconscious motor mimicry – we imitate others– Examples?

• Facial feedback – Facial exps. intensify emotions

– Smiling = less racial bias? / Botox = no Depression?

• Behavior feedback – how we act has similar effect

– Walking example

Microexpressions

Paul Ekman & Lie Detection

Experienced Emotion

Basic Emotions• Create a list of “basic” emotions

– List as many as you can, then try to narrow them down into categories.

• Now check your list with someone else’s list near you.– Are they similar? Do they have any different categories?

• Do your basic emotions match Carroll Izard’s?– Joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust,

contempt, fear, shame, guilt

• Now attempt to put your basic list into the chart

Fear• What do you fear? List as many as possible.

– Top Fears for Men:• Speaking in front of a Group• Being Physically Assaulted• Failing a Test• Not being a Success• Death• Surgical Operation• Suffocation• Looking Foolish• Making Mistakes• Feeling Disapproved of

– Top Fear for Women:• Speaking in front of a Group• Being Physically Assaulted• Failing a Test• Not being a Success• Death• Snakes• Surgical Operation• Suffocation• Looking Foolish• Large Open Spaces• Rejection

How did you learn these fears?Do some of these fears serve a

purpose?

Fear

• Role of amygdala–Helps us learn fears

Can you be literally scared to death?

Anger

• Evoked by events – How?– What makes you angry?

Why?

• Use facial and behavioral feedback to argue against catharsis.

Happiness• Top Ten List

– Categorize them in to “material” and “non-material”

– Which do you have more of?

• 3 Wishes– Material or non-material?– Were your wishes changes to your

life situation or to you yourself?

• Happiest People You Know– What were their responses?– Did they offer insight into how you

could be happier?• Share with someone around you

Feel-good, Do good phenomenonDo you see this in your own life?

How could it work the opposite way?

HappinessThe Short Life of Emotional Ups and Downs

• We overestimate the duration of our emotions and underestimate our capacity to adapt.

HappinessWealth and Well-Being

Happiness• After hearing each situation, rate how happy

you think you would feel in one year on a scale of 1-10.

• Situation #1 = Ratings?• Situation #2 = Ratings?• Research suggests that, after a year, people

experiencing these 2 events would report little difference in life satisfaction.

How could this phenomenon help to explain the information on this chart?

Happiness

• Relative Deprivation– Grade Inflation at Colleges & Universities– What do you consider a “good” grade?– Lottery Scenario

• How would you feel? Why?

– “Keeping up with the Joneses”

HappinessPredictors of Happiness

Stress and Health

Stress and Illness• Stress

– Stress appraisal – Tough Math Test• How do you react?

Stress and IllnessDaily Hassles

• Troubling thoughts about Future

• Not Getting enough Sleep• Wasting Time• Inconsiderate Smokers• Physical Appearance• Too many things to do• Misplacing or Losing Things• Not Enough Time• Concerns about Meeting

High Standards• Being Lonely

Daily Uplifts

• Completing a Task• Relating Well with Friends• Giving a Present• Having Fun• Getting Love• Giving Love• Being Visited, Phoned, or

Texted• Laughing• Entertainment• Music

Stress and IllnessThe Stress Response System

• Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

– Phase 1 = Alarm

– Phase 2 = Resistance

– Phase 3 = Exhaustion

Stress and IllnessGeneral Adaptation Syndrome

Stress and IllnessGeneral Adaptation Syndrome

Stress and IllnessGeneral Adaptation Syndrome

Stress and IllnessGeneral Adaptation Syndrome

Stress and Illness

Stress and Illness

Stress and Illness

Stress and IllnessStressful Life Events

• Catastrophes

• Significant life changes

• Daily hassles

Stress and the Heart

• Type A versus Type B– Type A

– Type B

Stress and the Heart– ABC Video

The End

Definition Slides

Emotion

= a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience.

James-Lange Theory

= the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.

Cannon-Bard Theory

= the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion.

Two-factor Theory

= the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal.

Polygraph

= a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measure several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes).

Facial Feedback

= the effect of facial expressions on experienced emotions, as when a facial expression of anger or happiness intensifies feelings of anger or happiness.

Catharsis

= emotional release. The catharsis hypothesis maintains that “releasing’ aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges.

Feel-Good Do-Good Phenomenon

= people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood.

Well-being

= self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people’s quality of life.

Adaptation-level Phenomenon

= our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience.

Relative Deprivation

= the perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves.

Behavioral Medicine

= an interdisciplinary field that integrates behavior and medical knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease..

Health Psychology

= a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine.

Stress

= the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

= Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases – alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

Coronary Heart Disease

= the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in North America.

Type A

= Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people.

Type B

= Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people.

Psychophysiological Illness

= literally, “mind-body” illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches.

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)

= the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health.

Lymphocytes

= the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system; B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T lymphocytes form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.