Emotion

Emotion

• Emotion – basic components:– Physiological arousal

(heart beating)– Expressive behaviors

(quickened pace)– Consciously expressed

thoughts (Is this a Kidnapping?) and feelings (a sense of fear and later joy)

4Theories of Emotion

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Two-Factor Theory

• Opponent-Process Theory

James-Lange Theory• Emotions are experienced in the following

sequence: a) an emotional stimulus is presented, causing one to

experience b) physiological reactions, which are thenc) consciously experienced as an emotion.

• Body Changes then mind recognizes feeling

• Presumes: Different emotions have different physiological responses

• Problem: some emotions have same physiological changes

• Examples: See Jason (1)heart pounds (2)feel afraid– “When you feel your heart pound and you start to

sweat, you get really scared”

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

• Physiological experience and experiencing emotion occur at the same time

• Emotional stimulus is simultaneously routed to cerebral cortex (awareness of emotion)and sympathetic nervous system (body arousal)

• Example:– See Jason– Heart Pounding and Fear

occur simultaneously

Two-Factor Theory of EmotionAKA Schachter-Singer Theory

• Experience of emotion depends on two factors: physiological arousal and the

cognitive interpretation/label of that arousal.

• The label people give an emotion depends on what they find in their environment.

• Arousal without a label is not an emotion; a label without arousal does not lead to emotional behavior.

• Experiments• Example:

– See Jason– Heart Pounds, “Im Afraid”– Feel afraid– Or is it because your in love with Jason???– Spillover Effect

Cognitive Label“I’m Afraid”

Spill Over Effect• Spill over effect- emotional arousal

from one event spills over into our response of the next event

– Supports Schachter-Singer Theory » -stirred up state can be experienced

as one emotion or another very different one depending on how we interpret or label it

– Example:• After working out, Mr. Gielink gets

more irritated with his children’s bad behavior

Theories of emotions

Opponent Process TheoryRichard Solomon

• Every emotion triggers an opposing emotion – Happiness/Sadness– Fear/Relief– Pleasure Pain– Love/Hate

• Emotions disrupt homeostasis…opposing emotion enables a return to homeostasis

• Example:– A skydiver experiences extreme fear in her initial

jump, which turned into great relief when she lands

Theories of Emotion Practice• Paul encounters a growling wild animal, and feels a

faster heartbeat, widening eyes, and a physical urge to flee.

• Monica is smiling and laughing and wants to hug Mrs. Joseph because she just received a 5 on her AP Psych Exam.

• Zak just received a 1 on his AP Psych Exam (because he has Mr. Jeter…just kidding Mr. Jeter) and feels a pounding in his chest, perspiration runs down his face and he has an urge to hit someone.

• Use each of the theories of emotion to explain Paul, Monica and Zak’s emotions

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

• Autonomic nervous system – regulates physiological arousal of emotion– Sympathetic nervous system

• Arousing – Epinephrine (adrenaline) and

norepinephrine (noradrenaline) energize and mobilize

– Parasympathetic nervous system• Calming

Arousal and Performance

– Moderate arousal is ideal– Higher on well-learned/simple taskstasks

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

Brain Differences and Emotion

• Brain activity is different depending on emotion - consistent with the ________________Theory– Amygdala – fear– Thalamus/ Right Hemisphere – anger– Right prefrontal cortex/frontal lobe –

disgust/anger/negative emotions– Left prefrontal cortex/Frontal lobe - Joy

• Nucleus accumbens – pleasure (smiling, laughing)

– Anterior cingulate cortex - lying

James-Lange

Physiological Differences– Polygraph – supports ________

Theory• Used to detect lies• measures physiological responses

such as perspiration, heart rate, breathing

• Problems– Anxiety, irritation, guilt have similar

physiological activity• Guilty Knowledge Test – assesses

physiological responses to crime scene details only known by investigators

Cannon-Bard

Cognition and Emotion1. Sometimes emotions precede cognition (Zajonc)

– Develop emotional preference for stimuli to which have been unknowingly exposed .

