Emotions, Love & Relationships Flashcards
What is “emotion”?
“Conscious state that includes an evaluative reaction to some event”
- Physiological arousal
- Expressive behaviour
- Conscious experience
Affect
Emotions
Mood
Disorders
Affect
- Immediate
- Event-related
- Like/dislike reaction
Emotions
- Brief
- Event-related
- Powerful, unified feeling
Mood
- Medium-term
- Not related to a specific event
- Feeling state
Disorders
- Long-term
- Not always related to event
- Deep and enduring
EMOTIONS HELP UP ACHIEVE GOALS
Theories of Emotion
Common Sense Theory
James-Lange Theory
Cannon-Bard Theory
Schachter-Singer Theory
Common Sense Theory
Theories of Emotion
- Stimulus (scary dog)
- Conscious experience (i’m scared)
- Physiological arousal (heart beats faster)
What we think is happening
James - Lange Theory
Theories of Emotion
- Stimulus (scary bear)
- Physiological arousal (heart pounding, sweating, running)
- Conscious experience (feel fear)
You experience physiological response before you feel that you are afraid
- Not confirmed by physiological evidence
- Because symptoms are not different for each emotion
- For all we get nervous, heart pounds, sweating
Facial Feedback hypothesis
- Strong version: expressions cause emotions (weak)
- Weaker version: expressions modify the intensity of the emotion
Cannon - Bard Theory
Theories of Emotion
- Stimulus
2. Conscious experience & Physiological arousal
Schachter - Singer Theory
Cognitive Labelling Theory
(Theories of Emotion)
- Stimulus (bear)
- Physiological arousal (sweating, hear pounding)
- Cognitive label (thats is one scary bear i’m afraid of it!)
- Conscious experience (fear)
Best fit??
Misattribution of arousal
Excitation Transfer
- We can mislabel our state of arousal
Example:
- Decaf, please
- Oops won’t tell him
- I must be angry at that jerk who cut me off
“Lower brain” vs Cortex
Lower brains
- All vertebrates
- Emotions produced
Cortex
- Most mammals, varying in size
- Analysis of emotions (reasoning, logic)
Affective Drives
Affect: Immediate response to a stimulus (good or bad)
Occur in lower brain
- Drivers of emotional behaviour
- Human & other mammals
Not mutually exclusive
SEEKING
Affective Drives
Positive or Negative
- Curiosity, approach behaviours
- With positive emotions - sense of purpose
- With negative emotions - impetus to change situation
What you’re feeling as you’re about to get what you want, not when you’ve got it
RAGE
Affective Drives
Negative affective state
- Anger & Frustration
- Propels animal towards offending stimulus
- Biological basis for aggression
FEAR
Affective Drives
Negative affective state
- Promotes escape
LUST
Affective Drives
Positive or Negative (When successful or not)
- Sexual desire
- One of the sources of love
CARE
Affective Drives
Positive affective state
- Nurturing (parents & children OR romantic relationships)
- Relaxed
- Another source of love
PANIC/GRIEF
Affective Drives
Negative affective state
- Caused by separation from others
- Same stimulus, different outcome
- Facilitates social bonding
- Another source of love
- Reunion replaces PANIC/GRIEF with CARE
PLAY
Affective Drives
Positive affective state
- Can resemble aggression, but all players are enjoying themselves
- A main source of friendship
Specific universal human emotions
Seven basic emotions
- Joy
- Surprise
- Contempt
- Sadness
- Anger
- Disgust
- Fear
= We all express these the same
= Identical as babies
= Changes as we get older due to culture etc
Happiness
Specific Emotions
As emotion
Life satisfaction
Affect balance
Happiness - good health outcomes & life success
Anger
Specific Emotions
RAGE
Real or imagined threat or provocation
- Often considered maladaptive today - perhaps had value in past (serves no purpose today)
- But, part of the pathway to social change (right-fighters)
Shame & Guilt
Specific Emotions
Shame vs. Guilt
- “I am a bad person” vs “I did a bad thing”
Negative emotion
- Not related to a specific emotional affective drive
- Not well studied in animals (do only humans feel guilt and shame?)
Disgust
Specific Emotions
Strong negative feeling of repugnance and revulsion
Affects moral judgments
Not associated with emotional affective drives - it is a sensory effect (different neurological processes)
Linked to healthy behaviour - keeps us away from things that may affect our health
Expression Emotions: Gender differences
Females
- Assumed to be more emotional
- Express emotions more
- Better at reading nonverbal emotional cues
Males
- Fall in love quicker
- More likely to become angry at work
- Physiological arousal after argument with spouse lasts longer
INDIVIDUAL VARIATION WITHIN GROU[S GREATER THAN BETWEEN-GROUP VARIATION
Expressing Emotions: Cultural differences
All cultures
- Similar emotions
Individual cultures
- In-group advantage
- Culture rules re: expression
Love & Attraction
Humans have a need for affiliation and to avoid the agony of loneliness
- Avoid PANIC/GRIEF
But we struggle with shyness..
Attraction: The Initial Attraction
Who are we attracted to?
- Do birds of a feather flock together?
- Or do opposites attract?
Proximity/Familiarity
- Geographic nearness (most powerful predictor for friendship). Why? Greater availability!
- Mere exposure effect (the more we are exposed, the greater likelihood we will like them)
- Familiarity breeds fondness (evolutionary benefits)
Liking others who are similar
- Couples and friends are far more likely to share common attitudes, beliefs and interests
Liking others who like us
- Especially when our self image is low
The Chase: Pursuing those who are hard to get
Hard-to-get effect
- Being selectively hard to get
Romantic Love
Passionate Love:
- Early in relationship
- Obsessive, lusty feeling
Companionate Love
- Long-term
- True & deep love
- Same memories
- Build a life with somebody
Key to a gratifying & enduring relationship
- Equity
- Self-disclosing intimacy
