Emotions Flashcards
what is emotion?
- Psychological and physiological state in response to some stimulus
- Psychological component includes a subjective component (feeling of an emotion) and cognitive component (thoughts associated with emotions)
- Physiological component includes body’s reactions in response to stimuli
theories of emotion
- James-Lange theory
- Two-factory theory
James-Lange theory of emotion
- Emotions begin with an antecedent event (something that precedes/leads to emotion) → physiological changes/responses → recognize responses → give it an emotional label
- Assumption: physiological responses are products of autonomic nervous system; designed to indicate proper reactions that facilitate survival
- Ex. you come across a bear and experience increased heart rate, trembling, and sweating; recognize that as fear and engage in behaviours associated with it (ie. running away)
- This means that if you don’t have a physiological response, you don’t have an emotion (emotions = physiological responses)
- Predicts that emotions should be universal due to physiological similarities of all humans
James-Lange theory: facial feedback hypothesis
- by manipulating physiological changes (ie. distinct facial expressions), one can produce distinct emotions (ie. pen in the mouth study); assumes that our facial expressions are a key source of information in inferring feelings
- based on this, cultural display rules that discourage people from expressing emotions on their face may influence people’s emotions
James-Lange theory: limitation
- assumes all emotions have unique set of physiological changes, but any given set of physiological changes doesn’t communicate a unique emotion (ie. increased heart rate, trembling, sweating could be anxiety, fear, or excitement)
- Researchers increasingly doubting the validity of the James-Lange theory
two-factor theory of emotion
- emotions are more than simply looking into physiological changes - our interpretations play a role
- Emotions come from physiological changes + cognitive appraisals (emotions = interpretations of bodily responses)
- Ex. You see a bear; you experience heart rate increase, trembling, sweating; you engage in cognitive appraisal (Angry bear coming after me - threat!); engage in behaviours associated with it (running away)
- States that emotions should vary across cultures because different cultural experiences may lead us to have different interpretations of physiological responses
4 lines of evidence showing universality of emotions
- emotional antecedents
- physiological responses associated with emotions
- emotional appraisal
- emotional expression
4 lines of evidence showing universality of emotions: emotional antecedents
- Emotional antecedents = events that lead to/elicit emotional responses
- Substantial overlap across cultural environments in emotional consequences of various antecedents (ex. When loved one dies → feeling of sadness; when you’re about to fight someone → feel angry)
4 lines of evidence showing universality of emotions: physiological responses associated with emotions
- Ergotropic responses: physiological responses that reflect actions of the sympathetic nervous system → more about expending energy (ex. Cardiovascular activity/increased heart rate, muscular reactivity/muscles primed to engage, perspiration, etc.)
- Trophotropic responses: physiological responses that reflect actions of the parasympathetic nervous system → more about relaxing muscles (ex. Gastric disturbances, crying)
- Felt temperature: the temperature that one feels in their bodies when they are experiencing emotions (ie. feeling hot when angry; cold when lonely, etc.)
- Examples: Anger associated with relatively high levels of E, low of T, and hotness; sadness associated with relatively low levels of E, high of T, sensation of being cold
4 lines of evidence showing universality of emotions: emotional appraisal
- Antecedents don’t automatically elicit emotions; what about appraisals and interpretations?
- People go through Stimulus Evaluation Checks - appraising antecedents along several dimensions:
- Expectation: did you expect the event to occur?
- Pleasantness: did you find the event pleasant or unpleasant?
- Fairness: was the event unjust or unfair?
- For example: Anger is associated with relatively low expectedness, pleasantness, and fairness; happiness associated with both high and low expectedness, but high pleasantness, and fairness
4 lines of evidence showing universality of emotions: emotional expression
- 6 basic emotions: anger, happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, fear
- Decent cross-cultural recognition rates of the same emotions
- Other candidates for basic emotions: contempt, shame, pride, interest
3 lines of evidence for emotional variability
- variability of emotional expression
- variability of emotional information gathering process
- variability of emotional lexicon
3 lines of evidence for emotional variability: variability of emotional expression
- When people share one ethnicity, differing on nationality makes a difference (ie. Asian-Americans can identify which Asian country someone else comes from, and whether or not they were born in the US just by their emotional expressions)
- How? Display rules
3 lines of evidence for emotional variability: variability of emotional information gathering process
- Fundamental attribution error is related to how we gather info to make attributions about people’s emotional state
- Eye-tracking also related:
- East Asians/Collectivists pay more attention to people in the back more than the one that’s front and center (pay more attention to environmental cues/external factors, so those judgements have more impact on emotional perception)
- Westerners/Individualists pay more attention to the person in the front rather than the people in the back (pay more attention to the central target when judging emotional expression; little attention paid to external factors)
3 lines of evidence for emotional variability: variability of emotional lexicon
- Some languages have unique words for unique emotions
- Some debate as to whether such differences are meaningful with important consequences for emotional experience
- Does not having a word for an emotion affect our emotional experience?
