I&G emotions Flashcards
What are the different functions that emotions have?
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Cultural
What do intrapersonal emotions do?
They influence how we think and behave
What do interpersonal emotions do?
They guide social behaviour and how others behave toward us
What do cultural emotions do?
They are shaped by culture in a way that reinforces social order
What are emotions?
Motivated states with various components: physiological arousal (e.g. autonomic nervous system and hormones), expressive behaviors (e.g. facial expressions, postures), and conscious experience (feeling a certain way)
What are the different words used for different types of emotional states?
Emotion: intense, short-lived, specific feelings about something
Mood: less intense, longer lasting, more general,
not clearly linked to an event or cause
Affect: generic term covering all of the above.
Often just means feeling ‘good’ or ‘bad
Why do we have emotions?
Evolutionary perspective: emotions promote the “right” response to recurring situations of adaptive significance in our evolutionary past, such as fighting, falling in love, escaping predators, losing status (Loewenstein, 2010)
Emotions- adaptations that help us to solve problems.
All emotions have a function- even if it isn’t clear & are present as the effects are useful in someway- even if it isn’t clear.
Can affects of emotions be undesirable?
You can experience positive emotions when they are not wanted/ helpful.
Evolutionary perspective- means we don’t have full control over the system- as its intended to control us & our behaviour- even if the effects of the emotions aren’t useful in all the different contexts that we are in.
ARE THE EFFECTS OF EMOTIONS IRRATIONAL?
Emotion and cognition aren’t localized in separate neural systems; the view that emotions battle with cognition to control behaviour isn’t how the brain works
You can’t separate the emotional part of the brain with the rational part of the brain.
Even though we may act that that we separate the effects of emotions from the more rational cognitive behaviour- e.g. don’t go food shopping when hungry- we recognise emotions can influence us in negative ways.
What can emotions affect?
How we think & behave
Emotions influence how we think- which is why they are functional for us.
What is the hot- cold empathy gap?
This is a reference to two kinds of visceral states. ‘Hot’ visceral states are when our mental state is influenced by hunger, sexual desire, fear, exhaustion, or other strong emotions.
A ‘cold’ mental state is one that is not being influenced by emotion and is usually more rational and logical.
What are examples of how emotions influence the judgements we make about ourselves?
Mildly depressed people make more accurate self-ratings; they don’t show the usual self-serving bias (“depressive realism”, Alloy & Abramson, 1988)
Depressed people show a positive bias when rating others, so they’re not more accurate overall; they are just making self-judgments differently
Emotions influence the judgements we make about other people
What study was made? What did it do?
“Misattribution of arousal”
(Dutton & Aron, 1974)
Field experiment on this bridge.
The bridge sways
If on the bridge- and don’t like heights- will get more adrenaline- sweat.
These traits-common to more than one type of emotion.
Wanted to test hypothesis- when experiencing a physiological arousal of being in situation- influenced the judgements participants made about other people
What were the findings on the study- misattribution of arousal?
Participants who’d just crossed the bridge, and thus had higher physiological arousal, seemed to misattribute that arousal and interpret it as attraction for the experimenter.
We seem to use our emotions as a source of information when we make judgements, whether or not the emotions are relevant (Feelings As Information model, Schwarz & Clore, 1983).
High bridge: 39% called the female researcher
Low bridge: 9% called the female researcher
What model explains how we seem to use our emotions as a source of information when we make judgements, whether or not the emotions are relevant?
(Feelings As Information model, Schwarz & Clore, 1983)
What does the Feelings as Information model, Schwarz & Clore suggest?
Suggests when make decisions- use what we are experiencing at that moment as relevant information about the decision (use feelings as information) - even if the feelings are irrelevant to the decision itself.
E.g. if asked how the module is going & you currently feel stressed on a particular day- this will contaminate your decision- you may therefore say its going bad- even if its going well.
Helps to explain when people are anxious- you change the way you think of risk- become more risk avoidant.
What part of the brain impairs emotional processing?
ventromedial prefrontal cortex
What happens if people don’t have emotions?
Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex impairs emotional processing, but this doesn’t make people more rational; instead, it impairs their ability to make decisions and learn from mistakes
(e.g., Bechara et al., 1994)
Neuropsychological evidence suggests emotions are central to the decision making process. When don;t have them- decision making is impaired. Therefore emotions are useful.
