Emotions, Stress, and Health (chpt. 9)

Question 1

Stress

Answer 1

is a negative source of affect that gets in the way of four doings things that we want to do. Among other things, stress interferes with our ability to focus our attention

Question 2

Paul Kleinginna and Anne Kleinginna (1981) Emotions

Answer 2

1. Emotions give rise to affective experiences, such as pleasure or displeasure.
2. Emotions stimulate us to generate cognitive explanations to attribute the cause to ourselves or to the environment.
3. Emotions trigger a variety of internal adjustments such as increased heart rate.
4. Emotions elicit behaviors that are often but not always expressive laughing or crying goal directed helping or avoiding and adaptive removal of a potential threat to our survival

Question 3

Facial Expressions

Answer 3

reveal that certain basic emotions such as happiness, anger, distress, and disgust can be identified in a wide range of cultures

Question 4

Stress

Answer 4

stress has to do with adapting to threat or to use a more positive word adapting to challenge.

Question 5

Emotion

Answer 5

Some ideas in the history of emotion theory.
“Anger may be defined as an impulse . . . to a conspicuous revenge for a conspicuous insult.” (Aristotle, Rhetoric, 360 BC)

Emotional expressions are patterns of action that occur even “though they may not . . . be of the least use.” (Darwin, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals, 1872)

Ideas in emotion theory (cont.).
“Bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact . . . and feeling the same changes as they occur IS the emotion. . . . We feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble.” (William James, The Principles of Psychology, 1890)

“[R]eaction patterns for emotional expression . . . . originating in a region of the brain not associated with cognitive consciousness . . . explain the sense of being siezed . . . by an outside force and being made to act without the weighing of consequences.” (William Cannon, 1927)

Question 6

Emotion theory

Answer 6

“Emotion . . . different psychologists all agree that it is a complex state of the organism, involving bodily changes of a widespread character . . . and, on the mental side, a state of excitement or perturbation, marked by strong feeling, and usually an impulse toward a definite form of behavior. . . . Beyond this description anything else would mean an entrance into a controversial field.” (Drever, 1952)

James-Lange is a theorist theory
Stimulus–>specific body reaction–>
interpretation of body reaction ( = emotion)

Cannon-Bard theory
Stimulus–>body reaction and brain reaction
(brain reaction = emotion)

Schachter-Singer is a cognitive variation theorist theory
Stimulus-->nonspecific body reaction-->
cognitive interpretation ( = emotion)

Question 7

Three main theories

Answer 7

James-Lange/Schachter-Singer variations.
Lazarus (1962/1984): ‘appraisal theory’.
Emotions occur after a person has evaluated a circumstance.

Frijda (1986): emotions and action tendencies.
Emotions reflect intentions to act in specific ways in the environment.

Russell (1980/1995). Emotions and cultural categories.
Experienced emotions _________ reflect culturally-learned concepts.

Question 8

Emotion systems

Answer 8

1. Fight or flight (anger,panic), 2.Behavioral inhibition system (anxiety, sadness)
2. Behavioral approach system (pleasant anticipation, happiness)

Question 9

Ekman (1973/1994) Facial expression of emotion

Answer 9

Facial expression of basic emotions are universally recognized.
Basic emotions: Happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise.

Question 10

Zajonc (1980)

Answer 10

Preferences need no inferences.”

Emotion can occur before we think.

Question 11

LeDoux (1986)

Answer 11

Fast emotional reactions.
Reactions to patterns in the environment can be triggered by the amygdala (cf. fear) before the information reaches the neocortex (cf. thought).

Schachter-Singer (Lazarus) vs. Cannon-Bard (Gray) approaches and the ‘unified person’ vs. different subsystems division.
The Lazarus approach is much more consistent with the ‘unified _________’ view.
The ‘appraisals’ behind emotions are
–done by a ‘unified person,’
–to move towards a ‘unified person’s’ goals
The Gray approach is much more consistent with the different subsystems division view.
As Darwin held, emotions may be experienced for reasons unclear the ‘cognitive subsystem.’

Question 12

Basic ideas

Answer 12

Approach and avoidance systems existed in the brains of our primitive ancestors (e.g., reptiles).
Evolutionary advances ‘built on top of’ the original structure.
E.g., mammal emotions are more sophisticated than reptile emotions, but are still basically appr./avoid..
In humans,
‘mammal emotions’ remain; and
we can be born with different basic ‘attunements’ in the systems; and
‘nurture’ changes these attunements.

Question 13

Attunements of personality

Four humors’ known to Hippocrates (460-370 BC), ‘founder of medicine.’

Answer 13

High positive affect extravert
-Sanguine (happy) low neg stable/ neutral inhibition
-Choleric (highly emotional)high neg (neurotic)/Gray’s behavioral approach system
Low positive affect
introvert
-Phlegmatic (low emotionality)low neg stabel/ neutral approach
-Melancholic (unhappy)high neg. neurotic/Gray’s behavioral inhibition system

Question 14

State vs. Trait

Answer 14

Emotions are temporary mind states, not lasting personality traits.

Question 15

Nature vs. Nurture

Answer 15

Trait inheritance is about 50%.
A lot of room for ‘nurture’ (learning) to change things.
if we can cognitively choose to ‘think optimistically,’ we can eventually accomplish ‘learned optimism.’