Chapter 10 - Emotion and Motivation

Question 1

what is emotion?

Answer 1

emotions involve the evaluation of a stimulus, a response, and a subjective experience.

Question 2

the 2 dimensions of emotion?

Answer 2

qualitative (valence): positive to negative
quantitative (arousal): passive ot active

Question 3

what is the James-Lange theory?

Answer 3

an emotion arises because we feel the reaction of the body. a stimulus elicits a reflex-like reaction in the autonomous nervous system. this reaction when sensed is experienced as a feeling.

Question 4

what is the Cannon & Bard theory?

Answer 4

a stimulus simultaneously activates the autonomic nervous system and the cortex via the thalamus. the cortex gives rise to the feeling of an emotions and is also able to inhibit it.

Question 5

what is the Schacter and Singer theory?

Answer 5

the two-factor theory of emotion states that emotion is based on two factors: physiological arousal and cognitive label

Question 6

Schacter and Singer’s classical experiment

Answer 6

Participants were injected with adrenalin, a hormone that stimulates the sympathetic nervous system.

Some participants were told that there would be no effect of this injection while others were informed that it would make their heart race.

Participants were then put in a room with a ‘confederate’ who acted either in an extremely happy or very angry manner.

Question 7

the limbic system

Answer 7

the limbic system is best known for its role in emotions (amygdala, hippocampus, gyrus cinguli): the amygdala in particular is involved in making an evaluation of the emotional-relevant aspects of a stimulus

Nucleus accumbens is a structure related to pleasure

Question 8

what happens when the limbic system is damaged?

Answer 8

fear response decreases

Question 9

what happened to Phineas Gage after his accident?

Answer 9

he became a very unpleasant/unsocial person and he provided the first indication that the frontal lobes are also involved in emotion regulation

Question 10

LeDoux

Answer 10

there is a fast direct pathway and a parallel slow indirect pathway

Question 11

Darwin

Answer 11

assumed that emotional expressions are established through an evolutionary process; they have a survival function

Question 12

Paul Ekman

Answer 12

showed that people from different cultures judge faces in a similar fashion. there is a universal way to express emotions. the six basic emotions are happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust/contempt.

Question 13

what is the facial feedback hypothesis?

Answer 13

emotional expression (in the face) can cause emotional experiences (holding pen between teeth vs lips).

Question 14

what are display rules?

Answer 14

display rules are norms for controlling emotional expressions

Question 15

what are the different techniques of display rules?

Answer 15

Intensification, deintensifaction, masking and neutralizing

Question 16

intensifaction

Answer 16

exaggerating the expression

Question 17

deintensifaction

Answer 17

muting the expression

Question 18

masking

Answer 18

expressing a different emotion than what you are feeling

Question 19

neutralizing

Answer 19

feeling an emotion but not expressing anything

Question 20

responses caused by emotion?

Answer 20

emotions are related to responses of the autonomous nervous system (increased heart rate, larger pupils, sweating, elevated blood pressure) that are not always under the control of the brain.

a lie detector is based on this principle

Question 21

Capgras syndrome/delusion (object recognition)

Answer 21

a person holds a delusion that a friend. spouse, parent, family member, pet, home, etc. have been replaced by an imposter/copy.

there is conscious recognition, but no automatic emotional reaction.

object recognition is accompanied by an emotional component (mine/not mine, safe/unsafe)

Question 22

motivation

Answer 22

there are different reasons we do the things we do. according to the hedonistic principle, people seek to maximize pleasure and minimize pain

Question 23

instinct

Answer 23

inherited and innate tendency to fulfil a goal

Question 24

arousal

Answer 24

the amount of energy/stress needed to complete a task. arousal can be mental (cognitive), or physical

Question 25

the Yerkes-Dodson law (inverted U-hypothesis)

Answer 25

states that there is an optimal state of arousal corresponding to a particular task

Question 26

need

Answer 26

a more physiological concept in which it is generally assumed that ‘lower’ need to satisfied first

Question 27

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 27

self-actualization
esteem needs
belongingness and love needs
safety needs
physiological needs

Question 28

hunger

Answer 28

hunger signal can be turned on/off. Ghrelin signals the hypothalamus to increase the feeling of hunger, and Leptin can send an anorexigenic signal to the hypothalamus to reduce the hunger signal.