MOTIVATION AND EMOTION
EMOTION
• Emotions are a mix
of
• physiological arousal
• expressive behavior
(ex. facial
expressions)
• conscious
experience (ex.
cognitive appraisal of
the experience)
THE BIOLOGY OF EMOTION
• Brain Mechanisms • Limbic system
• The amygdala appears to have a primary role in emotions
• Amygdala removal in animals produces a lack of fear and rage responses
• Hemispheres • The right hemisphere is
active during many displays of emotion
• Damage to the right hemisphere often leaves individuals emotionally indifferent and unable to read emotions
THE BIOLOGY OF EMOTION
• Autonomic Nervous System • The sympathetic
nervous system releases acetylcholine that prepares the body for vigorous activity
• Examples include • dilated pupils
• increased respiration
• accelerated heartbeat
STRESS
• Most stressors are caused by everyday occurrences
• General Adaptation Syndrome (Selye; Cannon) • Alarm
• Resistance
• Exhaustion
THEORIES OF EMOTION
• James-Lange
• Emotional stimulus
causes physical
reaction
• Physical reaction
causes an emotion
• Ex. “We are afraid
because we run” or
“We feel sorry
because we cry.”
THEORIES OF EMOTION
• Cannon-Bard • An emotional
awareness and an internal physiological response (change) occur at the same time • Thalamus relays
emotional stimuli to cortex and internal organs simultaneously
• One is not the cause of the other
• Both the result of a cognitive appraisal of the situation
THEORIES OF EMOTION
• Cognition and Emotion • how we think about
events affects the experience of the emotion
• Two-Factor Theory (Schachter and Singer) • Emotion results from the
cognitive appraisal of both (1) physical arousal and (2) emotion provoking stimulus
• The labels we use to describe our emotions depend on our immediate environment
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WARNING: THERE IS ONE CLIP IN THIS VIDEO THAT IS GROSS…WHEN YOU SEE THE WARNING, SKIP OVER IT IF YOU WANT
Emotion
fear
Cognitive interpretation
“I feel afraid!”
Physiological arousal
trembling
increased heart rate
James-
Lange
theory
Cannon-
bard
theory
Two-factor
theory
Stimulus
snake
Stimulus
snake
Stimulus
snake
Emotion
fear
Physiological arousal
trembling
increased heart rate
Physiological arousal
trembling
increased heart rate
Emotion
fear
EXPRESSING EMOTION
• How do cultures differ in emotional expression? • The meaning of gestures
varies with the culture
• Display rules • cultural norms that tell us
which emotions we display • learned during childhood
and act to exaggerate, minimize, or mask emotional expressions
• Expression of emotions depends on the situation and who is present
EXPERIENCING EMOTION
• Seven universal
emotions
• anger,
• disgust,
• fear,
• happiness,
• sadness,
• surprise,
• and contempt
EXPERIENCING EMOTION
• Fear • adaptive response
preparing our bodies to flee danger
• Acquired through... • classical conditioning (ex.
those reflecting our past traumas)
• observational learning (ex. those reflecting fears of our parents and friends)
• Biological predispositions • Ex. snakes, cliffs, and
spiders, not cars and electricity
EXPERIENCING EMOTION
• Anger • Causes of anger
• annoyances, foul odors, extreme temperatures, aches and pains
• Catharsis hypothesis • reduction of anger by release
through aggressive actions
• advantage: can be temporarily calming if it does not leave us feeling guilty or anxious
• disadvantage: expressing anger leads to more anger
• Appropriate ways to channel anger • exercising, playing music,
talking to a friend
EXPERIENCING EMOTION
• Happiness • adaptation-level
principle: we adapt to levels of a stimulus and need something even better to make us feel happy
• relative-deprivation principle: the sense that we are worse off than others with whom we compare ourselves
• predictors of happiness • high self-esteem, outgoing,
close relationships, work that engages, religious faith, sleeping well, exercise