What did Baumeister et al., 2007 say?
Emotions help us learn from mistakes/ in long term- emotions help us make better decisions.
How do emotions influence our judgements & decisions?
We are influenced both by our current emotion, and the predicted emotional consequences of our actions. Decision making is impaired without them, suggesting these effects are functional
Interpersonal emotions
Why do we have them?
Emotions are likely to have evolved to serve two primary functions: promoting the attainment of survival and reproductive goals, and promoting the attainment of social goals more indirectly related to survival.”
Interpersonal emotions
What functions do emotions have?
How can different people be affected with impairments?
Have social functions
Autism- involves differences in emotional processing- the differences can impact social functioning.
People neurotypical- can’t decode the way emotions are expressed/ experienced in people who aren’t neurotypical.
Ability to communicate/ read others emotions- if impaired- has an impact on people’s relationships in social functioning.
When emotions are affected- relationships are affected- suggesting emotions are doing something that is useful to help us bond with others.
what does social and physical pain both involve?
The same parts of the brain
Social & physical pain
What has been discovered about the brain areas involved?
Studies- looking at social and physical pain- found same areas light up when experience distress (e.g. by social pain or by physical pain)
Area in left part of pictures is the dorsal anterior cortex (associated with amount of distress people are experiencing.)
Area on right- associated with regulation of distress.
Both parts light up for social & physical pain.
DACC -on left lights up when treated unfairly- or when make negative social comparisons with others/ think of someone close who has died.
When experience social pain- also feels the same as physical pain. Social pain also provides same important signal- if we do something that harms our social relationships- it will harm our survival.
Taking paracetamol- reduces the pain of social rejection in some studies.
What types of emotions are especially important?
Self- conscious emotions
Self conscious emotions
What did Tracy & Robins (2004) suggest these emotions are used for? What is the functions?
Function of these emotions is to regulate the self in the context of social groups and relationships.
Pride reinforces and motivates socially valued behaviours, and shame, guilt and embarrassment are felt in response to transgressions of norms
Why are self conscious emotions important?
guiding how we behave in a social context.
Experience of these emotions- tied in with social norms/ how we feel in social contexts- conscious of others awareness
Anger & fear- are basic emotions- what experience from young age developmentally.
Self conscious emotions develop later. To feel ashamed- have to understand others have emotions too- you have have violated social norms- have to have a higher level thinking- complexity.
We avoid things that make us feel negative self-conscious emotions.
Lots of positive things we do- try to experience e.g. pride.
People suggest self-conscious emotions drive us to work harder- behave in moral/ socially acceptable ways.
What functions are emotions said to have ? (Parkinson 1966)
Emotions are often caused by social factors, they have consequences for other people, and they serve interpersonal and cultural functions
Emotions are essentially communicative.
What did Kraut & Johnston (1979) observe people doing & what did they discover?
Observed people bowling. Facial displays were much more pronounced when turning around to an audience than when facing the result of the bowl.
He uses this evidence to show we use emotions to communicate our feelings/ needs/ wants to other people.
Emotions don’t just happen to you- there is an experiencer/ expressor & a receiver.
Emotions direct other people’s behaviours too.
What model is used for emotions?
THE EMOTIONS AS SOCIAL INFORMATION MODEL (EASI)
What does The Emotions as Social Information Model (EASI) (van kleef 2009) say?
Other people’s emotional expressions change how we feel and how we interpret the situation, and thus trigger changes in our behaviour.
This process is influenced by factors such as our relationship with the other person.
We use other people’s expressions of emotions to make sense of social situations.
Mood/ emotion contagion
What is this?
Individuals living with a depressed roommate are more likely to become depressed themselves
This can also happen on a much shorter timescale; just hearing someone talk in a depressed tone of voice can cause contagion Neumann & Strack (2000)
This study looked at the first term- students in america sharing rooms. 3 week study. If with depressed individuals- they became more depressed.
Happens in positive ways to- happiness - contagious
Can also happen when we don’t interact with others- e.g. videos/ voices/ podcasts.
What controversial study was there on contagion?
Researchers at Facebook reduced the amount of positive or negative emotional content in N = 700k people’s news feeds.
Their manipulation influenced the emotions their ‘participants’ expressed in their own statuses
Study- showed it can happen even when don’t see/ hear people- can happen from just reading things e.g. on social media.
