Emotion

Why do we have emotion? Emotions enhance our survival Focus our attention Energize our behavior

Emotion involves: Physiological arousal (fight or flight) Cognitive interpretation (the conscious

and unconscious recognition of a situation

Subjective feelings (memories and the brain realizing the bodies arousal)

Behavioral expression (facial expressions)

Theories of Emotion

James-Lange Theory of Emotion Emotion FOLLOWS your body’s response

Cannon-Bard Theory of emotion Physiological arousal and our emotional response

happen SIMULTANEOUSLY EX. Your heart starts pounding as you experience

fear; one doesn’t cause the other Schachter Two-Factor Theory

All emotions are similar (like Cannon-Bard); our emotional experience stems from awareness

of our body’s aroused state (like James-Lange) but also has COGNITION as a role in emotion

Misattribution Where we attribute emotion to an

incorrect stimulus Ex. Going through a dangerous situation

and attributing the heightened arousal to a person instead of the event

Cognitive appraisal theory Where after an event has occurred we

make a decision on how we should feel

Theories of Emotion

Remember the Divisions of the Nervous System???

Nervous System

Central Nervous System

Peripheral NervousSystem

Somatic Nervous System

Autonomic Nervous System

Sympathetic NervousSystem

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Nervous System and Emotion

Sympathetic Nervous system ALERTS; directs your adrenal glands

atop your kidneys to release stress hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine

Elevating respiration, blood pressure, and heart rate

Parasympathetic Nervous system CALMS; inhibits the release of stress

hormones

Emotion and YOUR BODY

Arousal and Performance

We perform BEST when we are moderately aroused But the level of arousal varies for different tasks Students who are HYPERAROUSED usually perform

more POORLY than those who are moderately aroused and confident

PREPARING and RELAXING before an exam enables students to perform better

this is why its important NOT to cram before an exam When you cram you force yourself into a hyperaroused

state (nervousness) sabotaging your performance When you’re prepared you’re able to relax because you

KNOW the information

Cognition and Emotion

Our brains react to vast amounts of information WITHOUT conscious awareness Hearing something rustling in the bushes we

respond without knowing what was in the bushes Simple emotions such as likes, dislikes, and fears

can involve no conscious thinking More complex emotions such as depression, love

and jealousy involve expectations, memories and interpretations ie cognition

Nonverbal Communication

Most humans are better at detecting nonverbal THREATS than other emotions

We read FEAR and ANGER from the eyes HAPPINESS from the mouth Introverts are better at reading others

emotions, although extroverts are easier to read

Abused children are quicker than other children to see anger

A Woman’s “intuition”

Women are superior at spotting lies Women generally are better at reading

emotional cues as well Women are more adept at describing

emotions in greater depth and detail Women are more likely to describe

themselves as empathic or having empathy for others (identify emotionally what others feel; cry when others cry, rejoice when they rejoice)

Men are more adept at identifying and conveying ANGER

Detecting Emotion

Most of us find it difficult to detect when someone is lying 54% accuracy rate

Training people (CIA, police, psychologists) to detect liars is an equally daunting task with most trained professionals being only 67-73% correct

Our brains detect subtle hints to indicate emotion Tone gestures facial expressions

Trouble arises when postures or gestures have double meanings

Ex. Fidgeting can mean nervousness OR boredom; folded arms can mean irritability OR boredom

Computer based communication (email, text messages, etc) Gestures, tone, and facial expressions are all absent in

computer based communication leading to miscommunication Without seeing a face or hearing a tone in which something is

said the message can be misconstrued How many times have YOU gotten into an argument because of

a misread email or text message?

Culture and Emotion

A smile and anger are universally recognized around the world

Darwin theorized that before verbal communication we communicated through facial expressions; this shared expression is why we all share basic emotions with the same facial expressions

Emotion is best understood not only as a biological and cognitive function but also in the constraint of culture and society

Culture and Emotion

Americans and Western Europeans are extremely expressive

Irish and Irish Americans are far more expressive in contrast to Scandinavians (Northern Europeans: Sweden, Norway, Denmark) and Scandinavian Americans

Israel and Italian MEN more often than women hide their feelings of sadness

WOMEN are more are more likely to hide sadness in Britain, Spain, and Switzerland

In Asian cultures both sexes are more likely to restrain all emotional responses

Emotional Intelligence

HIGH emotional intelligence is where a person is in tune with their emotions and OTHERS as well Marshmallow test

Delayed gratification in young children is indicative self-reliance, more effective interpersonal relationships, better students, and better equipped to handle frustration and stress

Emotion and Culture

Expressed Emotion

To be cheerful---act cheerfully Research indicates that when we express emotion

we tend to amplify them as well “he who gives in to violence will INCREASE his

rage” Charles Darwin Behavior feedback phenomenon

By acting a certain way you can shift your mood Ex. Walking, swinging your arms and smiling then

change to looking downward, with folded arms and short steps….Feel a your mood shift?

