Physiological Differences– Polygraph – supports Cannon-Bard
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
Cognition and Emotion• Sometimes emotions precede cognition (Zajonc)
– Develop emotional preference for stimuli to which have been unknowingly exposed .
• 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)
• Emotions arise when appraise event to be beneficial or harmful whether we know it or not(Lazarus)
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
Culture and Emotional Expression•Similarities:
•display and interpret facial expressions – universal (Eckman)
•Differences•Individualistic countries – convey visible facial expressions of inner feelings
•Gestures vary
The Effects of Facial Expressions
• Facial feedback – effect of facial expressions on emotion– Example:
• Behavior Feedback Theory – effect of your behavior on emotions– Example:
Fear• Adaptive value of fear• Learned
– Conditioning - fear things associated with naturally painful or traumatic experiences
– Observational Learning
• The biology of fear
–Amygdala• Phobias – fear disrupts ability to cope
Anger• Anger
– Evoked by events– Catharsis – emotional release
• Catharsis hypothesis – relieves aggressive urges/calms temporarily if
– Directed against provoker– Justifiable– Target not intimidating
• Example:
– Expressing anger can increase anger
Happiness• Happiness
– Feel-good, do-good phenomenon – people are more helpful when in a good mood.
• Example :
– Well-being – happiness/satisfaction with life
• Example:
Happiness
• Happiness and Prior Experience– Adaptation-level phenomenon -
tendency to judge various stimuli relative to those we have previously experienced
• Happiness and others’ attainments– Relative deprivation – tendency for
our personal happiness to be heavily influenced by others’ attainment
• Example -
Stress and Health• Health psychology - subfield of psychology that
contributes to the prevention and treatment of illness – Example:
• Behavioral medicine - interdisciplinary field that integrates and applies behavioral and medical knowledge to health and disease
Stress and Illness• Stress - process by which we perceive and respond to
environmental threats and challenges.– Stress appraisal – 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• 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.
Seyle’s General Adaptation Syndrome
• Describes our response to a stressful event.
• Three stages1.Alarm2.Resistance3.Exhaustion
– Sources of Stress – daily hassles, 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 together affect immune system– Lymphocytes – 2 types of white blood cells
• B lymphocytes – In bone marrow,release antibodies• T lymphocytes – In thymus and other lymphatic tissue,
attack cancer cells, 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 are called
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