When FB reduced the positive posts on peoples feed- it resulted in individuals to reduce the amount of positive content they put on social media.
What group experiment was carried out by (Strack, Martin, & Stepper, 1988)- what did participants have to do?
If your first name starts with a letter between A and L, hold your pen so mouth is shut- with pen in middle.
Name starts with M to Z- mouth open in smile with pen in middle.
Facial feedback hypothesis
What was found in the study by Strack et al. (1988) ?
Found that participants were more amused by cartoons when holding a pen with their teeth (i.e., smiling) than when holding the pen by their lips.
Their facial feedback hypothesis states that people’s facial activity influences their affective responses.
Debate about this theory is ongoing at the moment, as some research has failed to replicate this original study (Wagenmakers et al., 2016)
How does mood contagion occur?
Unconscious processes (motor mimicry, facial and bodily feedback)
Conscious processes (appraisal, social comparison)
These mechanisms help us understand mood contagion.
We are less likely to mimic behaviour of people we don’t like.
What is motor mimicry?
Motor mimicry is behavior by an observer that is appropriate to the situation of the other person, for example, wincing at the other’s injury.
Mimicry can lead to changes in emotional experience & can influence our emotions in ways that bring us closer to others around us. This is linked to the hypothesis.
What does botox do?
Getting Botox reduces your ability to understand other people’s emotional expressions, as well as reducing your own emotional responses
Neal et al. (2011), Davis et al. (2011)
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION
What are the different perspectives?
Universalist & constructivist views
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION
What are universalist views?
Emotions are products of biological processes
Emotions are independent of social norms and culture
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION
What are constructivist views?
Emotions depend upon social concepts
Emotions are largely learned and subject to cultural influence
How many emotions are EMOTIONS ARE UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED FROM FACIAL EXPRESSIONS?
What are they
6
Anger, fear disgust, surprise, happiness, sadness
called basic emotions
WE DON’T JUST LEARN THESE EXPRESSIONS BY COPYING OTHERS
What study found this?
Matsumoto and Willingham (2009) studied athletes’ facial expressions after winning or losing Judo matches at the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic games
They found no differences between blind and sighted athletes, or across cultures
Do emotional experiences differ across cultures?
Basic emotions are expressed similarly across cultures, and are universally recognized across cultures.
But, just because humans have the potential to experience the same emotions doesn’t mean they actually have the same emotional experiences
How do emotional experiences differ across cultures- example?
Americans report a higher frequency of positive than negative emotions, whereas Japanese report equal frequencies.
The emotions that are ‘normal’ in a given culture will influence what’s perceived as ‘abnormal’; sadness is especially noticeable in a culture that values happiness
How do emotional experiences differ within cultures?
Lower-class individuals experience more negative emotions (anxiety, sadness, anger) than upper-class individuals
Higher class people more likely to express anger in Japan, less likely in America
What else differs across cultures?
Emotional concepts- have different words for different types of feelings
What do variations in languages show?
Cultures vary in the number of terms they have for particular emotions; an emotion with many different labels is hypercognized
For example, the Chinese language has 113 terms for shame
Shows us how important certain emotion are in different countries.
Does the way we label an emotion influence what we feel?
It’s been argued that the experience of feeling an emotion occurs when a person categorizes their internal state (Feldman-Barrett, 2006)
This is a version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: that the structure of a language determines how speakers categorize and perceive the world
Implication: language and concepts shape emotion, and people with different labels might actually experience emotions differently
FELDMAN BARRETT’S THEORY OF CONSTRUCTED EMOTION (2006)
What is this theory?
Emotions aren’t discrete mental or bodily states: instead, they are things we construct based on knowledge and past experience
Maybe there is no such thing as a universal emotional experience!
WHICH EMOTIONS DO PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES PREFER TO FEEL?
East Asians are more likely to want to feel calm, peaceful, and other “low arousal positive” states
Whereas North Americans are more likely to want to feel excited, enthusiastic, energetic, and other “high arousal positive” states
OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE FOR DIFFERENCES IN IDEAL AFFECT- what evidence is there?
Facebook profile photos and official photos of leaders are more likely to be closed-mouth smiles in Eastern cultures and open-mouth smiles in Western cultures, supporting a preference for different types of positive emotion
