Chapter 17 - Biopsychology of Emotion, Stress and Health Flashcards
Darwin’s theory of the evolution of emotional expression (three ideas)
- Expression of emotion evolve from behaviours that indicate what an animal is likely to do next
- If the signals provided by such behaviours are beneficial, they will evolve in ways that enhance communicative function.
- Principle entithesis
Principle anthithesis (definition)
Opposite messages are often signaled by opposite movements and postures
James-Lange theory
- Emotion-inducing sensory stimuli are received and interpreted by the cortex.
- That triggers changes in visceral organs via the autonomic nervous system and in the skeletal muscles via the somatic nervous system
- The automatic/somatic responses trigger the experience of emotion in the brain.
Cannon-Bard theory
- excite both the feeling of emotion in the brain
- The expression of emotion
(parallel processes)
Differences betwenn the James-Lange (1) and the Cannon-Bard theory (2)
- Emotional experience depends entirely on feedback from ANS and SNS
- Emotional expereince is totally independet of such feedback.
What is the modern biopsychological view?
The three factors in such emotional response influence each other:
1. The perception of the emotion-inducing stimulus
2. The autonomic and somatic response to the stimulus
3. Experience to the emotion.
Sham rage
cats without a cortex respond aggressively to the slightest provocation
Sham rage - abnormal in what two aspects?
- they are innapropriate and severe
- not directed at particular targets.
What does the limbic system theory of emotion tell us?
- emotional expression is controlled by several interconnected nuceli & tracts- that ring the thalamus (limbic system)
- emotional states are expressed through the action of other structures of the circuit on the hypothalamus.
Where is the the Klüver-Bucy Syndrome found?
- in monkeys whose anterior temporal lobes have been removed
What are some behaviors of the Klüver-Bucy syndrome?
- the concumption of almost anything that is edible
- increased sexual activity that is often direxted towards inapproprite objects
- tendence to repeatedly investigate familiar objects (with mouth)
- lack of fear
What does the James-Lange theory tell us about the specificity of the ANS?
- different emotional stimuli induce different patterns of ANS activity
- these different patterns produce different emotional experience.
What does the Cannon-Bard theory tell us about the specificity of the ANS?
- all emotional stimuli produce the same general pattern of sympathetic activation
- prepares the organism for action
What does experimental evidence tell us about the specificity of the ANS?
- lies somwehere in the middle of both extremes (total specificity and total generality)
Polygraphy
- lie dector test
- methods of interrogation that employs ANS indexes of emotion to infer the truthfullness of a person’s response.
Control-question technique
the physiological response to the target question is compared with the pyhsiological response to control questions
Guilty-knowledge technique
the polygrapher must have a piece of information concerning the crime that would be know only to the guilty person.
What are the primary facial expression?
- surprise
- anger
- sadness
- disgust
- fear
- happiness
Facial feedback hypothesis
Our facial expressions influence our emotional experience.
Two ways to distinguish true facial expression from false ones
- microexpressions
- subtle differences
Microexpressions
- brief facial expressions of the real emotion breaking through
- they last only 0.05 secs (but can be detected with practice)
Duchene smile
a genuine smile :)
What are four implications of the current perspective regarding facial expressions?
- Primary facial expressions of emotion rarely occur in pure form
- The existence of other primary emotions has been recognized
- Body cues play a major role in expression of emotion too
- Ekman’s six primary facial expressions may not be as universal as believed
What is fear?
- emotional reaction to threat
- motivating force of defensive behavior
What are defensive behaviors?
behaviors whse primary function is to protect the organsim from threat and harm
What are aggressive behaviors?
behaviors whose primary function is to threaten or harm.
On what 3 criteria are the categories of aggressive and defensive behaviors based?
- their topography
- the situation that elicit them
- their apparent function
What is the target-site concept?
aggressive and defensive behaviors of an animal are often designed to attack specific sites on the body of another animal while protecting specific sites on its own.
Humans as an exception to the involvement of testosterone in mammalian social aggreassion:
- aggressive behavior does not increase at puberty as testosterone levels in blood increase
- aggressive behavior is not eliminated by castration
- not increased by testosterone injections that elevate blood levels of testosterone.
Fear conditioning
- Establishment of fear in response to a previously neutral stimulus by presenting it (usually several times) before the delivery of an aversive pulse (unconditioned stimulus)
- after several pairing of the tone and the , the rat reponds to the tone with a variety of defensive behaviors