Ch 4.4-4.6 Flashcards
3 components of emotion
physiological ( body) component
behavioral ( action) component
cognitive ( mind) component
physical aspect of emotion
and example
one of emotional arousal or excitation of the bodyès internal state
sensations that accompany emotion
feel heart pounding , breathing becoming shallow and rapid and palms becoming sweaty when you are suprised
behavioral aspect of emotion
includes some kind of expressive behavior
example: screaming and bringing hands to mouth when suprised
cognitive aspect of emotion and example
involved appraisal or interpretation of situation
initially after being startled, the thought dangerous situation or fear may arise , reassesed to suprise and exciteent
emotions and physiological and behavioral responses
many emotions share the same phys or behav responses , it is mind that interprets one situation which evokes quickened heart rate and tears as joyful and another with same responses as fearful
darwinès assumption regarding emotions
emotions had a strong biological basis
emotions should be experienced and expressed in similar ways across cultures if this assumption is true
is in fact true
six major universal emotions
happiness, sadness, suprise, fear, disgust, and anger
emotions have an innate basis
despite of culture, most people can readily identify these emotions by observing facial expression
childrenès capacity for emotional expression and recognition appear to develop along similar timelines, regardless of their environment
environmental factors and expression of emotions
environmental factors do play a role in the expression of emotions
relationship between performance and emotional arousal
is a U shaped correlation
people perform best when they are moderately aroused
Yerkes Dodson law
suggests that there is a correlation between emotional arousal and performance up to a point a student will perform best when neither too complacent nor too overwhelmed , but at the sweet spot of optimum arousal
where is the sweet spot of optimal arousal for people
can vary greatly from person to person and task to task
adaptive roles of emotion
moderating performance
enhances survival
role in influencing individual behaviors within a social conext
emotionès role in enhancing survival
useful guide for quick decisions
fear when walking down dark alley can be a useful tool to indicate that the situation may be dangerous
anger may enhance survival by encouraging attack on an intruder
emotion in social context
embarrassment may encourage social conformity
in social contexts, emotions provide a means for non verbal communication and empathy, allowing for cooperative interactions
emotion and everyday life
choices often require considerations of our emotions
prefrontal cortex and emotion
person with injury in prefrontal ( which plays a role in processing emotion ) has trouble imagining their own emotional responses to the possible outcomes of decisions
which can lead to inappropriate decisions that can cost someone a job
commonsense way of thinking about emotion
something happens ( stimulus), then you experience an emotion, then you have a physioloical response
example for commonsense way of emotion
scary dog starts chasing you ( stimulus) , you experience the emotion ( fear) and physiological response ( heart begins to race) then a behavioral response ( you run away)
James Lange theory
proposed in late 1800s
flips commonsense notion of how emotion is experienced:
instead of first experiencing the emotion and then the physiological response, JL theory proposes we first experience phys and then we exp emotion
ex for JL theory
if scary dog begins to chase you, we first experience the increase in heart rate followed by a conscious labeling of the feeling as fear
counterintuitivity of the theory
implies you feel afraid because your heart is racing ( ex)
suggests emotional experience ( brain labeling situation as fear inducing) as a result of physiological response
JL theory suggestions regarding autonomic NS responses
increased muscle tension, increased heart rate, sweating and other physiological reactions caused by the auto NS
suggests emotions are a result of physiological responses, and not their cause
James and Lange suggested that auto activity induced by emotional stimuli generate the feeling of emotion, not the other way around
evidence to support JL theory : breathing patterns
short shallow breathing causes feeling of panic while long deep breathing creates a feeling of calm