L21-23 Flashcards
Characteristics of low SES
- more present-oriented and less future-oriented
- more pessimistic about future
- greater external mortality risk
- greater impulsivity (e.g. behaviors with immediate benefits)
external mortality: more likely to die due to environmental factors
engage in behaviors that are perceived to exacerbate situation (e.g. smoking and drinking)
Bandwidth
and its 2 components
capacity of our brain to do things
1. cognitive capacity: amount of space in brain (e.g. short-term memory)
2. executive control: processes that enable us to perform goal-directed behaviors (e.g. behavioral inhibition)
involuntary tendency to focus on our lack of resources in immediate capacity (not inherent capability), which captures our attention and impedes our bandwidth
What is used to test cognitive capacity in bandwidth?
Raven’s progressive matrices
a culture-free test of intelligence that assesses the ability to detect patterns
What is used to test executive control in bandwidth?
behavioral inhibition task
Results of low vs high SES in bandwidth tests
raven’s matrices and executive control
- low SES did poorly in the hard condition but well in the easy condition (13-14 IQ points or almost 1 SD difference)
- high SES did well in both conditions (no significant difference)
high SES had enough resources so they didn’t need to dedicate bandwidth to make a decision
What is an emotion?
a psychological and physiological state in response to some stimulus
- psychological state consists of a subjective component (feelings) and a cognitive component (thoughts)
- physiological state is the body’s reactions
2 primary theories of emotion
James-Lange theory of emotion and two-factor theory of emotion
James-Lange theory of emotion
- antecedent event (i.e. stimulus) triggers physiological changes
- we recognize what the changes are telling us and come up with an emotion
What are physiological responses?
according to James-Lange theory of emotion
products of the autonomic nervous system (i.e. triggered automatically) that are designed to indicate proper reactions that facilitate survival
have survival value
e.g. heart rate increase, trembling, sweating
Facial feedback hypothesis
according to James-Lange theory of emotion
by manipulating physiological changes (i.e. distinct facial expressions), one can produce distinct emotions
e.g. shaping your lips to look like your smiling
Assumption made in James-Lange theory of emotion
all emotions have a unique set of physiological changes BUT physiological changes don’t always convey unique emotions
e.g. heart rate increase, trembling, and sweating can convey fear, anxiety, excitement
Two-factor theory of emotion
emotions are a combination of our physiological changes and our cognitive appraisals (i.e. interpretations) of them
- more than just looking into physiological changes
- could lead to misattribution of arousal (e.g. excitement due to movie or date?)
Main difference between James-Lange and Two-factor theories of emotion
- predicts emotions should be universal due to physiologicals similarities of humans
- predicts cultural variability in emotions because different experiences may lead to different interpretations of physiological responses
4 lines of evidence for emotional universality
- emotional antecedents
- physiological responses associated with emotions
- emotional appraisal
- emotional expression
Emotional antecedents
events that lead up to, or elicit, certain emotions
substantial overlap across cultures in emotional consequences of various antecedents (e.g. death results in grief; perceived injustice results in anger; potential harm results in fear)
3 physiological responses associated with emotions
- ergotropic
- trophotropic
- felt temperature
Ergotropic physiological responses
- fight-or-flight system
- reflect actions of the sympathetic nervous system
- prepares your body to expend energy
e.g. cardiovascular activity, muscular reactivity, perspiration
Trophotropic physiological responses
- reflect actions of the parasympathetic nervous system
- more about relaxing muscles
- often happens after ergotropic responses
e.g. gastric disturbance, crying and sobbing
Felt temperature
temperature that one feels in their bodies when they are experiencing emotions
but internal temperature isn’t actually changing
Emotional appraisal
3 dimensions
people appraise antecedents along three dimensions by engaging in stimulus evaluation checks
What appraisals is anger vs happiness associated with?
