Emotion Theory (1a) Flashcards
3 main theories of emotions
evolutionary
appraisal
psychological constructionism
define affect
umbrella term to define affective state, including mood and emotion
define mood
typically last longer than emotions, diffuse and global as opposed to specific
no specific cause
define core affect
part of an emotional response according to some theorists
constantly experienced, but nature and intensity vary over time
basic properties of emotions
specific cause (something that creates an emotional response)
brief
help achieve goals
3 components of emotional response
behavioural (facial expression)
physiological (inside you e.g., heart rate/ breathing/ sweating)
experiential (what you feel)
Darwin’s evolutionary theory (1870s) - emotions have a ….
biological basis (innate capacities)
Darwin’s evolutionary theory (1870s) - purposes of emotions
survival and communicative
e.g., disgust when eating poisonous fruit = expels things from mouth and prevents the intake of odours through the nose / tells others not to eat it
Ekman’s (1934) evolutionary theory: what are the six basic emotions
happiness
anger
sadness
disgust
surprise
fear
Ekman & Friesen (1971) study
showed still photos of faces to people who had no contact with the Western world to identify which emotion corresponded to the six basic emotions.
60% (strong) agreement = shows universality of emotional expression
criteria for basic emotion
universal expression (face/ voice/ body)
discrete physiology
presence in other primates
automatic appraisal/ evaluation of the environment
what does BET claim about basic emotions?
not always expressed in the same way
can change as the person gains knowledge through individual experience (Ekman & Cordaro, 2011)
evolutionary theory suggests we have an _____ which reacts to stimulus
innate affect program
crtitical evaluation of Ekman’s findings
preselected set of emotion words acting as priming
face vs. full body (Barrett et al., 2011)
appraisal theory (Frijda et al., 1966)
very few objects or events cause the same emotion in all people
e.g., failing an exam = angry or sad?
what theory explains the variations, not the sameness of emotional life?
appraisal theory
according to the appraisal theory, what do emotions arise from?
the interpretation of the situation
(rather than the situation itself)
appraisal theory: conditions of Dutton & Aron’s (1974) study
90 male participants crossing bridges (scary and not scary bridge conditions)
male/ female interviewers
appraisal theory: results of Dutton & Aron’s (1974) study
men on scary bridge meeting female interviewer gave her a call about 40% of the time
men on non scary bridge and men meeting male confederates rarely called
appraisal theory: what do the results of Dutton & Aron’s (1974) study suggest?
misattribution of feelings - arousal from the bridge vs arousal experience in the presence of attractive researcher
men labelled their increased heart rate as ‘fear’ with male experimenter, but mislabelled it as ‘sexual arousal’ with female experimentor
appraisal theory: different emotions (Siemer et al., 2007)
participants experiencing anger tended to believe that they had some control over what they had experienced and felt that they were not to be blamed (responsibility of the experimenter)
participants who thought they had no control over what happened tended to experience shame and guilt
participants who felt that it definitely was not their responsibility but felt they had some control over what happened reported experiencing positive emotions
appraisal theory: Smith and Ellsworth’s (1985, 1987) 8 dimensions of reappraisal
pleasantness
anticipated effort
attentional activity
certainty
human agency
situational control
perceived obstacle
importance
what does psychological constructionism aim to explain
the huge variation both within and across individuals in how emotions look and feel
what does it mean to say that emotions are psychological realities (a construct we create)
the perception of emotions is based on people’s knowledge of emotion words that they use to make meaning of general bodily feelings
emotions are concepts we create to make sense of our feelings and the world
what are the ‘ingredients’ of emotions? (Lindquist, 2013)
core affect
exteroceptive sensations
conceptual knowledge
executive functions
conceptualisations
define exteroceptive sensations
what’s happening outside - e.g., what you see, hear etc.
define conceptual knowledge
what you know about the world - e.g., memory
define executive function
what you pay attention to
define conceptualisation
process by which sensations form inside and outside the body are transformed into a discrete emotion
quick/ automatic/ implicit
conceptual act theory (Barrett, 2014)
hypothesises that physical changes in the natural world become real as emotion when they are categorised as such using emotion concept knowledge within a perceiver
summarise evolutionary theory
emotions are biologically evolved, functional responses to certain opportunities and challenges posed by the environmen
summarise appraisal theory
emotions are elicited and differentiated by evaluations (appraisal) of the environment with respect to current goals and interest
summarise constructionism theory
emotions exist via categorisation and are not stable biological entities, they are elaborated within linguistic and cultural contexts
