Emotions and Personality Flashcards
What is an emotion?
- Discrete, momentary experience in a specific situation
- Traits, or dispositional tendencies to chronically experience certain feelings, mood, temperament, emotional disorder
What are the parts of an emotions?
- Thoughts/Cognition
- (Different patterns of) Brain activation
- Physiology
- Feeling
- Nonverbal Expression
The Emotion Process?
Antecedent Event (a bear) -> Cognitive Appraisal of Event (simple, like “there is danger”) -> Emotional experience & Physiological Feelings (increased heart rate) -> Emotional expressions (Facial expressions, Behaviors like crying)
Emotional Regulation can be interrupted by the Cognitive Appraisal of the event (This scary clown is actually funny), or Emotional expression (I need to not show my fear)
Which personality traits predict happiness?
- Extraversion and Neuroticism
Situations that might lead to happiness
->
Personality-specific response
->
Emotional Response
->
Subjective well-being
Alternative model, that personality shapes the situations we get into?
Personality-specific Behaviours
->
Situations that might lead to happiness
->
Emotional response
->
Subjective well-being
Personality and Subjective Well-being, does personality affect a person’s emotional responses to a situation, or, does personality determine which situations a person engages in?
- Evidence for that personality affects a peron’s emotional response to a situation
Placed in the same situation, extravers and neurotics have different emotional responses:
- Extraverts become happier from pleasant photos
- Neurotics become more upset from unpleasant photos
Emotions as Personality Traits?
Stable tendency to experience certain feelings, or have certain emotional reactions. E.g., Grumpy, versus happy
Definitions of Happiness? According to Aristotle, Rousseau, and James
Aristotle: The goal of life, attained thigh virtuosity (being “good”)
Rousseau: Hedonism (being “bad”)
James: Accomplishments
Modern Research Definitions of Happiness? (Cognitive-Affective Approach + Martin Seligam + Daniel Kahneman)
Cognitive-Affective Approach:
Judgment of life’s satisfaction “How satisfied are you with your life?
AND
Tendency to experience positive vs. negative emotions
Martin Seligam: Authentic happiness is based on living a life filled with purpose and meaning
Daniel Kahneman: Positive (but not negative) emotions (hedonism)
Happy Facts?
The average person is…
– Happy 65% of the time
– Neutral 15%
– Unhappy 20%
No gender or age difference, but there is a country diffence
What makes some cultures happier than others?
Countries higher in individualism and wealth tend to be happier
Why are poorer countries less happy? + within poor countries
Health-care
Civil rights
What about within countries? Are poorer people more unhappy?
- Only if you compare people who can’t afford basic necessities
- Above that level, rich are not too much happier than the poor
Happiness and Inequality (Oishi, Kebesire, & Diener 2011)
- Examined happiness and income inequlity in the US
- Found a negative correlation between happiness and inequality
- Relation was due to perceived trust and unfairness among the poorest 60%
Happiness and Set-Point?
- Emotions change in response to major life events
- BUT, they quickly retun to a basic set point, which varies by indiidual
- The average set point is more happy than neutral
New behavioral genetics research on trait happiness, Zheng Plomin, & Stumm (2016)?
- 447 17-year old twins rated daily positive and negative affect
- Variation in trait negative affect is largely genetic (heritability = .53)
– Variation in trait positive affect is largely due to shared environmental factors (.52) (No significant genetic effect)
What is the Good Life?
Hedonism - the sum of pleasant moments
VS
Eudemonia – the life well-lived; meaning and purpose
For daily satisfaction, go for hedonism
- Boost positive affect, decrease native affect
For life satisfaction, go for eudemonic
- Emotions don’t matter
- Meaning/purpose in life and social networks is most important
Trait Anxiety (Neuroticism)?
- Moody, touchy, irritable, complaining
- Easily upset
Biological origins:
- Stable across lifespan
- Cross-cultural
- More active BIS
May have cognitive basis:
- Recall more self-relevant negative information
- Recall being sick more often, may get sick more often
Strop task ( Read out-loud the color of each word)?
Neurotics take longer to reader anxiety-producing words
Depression? Diathesis-stress model + Beck’s Cognitive Theory
Diathesis-stress model
- Pre-existing vulnerability gets activated
- Genetic evidence
Beck’s Cognitive Theory
- Cognitive Triad: depressing view of the self, the world, and the future
- Overgeneralisation (global attributions)
- Personalization (internal attributions)
- Catastrophizing (stable attributions; the worst will always happen)
Anger-proneness and hostility?
- Tendency to respond to everyday frustrations with anger and aggression
- Resentment
Biological Model: Type A Personality
- Friedman & Rosenman: cardiologists
- Noticed personality similarities among coronary heart disease patients
* Workaholics, Over-achievers
* Hostile, hurried, never relaxed
Current research on hostility and heart disease?
It’s not ambitious, over-achieving side of Type A’s
- It’s the hostility!
Hostility linked to other risk factors
- Smoking, obesity, depression, SES
Hostility independently linked to heart disease
- Lipids build-up, increased BP & HR
Two Faced Theory?
Authentic pride
– Promotes social investments and achievements
– Fosters genuine self-esteem
Hubristic pride
– Promotes hostility, maladaptive
relationships
– Related to narcissism
– Related to aggression, hostility
– Narcissistic self-esteem
Pride and Personality?
People who tend to feel Authentic pride:
– High self-esteem
– Agreeable, extraverted, emotionally stable, and conscientious
– Positive relationships, popular, well-liked by others
People who tend to feel hubristic pride:
– Narcissistic
– Shame-prone
– Disagreeable, aggressive, hostile, and angry
– Anxious in relationships, weak friendships
