L7: Emotion and Personality Flashcards
what is an emotion
A brief conscious experience associated with…
* Intense mental activity
* A high degree of pleasure/displeasure
* Physiological states which occur via activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS)
* Physical responses (such as facial expressions, body posture and more)
why do we have emotions? what is emotional regulation linked to?
- Adaptive and tied to specific behaviors
- The ability to control emotions (emotional regulation) is related to mental health and job performance
why can emotions be preferred for decision making
there is a lack of time
…there is a lack of information …there are too many options …the options are ambiguous
- Without emotions, it’s likely you’d make WORSE decisions… or no decisions at all!
how many emotions are there
- Ekman’s theory proposes six discrete emotions
- Anger, disgust, afraid, sad, happy, surprised
- Here, each emotion is tied to a different facial expression.
what are secondary emotions (Plutchik)
8 core emotions (vs. 6 in Ekman’s model) in opposed pairs, creating secondary emotions via intersection.
these are hybrid emotions
like the emotion of bittersweetness is a hybrid of happiness and sadness
recap what the autonomic nervous system is
- Involuntary effects
- Many structures receive input from both systems (sympathic - fight or flight, and parasympathic - rest or digest)
- this is because if we just measured emotions from one structure, like an emotion related to increased heart rate, many emotions have that so its not a distinctive characteristics
- The effects of SyNS + PaNS are different
what are some nonverbal cues to emotions
- Facial expressions
- Body language
- Proximity
- Gestures
Nonverbal cues, with the exception of facial expression, may vary a lot depending upon culture (as is the case with emblems)
how are facial expressions innate across cultures?
- Even tribes isolated from human contact make the same facial expressions to express similar feelings
- Individuals who are blind (who have never seen any facial expressions) make similar facial expressions
- Meaning is generally consistent across cultures (w/some variation)*
how do facial expressions vary by culture
- Certain facial expressions (such as a smile) may have a different meaning in different cultures
in the west = smile = rewards or bonding
in the east = smile = dominance
- Display rules for emotion vary by culture; emotional suppression is evident in some cultures (e.g. Collectivist/Eastern) w/deference to authority
what is the facial feedback hypothesis? explain the study and its implications
- an emotional state brings a facial expression
- but can this work in reverse?
- Yes!
- In an early study, people forced to smile – by holding a pen in their mouth – rated cartoons as funnier
- However, replication efforts failed, suggesting the effect of expressions on mood was weaker than expected
what is the facial action coding system (FACS)
understand
- Taxonomize facial movements (w/codes)
- Combinations of movements associated w/emotions
- Understand facial movements, understand emotions (‘reading faces’)
what is the RMET test
- ‘Reading Minds through The Eyes’ where you infer emotion from the eyes
- Females generally slightly outperform males
- People w/autism or other disorders may perform poorly
–> Atypical gender differences - Validity criticized recently
–> doesn’t predict any real world social behaviour – why is this useful?
how does body language connect to emotion?
- Varies by emotional state and appears to be innate
- Results parallel those of facial expression
- Body language is similar in sighted + blind athletes
explain cuddy’s initial research about body language and emotion
- He suggested that certain postures (power poses) changed risk-taking behavior, emotion + physiology
- In men, high power poses were linked to reduced cortisol + increased testosterone
*Though this study was intriguing, it has been difficult to replicate and has become controversial
- Effects on self-perception and emotion have been reliably replicated, but effects on physiology and risk- taking have not
–> In other words: there is still an effect of power poses, but it is potentially much weaker than originally thought - This situation (and that of the facial feedback hypothesis) reminds us why replication is vital
what is the common sense view of where emotional states come from?
idea that we get an emotion from viewing the stimulus
ie. perceiving the bear (brain role) –> feeling of fear –> physiological reactions (ANS role – effect on many of the body’s organs)
what are the other three and more correct view of emotional state orgins?
James-Lange Theory
event –> arousal –> interpretation (of only arousal) –> emotion
Cannon-Bard Theory
event –> arousal, emotion (you get emotion and arousal at the same time but they occur via distinct pathways. ex. you can get emotion without arousal or arousal without emotion – unlikely to effect each other)
Schachter Singer’s Two-Factor Theory
event –> arousal –> cognitive labels (label arousal and label event – in James-Lange we only label arousal, here we label both) –> emotions
what are cognitive labels
- consider two factors; personal state and the event: my heart is beating fast, and i see a large bear
what are the problems with each of the three theories of the origin of emotion?
what is misattribution?
James Lange Theory
- expect: emotions have distinguishable physiological states
- reality: this is untrue, loads of emotions have similar physiological states. thus emotional state cannot be the direct result of interpreting physiology, there has to be more.
Cannon-Bard theory
- expect: emotion is cortical in origin and separate from physiological arousal
- reality: emotions are blunted when the capacity for physiological changes is reduced (as in spinal cord injury)
–> if physiology is disrupted we already know emotion is too. for instance if we had a spinal cord injury there will be many effects on emotional state, thus suggesting physiology matters.
Schachter-SInger theory
- expect: interpretation of the event is key
- reality: However, we’re not always aware of what the key event is
(misattribution is common – someone not being aware of the arousal of their current emotional state)
what is the role of cognition in the interpretation of emotional states? what is the therapy and effect associated with this?
- cognition helps the interpretation of emotional states and is key and may change with experience
- Cognitive-behavioral therapies for anxiety and depression, for example, involve teaching people new cognitive approaches to emotions (see L09)
- Misattribution is also a concern
what is the modern view of emotional states?
Emotion is a product of complex, reciprocal influences of the brain, nervous system and perception on each other
cyclic not linear
what are the two ways we might make decisions based on
1) how we feel now (Incidental emotion)
2) how we think we’ll feel (Integral emotion)
incidental emotion: how does emotion influence purchasing?
- Effects of different emotions of the same valence (negative) was examined in realtion to buying and selling price
- an emotional state was induced and then the person was asked what price they would buy a new item or sell an item they have
- Disgust lowers buy + sell values, particularly sell (sell something for cheaper)
- Sadness lowers sell but increases buy values (buy something more expensive)
- Emotions of the same valence have different effects
explain integral emotion
impact bias and loss aversion
- When we predict our future emotional states, we often overestimate intensity + duration (impact bias)
- Overestimation of the potential emotional impact of losses is particularly great, leading to loss aversion
- they aren’t as happy or sad as they forecasted = loss aversion
why do we lie? (10)
according to paul ekman
- Avoid punishment
- Avoid embarrassment
- Maintain privacy
- Obtain a reward otherwise unobtainable
- Win admiration
- Protect another person
- Protect oneself from physical harm
- Escape a social situation
- Exercise power
