CH 12 Psych

Question 1

What parts of the nervous system is responsible for the physiological changes
associated with emotion?

Answer 1

-Autonomic nervous system – physiological changes, involved in functions that don’t involve conscious awareness, carries messages between the CNS and organs and glands of body
-sympathetic nervous system—activates, fight or flight
-parasympathetic nervous system—rest and digest
-limbic system also heavily involved in emotion and memory

Question 2

What are emotions (definition)?

Answer 2

a combination of thoughts, feelings, expressive behaviors, physiological changes

Question 3

Is every emotion associated with a unique pattern of physiological changes?

Answer 3

NO: most emotions produce different patterns but some produce the exact same (not to mention individual peoples’ differences), can’t exactly tell the emotion and individual is having based on a change in physiology

Question 4

Know the different theories of emotion that we covered, how they explain emotion, and
how they differ from each other.

Answer 4

-James-Lange Theory: When there is an emotionally arousing event, that will trigger a specific change in physiology and behavior and that change in phys/behav produces a particular emotion (emotion is based on these changes that occur). Doesn’t involve thinking.
-Cannon-Bard Theory: When an emotionally arousing event occurs, that triggers a non-specific change in physiology/behavior and, at around the same time, will trigger an emotion—neither one causes the other (separate brain pathways). Doesn’t involve thinking.
-Schacter and Singer’s Two Factor Theory: When an emotionally arousing event occurs, that will trigger a nonspecific change in physiology and behavior, this sudden change alerts the brain that something is going on, pay attention. You then evaluate the situation (interpret arousal, interpret situation) and experience an emotion based on your cognitive interpretation/appraisal of your arousal and the situation. THINKING!

Question 5

Know the phenomena associated with the theories that we covered.

Answer 5

-James-Lange Theory: Facial feedback phenomenon, behavioral feedback phenomenon
-Cannon-Bard Theory: nonspecific physiological and behavioral changes + emotion
-Schacter and Singer’s Two Factor Theory: Transferred excitation (the spillover effect), cognitive appraisal

Question 6

What is one of the major problems with the James-Lange Theory?

Answer 6

-James-Lange theory states that when there is an emotionally arousing event, that will trigger a specific change in physiology and behavior and that change in phys/behav produces a particular emotion (emotion is based on these changes that occur)
-requires that requires that psychological changes have distinct/unique emotions, BUT some physiological and behavioral changes produce the same emotion

Question 7

What are the facial feedback and behavioral feedback phenomena?

Answer 7

-support the James-Lange theory
-Facial feedback phenomenon—when changes in facial expression produce corresponding changes in emotion. If you smile, you tend to feel happier, if you frown you tend to feel sadness
-participants found comic book strips funnier while holding a pen between their teeth, smiling
-Behavioral feedback phenomenon—when changes in behavior produce corresponding changes in emotion. Involves more than just the face.
-if you act angry, you’ll feel angry

Question 8

What is a polygraph? What does it measure?

Answer 8

-a device or procedure that measures and records several autonomic physiological indicators
-Skin conductance, blood pressures, breathing rate, pulse

Question 9

What are the problems associated with a polygraph?
How accurate is it? How is it most likely to err?

Answer 9

-Does not specifically detect lies, simply detects physiological arousal, which is not specific to lying
-individual differences: some people can learn to control physiological arousal (ex. spies), or some people just have more reactive/less reactive nervous systems
-Sometimes, the questions themselves produce emotional reactions—victims of sexual assault
-accurate 70% of the time, errs 30% of the time

Question 10

What is cognitive appraisal?

Answer 10

-Cognitive appraisal is the subjective interpretation made by an individual to stimuli in the environment
-relates to stress, mental health, coping, and emotion

Question 11

What is transferred excitation/the spillover effect?

Answer 11

When physiological arousal produced by one situation intensifies or spills over into our emotional reaction to subsequent situation—intensifies

Question 12

What are the primary and secondary emotions and how do they differ?

Answer 12

-Primary emotions – facial expressions that communicate SOME emotions called primary emotions (surprise, interest/excitement, joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust) appear to be innate
-Secondary/self-conscious emotions – the facial expressions that accompany these emotions are not as obvious or easy to interpret (empathy, jealousy, embarrassment, pride, shame, guilt)
-secondary show up later than primary (primary = first six months, secondary = 1 1/2 years to 2 1/2 years)
-secondary emotions require SOME degree of self-awareness/evaluation of self in comparison to others in order to be experienced and expressed

Question 13

What is the mirror-and-rouge test?

