Emotion Flashcards
multidimensional scaling
allows researchers to study something that cannot be described uniformly by asking multiple questions about relationships between words and creating a map.
e.g studying emotion. People can’t describe what happy feels like, but they can say how similar one emotion is to another. like a linkage map in bio
Valence
Dimension of emotional experience. “How positive or negative the experience is”. Measured with multidimensional scaling
Arousal
dimension of emotional experience. “How active or passive the experience is” Measured with multidimensional scaling. aka how strong an emotion is
Emotion
a positive or negative experience(valence) that is associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity (arousal)
James-Lange theory of emotion
the theory that a stimulus triggers activity in the body, which in turn produces an emotional experience in the brain
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
a stimulus simultaneously triggers activity in the body and emotional experience in the brain.
they argue against James-Lange bc we don’t have enough bodily reactions to signal every emotion
two-factor theory of emotion
modern theory- a stimulus triggers a general state of arousal in the body, which the mind then interprets as a specific emotion.
Compromise of the two early theories
e.g if you start sliding down a mountain, your heart starts pounding, your muscles tense, your blood flows. Your mind then interprets the reaction and the ground rushing towards you to decide an emotion–fear.
If your heart started pounding and there was a cute girl in front of you, your mind would interpret the bodily response as excitement
Emotion regulation
the strategies people use to influence their own emotional experience
e.g affect labeling (putting feelings into words) is effective at reducing intensity of emotional states. So yell and scream all you want when you got rejected from Vandy.
suppression (inhibiting outward signs of an emotion) is ineffective+deleterious. When you got rejected from UChicago
reappraisal
changing one’s emotional experience by changing the way one thinks about the emotion-eliciting stimulus. let go of biases and have an open mind
you reevaluate the value of something.
people better at this tend to live better lives (better relationships, b/c they give people second chances)
Emotional expression
an observable sign of an emotional state
WORDS ARE NOT EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIONS. THEY ARE EMOTIONAL SYMBOLS THAT ARE ASSIGNED MEANING. signs are universal, like smiling
universality hypothesis
Darwin’s hypothesis that emotional expressions have the same meaning for everyone.
Evidence suggests he was mainly right.
Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness are universal. (FAHD)
embarrassment, surprise, amusement, guilt, shame, and pride may be universal (SAGES)
facial feedback hypothesis
emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they signify
e.g people are happier when they make the sound of a long “e”, since they’re smiling.
B/c we tend to mimic each other’s behaviors during interaction, (we smile when friend smiles), facial feedback helps us empathize and imagine what our friends are feeling
motivation
the psychological cause of an action.
eMOTION MOtivaTION. Coincidence? nah. emotions influence motivation. Provide people with information and objectives to strive for
How emotions provide information
Because events in the world can influence our emotions, our emotions can provide information about events in the world.
This helps us in decision making, when evaluating which will result in a better emotion
hedonic principle
people are motivated to experience pleasure and avoid pain. separated into approach and avoidance motivations
explains how “emotions provide objectives to strive for”.
human sexual response cycle
the stages of physiological arousal during sexual activity
excitement phase, plateau phase, orgasm phase
Intrinsic motivation
a motivation to take actions that are themselves rewarding
Desire to engage in tasks that person finds inherently satisfying and enjoyable, novel, or optimally challenging
extrinsic motivation
motivation to take actions that lead to reward (or absence of punishment)
Rewards undermine intrinsic motivation:
something that has an intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can often be misinterpreted to only have extrinsic motivation.
e.g turn a hobby into a job and it stops being enjoyable
Punishments create intrinsic motivation:
e.g Threat of punishment for playing with something makes people want to play with it more. That’s why threats can often do more harm than good. Encourage rather than discourage
maybe because we associate rewards with things we don’t want to do
External influences on behavior, such as rewards, social evaluations, rules, and responsibilities
conscious motivations
motivations of which people are aware
unconscious motivations
motivations of which people are not aware. probably intrinsic. Harder to measure. May use thematic apperception test
need for achievement
the motivation to solve worthwhile problems. Typically an unconscious motivation
general motivations
Is conscious during easy tasks: applicable to many facets of life. e.g “to be helpful”.
specific motivations
only become conscious when people encounter difficulties
approach motivation
the motivation to experience positive outcomes
one part of hedonist theory
avoidance motivation
the motivation to not experience a negative outcome.
other part of hedonist theory. Tends to be stronger.
loss aversion
the tendency to care more about avoiding losses than about achieving equal-size gains. stringer avoidance motivation than approach motivation
so people won’t make bets unless they’re more than 50% sure they’ll win.
loss aversion refers to what people care more about. prevention focus is what people think in terms of. may be linked, but dont’ have to be
loss aversion: people recycle more when they are punished for not recycling than when they are rewarded for it.
prevention focus: people meet deadlines in order to avoid punishment.
promotion focus
tend to think in terms of achieving gains, rather than avoiding losses.
strong approach motivation, since happier when rewarded
people meet deadlines to be rewarded
prevention focus
people who think in terms of avoiding losses.
Stronger avoidance motivation, since more anxious when threatened
Terror management theory
theory about how people respond to knowledge of their own mortality
cultural worldview
set of beliefs about what is good and righteous. Helps people manage existential terror
Allows people to see themselves as part of something larger and full of meaning.
Either symbolic immortality (leaving mark) or literal (being pious and afterlife). part of terror management theory
mortality salience hypothesis
people who are reminded of their mortality hold on tighter to their cultural worldview (their sense of morality)
6 basic emotions
fear, anger, happiness, disgust, sadness, surprise (FAHDSS)
Components of emotion
affective component, physiological component, cognitive component
affective component
Immediate positive or negative feeling/response. Develops very quickly, maybe before the vent is even understood. Something that induces fear causes blood flow to increase immediately. Difficult to change from positive to negative, since it’s so fast that it AFFECTS the rest of my response: similar principle as priming. component of emotion
Physiological component
Physical reaction to emotion. Caused by chemical changes in nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system).
Relatively fast, but difficult to interpret: there are not different patterns of response for different emtions.
Anger and fear are similar
Cognitive component
How people think about what they are feeling
Slowest acting. Depends in part on affective, physiological component, and situational factors.
Women report higher measures than men in almost every emotion. Not that they actually feel, but what they think about how they feel.
Women will interpret “feeling meh” as depression, while men report it as boredom
Artificial smiling makes things more enjoyable due to cognitive component’s consideration of physiological responses
overjustification effect
providing compelling extrinsic motivations causes people to lose sight of intrinsic motivations.
like doing test corrections for extra credit
Schacter-Singer experiment
showed importance of cognitive component.
brains use affect component and physiological response, as well as considers the situation to decide what emotion to feel