along 3 dimensions on a stimulus evaluation check
- anger: low expectedness, pleasantness, and fairness
- happiness: high and low expectedness, high pleasantness and fairness
2 lines of evidence for emotional variability
- variability of emotional expressions
- variability of emotional lexicon
Display rules
variability of emotional expression
- culturally-specific rules that govern appropriateness and intensity of facial expressions, and even “ritualized” displays
- learned early in life, become cemented and automatic in adulthood
ritualized displays: emotional expressions that only exist in specific cultural contexts
6 display rules
variability of emotional expression
- amplification
- deamplification
- neutralization
- simulation
- masking
- qualification
Amplification vs deamplification
display rule for variability of emotional expression
- emotional expression is supposed to be stronger than your emotional experience
- emotional expression is supposed to be more muted than your emotional experience
Neutralization
display rule for variability of emotional expression
no emotional expression despite feeling real emotion
Simulation
display rule for variability of emotional expression
display emotional expression despite no emotional experience
e.g. reacting to what someone is saying so as not to appear rude but actually not caring
Masking
display rule for variability of emotional expression
when your emotional expression is not matching your emotional experience
common in people with depression
Qualification
display rule for variability of emotional expression
multiple emotional expressions simultaneously due to an emotional experience combined with something else
- different from affect blend (experiencing multiple emotions and expressing them simultaneously)
- typically different expression in each half of face (e.g. Nigawarai)
Cultural variability of display rules
- control-oriented display rules (deamplification, masking, neutralization, qualification) common in East Asian-collectivism
- amplification common in individualism and South American-collectivism
Variability of emotional lexicon
evidence for emotional variability
- some languages have unique words for unique emotions
- some debate on whether such differences are meaningful with important consequences for emotional experience
i.e. does not having a word for an emotion affect our emotional experience?
Hard vs soft version of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
i.e. linguistic relativity
explains variability of emotional lexicon
- hard: language determines how we think, and our experience (not the case!)
- language affects how we think, but is not deterministic (true!)
language gives us the words to think about, remember, and articulate ideas and experiences
2 perspectives of emotion
- evolutionary theories
- appraisal theories
Evolutionary theories
- focused on universality (similarities across cultures and species)
- emotions are hardwired, automatic responses tied to our nervous system that are important for survival
- culture plays minimal role in emotions
- physiological changes are antecedents to emotions, not consequences
e.g. James-Lange theory of emotion
Appraisal theories
- allows for universality in biological features but cultural variability of evaluative process
- also allows for individual variability in appraisals
- culture plays an important role in emotional experience due to influence on appraisals and interpretations
Biocultural model of emotion
- input from event that passes through appraisal center enters core system
- biological core system scans information from environment to find patterns matching pre-determined situations
- triggers response tendencies (facial expressions and autonomic responses)
- subjective experience is formed and display rules are applied
e.g. riding a rollercoaster may be appraised and recognized by the core system as either terrifying or exciting
What does the biocultural model of emotion suggest about the impact of culture?
and 4 components of emotional complexity
impact of culture on emotions varies depending on the component of emotional complexity
1. aspects of emotion
2. type of emotion
3. emotional context
4. the individual
Intensity
aspects of emotion
highly intense emotions flood the system, making it difficult to hide emotional responses
culture not likely to play an important role
Culturally-based emotions
type of emotion
emotions that exist in particular contexts are less likely to be rooted in survival functions (unlike basic functions) and based more on socialization
culture plays an important role
Cues for emotional expressions and cultural identification
emotional context and the individual
- presence of cues within cultural context indicating appropriate emotional expressions
- impact of cues depends on extent to which the individual identifies with a certain cultural environment
Historical heterogeneity
extent to which a country’s modern population comes from migration from other countries in the last 500 years
Low historical heterogeneity
- country’s present-day population is sourced from its own country (or from very few countries) since 500 years ago
- more certainty in customs, beliefs, values, intentions
results in implicit understanding (less explicit information required) and reliance on high context cultures
High historical heterogeneity
- country’s present-day population is sourced from many countries over the last 500 years
- more uncertainty in communicating emotional states, which hinders cooperation
low context cultures so more explicit information required
Emotional expressivity of people with high historical heterogeneity
adaptive over-expressivity
- more expressive in facial expression and body language
- produce emotional expressions that are more accurately recognized by others
people with low historical heterogeneity have more deamplified expressions so they are less likely to be understood by people outside their immediate context
