Emotions Flashcards
basic emotions
anger, fear, happiness, disgust, sadness, and surprise
limbic system
controls the basic emotions, which are believed to have developed via evolution to help us make quick judgements and actions
secondary emotions
the emotions beyond the basic 6 often with cognitive components (interpreting experiences to create a diverse range of emotions), includes: guilt, enthusiasm, pride, etc.
James-Lange theory of emotion
- argues that all physical reactions create diff emotions, and that psychological response (emotion) is the RESULT of a physiological reaction
- created by William James and Carl Lange
- when confronted with a stimuli, it affects us physiologically, so feelings are a recognition/interpretation of what’s happening physically
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
- argues that physical responses and emotions occur simultaneously but are independent of each other
- proposed by Walter Bradford Cannon and Philip Bard
- argues that it’s possible to experience emotion when the brain is excised from signals of bodily arousal, so emotion is accompanied by physiological arousal
Walter Bradford Cannon
- coined “fight-or-flight”
- developed theory of homeostasis
- concluded that the thalamus was most involved in physiological emotion while the cortex controls and inhibits them
- believed that the ANS is responsible for arousal and the cortex for subjective emotional experience
thalamic discharge
when this occurs, the bodily changes occur almost simultaneously with emotional experience but also independent of e/o; physiological experience doesn’t have to precede emotional expression/experience
Philip Bard
- Cannon’s student that identified the parts of the brain that might be responsible for generation of emotion
thalamic theory of emotion (C-B)
- suggests that when receptors are activated, they send a message to the cortex, which sends messages to hypothalamus and thalamus, whose responses determine the emotions we experience
- considered outdated since the thalamus is now considered as the relay station or the first to receive info from the body and send it to the cortex and emotions as involving many parts of the brain
Schacter-Singer/two-factor theory of emotion
argues that emotion is the result of an arousal and cognition (interpretation)
misattribution of arousal
tendency of ppl to incorrectly label the source of the arousal they’re experiencing
excitation transfer
phenomenon that occurs when ppl who are already experiencing arousal from one event tend to experience unrelated emotions more strongly
cognitive mediational theory
proposed by Richard Lazarus to argue that many emotions and cognitions come before arousal; sometimes, cognition happens before physiological arousal, if at all; involves primary appraisal (interpreting the stressors as threats or non-threats) and secondary appraisal (analyzing coping ability and available resources)
intrapersonal functions of emotions
- help us act quickly with minimal conscious awareness by preparing the body for immediate action (FOF)
- fuel our behaviour
- influence our thoughts and serve as motivation
interpersonal functions of emotions
- facilitate specific behaviours in perceivers
- signal the nature of interpersonal relationships
- provide incentives for desired social behaviours
cultural functions of emotions
- diff cultures have diff views of emotions and emotional expressions
- used to facilitate social order and control
- shared cultural worldviews help us have similar emotional experiences and management styles
- culturally moderated emotions help us engage in socially appropriate behaviours, which reduces social complexity and increases social order
cultural display rules
learned early in life to specify the management and modification of our emotional expressions according to social circumstances
hardiness
tendency to be less affected by stressors, introduced by Suzanne Kobasa, leads to less sympathetic arousal due to less excretion of stress hormones that dampen our immune response
Kobasa’s aspects of hardiness
- commitment
- control
- challenge
commitment
getting involved in your world, having an interest about the things around you
control
believing and acting as if you can influence the events around you
challenge
the belief that change rather than stability is the normal mode of life and constitutes motivating opportunities for personal growth instead of as a threat to security
optimism
a general tendency to expect positive outcomes, usually leading to less stress and more happiness
perceived self-efficacy
belief in our ability to carry out actions that produce desired results, interchangeable with having an internal locus of control
Sonya Lyubomirsky
- concluded the causal factors of happiness as majorly being genetic, second being intentional acts, and minorly circumstances (this is due to hedonic adaptation)
- believed that practicing acts of kindness benefits our happiness
hedonic adaptation
after a positive or negative event and subsequent increase in positive or negative feelings, ppl generally return to a stable, baseline level of emotion
Martin Seligman
- developed the concept of learned helplessness
- founder of positive psych
- argued that there were 3 parts of happiness
- added to Lyubormisky, saying that happiness is maximized when acts of kindness vary
learned helplessness
the idea that , for many, depression comes from the idea that we can’t do anything to change our lives
Seligman’s 3 parts of happiness
- pleasure
- meaning
- flow
attachment theory
developed in 1950s in response to children who were separated from their parents during the wars and experiencing higher levels of anxiety due to their attachment being severed
drive (affective) states
motivate us to fulfill goals that are beneficial to our survival, biological foundation is prominent in almost all drives
glucose hypothesis
introduced by Jean Mayer in the 1950s-60s to argue that dropping glucose levels were correlated with feelings of hunger; however, most of us don’t experience drastic fluctuations, and it’s many other factors that play a role in initiating hunger
David Buss
conducted a study with ppl from 37 diff cultures to test evolution theories via asking them to rate the importance of characteristics in potential mates
parental investment theory
argues that the sex with smaller parental investment has to compete for the attention of the sex with a larger investment
Ariely and Loewenstein
found that sexually aroused male undergrads found more ppl and situations attractive and their moral judgement was hindered too
Ayelet Fishback
argued that, to be motivated, you don’t need to be strong, but you do need to be wise
goal
cognitive representation of a desired state;
two kinds: performance and mastery
performance goal
the goal of demonstrating to others that one possesses a particular ability/attribute
mastery goal
an ambition to improve the level of competence based on self-referenced (intrapersonal) standards
commitment
comes from value and expectancy (belief that the goal can be attained), not always conscious
motivation
the psychological driving force that enables action in the pursuit of a goal; 2 types: intrinsic and extrinsic
intrinsic motivation
comes from deriving pleasure from the process of pursuing a goal, finding the task itself joyful, exciting, and fun
extrinsic (external) motivation
focuses on the external rewards that goal achievement gives
goal priming
cues that can activate a goal, priming us to act in accordance with our goals thanks to associative memory
self-control (regulation)
the capacity to control impulses, emotions, desires, and actions to resist a temptation and protect a valued goal, choosing a long-term interest instead of immediate gratification
deliberative stage of self-regulation
- deliberating which goal to pursue
- characterized by general open-mindedness and more realism about what it takes to achieve the goal
implemental stage of self-regulation
- when we choose a goal
- characterized by close-mindedness and over-optimism
Walter Mischel
conducted a marshmallow study, finding that there are long-term benefits to an innate self-control, such as better academic and social performance, showed that innate self-control is stable
Baunmeister
did a study with radishes to develop the idea of ego-depletion, finding that those who ate the radishes quit earlier than those who ate the cookies
ego-depletion
the exhaustion of resources after resisting temptation
stages of facing temptation
- conflict identification
- conflict resolution
conflict identification
acknowledging that you’re being tempted and that smth is interfering with your goal
conflict resolution
entails either exercising restraint or deciding to indulge
countering temptation
involves decreasing the value of a temptation thru: precommitment (setting up ways to commit to goal-oriented activities), rewards for goal achievements and punishments for temptations, and physically approaching goals and distancing from temptations
things to do to be happier (Lyubormisky)
- express gratitude
- cultivate optimism
- avoid overthinking and comparison
- practice acts of kindness
- nurture social relationships
- develop coping strategies
- learn to forgive
- increase flow experiences
- savour life’s joys
- commit to your goals
- practice religion
- take care of your body