Ex. When the Mr. Solomon is in a bad mood and HE looks angry and acts aggressively towards YOU…what kind of mood does this put YOU in?

Paul Ekman’s “facial language”

Universal emotional expressions that speak to the common biological heritage of the human species Seven basic emotions

Sadness Fear Anger Disgust Contempt Happy surprise

Emotion

7 basic emotions Happiness Surprise Sadness Anger Disgust Contempt Fear

Display rules Rules that govern the intensity and context of

displaying emotions in different cultures Robert Plutchik theory of emotion that all

others are a mixture of the ones listed here Ex. Love is a mix of joy and acceptance

Emotions

Fear

We fear certain animals and situations through evolution and through observation of others loud noises, large animals, snakes, etc.

Children learn to fear very early on through falls and near falls. Through conditioning this list grows and grows

Fear can be taught and passed on from parent to child As a child you see your mother scream and run

from a mouse, upsetting you, you then begin to associate being upset with the physical sight of a mouse…therefore learning and perpetuating the fear

Fear

the AMYGDALA plays a role in associating what we fear with certain situations

The AMYGDALA receives signals from the anterior cingulate cortex that signal the physical symptoms of extreme fear (shortness of breath, upset stomach, etc)

Scientists have identified the gene that influences our temperament (emotional reactivity)

Anger

Chronic anger is linked to heart disease Its common among western societies to “vent” your

anger in a constructive way to achieve CATHARSIS (or emotional release from the anger)

BUT studies show that catharsis does not always make you feel better

More often expressing anger usually leads to more anger (ie retaliation) or acting angry can make us ANGRIER (behavior feedback)

“Venting anger is like putting a fire out with gasoline!” The best way to deal with anger is to WAIT (bringing

down the level of physical arousal, calm yourself (exercise, some other calming activity, talking with someone)

Without letting offender off the hook or allowing further harm. Forgiveness releases anger and calms the body

Cognitive therapy and Anger Management therapy include: Relaxation techniques to deal with anger (counting,

meditating to relax, breathing deeply) Learning alternative ways to interpret situations that

would cause anger (this person believes I have hurt them so they’re angry with me) rationally examining the persons behavior

Learning to express anger safely (punching a pillow etc)

Identifying the source of one’s anger (understanding what is within your locus of control “I can control MYSELF not OTHERS nor what OTHERS DO”)

Letting go of unrealistic goals that feed anger (“if I let her know I’m angry she wont make me angry again”)

Wealth & Happiness

“Feel good, Do-good phenomenon” The tendency to be helpful when we are

already in a good mood We often overestimate the duration of our

emotions (“im gonna always be miserable!”) and underestimate our capacity to adapt (everything in life changes; “you’ll get over it!”)

Most people believe that they would be happier if they had more money and they would be….for a little while!

Wealth and Happiness

Wealth is like HEALTH. When you don’t have it you’re MISERABLE, but having it doesn’t make you HAPPY.

Growing up poor puts one at risk for many problems but so does growing up rich ex. Substance abuse, anxiety, depression

What matters more than money is how YOU feel about what you have. Those who live with a sense of gratitude enjoy greater happiness

Wealth & Happiness

So does having a little more money = being a little more happy?

Unfortunately NO. Being able to spend more and have more just enables us to have more THINGS not more happiness

The average American is exponentially wealthier than Americans 50 years ago are we happier now than we were then?

Unfortunately NO. elevated rates of divorce, teen suicide, & depression indicate we are MORE MISERABLE!

Wealth & happiness

Research also indicates that college graduates who strive for gains in power, money and showing off are twice as likely to describe themselves as fairly or very UNHAPPY

Those who value love more than money report higher satisfaction with life than those seeking financial wealth

Happiness

Adaptation-level phenomenon When our current level of income, social prestige,

etc increases we feel a surge of happiness but we quickly adapt to this gain and then require something BETTER to give us another surge of happiness

Ex. You got a raise last year and now you’ve adapted to your income and want more, more, more!

Seeking happiness through material achievements require an ever increasing abundance of things

This is why material wants can be insatiable The saying “the possessor is possessed by

possessions”

Happiness

Relative deprivation The sense that we are worse off than others with

whom we compare ourselves to Ex. We are only less attractive, clumsy, less

intelligent when we compare ourselves to others we PERCEIVE to be beautiful, agile or smart

YOU WILL NEVER BE HAPPY COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS!!

Comparing yourself to others who are better off creates envy We compare ourselves to our peers.

Ex. Beggars envy other beggars who appear to be more successful

middle class envy each other; ”keeping up with the Jones’”

Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander, Alexander envied Hercules, and Hercules NEVER EXISTED!

Comparing yourself to others who are LESS well off boosts our contentment“I cried about having no shoes until

I met a man who had no FEET!”