2. Some emotions occur without cognition, by-passing the cortex (LeDoux).Go directly from thalamus to amygdala = fast/ automatic emotional response– Ex. Jump at rustling bushes in the forest (fear most likely

precedes conscious thinking)

3. Emotions arise when appraise event to be beneficial or harmful whether we know it or not(Lazarus)

Injecting a person with an excitatory chemical that activates the sympathetic nervous system is likely to increase his or her subjective experience of intense fear and anxiety. Use one of the major theories of emotion to account for the effects of this chemical on a person's emotional state. Which theory of emotion would have the greatest difficulty explaining these effects? Why?

Detecting Emotion

• Nonverbal cues– Facial muscles– Eyes (fear/anger) and

mouth (happiness)– Duchenne smile– Difficult to detect

lying

• Introverts better than extroverts

Gender, Emotion, and Nonverbal Behavior

•Women better than men•Detecting emotions•Empathy•Emotional responsiveness•Facial expressions of emotion

•Exception: anger

Gender, Emotion, and Nonverbal Behavior

Culture and Emotional Expression•Similarities:

•display and interpret facial expressions – universal (Eckman)

•Differences•Individualistic countries – convey visible facial expressions of inner feelings

•Gestures vary

Levels of Analysis for the Study of Emotion

The Effects of Facial Expressions

• Facial feedback – effect of facial expressions on emotion– Example: Smiling makes you feel more cheerful

• Behavior Feedback Theory – effect of your behavior on emotions– Example: Swing your arms and keep your head up, you

will feel more upbeat

• A newspaper advice columnist suggests that thinking can be controlled and changed but that emotions are gut-level, biological reactions that can't be controlled or modified. Use your knowledge of emotion research and theory to either support or refute the columnist's claim.

Basic Emotions

• 10 Basic Emotions at birth(Izard)– Joy, interest-excitement, surprise,

sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, guilt

• Other’s are combo of the 10 basic

Fear• Adaptive value of fear• Learned

– Conditioning - fear things associated with naturally painful or traumatic experiences

– Observational Learning

• The biology of fear– Amygdala

• Fear = Implicit memory• Gene increases serotonin available to activate

amygdala• Twin studies

• Phobias – fear disrupts ability to cope

• A motivational speaker claims “Fear is a learned response! Babies are not born with fears; they learn fears, which means fear can be unlearned!” Use your knowledge of the relationships between conditioning and the biology of fear to critique the motivational speaker's claims.

Anger• Anger

– Evoked by events – actions are on purpose, unjustified and avoidable + small hassles and annoyances

– Catharsis – emotional release• Catharsis hypothesis – relieves aggressive urges/calms temporarily if

– Directed against provoker– Justifiable– Target not intimidating

• Example: Punching a pillow

– Expressing anger can increase anger• Behavior Feedback

– Handling anger • Wait until physiological arousal is down, don’t sulk• Express grievance in ways that promote reconciliation rather than retaliation

• Lisa is furious because her steady boyfriend (Thomas) spent half an hour talking with his former girlfriend at last night's school dance. A friend suggests that Lisa ought to get the anger out of her system by repeatedly pounding her pillow while she imagines that she is hitting her boyfriend. Explain why this might be an ineffective way for Lisa to reduce her anger. Suggest better ways.

Happiness• Happiness

– Well-being – happiness/satisfaction with life

• Example: High positive to negative feelings

– Feel-good, do-good phenomenon – people are more helpful when in a good mood.

• Example : After getting an A on your psych test you are persuaded to volunteer at a homeless shelter

HappinessThe Short Life of Emotional Ups and

Downs• Watson’s studies

HappinessWealth and Well-Being

Diminishing Returns Phenomenon - Once you have enough money for comfort, having more money isn’t as meaningful

•A $1000 raise increases well-being more for a poor person from a developing nation than for someone from an affluent nation where median incomes are higher

HappinessWealth and Well-Being

Happiness

• Happiness and Prior Experience– Adaptation-level phenomenon - tendency

people have to quickly adapt to a new situation, until that situation becomes the norm.

