Emotion

Question 1

Affect
Emotion
Mood
Affective traits

Answer 1

Immediate physio response to stim + appraisal of valence
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Transient neurophysiological rxn to events that have consequences to our welfare and require immediate behav response
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Not always in response to a stim, more diffuse + longer lasting than emotion
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Relatively stable individual diffs in avg emotional exps (Personality traits that impact how we respond w/ emotion)

Question 2

Basic/Discrete emotion view
Dimensional view of emotions
- Affective circumplex model vs Evaluative Space Model

Answer 2

Certain emotions as fixed physio/behav responses produced by distinct brain circuits and manifested in distinct expressions + subjective exps
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Emotional exps can be described as underlying dimensions
- Affective circumplex: Axes on deactivation-activation + unpleasant-pleasant; Lacks combo of high arousal w/ pleasant + unpleasant affect at same time (no ambivalence)
- Evaluative space: Axes of low positive affect-high positive affect, low negative affect-high negative affect, disengagement-engagement; Allows for ambivalence bcuz pleasant + unpleasant independent from each other

Question 3

Appraisals
- Depends on what?
- Method of measurement

Expressions
- Duchenne smiles

Answer 3

Cognitive component of emotions that can be automatic/deliberate and have multiple appraisal dimensions (pleasantness, goal relevance, etc)
- Depends on your cognitive representations of the world
- Measured thru self-report or manipulating appraisal dimensions
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Behavioural aspect of emotion
- Conveys important info about internal states; Universal but may have cultural-specific expressions
- Measured thru electromyography (EMG) to measure facial muscle activityand create facial action coding systems (FACS)
- Duchenne = Genuine smiles

Question 4

Methods of studying emotion:
- Physiological responses
- Brain activity
- Self-report

Answer 4

Measure bodily functions (heart rate, electrodermal activity) to infer psych processes
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- Electroencephalography (EEG): Pick up change in activity thru electrodes on surface of scalp
- Positron emission topography (PET): Picks up how much radioactive tracer is being taken up
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): Pass radiowaves thru magnet to take images of brain and measure changes in blood oxygenation
- Causality + third variable problem (is change in physio caused by stim?) and limited to simple tasks to avoid noise in readings
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Subjective feelings measured
- Must rely on reporter to give accurate info and avoid language barriers

Question 5

Isen’s findings on positive emotions shows that when experiencing mild positive emotions, people were more likely to? (4)

Frederickson’s Broaden-and-build model of positive emotions

Answer 5

• Help others
• Be flexible in their thinking
• Come up w/ solutions to problems
• Be more willing to exhibit self-control
  *Overall narrowing of scope of responses
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  Focus on momentary thought-action repertoires rather than specific action tendencies
• Positive emotions foster more variety + broaden thoughts and behavs
• Over time engagement in these activities builds more lasting skills and resources

Question 6

Studies on the broadening effect of positive emotions:
Global-local task
Listing what to do in the moment
Duchenne smile frequency
Field-of-vision processing

Answer 6

Match figures on smaller local shapes or on the overall global pattern
- Watching positive vids caused more global choices
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Asked to list everything they wanted to do in the moment
- Watching positive vid caused more possibilities listed
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Only showed broadening of attention with positive affect AND Duchenne smiles
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Attention on background, activity in parahippocampal region - Positive affect
Attention on face, no activity

Question 7

Explain the undoing hypothesis and the upward spiral of positive emotions w/ health benefits

Answer 7

Undoing hypothesis: Positive affect reduces negative fx of stressors by causing faster return to baseline cardiovascular functioning

Spiral: Experiencing positive emotions leads to broadening of our thoughts and behavs by widening out momentary thought-action repertoires. Over time, this builds enduring personal resources, which we use to enhance our health, which then facilitates more positive emotions.

Question 8

Proof that high levels of positive affect predict better health (4)

Answer 8

• Self-reports of fewer days sick and less pain
• Less acute illness (colds) reported
• Lower levels of inflammation
• Linked to lower cardiovascular disease

Question 9

Emotional approach
- Two processes in emotion-focused coping

Answer 9

Active movement toward rather than away from a stressful encounter; Allows for habituation, learning pain subsides, and ability to take back control
- Emotional processing: Attempt to understand emotion
- Emotional expression: Free and intentional displays of feelings

Question 10

Emotional intelligence
- Salovey and Mayer’s 4-branch ability model
- Practicing skills associated with what?

Answer 10

An array of non-cognitive capabilities, competencies and skills that help us deal w/ the demands of the environment

Branch 1: Perceiving emotions (Picking up on subtle emotional cues)
Branch 2: Using emotions to facilitate thought (Harness emotions to problem solve)
Branch 3: Understanding emotions
Branch 4: Managing emotions (The more we practice skills in other branches, more emotional content to manage)

Assoc w/ positive interpersonal functioning

Question 11

Carstensen’s socioemotional selectivity theory
- Positivity bias in older adults

Answer 11

In order adulthood, we focus less on negative emotions, engage more deeply w/ emotional content of our days, and savour good stuff in our lives bcuz we realize time is short
- Older adults orient faster to positive images and recall more positive material than negative