- related to Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Linguistic Relativity)
display rules
- Culturally specific rules that govern appropriateness and intensity of facial expressions, and even “ritualized” displays (voluntarily produced idiosyncratic facial expressions in certain cultures, like the embarrassed tongue bite)
- Tell us what facial expressions are appropriate and how intensely they should be exhibited
- Learned early in life, become automatic by adulthood
- 6 different display rules
6 display rules
- amplification
- deamplification
- neutralization
- qualification
- masking
- simulation
6 display rules: amplification
expressing an emotion more intensely than what is truly felt (ex. Expressing intense happiness even if you’re just kinda happy)
6 display rules: deamplification
expressing an emotion less intensely than what is truly felt (ex. Just being slightly annoyed with someone rather than completely furious)
6 display rules: neutralization
express nothing despite genuinely experiencing an emotion
6 display rules: qualification
- displaying an emotion with another, usually blended simultaneously, to qualify one’s emotion (ex. If someone asks you a frustrating question that you have to answer, your brow might be furrowed but you’d be smiling)
- Different from affect blend
6 display rules: masking
displaying some other emotion than what is truly felt (ex. Being angry, but smiling)
6 display rules: simulation
displaying an emotion when you’re not experiencing one (ex. Pretending to be happy for someone you don’t care about)
culturally influenced differences in display rules
- deamplification, masking, neutralization, and qualification are more often seen in people with East-Asian Collectivism
- This can actually influence emotions they feel (ie. Chinese feel less intense anger than European-Americans)
- Amplification is more often seen in people with Individualism or South-American Collectivism
ritualized displays
- facial expressions that are idiosyncratic to specific cultural environment
- ie. biting your tongue in East Asia as an “oops” expression
- While not a facial display, Inuit express anger using non-threatening jokes or satirical songs in order to minimize direct conflict and confrontation
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (linguistic relativity)
- Hard version: language determines how we think and our experiences → rejected
- Soft version: language affects how we think, but is not deterministic
- Language helps us think about/articulate ideas and experiences → without words, it hinders ability to remember/discuss experience
Gendron et al study: emotional universality and variability -> basics
- Participants: 65 members of the Himba ethnic group (in Namibia) and 68 people from the US
- Asked to do 1 of 2 tasks: anchored sort (given set of pictures and categories you need to sort them into → put pictures into “anchored boxes”) and free sort (given pictures and no categories → put pictures into unlabelled boxes)
Gendron et al study: emotional universality and variability -> results
- American anchored sort: clusters pretty consistent
- American free sort: some consistency, but less consistently than anchored sort
- Himba anchored sort: showed cultural variability compared to Americans
- Himba free sort: very little consistency, lots of cultural variability
- Only 2 emotions that were consistent no matter what task and no matter what culture were happiness and fear
- Shows that even though we all experience these emotions, culture influences how we identify them
3 perspectives on emotion
- evolutionary theories
- lexical theories
- appraisal theories
3 perspectives on emotion: evolutionary theories
- Focused on universality - similarities across cultures and species
- Emotions are hardwired, automatic responses tied to nervous system
- Culture plays minimal role in emotions
- Physiological changes seen as antecedents to emotions, not consequences (ie. James-Lange theory)
3 perspectives on emotion: lexical theories
- Emotions rely on the labels people have for their subjective experience
- Universality for emotions requires lexical equivalence in all languages → a questionable claim
- Culture plays a major role, given the importance of language (ie. Sapir-Wharf hypothesis)
3 perspectives on emotion: appraisal theories
- Allows for universality in biological features, but cultural variability of evaluative process
- Also allows for individual variability in appraisals
- Culture plays important role in emotional experience due to influence on appraisals and interpretations
biocultural theory/model of emotion
- 3 components:
- Input: antecedent event → appraisal
- Core system: scans information to find patterns matching predetermined situations (ex. Loss of loved one); prepares your body to engage in response tendencies (ie. facial expressions, autonomic responses), which then influence subjective experience
- – Of the types of response tendencies:
- — Subjective experience most susceptible to cultural influence
- — Facial expressions somewhat susceptible to cultural influence
- – Autonomic responses minimally susceptible to cultural influences
- Output: display/feeling rules → what we actually express
biocultural theory/model of emotion: example
- Input: you’re in a car on an unstable bridge (antecedent event), feel like you’re dropping (appraisal)
- Core system: recognizes it as a danger, preps you to respond, influences subjective experience
- Output: go through display rules, then express emotions of fear
biocultural theory/model of emotion: influence of culture
- Impact of culture on emotions varies depending on components of emotional complexity:
- Aspect of emotion
- Type of emotion
- Emotional context
- Individual
Components of emotional complexity: aspect of emotion
Intensity (we experience emotions with different levels of intensity); highly intense emotions “flood” the system, making it difficult for culture to play a role
Components of emotional complexity: emotional context
cues for emotional expressions; presence of cues indicate what emotional expressions are appropriate; cues are a part of cues
Components of emotional complexity: the individual
cultural identification (the extent to which you identify with the cultural environment); identifying strongly with a cultural environment allows that culture to play a higher role in your emotional experiences; culture influences you
Components of emotional complexity: type of emotion
culturally-based emotions; if it’s a more culturally-based emotion, it’s less rooted in survival functions (unlike basic emotions); based more on socialization; culture will play a bigger role
historical heterogeneity
- extent to which a country’s modern population comes from migration from other countries in the last 500 years
- Low levels of heterogeneity: country’s present-day population is sourced from its own country since 500 years ago (or from very few countries), ex. Japan
- High levels of heterogeneity: country’s present-day population is sourced from many countries over the last 500 years, ex. USA
influence of high vs. low levels of heterogeneity
- high: More uncertainty in communicating emotional states to other people; hinders cooperation → more explicit information required; can’t assume that the other person wants/likes
- Aka: low context cultures (rely highly on direct/explicit communication)
- low: More certainty (most people share the same customs, values, beliefs, intentions) → more implicit understanding of what other people want/like; less explicit information required
- Aka: high context cultures (rely highly on contextual cues/information)
role of historical heterogeniety
- Adaptive over-expressivity: people from highly historically heterogeneous countries are more expressive in facial expression and body language → produces emotional expressions that are more accurately understood by others
- Explains emotional expressions beyond individualism/collectivism