• Example – Excited about a $1000 raise until it becomes allocated to new bills, then want more

• Happiness and others’ attainments– Relative deprivation – tendency for our

personal happiness to be heavily influenced by others’ attainment

• Example - You were happy with your grade of B on the psych midterm until you learned that almost everyone else in the class received an A

HappinessPredictors of Happiness

• Jim, a 42-year-old engineer, is unhappy about his yearly salary, although it is the highest salary he has ever earned. His wife, Carla, suggests that he vividly recall how little he earned at the age of 32. She also recommends that he watch a TV program about famine victims in Africa.

• Use your understanding of psychological principles to explain why Carla's suggestions might help to increase Jim's feelings of economic satisfaction.

Stress and Health• Health psychology - subfield of psychology that

contributes to the prevention and treatment of illness – Example: studies how our emotions and personality

influence our risk of disease

• Behavioral medicine - interdisciplinary field that integrates and applies behavioral and medical knowledge to health and disease– Example: Studies how stress and unhealthy behaviors

influence health (combines Psych with M.D.)

Stress and Illness• Stress - process by which we perceive and

respond to environmental threats and challenges.– Stressor – event or situation that causes

stress• Wheel chair attached to truck grille

– Stress reactions – physiological arousal, emotional responses

• Release of hormones, increased heart rate

– Stress appraisal - stress arises less from events than how we appraise them

• Creaking sounds in house-just sounds, or a burglar?

Stress and Illness• Stress Reactions

– Short-lived or perceived as challenges = positive effects• Mobilizes immune system• Motivates

– Prolonged = harms• Activation of sympathetic nervous system

• Fight or flight (Cannon) - Adrenal glands secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine into blood steam

– Cortisol (outer part of adrenal glands)

• Tend and befriend (women)– Oxytocin (stress moderating hormone

• Telomers – bits of DNA at the end at the end of chromosomes

– Get short and no longer divide…a part of the aging process…stress ages

Seyle’s General Adaptation Syndrome

• Describes our response to a stressful event.

• Three stages1.Alarm2.Resistance3.Exhaustion

General Adaptation Syndrome

Stressful Life Events• Significant Life Changes

– Social readjustment rating scale (SRRS)

– Life Changing Units (LCUs)- marriage, change job, etc…

– The more LCUs you have the higher your score is on the SRRS.

– Those who score higher are more likely to have stress related disease.

• Catastrophes– Natural disasters, 9/ll – rate of psych

disorders increases• Daily hassles

– Everyday annoyances, too many things to do**

Stress and the Heart

• Coronary heart disease – closing of vessels that nourish the heart

• Type A versus Type B (Friedman and Rosenman)– Type A – hard-driving impatient, verbally

aggressive, anger prone– Type B – easygoing, relaxed

Stress and Susceptibility to Disease

• Psychophysiological illnesses – stress related physical illness– Examples – hypertension, headaches

• Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) – how psych, neural and endocrine system affect immune system– Lymphocytes – 2 types of white blood cells

• B lymphocytes – In bone marrow, inhibit bacterial infections

• T lymphocytes – In thymus and other lymphatic tissue, attack cancer cells, and inhibit viruses

– Macrophage – Immune system agent that ingests worn-out red blood cells and tiny harmful bacteria

– Natural Killer (NK cells) - Immune system cells that pursue and destroy diseased body cells

Stress and Disease

• Arthritis – overactive immune system causes body to attack own tissue

• AIDS – stress can speed progression of HIV to AIDS by limiting production of lymphocytes

• Cancer – doesn’t create cancer cells, but may affect their growth by suppressing the activity of t-lymphocytes

• What advice would a health psychologist give to a student about the stress of an AP exam? What are the potential benefits of this stressor, and what are the possible disadvantages of long-term stress?