Chapter 11 - emotions, stress, health Flashcards
What is anxiety?
increase in the startle reflex
What is the startle reflex enhanced for?
people with anxiety disorders and posttraumatic disorder
What part of the brain is the key area for learning fears and anxiety?
amygdala
What happens to people with a damaged amygdala (in terms of emotions)?
they no longer respond quickly the way other people do to subtle or complex emotional information
-impaired at recognising emotional expressions and have trouble in inferring emotions from people’s tone of voice
What method could one use to compare anxiety levels of nonhuman animals, preverbal children, or others who cannot answer in words?
One could measure the strength of the startle reflex
What is an emotion?
terms of a combination of cognitions, physiology, feelings and actions
How can you measure emotions?
through self-reports, behavioural observations and physiological measures
What is the autonomic nervous system
the section of the nervous system that controls the organs such as the heart and intensities
-any stimulus that arouses emotions alters the activity if the autonomic nervous system
What is the sympathetic nervous system
it arouses the body for vigorous action
-often called the flight or fight system bc it increases ur heart rate, breathing rate, sweating and flow of epinephrine (adrenaline)
What is the parasympathetic nervous system
consists of neurons whose axons extend from the medulla and the lower part of the spinal cord to neuron clusters near the organs
What is the James-Lange theory
It is your interpretation of a stimulus evokes autonomic changes and sometimes muscle actions
- Your perception of those changes is the feeling aspect of your emotion
What is pure autonomic failure?
It is an uncommon condition with unknown cause, the autonomic nervous system stops regulating the organs
What is tue Schater and Singer’s theory of emotions?
the intensity of the physiological state — that is, the degree of sympathetic nervous system arousal — determines the intensity of the emotion, but a cognitive appraisal of the situation identifies the type of emotion
What is the Duchenne smile?
full expression including the muscles surrounding the eyes
What is Emotional Intelligence?
The ability to perceive, imagine and understand the emotions and to use that information in making decisions
