Exam 5 emotion Flashcards
What is an emotion?
Emotions are a multifaceted response to important events that often have an adaptive purpose.
conscious experience
awareness of the event and the emotion.
bodily arousal
your body reacts to the event.
motivation
emotions motivate you to act in response
expressive behaviors
facial expression of the emotion.
Componets of emotion
conscious experience; bodily arousal; motivation; expressive behaviors
What is the James-Lange Theory of Emotion? What does it say about the role of arousal?
According to James-Lange, each specific emotion has a unique physiological response associated with it.
Arousal occurs before awareness → we become aware of the emotion after we interpret the pattern of arousal.
What are the problems with the James-Lange Theory?
Physiological responses are not diverse enough to explain all the different emotions we experience.
We’re often aware of the emotion before our body can even react.
What is the Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion? What does it say about the role of arousal?
According to Cannon-Bard, a meaningful event triggers cognitive awareness along with a physiological response.
Physiological arousal is the organism preparing for the emergencey response of fight or flight.
Arousal can energize flight-or-flight responses
What is Schacter and Singer’s Two-Factor Theory of Emotion? What does it say about the role of arousal?
Emotional experience requires a conscious interpretation of arousal.
Arousal fuels emotion; interpretation turns it into an emotion
Arousal causes us to look to our enviroment to identify the cause.
You may seek out an explanation for arousal
What is the spillover effect?
Arousal can spill over from one event to the next, causing you to seek an explanation for the cause that isn’t always the true cause.
Example: Go on an exciting date, and your date may think you excite them, leading to attraction
What is Zajonc & LeDoux’s theory of emotion?
We don’t always need to counsciously be aware of what’s happening in order to experience emotions. We don’t have to think.
But you can have an emotion without cognition
What is the “low road” for emotion?
Sometimes emotional responses take a neural shortcut that bypasses the cortex and goes directly to the amygdala
What is Lazarus theory of emotion? What does he say about appraisal? What are the important appraisals?
To know if something is good or bad, the brain must know what it is.
To know if something is good or bad, the brain must know what it is.
Your interpretation of events influences your emotional response (Lazarus).
What are the basic, universal emotions? How many are there? What do they do?
do?
There are a small number of basic, universal emotions.(Perhaps six to twelve emotions.)
All have useful, adaptive qualities.
Simple and don’t require much thinking
Basic Positive: Protection: they help prepare us to respond to threats or possible harm.
Basic Positive: Getting us involved in satisfying activities and constructively engaging with the world.
What are the complex emotions? How many are there? What do they do?
There are potentially a limitless number of complex emotions.
Require thinking about a situation and responding.
Dependent on cultural and other experiences.
What are the complex, self-conscious emotions? What do they do?
Ex: Shame, Guilt, Embarrassment, Pride.
Why complex? They require an interpretation of a situation based social expectations and culture.
Self-conscious emotions protect your social status
Negative ones: Protecting social status : Reactions to meeting or failing to meet personal or cultural standards of behavior.
Self-conscious emotions signal to others that we feel bad about something we’ve done and that we intend to fix any damage.
What causes anger?
Anger is most often evoked by misdeeds that we interpret as willful, unjustified, and avoidable
Also
Violating social norms or expectations for behavior.
Small frustrations that aren’t caused by anyone
How does anger motivate us?
People are motivated to protect themselves and their well-being
You will attempt to overcome the obstacle to your goal.
However can also lead to violence
What are the consequences of anger?
Chronic hostility is linked to heart disease
Controlled assertions of anger may resolve conflicts, and forgiveness may rid us of angry feelings.
Anger communicates strength and competence motivates action, and expresses grief when wisely used.
What is catharsis, and does it work?
Conventional wisdom suggests that one way to reduce feelings of anger is to do something aggressive but safe
Punch a punching bag or Play a violent game.
Does it work? Not really. Cathartic behavior often extends or even amplifies angry feelings.
How should you manage anger?
Take some time to cool off before doing anything about it.
Don’t keep thinking about what made you angry. Distract yourself.
See things from the perspective of the person who angered you.
Have a constructive conversation with the person who made you angry.
What causes joy?
You experience an outcome that you desire (gain). Joy is the opposite of sadness (loss).
How does joy motivate us?
Joy facilitates our willingness to engage in social activities and spend time with others.
Feel-good, Do-Good: People tend to be more helpful when they are in a good mood.
Joy creates the urge to play and be creative.
What are the consequences of joy?
Joy can enhance our subjective well-being and life satisfaction.
Self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life
Used with measures of objective well-being to evaluate quality of life.
What is savoring, and why should we savor?
Savoring involves responding to your positive experiences to…
Increase the intensity of positive emotions they generate.
Extend the duration of positive emotions they generate.
When can you savor?
Before the positive event: anticipation (Enjoying what’s going to happen.)
During the positive event: being in the moment (Experience the event deeply.)
After the positive event: reminiscing (Remembering the joy you experienced.)
