Class 13: Emotions and Cognition III

Man, in the instability of his emotions resembles deplorably a monkey.

Joseph Conrad

1. More neurons than spinal cord

2. Fibers non-mylinated—like in big brain

3. Bathed in same neurochemicals as big brain

4. Suffers damage to big-brain diseases

5. Responsive to psychotropic drugs

Brain in Gut (aka Neurogastroenterology)

1. Big brain and gut brain communicate

2. Stressful event #1: Big brain stores threat in “emotion memory”

3. Stressful event #2: Limbic system responds, sends signal to gut. Gut may get signal before cortex.

4. Result—gut feeling

Are “Gut Feelings” Real?

Kelly's travail:What signal does she FAIL to attend to? Why?What signal does she finally attend to? Why?How does Kelly's experience relate to emotion arousal? (hint—Mandler theory of emotions)

Why do people discard danger signals?Dilemma: external cues do not justify feeling.

Social desirability, politeness normsDependence on experts

What might determine who listens to own emotions?

De Becker meets St. Exupery:a. How do emotions and cognition interact?b. Which informs which? In what order?c. Is unc. smart or dumb?

De Becker: Gift of Fear

Challenging DeBecker

Is his approach a version of "Victim Blaming"?

Aren't there times when it's better to follow social rules than own "gut reaction"?

Do emotions = "intuition"?

What if you have multiple emotions, e.g., Anger + Fear?

Mood Effects and Person Perception:

Forgas & Bower

Scuba Diver Study

Learn on Land

Learn Under Water

Recall on Land

Good

Poor

Recall Under Water

Poor

Good

State Dependent Memory

Memory associated with an emotional state will be easier to

retrieve when you are in that same emotional state.

Example: Learn FACT A when happy, easier to remember FACT A when happy.

Memory associated with an emotional state will be harder to

retrieve when you are in an opposed emotional state.

Example: Learn FACT A when happy, harder to remember FACT A when sad.

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Number of Attributes Recalled About Target as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)

Subjects Mood

Details Recalled

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Number of Attribute Items Correctly Recognized as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)

Subjects Mood

Details Recalled

MOOD CONGUENT LEARNING

REALTOR BURGLER

Emotional states are similarly goal-related.Emotion at Time A affects how situation is searched and learned at Time A

Emotion (mood) congruent learning relates to what Lewinian construct?

Life space.

5.65.8

66.26.46.66.8

77.27.47.6

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Time Spent Reading Descriptive Sentences as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)

Subject's Mood

Attribute Valence

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pos judgments neg judgments

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Number of Pos and Neg Judgments Made as a Function of Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)

Subject's Mood

Judgments Made of Target

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Time Taken to Judge Target as Positive or Negative as a Function of Attribute Valence (Pos vs. Neg) and Participant Mood (Sad vs. Happy)

Judgments Made of Target

Subjects Mood

Mood and Visual Processing

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Who sees “M”?

Who sees “L”?

Happy or Sad

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Do Humans Care About Other Humans?Batson (1990)

Acts of Selfless (?) Heroism

The “fifth man” in Air Florida crash

Polish Concentration Camp Guard

Question: What motivates this behavior?

Why Do People Help Others?

Altruistic explanation -- Caring

Egoistic explanations

Negative state relief: Stop personal discomfort

Avoid social/self punishments: Shame, guilt

Seek social/self rewards: Honor, pride

A “Selfishness Bias” in Psychology?

Freud: Behavior based on pleasure principleSkinner: Behavior based on pleasure principle Modern Self Theorists in Social Psychology:

1. Totalitarian ego: false uniqueness, false representativeness

2. Self affirmation3. Self esteem4. Self monitoring5. Self efficacy6. Downward social comparison

The “Selfish Gene” Theory

Fundamental goal of life-forms – pass on genes

Who will pass on genes? Those who survive

Therefore behaviors that promote survival are “adaptive” and are “selected in”

Behaviors that jeopardize survival are maladaptive and are “selected out”

Who is more likely to survive, the selfless helper or the selfish non-helper?

Challenges to “Selfish Gene”

Inclusive Fitness:

Share genes with others

Risk taking for others promotes their survival

People more apt to sacrifice for those closest to them

in terms of shared genes

Reciprocal Altruism:

I help you today, you help me tomorrow, and typically

with interest.

Prosocial Behavior vs. Altruistic Behavior

1. Prosocial: Helping others, for any reason

2. Altruistic: Helping others because you care

about them.

Note: Altruistic is a type of pro-social behavior.

Emotions Consistent with

Egoistic (Selfish) Behavior

Envy Pride

Jealousy Spite

Greed

Lust

Gluttony

Covetousness

Scheudenfreuden

Empathy

Emotions Consistent with

Altruistic Behavior

Daniel Batson: Empathy and Altruism

Batson conducts classic research on “bystander intervention”, showing how situations can prevent people from helping.

Jerusalem to Jericho study, for example

However, he becomes interested why some people help, others do not, regardless of the situation.

Asks: Are we capable of caring?

Empathy vs. Avoiding Shame: The “Elayne” Study

1. Subs. told: study about learning and shocks2. Sub. is “observer”, confed. (“Elayne”) is “learner”3. Sub. learnes Elayne is very similar (high empathy cond)

or very dissimilar to him/her (low empathy cond)4. Sub. sees Elayne's distress, upset5. Exptr. calls a break, asks Elayne if OK, “yes, but water please.” Elayne is clearly distressed.6. During break, Sub completes mood check-list.

Purpose: ID people high/low on empathy7. Elayne confides to Expt. childhood trauma w’ shocks.8. Expt. asks Subs: “willing to switch places w’ Elayne?”9. Subs. must qualify to help by performing well at test

a. For ½ Subs. “easy test, most can do well”b. For ½ Subs. “hard test, most can’t do well”

“Social Censure” vs. “Empathy and Altruism” Predictions

Justification for not helping

Low Empathy Condition

High Empathy Condition

“Social Censure” Predictions

Weak Justif. Helps Helps

Strong Justif. No Help No Help

Justification for not helping

Low Empathy Condition

High Empathy Condition

“Empathy and Altruism” Predictions

Weak Justif. Helps Helps

Strong Justif. No Help Helps

Rates of Volunteering to Help Distressed “Elaine” as a Function of Felt Empathy and Opportunity to Avoid Social Censure

Batson et al., 1988

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Distress Empathy

Easy Test

Hard Test

Note: Easy test = Low Justification to avoid helping

Hard test = High justification to avoid helping

Effort Made to Qualify to Help “Elaine” as a Function of Felt Empathy and Opportunity for Face-Saving Out

Batson, et al., 1988

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Note: Easy Test = Low justification to avoid trying on test

Hard Test = High justification of avoid trying on test

Solution to Selfishness vs. Altruism Debate – “The Shared Self”

Problem: Do we ever intentionally act outside of self-interest?

Solution: Reconsider what we mean by “self” and “other”

Batson’s implicit definition – these are distinct entities

S O

Solution to Selfishness vs. Altruism, Contin.

What do people say when someone they love has died? What phases do they use to express this kind of loss?

“Part of me is missing”, “It’s as if I lost a limb”

What does this suggest about the self/other divide?

In other words, can self/other be represented as overlapping, rather than separate? S O

In this case “me” is not limited to my biological self, but to a shared self.

Empathy Altruism my require this “shared self”