Answer 13

-A dab of lipstick is placed on a baby’s face
-if the baby notices that there is a dab on their face and reaches out to rub their face, this indicates that they understand that they are seeing themselves
-Some animals can recognize themselves—dolphins/elephants

Question 14

What are some factors that are related to happiness?

Answer 14

-Having a sense of control
-feeling competent
-feeling like your life has meaning
-having adequate resources
-having satisfying social relationships
-having religious faith all relates to happiness
-personality characteristics

Question 15

What factors are not much to
happiness?

Answer 15

Not much of a relationship to age, gender, and how physically attractive you are

Question 16

What is the relationship between money and happiness?

Answer 16

-Acquiring more money adds significantly to happiness if you have very little of it (over the years, when minimum wage has increased by a dollar, suicide rates have fallen 3-6%)
-Once you have enough money for your own comfort and security, acquiring more and more money provides diminishing returns

Question 17

What is meant by diminishing
returns?

Answer 17

diminishing returns = as you acquire more and more money, it adds less and less to your happiness

Question 18

What is the relationship between income inequality and happiness, and why hasn’t economic growth resulted in greater happiness?

Answer 18

-income inequality: the more income is concentrated in the hands of a few, the more likely individuals are to report lower levels of life satisfaction and more negative daily emotional experiences
-money concentrated in the hands of few in the U.S.

Question 19

In what way is happiness related
to how people spend their money?

Answer 19

-When it comes to money, happiness depends on what we spend our money on
-happier when we spend our money on experiences (vacations) rather than objects
-memories to enjoy from experiences for years to come
-spending money on someone else rather than oneself tends to create more happiness

Question 20

How are social comparisons related to happiness?

Answer 20

-How happy we are depends on who we compare ourselves to
-If we compare ourselves to those that have less than we do, we will be more satisfied with what we have
-If we compare ourselves to those that have more than we do, we will experience relative deprivation

Question 21

What is meant by relative deprivation?

Answer 21

-feeling deprived in relationship to people that have more than you do
-monkey getting grape vs. cucumber

Question 22

What is the adaptation-level phenomenon? How does this relate to the tendency for people to misjudge the effect of major events on their long-term happiness?

Answer 22

-We tend to judge new stimuli and events in relation to what we have recently experienced because what we have recently experienced has a big impact on what we consider to be neutral
-We also tend to adapt to certain circumstances until they become normal to us
-major events—good or bad—do not have as much of an impact on our long-term happiness as we think they will—WE REACT TO RECENT THINGS

Question 23

How does stress affect health?

Answer 23

-physical symptoms: headaches, an upset stomach, high blood pressure, chest pain, and problems with sex and sleep
-emotional problems: depression, panic attacks, or other forms of anxiety and worry

Question 24

What is meant by the terms Type A and Type B personalities?

Answer 24

-Type A and type B are two main personality categories
-Type A personalities may be ambitious, competitive, and aggressive
-Type B personalities may be patient, flexible, and laid-back
-Personality refers to the pattern of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors that make each individual who they are

Question 25

How is perceived control related to stress, health, poverty, and death?

Answer 25

-perceived control is associated with emotional well-being, reduced physiological impact of stressors, enhanced ability to cope with stress, improved performance, less pain, and a greater likelihood of making difficult behavior changes
-less perceived control in poverty and death

Question 26

What is tyranny of choice?

Answer 26

-We presume that more choices allows us to get exactly what we want, making us happier
-drawbacks: regret, adaptation to things we have chosen, unattainable expectations from constantly expecting to get precisely what we want, and paralysis as too many options can decrease the likelihood of making any decision at all

Question 27

Is optimism beneficial?

Answer 27

-positive correlations have been found between optimism and physical/mental well-being
-Optimistic subjects tend to have more frequently protective attitudes, are more resilient to stress and are inclined to use more appropriate coping strategies

Question 28

What are the benefits of social support? Exercise? Relaxation/meditation? Religious
faith?

Answer 28

-reduce the psychological and physiological consequences of stress, and may enhance immune function, increased satisfaction with oneself, confidence, energy
-religious faith: sense of structure, offers a group of people to connect with, reduces suicide rates, alcoholism and drug use

Question 29

What is the feel-good, do-good phenomenon?

Answer 29

-in study after study, a mood-boosting experience such as recalling a happy event has made people more likely to give money, pick up someone’s dropped papers, volunteer time, and do other good deeds