Emotion Flashcards
How does Ward define emotion?
A state associated with stimuli that are rewarding (i.e. that one works to obtain) or punishing (i.e. that one works to avoid). These stimuli often have inherent survival value.
Theory of mind / mentalizing
The process of inferring or attributing mental states to others.
What is Mirroring?
The process of sharing the emotions or mental states of others.
What is Mood according to Ward?
An emotional state that is extended over time (e.g. anxiety is a mood and fear is an emotion).
What is expression (outward manifestation of emotion)?
External motor outcomes in the face and body associated with emotional states.
James-Lange theory
The self-perception of bodily changes produces emotional experience (e.g. one is sad because one cries).
Emotion regulation
Refers to the things we do to influence which emotions we have, when we have them, and how we experience and express them.
Papež circuit
A limbic-based circuit that was once thought to constitute a largely undifferentiated “emotional” brain.
Emotion
Collection of psychological states that include
- Subjective experience
- Expressive behaviour
- Peripheral physiological responses (e.g. heart rate, respiration)
- Central feature in human mind
-> everything else subject to debate
Basic emotions
Different categories of emotions assumed to be independent of culture and with their own biological basis (in terms of evolution and neural substrate).
Moral emotions
Emotions that are related to the behavior of oneself (in relation to others) or the behavior of others (in relation to oneself or others.)
Four emotion perspectives
Basic, Appraisal, Psychological construction, Social construction
Amygdala
Part of the limbic system, implicated in learning the emotional value of stimuli (e.g. in fear conditioning).
Kluver-Bucy syndrome
In monkeys after bilateral amygdala and temporal lesions, an unusual tameness and emotional blunting; a tendency to examine objects with the mouth; and dietary changes. Objects lose their learned emotional value.
Skin conductance response (SCR)
Changes in electrical conductivity on a person’s skin, triggered by certain stimuli (e.g. emotional or familiar stimuli).
Insula
A region of cortex buried beneath the temporal lobes; involved in body perception and contains the primary gustatory cortex; responds to disgust.
Extinction learning
Learning that a previously rewarded stimulus is no longer rewarded.
Ventral striatum
Part of the basal ganglia that includes the nucleus accumbens; involved in a “limbic circuit” connecting the orbitofrontal cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus.
What does the theory of Feldman-Barret (2006) say about emotion?
A psychological construction model. All emotions tap into a system termed core affect that is organized along two dimensions: pleasant-unpleasant and high/low arousal.
What does the theory of Rolls (2005) say about emotion?
A psychological construction model. The theory talks about reward and punishment, whether they are present or absent and the intensity. Emotions occur when a punishment/reward is applied or taken away (e.g. anger is when reward is taken away, relief is when punishment is taken away). Punishment and reward can also be combined to elicit emotions, but the context is important.
Social Construction Models
Emphasizes that emotions are not solely biologically determined but are shaped by social and cultural factors
Psychological Construction Models
- Emotion not special mental states
- Emotions are not “caused” by dedicated mechanisms
- All mental states emerging from ongoing, continually modified constructive process that involves more basic ingredients that are not emotion
What is a hedonic value with regards to emotion?
Whether the emotion is subjectively liked or disliked
Appraisal Perspective - emotion regulation
- Blurring boundaries between emotion generation and emotion regulation
- emotions are thought to be caused and modified by some combination of overlapping brain circuits
Psychological Construction Perspective
- increasingly difficult to distinguish emotion generation from emotion regulation
- emotions are viewed as being continually constructed = the segmentation of emotion “generative” from emotion “regulatory” processes appears arbitrary and provisional
Cannon-Bard Theory of emotion
A theory that focuses on the hypothalamus’ role in emotion, and suggests that bodily responses happen after the emotion is felt.
Social Construction Perspective - emotion regulation
- boundary between emotion generation and regulation disappears in favor of regulation more generally
- emotions are conceived of as actions (or dispositions towards actions) with their own regulatory function
What are the two dimensions of Lindquist & Barett’s “core affect” theory?
Pleasant-Unpleasant and High / Low arousal, also called activation
What general functions does the Orbitofrontal Cortex handle with regards to emotion?
Contextualized emotion, reversal learning, extinction learning and subjective pleasantness of a stimulus
