Biopsychology of emotion, stress and health

Question 1

What were the three main ideas that composed Darwin’s theory of the evolution of emotional expression?

Answer 1

• Expression of emotion evolve from behaviours that indicate what an animal is likely to do next
• If the signals provided by such behaviours benefit the animals that display them, they will evolve in ways that enhance their communicative function, and their original function may be lost
• Opposite messages are often signalled by opposite movements and postures, an idea called the principle of antithesis

Question 2

What was Darwin’s theory of emotion?

Answer 2

Emotions are a product of evolution

Question 3

What happens when you experience emotions?

Answer 3

You get a range of physiological reactions so you feel something - so you have the biological response which leads to changes in your body

Question 4

Explain the physiological response associated with emotions

Answer 4

The physiological changes are typically associated with the autonomic nervous system, such as increased HR, breathing, and sweating

Question 5

What is the James-Lange Theory?

Answer 5

Suggests that any emotions emotions induce sensory stimuli and are received and interpreted by the cortex. This triggers changes in the visceral organs via the ANS and in the skeletal muscles via the SNS. The autonomic and somatic responses trigger the experience of emotion in the brain.

Question 6

What is the Cannon-Bard theory?

Answer 6

Emotional stimuli have two independent excitatory effect. The excite both the feeling of emotion in the brain and the expression of emotion in the autonomic and somatic nervous systems. ie. Parallel processes that have no direct causal relation

Question 7

What is the Two-factor theory?

Answer 7

Each of the three principal factors in an emotional response –> the perception of the emotion-inducing stimulus, the autonomic and somatic responses to the stimulus, and the experience of the emotion

Question 8

Describe the association between emotions and the autonomic nervous system

Answer 8

Evidence indicates that not all emotions are associated with the same pattern of ANS activity. But there is no evidence that each emotion is characterised by a distinct pattern of ANS activtity

Question 9

Why is fear used widely in research?

Answer 9

Fear is the easiest emotion to infer from behaviour in various species. The way in which fear is expressed is very similar
Fear plays an important adaptive function in motivating the avoidance of threatening situations